0:00

Hey everyone. And welcome back to yet. Another episode I'm so excited because

0:01

today we are talking all about systems

0:05

and a really important thing that I

0:05

think a lot of people want the answer

0:08

to, which is Alyssa, how do I identify

0:08

what needs to be worked on first?

0:12

Or what is the biggest. And most needed thing that needs to

0:14

get fixed right now in the company.

0:18

Because if you're anything like anybody

0:18

else here, Everybody is pulling out

0:21

their hair, trying to be in 15 million

0:21

parts of their business, trying to fix

0:25

everything at one time, instead of really

0:25

focusing heavily on one area that might

0:29

need the biggest attention for you. That might be sales for you.

0:32

That might be your onboarding process. That might be that you really need a team,

0:34

but maybe you're just like, what comes

0:37

first chicken before the egg, like we

0:37

all these questions that we might have.

0:41

So if that's you, then this episode is

0:41

going to be absolutely perfect for you.

0:44

There are some very strategic and

0:44

logistical steps that are going to

0:47

be providing for you in this episode. So I really do recommend that either

0:49

you listen in on the first time around

0:53

just to kind of get the concept, then

0:53

come back and take notes, or even just

0:56

like check out the blog that comes

0:56

with this podcast, which you can go

0:59

to workflow, queen.com, backslash

0:59

podcast, and search for this episode.

1:03

And we, you should have this written down. There are some visuals that you

1:04

might want to reference as well.

1:07

That will also be included

1:07

in the blog for you guys.

1:10

If you need to actually go and

1:10

like look at it, but in today's.

1:12

Episode really my intention is

1:12

to help you to identify the four

1:15

different quadrants all the business. With the certain systems.

1:18

And then each core process in

1:18

every single firm that I see.

1:22

All the different processes in each

1:22

quadrant, and I'm going to help

1:24

you to identify what quadrant of

1:24

the business to really focus on.

1:28

So maybe that might be your

1:28

client systems and then what core

1:30

process you need to work on and my

1:30

recommendations to getting an automated.

1:34

Documenting it in my step-by-step process

1:34

for me to identify what I need to fix in

1:39

the company and how I actually do that.

1:42

So it's going to be perfect for you

1:42

if you love the logistics and you love

1:45

to hear the strategic step-by-step in

1:45

this episode is going to be for you.

1:49

And it is such a freaking game changer. And I absolutely love this topic.

2:47

Hey everyone. And welcome back. So in today's podcast episode, I really

2:48

wanted to just deep dive into what

2:52

I like to call world-class systems. And this is usually something that

2:54

we cover a lot inside of my group

2:57

coaching program, breakthrough. And also it's something that I, teach

2:59

actually on our day three of our power

3:03

to break through boot camp that we

3:03

typically host maybe once or twice a year.

3:07

And so I felt like I was being called

3:07

to really have this conversation with

3:10

all of you guys about what to really

3:10

focus on first, because I know this

3:14

feeling just as much as you do of like,

3:14

oh my gosh, what do I work on first?

3:18

Is it the sales? Is it the marketing? Is it the onboarding?

3:20

Is it the cleanup process? Like what do I need to really work on?

3:23

Especially as your business is scaling. And as, you are continuously growing.

3:27

You'll naturally find that like you're

3:27

almost spread even more thin that it's

3:31

really hard for you to get clear on. Like where do I really need to start to

3:33

revamping my systems or to fix things

3:37

in the business or to fix the problems.

3:40

And I get this a lot, and this is

3:40

one of the big reasons why, like,

3:43

when people join breakthrough,

3:43

I do a strategy call with them.

3:46

And that's mostly to just really hear

3:46

what is going on in the business,

3:50

because what you think is the problem

3:50

may not actually be the real problem.

3:54

There might be something underneath that. There might be something that

3:55

really needs your attention.

3:58

Maybe you really want something to

3:58

be your attention, but rarely there's

4:00

something over here that's breaking. And so today, really my whole

4:02

goal is to help you to understand

4:05

exactly where to begin when it

4:05

comes to revamping your systems.

4:08

And so that's really what the focus is today. And I think this is just going

4:11

to give you a lot of clarity.

4:13

So I do recommend that you come back,

4:13

listen to it later, or even read the blog.

