What to Do If You Want to Systematize Your Business but Do Not Have the Time to Document Procedures by Yourself!
Last Updated on May 3, 2022 by Owen McGab Enaohwo
Do you want to systematize and streamline your business so that it can run without you successfully?
If you are, you’re like many other business leaders, but there are two big problems that may arise from the need to systematize your business:
You do not enjoy the process of documenting procedures, OR
You do not have enough time to document and outline the procedures
After reading this entire article, you will have a better understanding of how to leverage the strengths and time of others to help you systematize your entire business, especially if it is not one of your strengths, or you simply do not have the time to do it by yourself. You will get specific instructions on how to get someone else to help you document procedures for your business!
Recognize That You Do Not Enjoy the Process of Documenting Procedures
First of all, thanks for being willing to be vulnerable and admitting that you aren’t the best person to document procedures for your business.
This is an important step to systematizing your business, giving others the power to do so on your behalf while you focus on other tasks that you are great at.
Without the right systems in place, your business won’t grow. You’ll be losing out on potential revenue, your employees will continue to be inefficient and customers will continue to receive unpredictable and unsatisfactory results.
By having someone else document procedures for your business you will be transforming it into one that is systematized and soon will be able to run without you successfully!
Look at how Audrey Darrow, president of Earth Source Organics, increased her business earnings by hiring a Systems Consultant to systematize her entire business. It is a compelling case study of how her business went on to generate $1.3 million in annual sales after systematizing it!
Recognize that some activities in your business are fun and some are not, while it may take time to document a procedure for a task, it is worth doing in the long run!
You can delegate the task of documenting the procedure to someone else, which eliminates the need for you to do the work yourself. This free you up to focus on other activities in your business.
I like this quote from Natasha Vorompiova aka Systems Chick, owner of Systems Rock:
“Creating systems doesn’t come easily to everyone. You have to have a certain outlook on things; always keeping in mind the big picture of your business as well as a close-up of specific projects.
“It’s not an easy skill to acquire, and don’t assume that just because you are a business owner, you’ve got to know this stuff. You don’t.”
Recognize that you don’t have to be the one documenting procedures to systematize your business. If you don’t know how or if you are not good at it, get someone that can help. That’s what Natasha recommends and she’s an expert on building business systems.
Recognize That You Do Not Have the Time to Document Procedures for Your Business
Let’s be honest, you know how important it is to document procedures for your business and the benefits that it brings. It is always on the top of your mind but the issue is that you don’t currently have the time to roll up your sleeve and get started because you’re too busy! There isn’t enough time in the workday to get to it because you are busy handling everything else.
If you’re feeling too busy it’s an indication that it’s time to systematize your business.
Misty Young was a busy entrepreneur just like you! She empowered employees to document and improve procedures on her behalf. As a result, her entire Insurance Agency business is now systematized and has been transformed so that it runs without her successfully!
Recognize that you don’t have to be the one documenting procedures to systematize your business. If you don’t have the time to do it get someone that can help.
How to Calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) Of Paying Someone to Help Document Procedures for your Business
Before diving into the details regarding the three possible options that you have available, let’s discuss how you can determine and justify the Return on Investment (ROI) of paying someone else to help you systematize your business if you do not have the time to document procedures or you are not particularly great at it.
How much is an hour of your time worth? $300 an hour? More? To make my point clearer, let’s assume your time is worth $150 an hour? In this example it doesn’t make sense for you to spend hours documenting a procedure when you can simply have an employee that makes $25 an hour document the procedure.
Let’s say it takes two hours to document a single procedure.
That’s $300 if you do it yourself at $150/hr.
In this example, having an employee document the procedure will only cost you $50.
And once the procedure is completely documented you’ll be adding efficiency and revenue to your business because your employees will know the steps involved for getting that specific task done.
Where Do You Start?
At this point, you can already picture getting someone to help document procedures for your business but might not be sure where to begin. The first step in your journey to systematizing and transforming your entire business so that it runs successfully without you is to prioritize your business tasks.
