How To Use Processes In Your Small Business
Just when I thought we were getting out of the hellacious year that 2021 was, my family was hit with Covid and over three weeks of isolation without childcare. Funny how when you run your own business and you’re the one doing nearly everything, it’s really hard to recover from that. Extending deadlines can feel like knocking down dominoes, and I’m only now finally feeling like I’m able to poke my head out again. But it’s made me think about how grateful I am to my past self for setting up templates + processes for almost everything in my business so I can partially go on auto pilot.
I’ve spoken about it and gave workshops on it before, but I don’t think I’ve ever put it down in writing on my blog. So, today I’m talking to you again about how to use and develop processes in your small business.
What Processes Are
When I say processes, all I’m really referring to is documenting repeatable steps for what you do often so you’re not reinventing the wheel every single time. Some people call them standard operating procedures. For me, it includes things like templates for contracts and quotes, canned emails that I can customize along the way, and all the steps that are typically included in my packages that I can import into my project management software so I don’t miss anything and always know exactly what comes next.
Benefits Of Creating Processes
For me it’s like past me set up the tasks I need to do in order to finish a project, so all present me has to do is follow my own instructions.
Using processes takes less brain power than trying to remember every single step along the way or think of new ways to execute each and every time. Saving brain power is always a huge plus!
Since I know every step that’s coming up, I look like a rockstar to my clients because I can anticipate what we'll need ahead of time. And that means they’re never left in the dark and feel really taken care of.
Following processes means I can better stay within the scope of work. Because if it isn’t in my process, it needs to be added on as an additional service.
They help me plan my workload because I know when the bigger parts of each project are coming up so I can anticipate when I need to block out more time.
How To Start
I know starting something like this from scratch can feel daunting. But it really doesn’t have to be overly complicated. I’m a big fan of developing these types of things along the way to be more efficient.
Next time you start on a project you want to create a process for, take just a few minutes to sit down and write out every single step that you want to complete. Look for places you could rearrange things to improve the flow of the project. Or where you could turn something you’re already doing into a template for future use.
If you find yourself writing the same emails over and over again for projects, copy/paste what you wrote and make it generic so you can plug-in different names, comments, customizations, etc. in the future. If you tend to do the same types of projects for clients, consider creating base packages that are structured so you’ve got a great starting point every time.
Over time, you’ll develop processes that you can then continue to improve on every time you use them.
When To Break The Rules
The nice thing about having processes in place is that once you have them, you can decide when to deviate from them. Kind of like in art class, once you know the rules you can break them strategically. It doesn’t have to be a rigid structure, it can be loose guidelines or however you want it to be. Make it work for yourself!
