Build Better Business Systems With Task Blueprints

Business systems help online business owners increase efficiency and execute goals.

If we reframe our systems holistically, we can also design them to meet more of our needs as women entrepreneurs:

• Reduce and manage stress
• Manage and free up time
• Support overall work-life balance

As an online business owner and woman entrepreneur, customized, holistic systems help me live a high quality of life and grow my business.

To help me design a holistic system for my business, I developed a straightforward, 5-step process:

1. Focus on one system at a time
2. Create a “task blueprint.”
3. Organize files related to the system
4. Implement the system
5. Maintain the system

I outlined and introduced each of the steps in more detail here. 

In this article, I want to flesh out one of five steps: creating the task blueprint. 

You’ll learn:

• What a task blueprint is
• How it differs from a basic task or to-do list
• And how it helps you build a holistic and sustainable business system

The Task Blueprint

The task blueprint happens after you’ve chosen which system to build.

Essentially, it’s a roadmap that includes:

•  A list of all tasks needed to streamline/improve a business system
• Determining time frames to help you time block for each task
• Putting the tasks in the correct order
• And identifying which tasks could be delegated or automated

Let’s break the blueprint steps down further.

The Task List: What Tasks Need to Happen to Build the System?

Let’s say you’re looking at your content creation system. This would include things like coming up with topics, research, publication scheduling, creation and editing, designing visual files, and publishing. 

To create your task list, you would list every task you need to do to plan, create, and publish content.

Time Blocking: How Long Will Each Task Take and When Will You Work on It?

Once created, your task list may be long and remind you how involved the system-building process can be.  

Time blocking prevents you from underestimating the time spent on “creating content.”  It helps you get a realistic handle on the work involved and the time it takes to accomplish.

Time blocks also allow you to execute and follow through on your tasks. For example, say you have 26 tasks in your content creation system. Once you identify how long each task takes, you see that some take less than you imagined, and others may take more. With this information in mind, you can block off times in your calendar to accomplish the tasks. 

Delegation and Automation: How Can You Work Smarter, Not Harder? 

Now that you have your task list and time blocks, you can focus on delegation and automation. Work-life balance means working less, which will return hours of your life so you can focus on what matters most. 

Which tasks could be delegated? Which ones could be automated? If long-form content writing is an energy and time drain, that would be a good candidate for delegation. 

Or, if you enjoy the writing and can accomplish it quickly, you may want to delegate editing, publishing, or image management to an assistant. If you don’t have the budget for an assistant, you can get similar support using an editing program like Grammarly and prescheduling dates and times for publication. Using templates is also a form of “automation” that can simplify and streamline a task.

Things to Consider Before You Create Your Blueprint

Customizing and aligning your business systems is vital to meet your unique needs, workflows, and preferences.  

If you don’t take the time to do this, you may follow the five-step process and end up with a system that sounds great on paper but isn’t compatible with your lifestyle, circumstances, goals, or desires. 

Here are some questions to consider. I encourage you to journal your answers. 

What are your natural energy levels and rhythms?

Do you have the most energy at a certain time of day? What times are you generally at peak productivity? If you experience peak productivity early in the morning, working into late afternoon or early evening may not work. Knowing this, you should avoid time blocking during those periods. 

You may enjoy working in short sprints instead of longer, drawn-out work sessions. If this is the case, perhaps you’d purchase a timer and ensure your time blocks aren’t too long.

What are your routines?

Which tasks do you already find yourself doing daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly? 

Is there a pattern you’re already happy with? If so, you could expand on it. 

Say you sit down every month or so to make a disorganized list of possible content topics. You don’t enjoy this task and find yourself putting it off a lot or not doing it consistently. 

Doing this task less often, say quarterly, may help. It also allows you to organize and coordinate topics using themes or campaigns. Quarterly planning may relieve some pressure or stress because the task occurs less often. 

Where do you work best?

Do you enjoy working in a home office, in bed, or on the couch? 

Perhaps you like to answer emails at the kitchen table, do creative work in a rented office, and do work you don’t enjoy in a coffee shop. In the example above, this would look like taking yourself to your favorite coffee shop and using a timer to brainstorm content topics. Limiting your time spent will make the task feel more doable. 

Build Sustainable, Effective, Holistic Business Systems

Women entrepreneurs are a particular type of online business owner. They often do double, triple, or quadruple-duty in their other roles. For this reason, they need to account for their rhythms and preferences so they can tailor and align a business system to their needs. 

You can explore these ideas further by choosing which system you want to work on and starting on a task blueprint for that system. Your blueprint will help you chunk a big project into manageable steps and take practical action. You’ll be surprised at how doable building your system will feel and be!

For extra support, my Business Systems Masterclass. In the masterclass, you can dip your toes in with an overview of how systems work and create your first template.