91: What Are Business Operations? How to Build a More Organized, Efficient Business

Speaker A: You're pushing through every single day. But pushing through getting things done and structured are two completely different things. And mixing them up is costing you more than you think. Uh, welcome to beyond you'd Business, the show where we get real about what it actually takes to lead in business and in life. I'm Amy Sussex, your behind the scenes support in systems, client experience, scaling and sustainable growth. I work with visionary women who are done with burnout and ready to step into leadership with clarity and confidence. This podcast is for the women shifting from overwhelmed operator to being an empowered CEO. Um, the ones who want to build a business that feel as good as they look. Each week we dive into conversations about leadership, systems, client experience, motherhood, and the messy middle of entrepreneurship, all through the lens of building with intention, ease and alignment. I created this podcast because I believe how you lead yourself shapes everything. Your system systems, your team, your results. What works for you should be as unique as your business. If you're ready to step into things differently in a way that supports your vision and your capacity, you're in the right place. Let's explore what's possible. Welcome back to beyond you'd Business. And today I want to talk about business operations. It's one of those terms that gets used around a lot, tossed around everywhere. You see it online, people are talking about it. Behind the scenes, you're googling it, you see it everywhere. But most people don't actually stop to understand what it actually means and how it applies to your day to day business. So today we're going to break that down simply when we talk about business operations, we're really talking about how business actually runs. Like, what's happening behind the scenes in the business. Not just the idea of the business, not the product or the service that you're doing, offering and delivering. So not your offers, but the actual systems, processes, the moving parts, the day to day operations, that's like kind of keeping everything going, right? And so if you're a small business owner, this matters more than anything, right? Because you're wearing all the hats, you're doing all the things. You have, like potentially a smaller team as well too. And so you can have a great offer and great customers and amazing sales, but if everything still feels chaotic, it's your operations that don't have that structure and that clarity. And so as a small business owner, this probably sounds familiar. I'm guilty of this as well too, guys. So this is also something like I'm working through, um, and have worked through with my own team. But as, uh, small Business owners, we're doing a lot of times all the things ourselves. We're answering messages on the phone between tasks. We're taking time to remember who to follow up with, who we didn't follow up with, what invoice got paid, what didn't get paid, who we need to send the proposal out to, you know, all the working pieces that are happening. Staying late, up at night, hey, completely guilty of this, um, but at the end of it, it still feels like nothing is actually really organized or like structured in your business. And it's busy work, not structured work. So that's normally the first sign that business operations haven't really been like set out and defined. Because operations isn't about being more productive. It's about knowing how your business actually works in a structured way. So let's simplify this really. At the end of the day, there's five core areas or five pillars I believe that every business technically runs on. And the first one is marketing and your customers. So this is how people find you, how you communicate with them, um, you know, what keeps them coming back to you, you know, your offer. And if you think about it, without customers, at the end of the day, if they're not having an amazing experience and we don't have customers coming in, then we're not able to run a successful business. The second one is really like the sales and the revenue aspect of it. And so this is how money comes into your business, how you price your offer, how you present it, how you're doing your follow up, if you're actually doing follow ups. I know this is something a lot of entrepreneurs, uh, and business owners can be guilty of is not doing that follow up. But also it's like how it's actually converting from somebody being interested in your business to actually working and income coming in. The third one is delivery and operation. So this is the actual work, the product that you're delivering, the service that you're delivering, you know, how things are getting fulfilled and when what you say you're going to do is actually becoming a reality, reality, and you're actually doing it. The fourth piece is finances. And this is where a lot of small businesses tend to get uncomfortable and being honest. This was something, you know, when I first started my first business that I tended to struggle with and kind of like turned a blind eye to finances, right? Because we, we're like the ostrich in the sand, putting your head down, don't want to think about it. But really it's so essential because without knowing what's coming in, what's going out, what you're actually doing. You need that awareness piece. You can make those decisions. And I know I've talked about this before, but I can say it again. It doesn't mean anything about you. It's the data that's coming in, and with you have that awareness, you can make those changes. So finances, huge fourth pillar. The fifth one is the admin and system side of things. So really, this is the glue. The tools that you're using, the checklists, the processes, the procedures, the way information is being shared, being communicated between you and your team. It's really at the end of the day, like, the part that's keeping everything running and falling and smoothly running together and really having, like, that main central, like, visibility and point, like one point of truth within your business where you can, like, see what's happening in all the moving parts. So here's the thing. Most small businesses owners are usually good at, like, one or two of these things. And maybe, you know, you're amazing with the customer service side of things, or you're really strong in, like, sales, but the rest