How to build the system: one of the keys to scaling

I've mentored 100's of business owners over the last 4 years.

Most of them suck at building systems.

Then they end up working all the time, unable to scale and frustrated with staff performance.

Here's how I build systems for Kilo, our SaaS start-up.

These 7 steps allowed my staff to execute.

It also helped us to grow from 0 to 1000 clients in under 3 years:

1️⃣Identify what dead simple tasks you do on a daily basis.

💲Ex. Locking up for the day, updating metrics sheets, and preparing reports.

💲Write them down in a list.

2️⃣Identify all the questions you get asked over and over again by staff.

💲Ex. How do I add a new subscription to a client account? How do I cancel a membership? Where are the cleaning products?

💲Write down these questions and add them to your list.

3️⃣Identify the shit that is going wrong.

💲What frustrates you on a daily basis? Is the floor not being mopped at the end of the day? Are your new clients not getting the welcome email?

💲Why is this happening?

💲This helps find gaps in the systems you already have set up

4️⃣Set aside time to write/record.

💲You need quiet, focused time to develop these systems.

💲Write and/or record the systems step by step.

💲Use screenshots.

💲Get as detailed as you need to but not too detailed that it leave no room for creativity.

5️⃣Organize these in a place that your staff can access.

💲I use Notion but you can use Google Docs or something similar.

💲Make sure these are super easy to access.

💲If they aren't, your staff will never use them.

6️⃣Test.

💲Ask your staff to break these. Tell them the systems are new and you want to empower them with independence using these guides.

💲Ask for feedback.

💲Get them involved in the process. They will often have suggestions to make your life easier.

💲This also increases the likelihood that they will adopt these.

7️⃣Optimize the systems.

💲Add the missing steps you got from feedback.

💲Simplify by cutting out all the crap.

💲Automate where you can.

💲Identify useless processes and get rid of them.

💲Employ people or processes to make the processes and the business more efficient.

🔁Then repeat forever 😂