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Systems! Does your online business have systems in place?

Systems! Does your online business have systems in place?

As an entrepreneur, you know that running an online business is not for the faint at heart. This is especially true when you're running a household and family alongside it. From managing a small and mighty team to working with clients, there are endless tasks that you need to take care of to ensure that your online business runs smoothly. However, have you ever considered the importance of having systems in place? 

Systems Aren’t Really That Overwhelming

Before you zone out on me, yes, a system is a set of processes, procedures, and workflows I get that aren’t the most fun words. Heck, even the word procedure stresses me out a little bit. In the end, all those words help your business do things systematically and efficiently. 

Your plate is full, and your system can make your life easier. Besides, consider procedures as a guideline for making better decisions. 

Without systems, your online business will likely feel stressful, overwhelming, and disorganized.

Have I sold you on systems yet?

How can you get behind systems? What if we explore the importance of having systems in place for your online business? We can chat about the benefits of having systems, the types that may be helpful, and how to start creating or improving your systems. I will be your tour guide through implementing effective online business systems so you can succeed.

Define the importance of systems in an online business.

As an online business owner, one of the most crucial aspects of your success is having systems to get stuff done.

Yep, that is the whole point.

By implementing proper systems, you can organize and streamline your business without throwing spaghetti at the wall, which will help you and your team work efficiently and effectively.

With systems, tasks can be done consistently, reducing errors and making it easier to delegate responsibilities. Systems also provide clarity, helping everyone understand their roles and responsibilities and making it simple for new team members to onboard.

 

Do you see how huge it is to have systems in place?

Not yet? What if I tell you that systems save your business money in the long run? How about now? Do you see the benefits of putting systems in place?

Is your online business going to survive and thrive without them?

Without them, you already know you’re overwhelmed and inefficient in running your family, household, and online business. We all have the same time in the day, and every minute counts.

When you have established systems, you can streamline your operations and eliminate wasted time and resources. Without systems, it's easy to become overwhelmed and miss important deadlines or opportunities. I’m not sure about you, but if I do not know exactly what I need to work on when I sit down at my desk, I will scramble to get the important things done at the end of the day.

Is your online business going to survive and thrive without them?

Without them, you already know you’re overwhelmed and inefficient in running your family, household, and online business. We all have the same time in the day, and every minute counts. 

When you have established systems, you can streamline your operations and eliminate wasted time and resources. Without systems, it's easy to become overwhelmed and miss important deadlines or opportunities. I’m not sure about you, but if I do not know exactly what I need to work on when I sit down at my desk, I will scramble to get the important things done at the end of the day. 

Create A Process For Everything

Having processes for everything from customer service and scheduling to marketing and accounting allows you to focus your time and energy on what's most important – spending time with your family. 

Additionally, with clear systems and guidelines, it's easier to delegate tasks to team members and ensure everyone is on the same page. 

In short, having systems in place is critical for the success and sustainability of your online business.

Essential Systems for an online business

Now you're wondering what the best systems are to get started.

Here are three key areas to get started. 

1. Project management: You’ll hear me talk about this until the cows come home. A good project management tool helps you know what needs to be done, by whom, and when. It will keep everyone on the same page without communicating every task daily.

If you want to work part-time hours with a full-time income, this is nonnegotiable in your online business. Finding the right PM tool for how you think is essential because a confused mine will not follow through on the implementation. Examples include Asana, Trello, ClickUp, and MeisterTask. One that I’ve not mentioned before is Teamwork; this is also an amazing tool.

2. Client Onboarding and Management: A system that can help you keep track of client interactions, manage leads, and follow-up emails. 

What's great if you have a system for this. Your virtual assistant will be able to do most of this work for you besides having the actual coaching session with your client. I want you to imagine it; your virtual assistant takes all the recordings from your calls with your clients. 

Breaks out all the action items for you and your client, then assigns those as a task in your project management system to you or your client. Everybody knows what needs to be done and the date that it needs to be done. 

Do you see how huge that is for you and your business? 