4:17

You can actually totally read our blog. If you go to workflow,

4:19

queen.com backslash podcast.

4:22

And search for this episode. We will typically have this

4:23

written out for you as well.

4:25

So that way, if you want to come

4:25

back to it and have like notes from

4:28

us, and then you could take your own notes because there's a lot of great information from today.

4:32

My end goal, for most people who come into

4:32

my world, especially as we've like really

4:37

started to really push a breakthrough,

4:37

because I truly believe that we've created

4:42

an end all be all program for scaling

4:42

firms that are just like ready to let go

4:47

and to become what I call a removable CEO.

4:49

And a lot of people were always like, oh

4:49

my gosh, like, what is this removable CEO?

4:53

So a removable CEO in my eyes,

4:53

and it can look different for you.

4:56

Everybody will have a different

4:56

theory of what it is and that's okay,

4:59

because it's all based off your. Our goals and based off what you want.

5:02

But for me, a removable

5:02

CEO is someone who.

5:04

In my business does not

5:04

need to be there, but yet.

5:08

If I decide not to be there,

5:08

the company could still operate.

5:11

I could still make money and all

5:11

the clients are well taken care of.

5:15

Your idea of removable CEO

5:15

might look different for you.

5:18

Maybe it's that. I don't know, maybe some family

5:19

member or friend has been in the

5:22

hospital and you want to make sure

5:22

that you could be there at present.

5:25

And not have to worry about the

5:25

business, but still be making money.

5:28

And so you have to determine what your

5:28

removable CEO is, but I really want

5:32

to get people to a place where your

5:32

work optional inside of your business,

5:36

that you do not have to be there. And this is one of the big ways to

5:37

do that is by first understanding

5:41

what's wrong in the business. So we know what to tackle and

5:42

then eventually training your team

5:45

to also identify these things,

5:45

to help you tackle these things.

5:47

But before we could become that

5:47

removable CEO, that work optional

5:51

business owner, you really need to

5:51

have the right systems, the team,

5:54

the offers, and the mindset in place. And so today we're going to dive

5:56

headfirst into the system side of things.

6:00

So before we dive into like the meat

6:00

and potatoes of the whole entire

6:04

lesson here, that's going to be from

6:04

this podcast episode is I really

6:07

want to just kind of lay it down. How do you know if your systems

6:09

aren't even working for you?

6:11

So you might be saying like,

6:11

I'm getting by, it's fine.

6:14

Everything's good. Everything's still gets done.

6:16

Month end still happens. And that's okay.

6:18

But I think that really just

6:18

taking a step back and saying,

6:21

am I working constantly still? Like, if you find yourself like working

6:23

a lot of hours, more hours, at least, and

6:26

you want, let's just say you work 20 hours

6:26

and you really only want to be working 10.

6:30

Then that might mean that there's an

6:30

issue with the system or issue with the

6:32

process and the way that you're doing

6:32

things, you might not be making the money

6:36

that you need to where you're in this

6:36

constant vicious cycle of needing to

6:39

see like, increase your, client's rates. But you're just like scared to do it.

6:43

And I see this a lot in the industry

6:43

because trust me inside a breakthrough,

6:46

we do these like hallmark reviews. And in the homework or views

6:47

in the optimized offers module.

6:51

the students are able to submit

6:51

all their homework for review.

6:54

And one of those pieces of homework is to submit. How much time they're spending on their

6:56

clients, their direct cost to the client,

6:59

are they even profitable per client? And I could tell you that on average,

7:01

when people start with us in breakthrough,

7:04

on average, they're undercharging. And then by the time they get

7:06

through breakthrough, they're at a

7:08

point where they've price increase. Now they're charging what they're worth.

7:11

And it's so incredible to watch. But one thing I will say is that if you

7:13

feel like you're not making enough money

7:16

for the effort you're putting in, then

7:16

maybe there's something wrong with the

7:19

systems or wrong with the pricing or

7:19

wrong with the, whatever that looks like.

7:22

Right. And you might not be able

7:23

to deliver for your clients.

7:25

So what I mean by. This is, this could be things

7:26

like how do I say this?

7:30

You're just drowning in the work. And like, at the end of the day,

7:32

it's, you're dropping the ball,

7:34

something's falling through the cracks. Like you're really overwhelmed.

