Ep 91. How to Build a Business System: 6 Key Questions to Ask When Creating Processes
Are you a mom entrepreneur wondering how to streamline business processes?
In this episode, I simplify building business systems for busy mompreneurs. I focus on 6 key questions that provide a structured approach to creating efficient, streamlined processes.
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Transcript
You are now tuned in to the mom CEO suite podcast.
Speaker:I'm your host, Felicia, wife, mom, and
Speaker:entrepreneur. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my mompreneur
Speaker:journey along with strategies that will help you build your online
Speaker:business operations in a sustainable way. The goal is
Speaker:to help you build a business that fits into your lifestyle as a mom who
Speaker:values putting family first. We will also hear the
Speaker:experiences and expertise of other moms with service
Speaker:based businesses. You'll get a peek into our journeys, so you'll
Speaker:know that you aren't alone. Motherhood gets hard.
Speaker:Entrepreneurship gets hard. But together, we can
Speaker:do hard things. Welcome to the suite.
Speaker:Hey friend, welcome to another episode. Thank you so much for being
Speaker:here. So today I want to get into how to build a
Speaker:business system. Six questions to X when creating your
Speaker:systems and processes. And when I was thinking about this
Speaker:episode, I really wanted to give you the
Speaker:simplest way to think about this. And so. I'm going to give you six
Speaker:questions. It's really more than six, but some of the. Questions
Speaker:half. Multiple parts. But. This is going to be the
Speaker:simplest way for you to think about your business systems. I think a lot of
Speaker:times, uh, It's thought that
Speaker:business systems have to be complicated. And that they need to be
Speaker:intricate and all of these other things. But simpler is
Speaker:really going to be the way to go simpler as better
Speaker:simpler, as easier to track. And so we're definitely keeping it simple
Speaker:today. Now. I don't know if you remember back in
Speaker:grade school, they gave you these five questions. I don't even know
Speaker:the context around them, but. There were these five
Speaker:questions, the five w questions. Who, what, when, where, why.
Speaker:And then later when they added, how, so this is what we're
Speaker:going to go through today. Literally, when you think about your business systems and how
Speaker:to build them, and you're creating your systems and your processes. I want you to
Speaker:think about those questions. Who, what, when, where, why and
Speaker:how? Okay. So this episode, you might want to take
Speaker:some notes. Go grab a notebook because I'm going to actually be going through
Speaker:these questions that you need to ask yourself as you are building out your
Speaker:business systems. Okay. So number one,
Speaker:who. Who should be completing this
Speaker:process, or you could think of it who should be overseeing
Speaker:this process depending on how your business is structured. All right.
Speaker:And when you're thinking about who is completing or overseeing this
Speaker:process, You want to make sure you have the right person in place?
Speaker:Because this person, they need to have the skill
Speaker:to do it, or, or they need to be able to be taught to do
Speaker:it. And they also have to have the capacity to handle the task or
Speaker:to oversee it. Okay, so who should be completing or overseeing
Speaker:this process? The second part of that is who is going
Speaker:to be on the receiving end of this process. Who was going
Speaker:to be on the receiving end of this process. So, is this a process that
Speaker:is internal if you have a team, is it an internal process
Speaker:for your team members? Or is this an external
Speaker:process for your clients? Something like your client
Speaker:onboarding or your lead capture or lead nurturing?
Speaker:This is important because you want to allow the
Speaker:needs. Of the person. Whoever the
Speaker:process is for you wants to allow their needs to influence the
Speaker:design of the system. So in a past episode, I
Speaker:don't remember which one, but I mentioned how I was talking about
Speaker:automation and I mentioned how yes, automation, um, was
Speaker:good to help us save time, but automation also needed to
Speaker:be. Friendly to the user. Okay. And so when you are building your
Speaker:business systems, yes, they are for you to allow things to go
Speaker:smoothly and to streamline them. But you also want to keep in mind.
Speaker:The end user and how it's going to affect them and how they
Speaker:are going to. Interact with the system that you are
Speaker:creating. All right, so that's number one. Is who.
Speaker:Who should be completing or overseeing this process and who is going
Speaker:to be on the receiving end of this process? Number two is what.
Speaker:what are the chronological steps in this process from
Speaker:start to finish? What are the chronological steps in this process?
Speaker:From start to finish. So you want to just break
Speaker:down? Step-by-step. What it takes for this process
Speaker:to be completed. From start to finish.
Speaker:And it's important to do it in chronological order
Speaker:because. For example. Step
Speaker:five may not be able to be completed until
Speaker:step two is completed. So there may be some
Speaker:dependencies. So that's why you want to make sure you're doing it in chronological
Speaker:order and you don't have to get it perfect. The first time you are thinking
Speaker:through or writing out your, or your system or your process. But just make sure
Speaker:you're thinking through step-by-step from start to finish.
Speaker:What is the process. Okay. So that's number two.
Speaker:What are the chronological steps in this process from start to finish?
Speaker:Number three is when, so when does
Speaker:this process start? And when does
Speaker:this process. And so you want to have very clear
Speaker:starting. Points and ending points.