3. Content Management: This would not be the Content Systems for growth show. If I didn't talk about content management. Do a quick mindmap of all the areas in your business that have to do with your content management. It’s a lot, Friend. 

Your Content Management Systems may include, the workflow for your long-form and short-form content. All your free offers, email marketing, and pitch packets. What about podcast promo kits you send out to your show guests? Spreadsheets with links to all your content. A process for rewriting, reposting, and repurposing older content. We know Google likes it when we refresh our content. 

When I did a quick mind map I came up with over 20 systems to create for content management alone. 

4. Gathering Testimonials: We all love social proof. That’s why testimonials are so important to the growth of your online business. By having a procedure in place to be able to gather testimonials from your clients after you worked with them. 

Do you see how huge that is? Or maybe at the end of your coaching, you actually ask for a testimonial, and then you can have a recorded one that you can share on your social media channels or on your website.

By implementing these systems, online business owners can streamline workflows, improve communication, and ultimately enhance the customer experience. Don't let your business fall behind by not having these key systems in place.

Tips for implementing systems effectively

In order to grow your business and manage tasks efficiently, you must implement systems. 

It is not enough to have systems in place – you need to ensure that they are being used and implemented effectively.

To get the most out of your systems, clearly define your goals and establish measurable metrics to track progress. 

Next, assign specific roles and responsibilities to team members involved in the implementation process to ensure everyone is on the same page. 

Be a good manager, keeping in touch with your team members, and encouraging them to ask questions and share feedback is also essential.

Finally, consistently review and refine your systems to ensure they meet your needs and contribute to your online business's overall success. 

Remember, systems are designed to help you get stuff done more efficiently. Put them into practice and reap the rewards of a well-organized and optimized online business.

The role of systems in ensuring long-term success and growth for an online business.

The success and growth of any online business depend on the ability to set up systems to accomplish tasks efficiently.

Systems can help simplify and streamline business operations, reduce costly errors, and ensure consistency in execution. Guess what else, it frees up your valuable time to focus on your business growth and doing the things that only you can do in your business. 

Effective systems can range from scheduling and managing tasks to tracking and analyzing business data to automating sales and marketing processes. 

Having well-defined systems in place can help an online business owner stay organized, establish workflows, and enable the delegation of tasks, both to you and your team. 

This allows for better management of resources and creates opportunities for scaling up the business in the future. 

if you are an online business owner and have not yet established systems, it is time to do so. What are you waiting for? Because this is going to take your business to the next level.

Having organized systems in place is a game-changing factor in the success of your online business. It saves time. It minimizes your errors. 

And it allows for the effective delegation of tasks, not only to you but also to your team members. You'll know exactly what you need to do every single day. When you sit down at your desk. 

Is it hard to implement systems? Yes, it will take time. But I promise it is time that you will get back tenfold. Or you can continue to go on like you are now chasing squirrels, well that's hard too. 

I’m sure if you’re like my past clients, they never have enough time to implement systems. And it's never going to be easy to implement your systems. But they're so worth it because they streamline your business operations. So again, what are you waiting for? Take the time to evaluate all the different pieces that you are doing in your business. And look for ways that you can create streamlined systems. So you never have to worry about what needs to be done when you sit down at your desk.

Know that working with us is an option, we offer two ways to work with us. One option is a 30-minute mini-session where we discover the best project management tool for your business. I’ll give you a template to get you started. Option two is a Content Systems VIP Day, we will do most of the heavy lifting for you. No more excuses, wasted time, or money. 

I hope you have found this valuable friend. I appreciate you, and I hope you have a wonderful week.  

Little Side Note

If you're jumping from project to project and back to the first project you may want to block your time and complete one project as far as you can before you move to the next project. Research has shone that our brains really do not like to multitask they like to focus on one thing at a time.

Where to Create a Workflow for Content Creation

Where to Create a Workflow for Content Creation

Creating content for your blog, podcast, or YouTube channel can be difficult and time-consuming. Knowing where to create a workflow for content creation is key to streamlining the process. Workflows are an essential part of project management, allowing you to stay organized while making sure all tasks get done on time. When creating content, workflows offer many benefits, such as increased efficiency and improved communication between team members.