7:37

So things kind of happening. And also maybe you're doing just fine

7:38

with delivering under clients, but

7:41

there's so much more that you want to

7:41

implement, have better client experience

7:44

systems, be able to like actually

7:44

have the time to send gifts to clients

7:48

when they start to onboard with you. There's a lot of different

7:50

things that could be happening. And if any of those three things are like

7:52

something that you could check off, then

7:55

maybe your systems aren't working for you. So a couple of common mistakes I see

7:57

bookkeepers make when it comes to

8:00

systems is they hire people who are

8:00

bookkeepers that don't know their clients.

8:04

So you're just like, kind of going

8:04

out there and just saying, well,

8:07

someone understands bookkeeping, so

8:07

they should just be able to jump right

8:09

into my business and know everything. It doesn't matter if he even hired

8:11

me, who has years of experience

8:14

has been running multiple firms? If you hired me into your business.

8:17

Yes. I know bookkeeping and I know

8:17

the logistics of it, but I don't

8:20

know how your business operates. I don't know how you like it.

8:23

Your specific ways of doing things. I see a lot of bookkeepers claiming

8:25

to be the person doing everything.

8:27

So clients are caught off guard when

8:27

they end up working with a team.

8:30

And this is really normal. I'm sure that you're not the only one

8:31

here listening, or if maybe you've done

8:34

a great job of finally letting that go.

8:36

But it's really common that when

8:36

we first start our business, we

8:38

don't know that we're going to end

8:38

up hiring or bring on maybe a team.

8:41

Member, and that doesn't need to

8:41

be like 10 people on your team.

8:43

It can literally mean like one person that

8:43

your client has to also interact with.

8:47

And we all have the tendency to say

8:47

, but I really recommend that you start

8:52

changing your verbiage to we, we, we,

8:52

and this is where it's super crucial,

8:56

even on your website, in your copy and

8:56

the way that you're sending emails.

8:59

Like we really appreciate the time that

8:59

you're going to spend with our team.

9:02

Like use those words, even if you don't

9:02

have them, because I promise you, if

9:05

you eventually have to hire, you're

9:05

going to wish that you said that before,

9:09

because clients do get caught off guard

9:09

when they're like, oh, well, I thought

9:11

I've just been working with Sally Sue. No, you're actually working

9:13

with Sally Sue now and team.

9:16

And so sometimes that's why clients

9:16

have a resistance to let it go.

9:19

But I see this a lot where, like,

9:19

we don't do that from the beginning.

9:22

So if you're listening at the

9:22

beginning stages start saying, we team.

9:25

Make you look bigger than you actually

9:25

are, because you don't want to be

9:28

in a position one day where like

9:28

now you have to introduce it to the

9:30

client and they're resisting it. Right. Another common mistake I see is that a lot

9:32

of bookkeepers constantly switch softwares

9:36

when the software isn't the issue. This is so huge inside of

9:37

my breakthrough program.

9:41

I see this all the time, because

9:41

in breakthrough, like we really

9:43

holistically focus on like the

9:43

process and not necessarily the direct

9:48

software that would solve the process. We do have like bonuses and stuff that

9:50

like solve certain software processes.

9:54

But the reason I say that is because

9:54

like, I'll give you a great example.

9:58

One of our breakthrough students

9:58

recently was talking about switching

10:01

over from click up where she houses

10:01

her SLPs over to notion because she

10:06

was hoping that the notion set up that

10:06

we give and set a breakthrough was

10:09

going to solve her problem of the SLPs.

10:12

And so I just kind of like was

10:12

on a call with her and I was

10:14

like, let me see your click up.

10:16

Let me see what you have going on

10:16

with where you're storing your SOP is.

10:19

And I looked at it and I said,

10:19

honestly, it's not the software.

10:22

That's the problem. The problem is everything's really messy.

10:26

It's hard for you to search

10:26

it's it's really clunky.

10:29

And I was just giving her tips and advice. And at the end of that call, she was

10:31

like, oh my God, I actually, you just

10:34

saved me so much time and money to

10:34

not have to hire someone, to switch

10:37

me over to notion where I thought

10:37

notion was going to solve the problem.

10:40

And really all I need to do is

10:40

clean things up inside of click up.