There are two types of tasks that are the most important to have procedures documented for.
First, identify the bottleneck tasks in your business. If a particular task is causing inefficiency in your business, you need to find someone that can improve the task and document a procedure so an employee can complete it efficiently.
Once tasks are prioritized you can have someone create the procedures with the instruction that it’s important to make the procedures as easy and efficient as possible so anyone could pick up the procedure and complete the task accurately and efficiently.
Solution #1: Instruct One of Your Employees to Document Your Procedures
Image by: Piotr Marcinski
The upside of having an employee document your procedures is that you won’t have to invest your own time and energy to complete the task. This frees you up to focus on more important aspects of your business like generating revenue. Your employees might also have ideas for how to improve procedures. You’re only capable of so much, but your entire team of employees has the brain capacity to come up with great solutions if you empower them to do so.
Note that unless an employee is great at documenting procedures, they probably aren’t fit for the task. To solve this problem make sure that you choose the right employee to handle the task of documenting your procedures.
Delegating this task to an employee may also detract them from working on other tasks in your business and hence reduce their overall productivity. Overwhelm could set in if they have to handle the documenting of procedures in addition to their other responsibilities. To solve this problem make sure you reduce their workload so that they have more free time to help you systematize your business.
Another potential downside is that you have to make sure employees fully understand the nature of your business and what is required of them as they document procedures. To solve this problem you or one of your managers will need to communicate the goal of the task to the employee.
Give the employee the power to make the task as efficient as possible. Explain that you have a way of completing the task and that they may have a different one. Explain that you’re looking for the best procedure for the task and that it will lead to a strong business that can reward its employees and customers.
For an example of how to reward employees for their work, including for documenting procedures, see what Nick Sarillo did with his business.
And if you’re afraid that procedures will bore employees see how to avoid this by creating procedures that motivate employees to do their best.
Solution #2: Hire a Systems Consultant to Document Your Procedures
If you can’t document procedures and if your employees can’t then it’s time to look outside of your business for a Systems Consultant.
Bringing in someone from the outside can be tricky. They don’t know the ins and outs of your business like you or your employees do.
This is a challenge, but with a qualified systems consultant you will find someone that can document procedures and systematize your business, which will save you time and generate more revenue for your business.
Let’s start with a few common questions about finding a systems consultant.
Where do you find a Systems Consultant?
Kelly Azevedo is a system engineer and founder of She’s Got Systems. Here is her advice for finding a systems consultant:
“One of the best ways to find a Systems Consultant is to ask for recommendations from those you trust [and] that have done this work in their own business.”
Asking your fellow business owners and colleagues for information on systems consultants is great advice. Chances are that some of those people have systematized their business. If their business runs successfully without them, it is probably likely that they hired someone to document procedures and systematize their business.
Ask them for the name and information. Ask them about the process of working with the individual and if it sounds like a good fit reach out to the systems consultant and start interviewing them to see if they will be a good fit for your business too.
Another way to find a systems consultant would be to search Google. A few recommended search terms/keywords to use include:
Systems Consultant
System Designer
Business Systems Consultant
Process Consultant
Systems Engineer
Try those and a few variations and you should come up with quality candidates. Even if they rank well on Google, make sure to ask for references and verify their work.
What should you look for in a Systems Consultant?
Ian James, founder of The Process Consultant says that competence and fit are two areas that you should take into account:
“The first indicator of competence is obviously track record. Trying to find someone with direct experience of your industry sounds sensible but in fact will narrow the pool of candidates to a handful. It is also unnecessary as you already have people in your team who understand the details of your industry. What you need is a consultant who knows how to help your team negotiate the repair and improvement of their processes.
The people side of process is crucial. Successful consultants will tell you that the secret sauce is 10% knowledge and 90% communication skills, particularly listening and asking good questions. Sometimes you come across consultants whose technical knowledge is superb but whose so-called ‘soft skills are so lacking that they are worse than useless.”