Let’s explore different types of workflows that can be used for content creation, how to choose the right tool, and some popular tools available today for creating workflows! So let's dive in and learn how we can develop a workflow that is customized to your needs.

What is a Workflow?

A workflow is a set of tasks and processes to complete a project. By knowing what steps to take next, you can improve your efficiency. What does that mean for you? No more wasted time figuring out the next thing to do in your business.

This will be a shocker as an online business owner using a workflow for content creation. A content workflow includes steps such as researching topics, writing drafts, editing drafts, publishing posts on your WordPress website, and promoting the post on social media platforms.

Using this type of workflow can save time by batching work when your research topics, writing drafts, creating social media posts, or batch recording, ensuring consistency across all your content pieces.

Are you a life coach? You may also benefit from creating workflows for your clients' progress-tracking process, which could include setting goals at the start of each session, evaluating progress throughout the coaching sessions, providing feedback after each session, reminders to follow up with clients via email, and finally evaluating overall results at the end of your time together.

You can easily track client progress over time with this type of workflow, saving you time from manually tracking every step. 

Workflows help online businesses to stay organized by allowing them to create templates for different types of projects. This will ensure that everyone involved knows exactly what needs to be done when working on a particular task or project.

For instance, if you were running a digital product store alongside your coaching business, you could create separate workflows for product launches.

Each step would be outlined in the workflow template. Allowing you to duplicate the template and tweaking to the current launch plan. Utizling workflow templates when launching a digital product without having to reinvent the wheel from scratch every time.

A workflow allows you to organize the process that helps streamline the creation of content, making it easier to manage and track progress. With its many benefits, creating a workflow for content creation can help save time and energy while increasing efficiency.

Benefits of Using Workflows for Content Creation

Workflows are an essential tool for any online business owner who creates content to connect with their audience. They provide a structure to the creative process, ensuring that tasks are completed in the correct order and on time. I'm guessing you do not love scrambling at the last minute because you forgot a key step in the process.

One of the primary benefits of using workflows is improved efficiency. By using workflows, you can make complex projects easier to manage by breaking them down into smaller tasks that can be completed faster and more accurately.

It helps meet deadlines without sacrificing quality. It also allows you to plan your next move rather than trying to do everything at once, which can cause mistakes or delays.

Another benefit of using workflows is to refine your process before you hire your first team member. It will help you to identify the areas that you'd like to outsource first and easily onboard them into your business.

In this way, you will be able to assign tasks and responsibilities clearly. This will ensure that your first hire knows what they need to do and when they need to do it. As a result, communication is easier and confusion over who should be doing what is reduced. It also encourages feedback from all parties involved so problems can be addressed quickly before they become bigger issues down the line.

Finally, workflows help improve accuracy by providing clear guidelines for each step of the process. This includes editing guidelines such as spelling checks, brand voice or style guides to keep your brand content consistent.

It ensures consistency between all pieces created by you and your team members.

Using workflows for content creation can save time and money while also improving the quality of your content.

Types of Workflows for Content Creation

The purpose of workflows is to streamline the content creation process and ensure that tasks are completed on time.

When it comes to creating content, there are several types of workflows that can be used.

Content Calendars:

A content calendar is a workflow tool to plan out your content strategy in advance. What products or services you'll be promoting is a key factor in your content calendar.

A clearly defined content calendar will allow you to organize your ideas, set deadlines for each task, and track progress over time.

With a content calendar, you will know exactly what you need to create on your next content creation batch day.

Task Management Systems:

An easy way to create templates that break down all the tasks is possible with task management systems. You'll be able to set reminders, due dates, and priority levels, as well as keep all the links in one place.

Project management systems are all designed to make sure nothing slips through the cracks during the content creation process.

Automated Publishing Tools:

By using automated publishing tools, you can schedule posts ahead of time, so they don't have to upload them manually.