10:43

And so I, I go to say that where I see

10:43

this all the time people would go, I

10:47

want to switch to keeper because it's

10:47

going to be like, everybody's hyped

10:50

up on it and I'm just gonna do it. And it's gonna solve all my problems.

10:53

Or I'm going to move to a sauna and

10:53

it's going to solve all my problems.

10:56

And I hear this all the time. It's not the software that's

10:57

going to solve your problem.

11:00

It's the process, the

11:00

deep internal process.

11:03

That you've set the tone for in

11:03

your business that needs to then

11:06

be implemented in the software. If a sauna crashed today, I could

11:08

switch to click up if click up and

11:12

Asana crash, I could switch to XenX. If all three of those

11:13

crash, I can go to Keeper.

11:16

My processes are so solid

11:16

that it doesn't matter.

11:19

The software that I use, it's

11:19

just a different softwares allowed

11:22

me different bells and whistles

11:22

that maybe a different software

11:24

doesn't have a capability of doing. And so really, I just want you to

11:26

think about like the core system

11:29

that needs to be fixed and then the

11:29

software can help you amplify that.

11:33

Right. Another big common mistake I see is

11:33

that a lot of bookkeepers don't have the

11:37

knowledge behind some of these things. And so what I mean by that is

11:38

like the knowledge around, like,

11:41

how do I logistically increase

11:41

my prices for my clients?

11:44

How do I logistically like document

11:44

my processes or identify what's work?

11:48

What needs to be focused on next or.

11:52

How do I even hire or how do I

11:52

fire someone, all those things.

11:55

And so it's just time to get

11:55

more educated on those things.

11:58

And that can come from support groups. It could be from things like my program

12:00

like breakthrough, if you've been

12:03

interested in breakthrough, like just

12:03

know you can always hop on a console with

12:06

me, explain where you're at in business. And then we can decide if it's a

12:07

really good fit for you or not.

12:10

And I'll drop a link for a consult call

12:10

for breakthrough, but then there's also

12:14

other programs there's masterminds. There's ways that you can just

12:16

do your own market research or

12:19

your own research in general. Read up on things, learn systems, learn

12:20

processes, listen to YouTube videos.

12:24

Continue listening to the podcast

12:24

because I give a lot of processes gear.

12:28

And so I think it's time that like,

12:28

we do these things to like educate

12:31

ourselves, but also to let go of

12:31

allowing someone else to implement.

12:35

And so for me, like I'm just at

12:35

a position in my business where

12:37

like I no longer desire, like

12:37

learning a crap ton of things.

12:41

I actually really prefer hiring team

12:41

members that will learn those things,

12:44

document them and then implement them.

12:46

And so like my recommendation is

12:46

just like, get educated on how to

12:50

do those things, how to outsource

12:50

to someone who's going to do that.

12:53

Or even for you to take it over,

12:53

whatever that looks like now, the

12:56

big mistake I see from bookkeepers. Hers is they overcomplicate everything.

12:58

This is normal. This is my life. Like literally every day.

13:01

I over-complicate everything. And it's totally normal.

13:05

And I just want you guys to give

13:05

yourself some grace that like, if

13:08

that's how you need to operate,

13:08

then you need to operate that way.

13:10

But at the same time, I think the

13:10

more that my business has grown.

13:14

The more, I realize that more

13:14

easy and more flow is way

13:17

better than over complication. We've all, over-complicated a software,

13:19

we've all overcomplicated the process.

13:23

We've all overcomplicated. So many different areas of

13:24

our business and like really.

13:27

Just not looking at things like

13:27

holistically and high level.

13:32

Like when we take the emotions out

13:32

of things that we take a step back,

13:35

it's easier for us to make decisions. And I think that's another really big

13:36

reason why community is so amazing in

13:40

certain programs or with other people,

13:40

because you could say, Hey guys, this

13:44

is my problem for someone else to

13:44

look at it, to say, you know what?

13:48

Here's a simple solution because we're

13:48

so emotionally tied to everything.

13:51

So we got, that's the reason why we

13:51

tend to overcomplicate, but let's try to

13:55

make things easier, clearer and faster.

13:57

And the last mistake I see a

13:57

lot for bookkeepers is they're

14:00

too reliant on technology. And what I mean by this is I love tech.

