GOT SYSTEMS?
Posted by: Brian Webb | Thursday, October 18th, 2007 | 10:41 PM
This post is directed to all of you entrepreneurial business owners out there. Do you “EVER” want to take weekends off… leave the office at 5pm… coach your son’s little league team… or leave for vacation without stressing over what will crash and burn in your absence?
Well, it’s all about systems. You will be enslaved to your business forever unless you choose to systematize your business. “A little hard work and some common sense is enough to get me where I want to go.” That’s a myth.
I’ve posted about it before… but I vehemently and emphatically implore you… I insist… I beg you to read 2 books that are critical to your business and personal freedom… by Michael Gerber… E-Myth Revisited and E-Myth Mastery. If you’re not a reader… then checkout the E-Myth Revisited and E-Myth Mastery audio books from iTunes. Study these resources with a microscope… examine them… implement them… master them! They are the cure for most forms of your business cancer.
Click Here to watch a newly posted video that highlights some business leaders that have experienced EMyth success.
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS FROM MICHAEL GERBER’S MONTHLY
E-NEWSLETTER, THE E-MYTH INSIDER:
Documenting the processes that control business operations is where the rubber meets the road in systematizing a company. System documentation requires a business owner to analyze and define all regular business processes. In E-Myth terminology, standard operating procedures are documented using “Action Plans.”
An “Action Plan” is a form that defines the desired result, required materials, sequential steps, quality standards, due dates and staff responsibilities for individual business processes.
Once processes are formalized, the “Action Plans” become key elements in the “Operations Manual” of your business. Producing your “Operations Manual” will help your business run more efficiently, and should allow you to step back from the day-to-day tactics to do real strategic planning.
WHY CREATE ACTION PLANS?
1. Action Plans can be used as templates for defining systems
2. Action Plans capture input from those involved in the process
3. Action Plans become lessons for staff training
4. Action Plans become the contents of your business’ Operations Manual
Click Here to see an “Action Plan” sample for “making coffee.”
