The Business Systems You Actually Need
And When the Right Time is to Set Them Up
If you keep getting 100 different pieces of advice about business systems that you need and you're confused about which ones are actually important or not, this one's for you. We are covering the 12 different systems you need to set up for your business, the right order to build them, and how to know if you should invest in system services or build them yourself.
In this post you'll learn:
The business systems you actually need (and which ones you don't)
How to know the right time to set each one up
How to know if you should be investing in support or doing it yourself
and so much more
We will cover the main 4 systems-based phases of business building/growth - if you haven't reached the first tier, you should not move onto building the second, if you haven't completed the second, you should not move onto the third, and so on.
Get ready to compare what you read, with where you're business is at honestly, so you can figure out the right next step for you. If you need any help figuring out where you might be in the business building journey, fill out our free business consultation and we can point you in the right direction.
What You Need BEFORE Any Official Business Systems
I get it, you have a great business idea and want to jump right into building the systems and supporting your clients - but hold off doing so unless you at least have a cohesive brand (but the right one for your current stage).
Before you build anything, you need to make sure that you have a cohesive and complete brand identity. When you're building every business system - you'll use either your official logos, your visual brand, or your language and messaging (or all of the above). Building your business without a clear brand identity will cause you to spend more time, money and energy down the line re-editing everything you build, to match your updated brand.
If you're in the ideation phase ➝ use free resources to learn what you need and start brainstorming
If you're in the building/experimentation phase ➝ you're ready to invest in a DIY Starter Brand Kit
If you're in the discussing/working with clients phase ➝ you're ready to build a complete brand identity
(Warner Bros. Discovery spent an estimated $37 million in advisory and consulting fees directly tied to the name changes from HBO to HBO Max, Max, and back to HBO Max. [cw39.com/news] Save yourself 37 million down the line, do it now.)
When to Build Something Yourself vs When to Hire Someone
What I tell clients in business consulting sessions is: when your time is worth more than it costs to hire someone else, then you're ready to invest in their services. Here's what that actually means: you have a certain set of skills, in some areas you are more efficient, more knowledgeable, and more skilled than other people (the secret is, so is everyone else). If your top skills are bookkeeping, client services and networking, but have zero experience in HR - you probably shouldn't be the one to build the HR systems for your business.
Another important thing to consider is that if you are actively working with clients, using your time to get clients, or still building certain aspects of the business (that you know how to do) - you're ready to be investing in services/experts that can focus on the parts you'd have to learn.
If you are working with clients/making any money ➝ time to invest in services for the things you have to learn
If you're still not sure whether you're ready to invest in someone's services or not, ours or others, book a call with us or fill out our free business consultation below, and we'll help point you in the right direction.
"Rae is easy to talk to, doesn't sales pitch, and comes up with great suggestions" - Tricia Humphrey, CEO at Write On Editing
Your First Three Business Systems: The Foundation
The three most important systems that your business needs are foundational legal essentials, business banking, and client relationship management (CRM). Without these systems you can't make any money or manage your clients, let me explain.
The first thing you need is foundational legal essentials which include: choosing your business structure, registering with the state, getting federal and state tax IDs, securing licenses and permits if applicable, etc. Without these, any income you risk heavy fines, legal liability and forced closure (before you've really even started).
Expert tip: When setting up your foundational legal essentials, also set up/build a compliance system to keep track of important maintenance dates like updating your registration with the state. The easiest DIY way, is a designated google calendar with every compliance date, multiple reminders for each, and having a registered agent.)
The second system you'll need to set up simultaneously is a business bank account. Without this, any income that you make deposited into your personal account leaves you vulnerable to legal liability (meaning if you ever get sued, they can come after you personally, as well as professionally). Separating your business and personal income, is one of the most important parts of protecting yourself (and your personal assets) in business.
Third and final, after the first two, you need a way to track all client information - a client relationship management (CRM) system. Every time that you talk to someone about your business or have a professional connection, you should be tracking the conversation. When you're networking in business, with clients or collaborators, you should be tracking every interaction you have with them: different follow ups you've made (or haven't), every phone call/email, every service you've worked on (this comes back later), etc.
If you want help setting any of these three up, we recommend booking a business consulting session to discuss the best way to do this for you. You should be able to set all three up for only the cost of registering with the state/federally and the cost of an affordable (yet trustworthy) registered agent service.
If you have a complete brand identity ➝ register your business with the state/federally
If you're registering your business with the state and/or making money ➝ set up a business bank account
If you're ready to put your business out there and talk to clients ➝ set up a CRM to track everything you do
How many of the first 3 foundational systems do you currently have?
1 of 3
2 of 3
3 of 3!
Your Next Set of Systems to Build: The Visual Layer
The next set of three business systems to build (only once you have the first 3) are the visual/client facing systems: you'll need a landing page or website, business/client emailing, and email marketing systems. We typically recommend setting all three of these up simultaneously to make sure they integrate with each other well. Once you have these three, you're ready to meet with real prospective clients.
The first of this set is setting up a landing page or website so your clients have somewhere to learn what it is you do and more specifically, how you can help them. This doesn't have to be anything fancy, but it should reflect the kind of service you're offering your clients based on your businesses brand identity (that you should already have).
The next is your business and client emailing. Depending on the domain and website hosting platforms you choose, some options include email hosting with either google or outlook for your business. By having a domain name and coordinated email address (like everythingefficiency.com and rae@everythingefficiency.com), you automatically are building a level of trust that otherwise takes multiple points of contact to build.