14:04

You could see my tech stack. You can go to workflow queen.com

14:05

backslash tech dash stack, and you'll

14:10

actually see my whole entire tech stack.

14:12

And you will see that I do have a

14:12

lot of different pieces of tech and

14:15

software that I use inside the business,

14:15

but what I mean by this is that.

14:20

If all these things crashed, would you

14:20

actually know how to do the process?

14:25

Manually. This is what I mean by that is that

14:26

we're so reliant on those things that

14:30

like, if all of that was taken away,

14:30

would you still be able to manually

14:34

deliver on all of your processes? Because it shouldn't matter the

14:36

software or the tech that you use,

14:39

it matters the bells and whistles

14:39

that are going to help you move more

14:41

efficiently with what you implement. So let's talk about what systems are,

14:43

because I think I get this common

14:46

misconception in the industry that

14:46

like, Systems equal software and

14:50

that's not the truth systems can be

14:50

people, for example, it could be your

14:53

team, like the system of your team. Your system can also be tools

14:55

like efficiency tools is what

14:58

I like to call them inside of

14:58

breakthrough decision trees, process

15:01

maps, SLPs, so on and so forth.

15:04

And then also like your system could be

15:04

like your internal operations, like, and

15:08

I just want to give you guys a different

15:08

perspective that your systems could

15:11

be so much more than just the software

15:11

and that could be people, softwares

15:16

strategies, resources communicate the

15:16

way that you communicate as a system.

15:20

Your information as a system execution,

15:20

monitor and management, and so

15:24

much more, it's not just the tech.

15:27

So let's take a step back. If you can grab a notebook or come back

15:28

and listen to this piece, because this

15:31

is how we're going to start identifying

15:31

and diving into where do I learn

15:34

to focus on first in the business? So I like to kind of separate out the

15:36

business into four different what I

15:40

like to call quadrants of the company.

15:42

So you've got your sales and marketing

15:42

systems, your client's systems,

15:45

operation systems, and team systems.

15:48

So those are your main four

15:48

quadrants of the business.

15:51

And so essentially what I want you

15:51

guys to think about is the system

15:56

encompasses a set of processes

15:56

that should really work together to

15:59

create a better client experience

15:59

and to help you scale the business.

16:02

So the system is like the all encompassing

16:02

of a certain area of the business.

16:06

So, great example, it could be your client

16:06

systems, your client's systems are gonna

16:10

include things like your onboarding.

16:13

It's gonna include your

16:13

cleanup, your 10 99 process.

16:15

So on and so forth. While process is what

16:17

lives within that system.

16:20

And there are a series of steps

16:20

or actions that need to be

16:22

taken to get a specific outcome. Onboarding is a great example.

16:26

If you're onboarding a team member,

16:26

then that would be your team

16:28

systems, because that's your team. And then your process is going

16:30

to be onboarding team members.

16:34

The process would be, you know, hiring

16:34

on identifying feature hires is part

16:39

of your team systems while in your

16:39

clean client systems, it might be

16:42

cleanups or whatever that looks like. So let's talk about the core

16:44

processes within each system.

16:47

So these are processes that I'd love

16:47

for you to kind of focus on we as firms.

16:52

Don't have to make it super complicated

16:52

to have like 20 plus processes.

16:57

You could really have a good solid,

16:57

like nine to 10 processes or eight

17:02

to 10 processes in the business. And it worked perfectly fine.

17:05

So I'm going to give you an idea of

17:05

like a typical from what processes

17:09

you would have it in place for

17:09

each quadrant of the business.

17:12

So the first quadrant is the

17:12

sales and marketing systems.

17:14

So the sales and marketing systems

17:14

should include your sales process.

17:18

And your marketing process. So in that system, you should

17:19

typically only have two now.

17:24

It let's just say that you

17:24

offer diagnostic reviews as

17:26

part of your sales process. Then you can always have like a

17:28

diagnostic review process as well.

17:31

And that's where you're going to start

17:31

getting more granular based off what

17:33

you need inside of your business. But then some of you might

17:35

not do like a big diagnostic.

17:38

It takes two seconds. And maybe you just put it a

17:39

part of your sales process.

17:41

You get to make that decision in the business. The next quadrant is a client systems.

