Streamlined Business Systems for Balanced Women Entrepreneurs

Behind all successful women entrepreneurs are . . . excellent business systems. 

For online business owners like us, these systems might be email marketing, payments and billing, creating long-form content, and social media management. 

As business mavens, we know that each system is a pretty big project in and of itself. Knowing where to start and what to do can feel intimidating or overwhelming. On top of this, we have multiple systems to deal with. 

The solution here is simplify. This is one of my best business system tips.

Each system needs to be as functional and efficient as possible! And the best will create sustainable growth as well as a joyful and authentic work-life balance. 

While system-building is a multi-step process, my approach breaks down into two key pieces: identifying the system you want to build, and doing five actionable steps to build or streamline it. 

Below I’m sharing my unique business systems process. 

In my upcoming Systems Balance Program, I deep-dive into all things "systems" for online entrepreneurs. This article overviews where to start and what to do when looking at your systems.

Prep for Building a System

What is a Business System?

Whole books, courses, and academic programs exist to define and elaborate on systems for business. In this respect, the topic can be incredibly complex. It's a good thing we keep things simple around here. 

Put simply, a system is a set of organized processes and tools you use to manage operations, data, and activities to reach your business goals. This is why, as women entrepreneurs, one of our most important job titles is "business systems manager." 

Types of Business Systems

After we accept our new job title, we need to outline our systems. They should include the systems we have or need to reach our goals.

This list of systems isn't comprehensive, but it may help you flesh out an outline of your systems.

• Content creation and publishing
• Website
• Email Management and Marketing
• Accounting and record-keeping
• Creation and delivery of products and/or services
• Social media
• ETC . . .

You can get a more comprehensive list in the Template Starter Freebie :)

5 Steps to Build a Business System

Now that you've got a working list of systems, we can learn how to build each using a 5-step process. Grab a cozy drink, take a little stretch, and let's discuss.

Step One: Focus on One System

Look at your list of systems and choose one system to focus on. Consider what's most needed right now from your routine tasks.

As an online business owner, your ability to efficiently build and manage systems is paramount to success. Your systems will save you time, reduce stress, and lay the groundwork for your business to thrive.

Of course, looking at your systems at once is a big project. That's why the first step to building functional systems is keeping yourself from getting overwhelmed and knowing where to start.

Let's look at an example. 

Say you're an online entrepreneur who runs an e-commerce store selling digital products. You're doing better than ever, but you constantly need help to keep up with customer inquiries, manage email subscriptions, and stay on top of social media. 

Your email inbox is overflowing, and you sometimes miss critical emails amidst the clutter. You decide to focus on your email marketing system. 

Step 2: Figure Out What Needs to Happen by Creating a "Task Blueprint"

Write out all the tasks needed to create or streamline a business system, determine time frames to help with blocking, figure out the right order, and learn about delegation and automation.

Think of this as the what-when-how step.

Suppose you have an email management system for campaigns and other business emails. However, you're still personally using different social media DMs to post and interact with your customer base. This can be a real energy vampire for women entrepreneurs that results in unnecessary screen time and added layers of distraction and complexity to sort through constantly.

• What: Per our example, list the tasks or steps necessary to streamline your email marketing system. 
• WHEN: Next, designate time frames to build the system. Order your "steps," figuring out when to accomplish them.
• HOW: Learn about delegation and automation. For example, would you need an assistant? Does your email platform integrate social media posting, DM, or account management? If not, which ones do? Start looking for a trusted list of email marketing platform reviews like this one from PC Magazine.

Step 3: Organize

Focus on organizing your files in different areas and do it efficiently. Start with Canva and Google Drive and then move on to other areas you use often that impact the system.

Organizing your files and business materials can be complicated. You may divide them among several places, like your website, the cloud, phone, email platform, and computer. There's a lot of duplication, and some things may not be where they should be.

Returning to our example, you'd gather all text or spreadsheet files into Google Drive and create a file management system there. Many can be directly imported into email marketing platforms or stored for assistants and collaborators. Other files like ebooks, workbooks, images, graphics, or videos can be organized directly in Canva or in a platform like Airtable.  

Once you've gathered and organized your files into their two digital "file cabinets," you're ready to explore any additional area that impacts your email and social media marketing system.

Step 4: Time for Implementation and Templates

Take the system you've designed and try it out. Create templates and use them to work through your system faster.

This step is fun because you can finally start using and tweaking your updated system. Your email marketing system now covers social media management. Test drive this new system for about a month, making changes along the way. 

You could create and schedule social media posts in advance using your Canva files. You can also interact with followers in your email platform interface instead of directly on each app. 

Emails, organized by date, campaign, or file, are separated from social media messages, so it's easy to toggle between them. 

Now is also the time for a new or improved template, such as a weekly or monthly newsletter. 

Step 5: Maintain the New Business System

Reflect and adapt your system based on how it has been running and what may have been missed throughout the month.

A business system needs periodic review and maintenance. This is when you reflect on your system, evaluate how things are going, and decide if you desire any changes. 

For example, once you see all your social media aggregated into one place, you realize you need an assistant to manage your social media. You could create answers to common questions you get in your DMs and hand them over. The assistant could also manage all the admin of your social media.

You could look into the tracking and data your new digital marketing system makes available and determine if you want to track something else. You could set up a spreadsheet in Google Docs or Airtable to help you further analyze relevant data. 

During the 30-day trial period, you could also set aside time to move documents you may have missed into their rightful place. This way, no documents become “lost” and everything stays up to date. 

Turning Various Types of Business Systems into One BIG Transformer System 

If you've worked through your digital marketing system, you'll be ready to create, streamline, or improve your next system. Once you get through your list, you'll have what I like to call a "Transformer" system. 

This is the foundation of your business operations. Each system works with and mutually reinforces the others without unnecessary duplication. Creating a transformer system can reduce your workweek significantly, up to ten hours or less a week!

Achieving a ten-hour workweek sounds crazy to an online business owner. But plenty of my clients have done it using this method. And my upcoming Systems Balance Program will walk you through all these steps in detail. You'll get a workbook, feedback, and support in a small cohort. You'll also get 1:1 time with me 🙂 
By the end of the 4-weeks, you'll have created more time, work-life balance, and a robust business system. Systems Balance for women entrepreneurs starts January 15th!