You can set how often posts go out to stay consistent with your posting schedule without having to spend too much time on it every day.

Overall, workflows have many benefits when it comes to creating quality content quickly and efficiently. While still ensuring each step in the process is done – from planning out ideas right through to publication.

In short, workflow systems streamline your content creation process. They reduce potential errors or oversights along the way and ensure that all tasks have been completed before your content goes live.

Choosing the Right Workflow Tool

When it comes to choosing the right workflow tool for content creation, there are a few key factors to consider. It's important to consider the costs of the tool; you want to make sure that you're getting value for your money.

Ease of use is also important; look for tools that do not make you feel overwhelmed. There is a reason we have so many options. Just because a tool is good for your friend does not mean it will be good for you.

The best tool is always the one that you will use.

Scalability should also be taken into account; choose a tool that can grow with your business as needed. Integration with other tools is another consideration, as this can save time and effort when creating content across multiple platforms or applications. Finally, customer support options should be available in case any issues arise while using the tool.

The type of workflow tool you choose will depend on what kind of content you need to create and how complex your workflows are likely to become over time.

For basic tasks such as creating blog posts or scheduling social media updates, simple drag-and-drop editors may be the better option – they allow you to quickly build out your workflows without being overwhelmed. Plus, it will be easier on your creative brain.

Ultimately, the right choice depends on what works best for you. If you'd like help finding the right tools for you, set up a 30-minute mini-session, and we will figure out the best project management tool for you. I'll throw in a template to get you started.

Don't be scared to do a bit of trial and error. Many companies offer free plans to start with, so you can jump in and start playing around with the software.

Choosing the right workflow tool is essential to ensure your content creation process runs smoothly and efficiently.

Online Business Owners | Workflow For Content Creation

Popular Tools for Creating Workflows

There are a variety of tools available for creating workflows that can help you get the job done quickly and easily.

Trello: Trello is a popular workflow tool that allows users to create boards with lists, cards, and tasks. If sticky notes are your friend, this may be the right system for you. It’s easy to use and offers features such as assigning tasks, setting due dates, adding comments, and attaching files. You can also collaborate with other users in real time by sharing boards or inviting them to join your team.

Asana: Asana is another great option for creating workflows. This tool allows you to create projects, assign tasks and track progress all in one place. It also has powerful collaboration features like task dependencies. These features allow you to set up complex relationships between different tasks within a project so they can be completed in the right order automatically.

ClickUp: ClickUp is highly customizable, allowing users to create and configure their own workflows, views, and integrations with other tools. It is for users who like flexibility. I'd like to point out that due to its flexibility, it does have a learning curve. It can be used by teams of any size and across different industries, from software development to marketing and education.

MeisterTask: MeisterTask is a web-based task management and collaboration tool designed for individuals and teams of all sizes. One of the key features of MeisterTask is its Kanban-style project board, which allows users to visualize and track their tasks through different stages or workflows. This makes it easy to see the status of each task and move them along as they progress.

MeisterTask also offers a variety of task management features, such as due dates, checklists, and attachments. In addition, it has the ability to assign tasks to team members and set priorities.

Online Business Owners | Workflow For Content Creation

Wrap Up

Workflows allows you to streamline your processes, save time, and increase efficiency. When choosing the right workflow tool, it is important to consider your specific needs and budget. Popular tools for creating workflows include project management software such as Asana or Trello. No matter which option you choose, having a well-defined workflow in place will help you stay organized and get more done with less effort – making it easier than ever to create consistent content that resonates with your audience.

Digital Content Organization Made Simple for Online Business

Digital Content Organization Made Simple for Online Business

Digital-Content-Organization-Blog-Miss-Task

Do you cringe at the thought of looking for digital files? I think you’ll agree with me when I say searching for digital files is very frustrating and time-consuming. Instead of wasting your valuable time searching for digital files, let’s instead set time aside for easy digital content organization. Come on; it will be fun. 

What is Digital Content

You may be wondering, may not but just in case, let’s cover what digital content is. 