17:46

And so this is where the processes that

17:46

will be encompassed in the client systems

17:49

are gonna be your onboarding process,

17:49

cleanup process, bookkeeping, maintenance

17:53

process, quality control process, 10 99

17:53

process, and then the year end process.

17:58

And like I said, if you offer like

17:58

taxes and you would have a tax process,

18:02

so you're gonna have to add the

18:02

additional processes, but it makes it

18:05

easier when you start outlining these

18:05

things into four different buckets.

18:09

Of the major systems of all

18:09

the different processes.

18:13

The next systems. Quadrant is going to be the

18:14

operation systems in this system.

18:18

You're going to have these types

18:18

of processes, project management,

18:21

client experience, team experience,

18:21

documentation management.

18:24

That's like a full process. Your vacation, emergency process,

18:26

your finance process, and you can

18:30

add whatever else makes sense for you

18:30

that would live within your operations

18:33

to be able to like execute the work. The next quadrant and the last

18:36

quadrant is the team systems.

18:38

And this is going to include your hiring

18:38

process, onboarding process for your team.

18:42

Your team maintenance process that can

18:42

include things like your performance

18:46

reviews, KPIs, so on and so forth.

18:49

Your education process as well. So we put that inside of our team systems.

18:53

So now that you know, the four

18:53

quadrants of the business and the core

18:56

processes that live in each of those

18:56

quadrants, here's your action plan of

18:59

how to actually identify what is the

18:59

biggest issue in the company right now?

19:03

And I want you to then focus on like

19:03

now, how do I like fix these things?

19:07

Right. So first things first is number one.

19:10

You're going to identify the core

19:10

system that needs to be fixed.

19:12

So remember, there's four

19:12

systems in the business.

19:15

So we have the sales and marketing

19:15

system, client system, operation

19:18

systems, and team systems. I want you to take a step back

19:20

and really sit with yourself

19:24

and ask yourself the question. Of those four businesses don't think any

19:26

deeper, just have the high level sales

19:30

and marketing operations, client or team. What is your biggest problem?

19:35

What's the biggest. We're not saying that in your mind,

19:36

you're going to be like Alyssa.

19:38

Well, every single quadrant has a problem. Of course, there's always going to

19:40

be goods and bads in every quadrant.

19:44

But what I want you to really think

19:44

through is if you were to say, this is

19:49

the biggest problem area in the business

19:49

right now, which one would it be?

19:53

So I'll just give you a

19:53

really great example for us.

19:56

In my business, what we're really, really

19:56

working on right now is client systems.

20:00

If I were to pick out which one's

20:00

the biggest problem area in my

20:03

own firm, it's client systems. And I know exactly what process of that

20:06

system, but that's like a step ahead.

20:10

So my first thing is client systems

20:10

and the reason why client systems is a

20:14

big focus for me and my firm right now. Is because we are trying to pass off

20:15

more cleanup, more of the cleanup

20:20

process to our internal team because

20:20

we actually contract out all of

20:24

our cleanups to someone specific.

20:27

And I absolutely love that because

20:27

we don't have to manage the process.

20:29

They do it all. And then they just give us the

20:30

deliverables, which is super amazing.

20:34

But we are trying to train up our team

20:34

more on our own internal cleanup process.

20:38

So that way we can outsource that within

20:38

our team, when our person that we contract

20:43

to, as it may be busy and so on that's why

20:43

the client system is one of my big focuses

20:46

right now because the cleanup process is

20:46

what we're trying to nail down right now.

21:57

So step two is to identify the

21:57

core process requiring attention.

22:00

So I kind of already skipped over

22:00

to step two in my own example.

22:03

So first you're going to pick your system. So mine is the client's systems.

22:05

That's my biggest problem area. And then my process that we really want to

22:07

focus on right now is a cleanup process.

22:12

Does it mean that my quality control

22:12

process could probably be like tweaked and

22:16

some other things could be added to it. Of course.

22:18

Could my 10 99 process also be edited and

22:18

fixed, of course, but is that my priority?

22:24

No. The cleanup process is my number one

22:24

priority right now, but it doesn't mean

22:29

that we can't also work on other things.

22:31

So I just want to get you

22:31

to give yourself that grace.

