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Need more time for your small business? SOPs could be the answer

Susan Stecker Jones

You’ve built your business with dreams, hard work, money, and sleepless nights. You have considered hiring a VA (virtual assistant) so you can focus on the bigger goals, but you worry about delegating your work. Creating written guidelines can smooth the transition and ease your concern when bringing on new contractors or employees.

Does one or more of these worries persist when you think of outsourcing work?

  • It’s just faster to do it myself. Many entrepreneurs (and parents! and managers!) feel this way about bringing in help. It’s hard to delegate, when you have developed a method that works for you and your clients.
  • Training takes too much time, and I’m already overwhelmed. Training any new team member can add to your already full plate–but if you have SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in place, your hands-on time with your team can be focused on other priorities since the basics will be built-in.
  • I don’t want quality of work to suffer. You have spent time, energy and dollars to create your business. Your customers rely on you for the quality of work you provide. How can you ensure the work (which could include graphic design, physical products, social media posts, etc) will meet your standards?

Creating guidelines helps you, too.

  • Taking time to outline different tasks might shine a light on something that can be done more efficiently.
  • Your business reflects your style. By listing your steps from start to finish on a task, you demonstrate the care and necessity of each step. And you might even find a way to make it more efficient by working though it!
  • New tools may change the way you work. When completing regular audits of your business, take the time to review your SOPs and update as needed. Your business probably isn’t static, so make sure earlier SPOs align with your current model.

You hold your business to high standards.

  • Standard Operating Procedures are an important tool in creating consistency in your business, and it’s worth taking the time to write them out and discover what’s truly important to your success.
  • Block out an hour to brainstorm this week. Challenge yourself to finding at least one necessary task you would rather not do, and outline the steps you follow to complete the work. You’re one step closer to more time!

Bonus! Virtual Assistants generally work by contract.

  • Since VAs are not employees, taxes and insurance aren’t your concern–you can contract for five hours per week, ten hours per month, or as needed! This allows more time for you to focus on why you started your business, and keep it growing.

What can you delegate next month? Time to brainstorm and find out!

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Stuck on Software

Susan Stecker Jones

So many options – how to choose?

I’m kind of a sucker for bells and whistles. I don’t need *all* the tools, but as I work on consolidating my side projects into one site to host them all, I just think about all the tools I *might* need next quarter or next year. As a result, I have previously signed up for trials of many different programs over the years.

One of the problems with this is that I haven’t learned any of the programs well enough to simplify my business. When trying out a new program, I will start using it for the particular feature I needed at the time, then fall back on more comfortable tools and cobble them together for the project. For example, I may find myself piecing together a calendar from one program with automated workflows from another, using a spreadsheet for my task checklist, and creating invoices manually in yet another space.

How do I stop this madness?

As I mentioned last week–and this may become a recurring theme–I can definitely get stuck in research mode when starting a new project. After reading up on the sites I already use, and some newer ones that also show promise, I listened to my gut (and my growing project list) and decided that I am going to dive fully into one of the programs, learning it inside out over the next quarter.

Over the next few evenings, I’ll review where I have the greatest need for focus, and then run through the sites to see which has the best fit. Once decided, I’ll dive in and continue building the framework. Luckily, all of the quality programs have great tutorials–I’ll just have to use a timer to be sure I don’t get stuck in the research rabbit hole this time.

Thanks for reading. Cheers to being decisive!

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Jumping in!

Susan Stecker Jones

Over the past few years, I’ve really started to notice how my expectations set my experience. I won’t go all woo-woo about setting intentions and bringing things to life, but I do believe that when you’re looking for something, good or bad, it will become apparent.

I was house-hunting for over a year during the pandemic, but none of the houses or apartments matched my needs or budget. When the right house was finally available, things just fell into place and it’s a perfect fit.

When I decided to commit to launching my freelance business in September 2022, I found great inspiration in a couple of new-to-me podcasts. Through one of those, I came across a course designed just for someone like me – a mom, working full time, looking to add extra income and start building my own success story. I bought the class and dove in for weeks of study, design, and planning. It was energizing!

I started my LLC in October and began to update this website and social media to make my first proposals. During that time, my local writers group had an in-person meeting and I was able to meet with the executive director and mentioned that I was launching a VA/freelance business. Within days, I was asked if I would be interested in a volunteer editor in chief position for the group’s literary journal. I’ve never taken on a project like this, but it aligned with my new venture and I couldn’t say no! What an opportunity, to learn new project management software, work with a dedicated team and follow/develop SOPs, and have a concrete goal with a target end date.

Now it’s December 2022. Having been on the EIC project now for about two months, I have an idea of the time I need to budget for that project, and I’m ready to add more clients. It’s an exciting time, and I’m looking forward to growing this business in 2023.

What are your business goals? Personal goals? Do you feel like you have too many tasks to do, keeping you from the work you love? Let’s set up a call and see what I can take off your To-Do list!