Speaker:And this is important just because. It really helps
Speaker:define your process. It will
Speaker:reduce confusion. So let's say, for example, we're
Speaker:talking about client onboarding.
Speaker:You want to have a clear starting point because does the client
Speaker:onboarding start when the person signs a contract?
Speaker:Or does your client onboarding start when the person pays their
Speaker:invoice? So just having that clear starting point
Speaker:reduces confusion. If you have a team. It will improve
Speaker:the accountability. So people know what they are specifically responsible
Speaker:for. And then I also will help you. Just with
Speaker:tracking the, The data related to
Speaker:this process. And so I'll talk about that. In a little
Speaker:bit. But if you're tracking the
Speaker:information and the process, the metrics from the process,
Speaker:then you want to have the same starting and ending point Every time, this process
Speaker:is run so you can have accurate data. All
Speaker:right. So that's the number. What number was that three?
Speaker:When does this process start? And when does this process in.
Speaker:Number four is where. Where will this
Speaker:process take place? And when I mentioned
Speaker:this, I'm more so thinking about the tools. So like what
Speaker:tools are you going to need? What platforms are you going to need?
Speaker:In order to execute this process. Do you need
Speaker:project management software or are you going to need email marketing
Speaker:software? Are you going to need a CRM? Where's
Speaker:this process going to be taking place. And so I talked about
Speaker:automation and tools in past episodes, but you just want to make sure
Speaker:that you are using tools. That. We'll help
Speaker:you actually execute your process. And they will
Speaker:help you to streamline your process. You don't want to pick tools.
Speaker:Just because everyone else is using the tool. You want to make
Speaker:sure that the tool works for you. And your business
Speaker:goals. So that's number four.
Speaker:Number five is why. Why does this
Speaker:process exist? What is the N. Goal.
Speaker:So you really want to know why you're even doing this process, because if
Speaker:there is no purpose, then there is no point in you doing it.
Speaker:And so how does this process really just align with your
Speaker:larger business goals?. Why does this process
Speaker:exist? Understanding the why also helps the people who
Speaker:are involved in executing the task. It just
Speaker:helps them to be able to do that with a
Speaker:high quality, if they're remembering in their understanding why it
Speaker:exists. And then finally, number six.
Speaker:How, how will you measure the success of this
Speaker:process? And so again, When you
Speaker:have a process that has a clear starting point and a clear
Speaker:ending point, you want to be able to track the
Speaker:performance of that process. And so
Speaker:how are you going to do that? What are you going to be measuring?
Speaker:Did this process save you time? Did it improve customer
Speaker:satisfaction? We're errors reduced.
Speaker:Just identify how you're going to measure the success of this
Speaker:process. And then you also want to think about how are
Speaker:you going to evaluate the effectiveness.
Speaker:Of the process is so are there some things in the
Speaker:process that needs to be. Tweaked, do you need to change some
Speaker:things? Do you need to reorder some steps? So think
Speaker:about those two things. How will you measure the success of the process and
Speaker:how will you. Evaluate effectiveness.
Speaker:Of the process. Okay. So I wanted to keep it
Speaker:really simple and short for you today, giving you these six questions
Speaker:that you can ask yourself. Going back to grade school, going
Speaker:back to the basics. Who, what, when, where,
Speaker:why and how. Okay. So I'm going to run through them really
Speaker:quickly again. So who. who. should be completing or
Speaker:overseeing this process? And who was going to be on the receiving end of the
Speaker:process. Number two is what, what are the chronological
Speaker:steps in this process from start to finish? Number
Speaker:three is when, when does this process start?
Speaker:And when does this process end? Number four is
Speaker:aware. Where will this process take place? Meaning
Speaker:in what tools will this process take, please? Number
Speaker:five is why, why does this process exist?
Speaker:And what is its angle? And number six is how,
Speaker:how will you measure the success of this process and how will. you measure the
Speaker:effectiveness? I have this process. So this should give you a
Speaker:great starting point to start building your business
Speaker:systems, start creating your systems and processes, documenting your
Speaker:SLPs, all of those things. Okay. And if you are still feeling
Speaker:like you need some additional support, you are looking for more.
Speaker:Done for you support. As it relates to your business systems,
Speaker:then I want to invite you to check out the harmony system sprint. This is
Speaker:a fast paced done in one week service. That's going to help you
Speaker:streamline your business process. Get the right tools in place and
Speaker:optimize your workflows with automation.
Speaker:One week intensive it's application based. So if
Speaker:you're interested in that. Click the link in the show description
Speaker:to apply, or if you have questions feel free to DM me on Instagram.
Speaker:I hope this was super simple and helpful for you. I would love to hear
Speaker:from you. how did these questions go for you? And I'll see you in the
Speaker:next episode. Thank you for listening to the MomCEO
Speaker:Suite Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a
Speaker:favor? Leave a review on iTunes and share with other
Speaker:moms in business like you. Help us spread our message and empower
Speaker:others who are at this intersection of motherhood and
Speaker:entrepreneurship.