The final of the visual set is email marketing, which is yes different from business and client emailing. Email marketing is a set of different funnels and systems you'll use to maintain your current clients, sell those who are on the fence, and to have a reliable place that is yours to promote whatever it is you choose. This is the best way to sell new products/services, announce company adjustments, offer exclusive discounts and more - to your entire audience all at once, rather than trading your time for individual clients or sales. This is what starts scaling your business.
If you're just starting to talk to clients ➝ build a landing page or website (free, diy, or paid)
If you're talking to clients who aren't buying ➝ invest in setting up business and client emailing
If you've signed one client or sold one product ➝ you're ready to set up email marketing to retain them
The Final Three: Business Efficiency Systems
After having the first 6 systems, you're ready for efficiency systems. Business efficiency systems are things that help save you time through automation, organization, and management - by implementing efficiency systems, you have more time to focus on direct client work and the things that actually make you money.
The next three systems are scheduling and calendar management, document storage and organization and project management - all three are optional, however as your business grows and scales, so will your inefficiencies. By putting off building these systems, you're building a larger load to re-organize down the line, which costs more time and money to clean (or you could just do it now while it's simple and affordable).
The first of this set is scheduling and calendar management. Every business runs on appointments, deadlines and promises made to clients, and without a system to manage everything, you're relying on memory alone (which fails) causing things to inevitably fall through the cracks. Part of this being a system instead of just a calendar platform is ensuring you have clear processes for when something needs to be rescheduled, declined or adjusted; this way you always have a clear way to shift things when your priorities do.
To learn more about building these systems on your own, join our personal and professional growth book club where we learn new strategies, and discuss how to turn what we learn into real action!
This one will save you close to $8,000 a year, per employee - document storage and organization; we did the research so you don't have to, and put it all in our blog post: The Hidden Power of a Clean Digital Workspace. In that post, we walk you through a full framework for building a custom file system that works with your brain instead of against it. When you're ready to build your own system, check it out, build it yourself, and if it's too overwhelming, reach out and we can set it up for you!
The third and last of this set is project management, probably the most important system of the set. This is the system that keeps your client and business projects moving forward without falling apart (so you can manage more at once). A good setup gives each client and internal project it's own space with its own list of tasks, due dates and to track the status; this way you'll always know what's in-progress and what needs to get done, you'll be able to track client/project progression, and nothing will ever get forgotten or fall through the cracks again.
Expert tip: Sync your project management systems with your CRM and calendar/scheduling systems to have a closed loop between tracking the relationship, booking the meetings, and actually delivering the work.
If you have at least 5 meetings a week ➝ set up a scheduling & calendar management system
If it takes you more than 1 minute to pull up a file ➝ you need document storage & organization
If you're just working with clients at all ➝ you should build a project management system to track it
How many of these 3 systems do you have?
1 of 3
2 of 3
3 of 3
Bonus Three, After the Foundation: The Growth Phase
The three next systems to build after you already have a solid foundation are editorial and marketing systems, HR and payroll systems, and advanced legal systems for the industries that require advanced protections (like the building/housing/real estate industry, service companies that require additional training/licenses/contracts, etc.).
First, and most exciting, editorial and marketing systems. Do not set up your editorial and marketing systems before having at least the visual layer of systems, when marketing, running ads, and doing anything editorial requires somewhere your audience can reliably find you. These are the systems you use to track what ads you run, what marketing you're doing, and what promotions your business runs year round.
Expert tip: You want to build an editorial and marketing system if you are building any sort of social media presence. When you're creating content, you'll have one place to look to know what the overall topic of the month is, what your current promos/sales are, relevant to your business holidays, and everything else you'd need to know what to post immediately.
Second in this section is HR & payroll systems, yes, even if you don't have any employees (now or ever). HR policies are the internal company policies that your company, including you, operates by - your internal ethical code. By setting up these policies, you know how you (and everyone on your team) is going to show up every single day - because you all are following the same code, working towards the same goal, and all have the same guidelines of how you serve your audience.
Expert tip: The payroll side of HR goes for solopreneurs as well - you should have systems to efficiently pay yourself out of business income rather than getting paid first, then investing in the business.
Last and final for this post is advanced legal systems for companies operating based on complex contracts, agreements and multiple-organization arrangements. If you regularly work with partners, collaborators or clients where you're signing agreements, safety releases, etc. you should have an advanced legal system to keep track of every agreement going through your business - this applies to you.
If you post on social media AT ALL ➝ you should have an editorial & marketing system
If your company operates on morals, values and ethics ➝ you should have an HR & Payroll system
If you sign any contract or agreements ➝ you should have advanced legal systems so you're protected
Final Notes From Our CEO
With this resource you have the resources you need to know what the step step is for you, save it, share it and let us know if you need help setting any of the systems up in a way thats custom to you and your business. There are more factors that go into choosing the right platform for your systems, always make sure they integrate well with each other, you're setting them up correctly, and that your usage for each is aligned (otherwise you'll have extra costs popping up left and right).
If you have any questions about his post and how to figure out what system is the right one for you, reach out, we are always happy to help. Every single system mentioned in this post, we can set up in a way that's entirely custom to you: the platform, the set-up, how you scale and so much more (it's what we do).
If you're still in the ideation/building phase and aren't at the point where it's worth it to invest financially but still want to learn and build them on your own, that's exactly why we have our free resources. Follow the steps below to get the information you need, to get to the point where your time focusing on your skills/services is more valuable than the money it takes to hire a business consultant/services that would help you grow even more.
Keep Learning/Get Involved
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