Amanda McVicker:
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the OBM educator. I'm excited for today's topic, which is going to be setting up simple systems. It stems from a talk that I actually gave earlier today to a local networking group that I am in.
It's actually a talk that I created four-ish years ago as an OBM to talk to other business owners about setting up simple systems. And as I was talking about it today on the call or on the talk, and then afterwards reflecting on it, was like, this is actually a really good topic for newer OBMs or VAs who want to become OBMs. Cause I think the idea of systems and setting up systems kind of trips people over, especially if they don't have experience in it. And so this is going to be a pretty quick breakdown and run through of what it is to set up a simple system. This has nothing to do with tech. This has nothing to do with automations. And we'll talk a little bit about it, but it is definitely not at the core of what I am going to be talking about today. So let's get into it.
Welcome to The OBM Educator. I'm your host, Amanda McVicker, a veteran OBM who serves six and seven-figure entrepreneurs as well as educates new OBMs with the skills and confidence they need to start and grow their own successful online business management business. Follow along as I share valuable insights, behind-the-scenes, sneak peeks, and proven strategies to help you build a better OBM business.
So my first bit of advice with this is to not let the word system scare you. Again, like I said, I think that a lot of people hear the word systems and their brain freezes of like, that seems really high tech. That seems really out of touch or out of reach. It really is not. A system at its like most basic is the way that you do things the process that you do things. If you have a specific thing in your business that you do a specific way, you have a system. That could be how you onboard clients. That could be how you write a social media post. That could be how you repurpose content. All of those are systems.
Whether or not you've actually took the time to write things down and analyze it, it's still a system that you have in your business.
So what we're gonna talk about today is the listing out of the system, looking to see if there are more efficient ways to do the process and then what you do afterwards. So the first thing that you're gonna do with whatever system you are wanting to start with, and this is get a piece of paper after you listen to this episode, I really encourage you to go through it and do it.
So pick something that you do in your business. Like I said, it could be onboarding a client, it could be repurposing content.
I want you to start out by listing everything that goes into that process. So nothing too small.
There's an example of like kids write out the instructions to making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And they write out the steps that they think of, right? And you know, they say, get the bread, put peanut butter on the bread. And it's like, wait, well you didn't take the peanut butter or take the bread out of the bag and now you have peanut butter on the bag, right? So list every step that goes into the process. List things that maybe you do it so much now that there are things that you skip or you're cutting corners somewhere, you know, we all do that. List everything out the way that it's supposed to be.
And then after you have everything listed out, you are going to want to analyze it. You're going to want to see where is it that you could make things more efficient? Could you streamline something? Could you automate? know, again, we don't have to automate.
But do you see an opportunity for automation? That usually will fall into like manually sending emails when you could have it part of an automation or a flow or something like that.
So then once you have it all listed out and then gone through to see where you can streamline it, the next important thing to do is actually implement it, test it out, see how it works. Does it work the way that you envisioned?
And then the fourth step is review it, right? Set a time either monthly or quarterly to be reviewing systems.
This is going to be especially important if you're having changes in your business, if you're bringing on team members, right? You want to make sure that what you are doing is working for your business. So you want to review it, make updates as needed and continue to review.
Now, if you were setting something up, say in your client's business, you wanted to create an SOP for your client because this all lays the groundwork for creating SOPs. But it's hard to know what your client does unless you're like, you know, on a Zoom with them, just watching everything that they do.
That's why I love doing loom videos because I'm able to record out everything that I am doing the entire process. You know, for my clients, lot of the systems that we have are things that I created. And so I can create a loom video that shows like every single step that I'm doing. And then I can pass it on to my client or I can have my VA create an SOP from it.
So if your client has something that they do and you're wanting to create the process and see if there are ways to streamline it or automate it or whatever, have them do a loom video while they go through it so that you can see everything that they're doing.
So as an OBM, you're probably going to be setting up a lot of systems in your clients' businesses. And the more you do it, the more that you practice, the more that you analyze and see areas for improvement, see things that could be more efficient, the better you're going to get at it. And so that's why I recommend, like, start in your own business. What is it that you can map out? You know, we are our best first client.
What is it that you can map out in your business? And make more efficient and record as your first system?
And if the idea of systems and all the other things that OBMs do for their clients and then setting up an OBM business in general makes you nervous, I do have my course, the six week OBM. Doors are currently open. It is October 24th, the day that this goes out and the doors will be open through Sunday October 27th. So I encourage you to check it out.
If you are a new OBM or a VA wanting to make the transition to OBM and the whole idea of tech and systems and setting all those things up makes you nervous, the six week OBM does cover that. It covers client management, finding clients, setting up your packages and pricing.
Basically, you will have a very solid foundation for your OBM business at the end of the six weeks. So if you're interested in checking that out, the link the sales page is in the show notes. I'll talk with you guys next week. Bye.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of The OBM Educator. I hope what you heard today is helpful for you in your OBM journey. If you loved today's episode I would so appreciate you sharing it and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Want to be a guest on The OBM Educator? Fill out the form in the show notes and I'll be in touch. Join us next time on The OBM Educator.