feels really messy or inconsistent or kind of scattered in your head. And then a lot of times, that's when the overwhelm comes in. And that's where it comes from, right? Is because it's not that you're bad at business, it's just that one of the. Or your business is bad at the other of the day. Either. It's just that one of these or two of these pillars are completely feeling unhinged, unmanageable, out of control. And then it's, uh, at the end of the day, affecting everything else. So instead of seeing your business as like, one big, overwhelming, confusing thing that needs all your attention, which it does, but we need to start small. So you need to start looking at it as like a map of, like, customer service. Customers are filtering into sales, which filters into delivery, which filters into your finance, and filters into your systems and all of those pieces. And so when you start to look at it that way, it actually allows you to make it more manageable because you're looking at it segmented of, like, these are these pillars, but they all work together and all build on each other. So once you see that, a lot of times we're able to start to make those shifts because you stop blaming yourself for feeling overwhelmed, you stop blaming your team, you stop having these feelings of stress and anxiety and all the things that come up when you start feeling like your business isn't working or isn't running properly. Um, so now you're able to see like where it's happening because you're like, okay, which of these pillars is not needs my most attention? Right. And so let's talk about another mistake that can happen too with this is a lot of times business owners don't think about operations until things go wrong again. That's a lot of times when people end up coming to me is because they're like, oh my gosh, this isn't working. Everything feels broken, something's going wrong. You know, I've had this own experience within my own business too. And so what happens is, is people are coming because they're like, oh, uh, now it's not working. I'm stuck in the day to day. I just want to get through the day. What they're dealing with feels like constant chaos. Like they're putting out fires, they're juggling balls, they're responding, they're reacting. And a lot of times they're just fixing things really quickly, but not fixing the root of the things. And then eventually things break down. Maybe it's a client invoice got missed or client work got missed, or they're feeling completely burnt out because they don't have time for themselves or doing the things that you as a business owner really enjoy and light you up. And then we start to panic fix. We're like, okay, I'm going to go and do this and then I'm going to go and do that. And really, uh, like I mentioned, that's not actually solving the root problem. It's putting temporary band aids on things without actually getting to like, how can I make this better? Better for the business and for my team and where I'm going in my business. And so, you know, a lot of times what we see people happening is they're like, okay, I'm going to go and like download this app. And I've seen this again. I've had worked with clients who are like, well, I have Trello and I have a son and I've ClickUp and I've just done all those things because I just know I needed something to get me organized and you know, get me on track. And again, downloading all these things and trying to reorganize everything over a weekend or hiring somebody really quickly or buying a course or like trying to solve everything all at once, we know that that doesn't work and that just causes more chaos and more overwhelm because we're not actually taking the time to think of things Methodically. And like, okay, how does this, I know it's not working, but like, how can I now make things so they actually work in my business? So then in six months I'm not going to have to fix things because I just put a temporary band aid on it. And so the problem is, is that you're usually fixing the wrong thing. So for example, if you're like, I have a customer problem, people aren't responding back to me or I'm not attracting and like, maybe it's saying you're marketing. So then you start going and changing. You're like, okay, well I need more customers, so my IG isn't working so I'm going to switch everything and I'm going to go on LinkedIn. But you actually haven't like taken the time to like do market research and be like, are your clients even on LinkedIn? You're just jumping from platform to platform or you're going in, you're adjusting your offering, you're like, okay, well people aren't buying this, so I'm going to change my messaging. Great. Yes, that is something that we need to look at. But at the end of the day, ah, are people not buying it because we, one, they don't see the value in it, or two, it's not actually a need. Or three, have you done market research to see like this is actually something that, like it's a viable offer that people want and need. So really at the end of the day it could be even like not following up with people. Uh, how many times has somebody reached out to you and when's the last time you've done a follow up? And I've asked my clients these questions too, like, okay, so great, you're doing a website build and you know the website's done. Do you follow up with them in three months to say, hey, how's the website going? Or even six months? Because a lot of times so much has changed and evolved in their business and this is allowing you to be top of mind. So again, it's not maybe having you having reminders or structure or you don't even have a repeatable process in place. So again, everything feels fragmented and there's no real structure behind it. So it doesn't matter how great or amazing a tool is or how good your strategy is, if you don't have a system built in, the problem is going to keep reoccurring and keep happening. And this is why we become so often reactive in business and why it becomes so expensive because it's not just reactive in money, but it's now our time and our energy because we're constantly like fixing these fires and not really building out that full process. And so a lot of times when something breaks, it's not actually improving the business. You're just resetting the problem over and over again until you are like, okay, I no longer want to hustle, I no longer want to like be in this energy. And you're like, I just need clarity on uh, which of these five