Natasha Vorompiova echoes the importance of finding the right fit:
“From the beginning there has to be the right match of personalities. You’ll get better results if you get along very well with your consultant.”
Natasha continues to discuss a few qualities to look for in a quality consultant:
“Get clear how much time you’ll need to set aside to work on your systems and commit to that time investment. The consultant’s job will be to analyze your current business processes, create custom systems, and evaluate their performance once you’ve implemented them. But you will be the one responsible for implementation and sticking to the new routines parts, which in the beginning might feel very time consuming. Even if you know you’re inefficient, it’s still easier to fall into the old routine rather make a habit of the new course of action.”
What is the cost of hiring a Systems Consultant?
It’s important to realize that there is likely a greater cost associated with nothiring one over the long haul according to Natasha Vorompiova:
“Your business and your bottom line will suffer tremendously until you systematize your work.”
Furthermore, if you want the work done satisfactorily, money shouldn’t be the only deciding factor. Here is what Ian James said:
“Don’t choose a consultant based on the lowest hourly rate. What takes one consultant an hour might take another four. A better way to judge the value you are going to get is to ask for an estimated return on investment.”
And we close with a final piece of advice on systems consultant costs from Ian James:
“If you can get a fixed price, then do so. That will tell you that the consultant is going to bear some of the risk here and that your risk is at least limited. And don’t forget that you will probably have to pay reasonable expenses. It’s always worth trying to cap that.”
The cost for hiring a systems consultant varies.
In this interview Ron Holt the CEO of Two Maids & A Mop reveals how he found and hired 4 Systems Consultants to help him systematize each part of his business. The total cost was about $100,000. He was able to transform his Home Cleaning business into a successful Franchise as a result!
For a home/self-study course on business systems like the option from Process Prodigy you’re looking at $997.
A group coaching session with Process Prodigy will cost $6,924.
And the business coaches/consultants from E-Myth cost $1,500/month for system consultative services.
Again, hiring a systems consultant has pros and cons.
With a systems consultant you have someone from outside of your business trying to create systems for you. There can be a learning curve with bringing someone in from the outside. Also the cost can be expensive at times.
The good news is that with a systems consultant you will be getting someone that knows everything about business systems. Someone who can help you to create systems for repetitive tasks that you or your employees currently handle and even help to create high impacting systems for your business that you had no idea it needed and are capable of delivering drastic results!
Solution #3: Hire a Process Designer from H.Y.V.A.™ to Document Your Procedures
You can also get help from H.Y.V.A.™. (<<<— full disclosure, this is my company)
H.Y.V.A.™ will provide you with a Process Designer to document a procedure for a repetitive task in your business if it meets the following three criteria:
The task must be something that you are currently handling by yourself and you know step by step how it gets done.
That task must be something that you can teach in detail, step by step how you currently handle the task.
The task must be something that needs to get done on a recurring basis and it’s required for your business to function properly.
Once you are ready to get started, you will be required to discuss the entire details of the task with the Process Designer via GoToMeeting, an online conferencing tool. So that you only have to do the training once, the process designer will record the entire training session and then use the recording to document the procedure for getting the task done properly within your SweetProcess account.
The cost to hire a Process Designer from H.Y.V.A.™ is $150 per training session. This is quite affordable given the inherent value of systematizing your business.
Do You Want to Systematize Your Business but Do Not Have the Time to Document Procedures by Yourself?
You know that systems can help transform your business to one that runs successfully with you. That’s why you’re reading this article.
The problem is that you either don’t have time to document procedures and create systems for your business or you just don’t want to do it yourself because you are not good at it.
You have a couple options. You can either get an employee to document the procedures for you, or get help from outside your company and hire a Systems Consultant or hire a Process Designer from H.Y.V.A.™ to help document procedures for you.
Choose the solution that is best for you and get started. It might interest you to know that there is an easier and quicker way to have someone else start documenting procedures for your business. Click Here To Sign Up for a FREE 14-Day Trial of SweetProcess.
Do it with SweetProcess, click here to learn more
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