If you’re a busy mom like me who manages not just the household, but also business operations, then you’d agree that it’s a breath of fresh air knowing that you can unload even just one thing from your mental to do list.
Really!
If you take a peek into my brain, you’ll discover an overwhelming web of information and to do lists that I carefully align with each other so I can show up for my family while also showing up for my clients.
I’m talking about my husband’s schedule, my five kids’ schedules, my clients’ schedules, and my own. Let’s not forget about homeworks, school projects, clients’ work requests, customer service, and SO MUCH MORE.
That’s why even before becoming a Certified Online Business Manager, I’ve always turned to setting up systems to make my life easier as a mompreneur.
And it’s worked wonders in the last 15 years!
What exactly do I mean by ‘systems’?
My systems include standard operating procedures (the foundation), project management platforms, calendars, and automations.
But I don’t want to overwhelm you so let’s start with SOPs.
Why do you need standard operating procedures?
Your SOP Library is the backbone of your business operations. It’s your company bible. This is what you and your team will refer to every single time to ensure you are performing tasks correctly, according to the company standard, and on time.
Having SOPs will help you:
- Standardize procedures in your business
- Decrease mistakes made by team members due to the lack of set guidelines
- Ease the onboarding process every time you need to hire a new team member
- Set up a project management platform with enough resources team members can refer to so you don’t need to micromanage
- Identify areas in your business that you can delegate or automate
Getting started with your standard operating procedures
“But, Kim! My business needs A LOT of SOPs. Where do I start?!”
I get it. Starting your SOP library feels overwhelming – especially if your business has a lot of moving parts already.
What I advise clients is to start by recording themselves doing a task. There are lots of free tools available for screen recording, such as Loom (my personal fave). You can also use Zoom. I recommend recording one task at a time until you’ve covered all the repetitive tasks in your business.
Once you have the recordings, you can start by writing down the steps so you have your SOPs written down as well.
Or, this is an opportunity to hire a team member who can take over the tasks for you. What I do is I hire a virtual assistant who already knows her way around the tools we use or someone who is willing to learn the tools we use. Then, I hand over the video recording to her. While learning the step by step of the tasks, I ask the virtual assistant to write the steps down as well. This will now become your written SOP for the task.
Too busy to do this on your own? One of my services as an Online Business Manager is helping clients set up their standard operating procedures and oversee the team as we hand the SOPs over to them. Check out my services here – and let’s chat when you’re ready to create SOPs for your business!