pillars is actually leaking. And once you see that, you can start to build things one piece at a time and you don't have to overhaul everything. Yes, I get in business we want to like burn it all down and start all over again a lot of times and, or we want to quit and throw in the towel and do it all. Um, and that's a normal mindset, that's normal evolution. That's a normal thing that happens, that happens with people first day in business, that happens with people 20 years into business. It's one of those natural things. However, before we go and burn it all down or shut everything down, why don't we try to fix one piece at a time and that will allow you to start having a better operating system. Because it doesn't mean you need more softwares or more dashboards or more complicated steps. It's just you need to be able to do things in a repeatable way. So for example, saying here, let's pick one thing, right? So like let's pick one of the weakest pillars that are happening right now and not all five. Because if we're trying to do everything all at once, it's going to cause more stress, it's going to cause more friction, it's going to time, energy, finances even, right? So let's look at one thing and so maybe it's doing those follow ups or maybe it's making sure you have a consistent client deliverable. Like what is one of those things that you can work on and then from there create a simple process from it. So maybe if it's follow up, like is there a checklist? Do you have a template, is there a routine? Do you need a weekly habit of like, okay, on Friday mornings I'm going to send out my follow ups to people, or you have it in your system automated that it's going to send out on a Friday morning or a Monday morning or whatever works for you to do that follow up. And another example would be even if, say finance is something that you're wanting to and you Realize there's a pillar that needs to work. Maybe it's like every Friday morning you're opening your spreadsheet or your QuickBooks or your Wave or whatever platform you're using and you're updating your incoming, your spent expenses. That's it, that's the system. It's that simple. Guys, you're like, okay, I'm just creating that habit that this is what I'm doing every Friday I'm going in. And now you're giving that clarity, you're giving yourself that peace of mind and you're giving yourself that structure of this is what you do in your business on this day. And again, like I mentioned, even like a customer follow up, if you are sending the same messages over and over again, save that as an email sequence. So then that way every time if someone's showing interest or you're wanting to do a follow up with them, you've already got that email saved in your template and you're not having to go, oh, where was that again? Or what did I say last time? And you're searching your email for 5 minutes or 20 minutes trying to find what you had said. It's again, that simple. Step three is really using a tool that works. And a lot of times people overcomplicate this because they're like, and I have this happen all the time. People are like, well, which platform is best for me? Is it ClickUp? Is it Google Drive? Is it Asana? Is it Trello? Is it Monday? Is it notion? Like, is it Airtable? Like again, there's all the things out there, and I'm going to say this, I guess with a grain of salt, is I want you to use something that you're actually going to use. And so, you know, if it's a notes app, if it's a spreadsheet, if it's your calendar. Because at the end of the day, yes, I love ClickUp, I help all my clients with ClickUp. And yes, I'm biased to it, but I always tell this to people, is I can set up the most beautiful system and have everything amazing and organized. But if you are not going to use it and you're not going to create that habit, it does not matter how organized and how amazing it is because you're not going to use it. So it's not going to be efficient. So right now to start, I want you to create that habit. So if it is having a spreadsheet, using that spreadsheet, making sure other people that need access to it, uh, have access to it is the other disclaimer I'm going to say with this. So, again, it's wanting to create that consistency and create something that you're going to use. So, you know, at the end of the day, it's doing one pillar, one process, and one simple tool. That's it. That's basically what we're doing right now, is to really help to simplify things. We're not wanting to overcomplicate things. I just want you to feel less stressed, less chaotic, less overwhelming your business and start to create more predictable processes and then you can start to build from there. That simple. And again, it's not because most businesses are failing due to, like, lack of effort, lack of trying. It's just they haven't given themselves that moment. So again, I mentioned, you know, maybe it's Friday doing your finances, maybe it's Monday morning, you're spending 30 minutes of like, okay, what is one process, one pillar, one process, one system I can put in place to make my business easier and not feel so overwhelming and so complicated? Because again, it's not that your effort is out, it's that your structure is out. So if you take nothing away from today and what I'm sharing and is, you don't need more ideas, you don't need more tools, more courses, you don't need to be working harder. You need to understand and identify where things are breaking and start to build one system at a time. And this is how you start to have actual operations in your business. So if you love this and X episode, I'm actually going to start to go in deeper into each one of these pillars and how you can start strengthening them, uh, without overwhelming yourself or trying to fix everything at once. So stay tuned and we'll build this out step by step. And remember, your business should work with you, not because of you. I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to beyond you'd business podcast. I hope you're walking away today with clarity, ideas and the inspiration to go take action. If you love this episode, take a moment to follow the show and leave a review. It helps more women like you find their way here. Until next time, lead yourself and everyone. Everything else will follow. This podcast is produced, mixed and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co or email Mike at mikeardinalstudio. Co. You can also find the details in the show Notes.