All in all, digital content refers to any content available in a digital format; simple enough, am I right? 

I’m guessing your mind is rattling off all the different types of digital content that you have in our coaching business, all the files of articles, images, audio, video, and anything else you may have saved in the cloud. 

I think you’ll agree with me when I say digital content is very valuable to your coaching business. 

Digital Content Process

It’s funny, how many coaches I’ve seen struggle to find digital content in their coaching business. To the point that it’s one of the biggest challenges, they face when it comes to time consumption.

Often they didn’t anticipate how quickly their business would grow, having a good process put in place for the digital content organization wasn’t even a thought. 

All of a sudden, it because a huge problem trying to find digital content without having to search through many poorly named files. 

That’s why it doesn’t matter if your coaching business is just getting started. Having a digital content organization process is essential.

Strategies for Organizing Digital Content

There are a few different ways to organize digital content, depending on your needs and preferences. Here are a few strategies you might consider:

  1. Create a filing system: One simple way to organize digital content is to create a folder structure on your computer. You can create folders for different categories or projects and store your digital content in the appropriate folders.
  2. Use tagging or labeling: Tagging or labeling your digital content can make it easier to find and access later. For example, you might tag a photo with relevant keywords, such as “podcast episode (number)” or “client reference,” so that you can quickly find it when you search for those terms.
  3. Use cloud storage: Cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive allow you to store and organize your digital content in the cloud, which means you can access it from any device with an internet connection.
  4. Use a note-taking app: Note-taking apps such as Evernote, OneNote and Notion (this is the one I use) allow you to create and organize notes, lists, and other digital content in a single place. These apps often include features such as tagging, search, and the ability to attach files and links to your notes.
  5. Use a task management system such as Asana to keep track of digital files are they relate to your projects. 
Digital-Content-Organization-Blog-Miss-Task

Here are some tips for organizing digital content:

  1. Create a folder structure: Create a hierarchy of folders to organize your files. For example, you could create a lead generation folder for all your lead magnets, blog posts, and podcasts and then create subfolders for different documents or media within that main folder. Here is an example of a lead generation folding system. 
    • Lead Generation
    • Lead Magnets
    • Core Content (i.e. blog, podcast)
    • Folders for each post or episode
    • Social Media
    • Content Planning
    • Website
    • Advertising
    • Testimonials
  2. Use descriptive and consistent file names: Make sure your file names accurately represent the content of your files. This will make it easier to find specific files when you need them. Here is an example of a naming system. 
    • Ep 001-Keyword
    • CC-23-01-Keyword ← This is my name for my weekly
    • core content. 
    • CC=Core Content
    • 23=Year Published
    • 01=Week In the Year it was published
    • Keyword=this is the target keyword for the post. 
  3. Use tags or labels: Use tags or labels to label your files with keywords or categories. This will make it easier to search for and find specific files later on. I label like this. 
    • LG=Lead Generation
    • CC=Core Content
    • YT=YouTube Content
    • CP=Content Planning
  4. Regularly review and clean up: Review your digital content and delete any unnecessary or outdated files. This will help you keep your digital space organized and reduce clutter. Schedule this annually. If you like to “Spring Clean,” do it then or at the end of the year to start the new year out fresh! 
  5. Use cloud storage: Consider using cloud storage to store and access your digital content. This will allow you to access your files from any device and make sharing files easier. Cloud storage is like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
  6. Use file synchronization tools: File synchronization tools like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive can help you keep your files organized across multiple devices. These tools automatically sync your files across all of your devices, so you can access the latest versions of your files no matter where you are.
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Little Side Note

Passwords another headache in your business? Use a password manager like LastPass to secure access to digital content and easily share passwords with your team members. No more searching for lost passwords.

I know that’s a lot to take in, but bear with me. This could be broken down into multiple chunks of time, or you can have it outsourced if you have the means. Digital files are the backbone of any online business. A good digital content process is necessary for the sanity of your team.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate you, and I hope you have a wonderful week. 

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