22:33

A lot of stuff I see in this industry

22:33

is most people have an issue in the

22:36

client systems and their biggest

22:36

core process issue is onboarding.

22:40

And so I would really consider

22:40

like, picking out what process

22:44

makes the most sense for you. Like I said, you could read. The blog that comes with this

22:46

podcast for you to like, visualize

22:49

what we're talking about. So if yours is the onboarding process,

22:50

and like I've said a million times,

22:53

your onboarding process and your cleanup

22:53

process are two different processes.

22:56

I can't tell you how many times

22:56

I've seen people who onboard their

23:00

clients and think that onboarding is

23:00

also cleaning up the client's books.

23:03

Onboarding is for one to hold it,

23:03

like my assistant can onboard.

23:07

And that's what she does. She is our on-boarder.

23:09

She gets the client's information

23:09

and details ready to go.

23:12

Then as soon as they are fully

23:12

onboarded after two weeks, and they're

23:15

moved into the cleanup process. So number one was to identify the

23:16

core system that needs to be fixing.

23:21

And then identify the core process

23:21

requiring the most attention.

23:24

Like I said, you're going to have

23:24

problems in a lot of different areas

23:27

in different processes, but we're

23:27

looking for the most important one.

23:31

Number three is to plan to work

23:31

on it for at least one quarter.

23:33

And so this is where a lot of people get

23:33

really tripped up and they're like, I

23:37

have to work on this for three months, my

23:37

freaking onboarding, like what the heck?

23:41

Why do I have to work on this for so long? It's because like, if you

23:43

get it done earlier, cool.

23:45

You get it done earlier. Awesome. But the thing is you would be

23:47

really surprised how overly

23:50

ambitious all of us are because I'm

23:50

preaching to the choir over here.

23:54

For myself, like, cause this is my life. But my, my recommendation that

23:56

the reason why it's a quarter is

23:59

because life happens, seasons happen.

24:01

Things just don't go the way that

24:01

we want it to in the business.

24:05

You might land new clients. So I give myself intentionally

24:06

one quarter, so three months to

24:09

really work on that core process. So right now I think our quarter, like,

24:11

cause it's not like based off the quarters

24:15

of the years, like the strategic, like Q1,

24:15

Q2, it's like three months and whatever.

24:19

I started the process. So I think we started our

24:20

cleanup one in February.

24:24

So it'd be February, March, April. Apperal so by the end of April, we

24:25

should have our cleanup stuff like

24:29

completed because not only am I

24:29

documenting everything, but we're also

24:32

like automating things, setting up like

24:32

the master chart of accounts, template,

24:37

like things like that, the things that

24:37

we're going to need for cleanup process.

24:39

Right. So one quarter is a pretty solid amount

24:40

of time to really heavily focus on

24:44

that one process that you identified. So like if yours is onboarding, then for

24:46

one quarter, you're focused on onboarding.

24:50

That means documenting it, automating

24:50

it, creating resources, the templates

24:54

that you're going to need for the

24:54

onboarding, the outsourcing of

24:56

the tasks and so on and so forth. And so the reason I kind of bring

24:58

that up is because I think a lot

25:01

of people get tripped up here. And they just are like, oh my God, I do.

25:04

I just want it done now. Like we would all love to have it done

25:05

now, but even if you hired someone to do

25:09

it right now, there would still need to be

25:09

testing and so much that needs to go on.

25:13

And like I said, during that one

25:13

quarter doesn't mean that you need

25:15

to not focus on anything else. It doesn't mean that you're not also

25:17

allowed to fix some things in your.

25:20

You know, in your team systems, it doesn't

25:20

mean that it just means that this is

25:24

going to be your number one focal point.

25:27

So step four is to process map

25:27

using tools like Myro or Canva.

25:31

So I'll explain process mapping as easily

25:31

as I can, because I'm not going to deep

25:35

dive into that here on this episode, I'm

25:35

sure I have plenty of blogs and resources

25:39

and podcasts episodes talking about this. Also, we teach this concept inside of

25:41

breakthrough as well for our students

25:45

process mapping is essentially allowing

25:45

yourself to like, imagine you're looking

25:49

at a whiteboard in your office and you

25:49

take sticky notes and you put the sticky

25:52

notes on the whiteboard, and then you

25:52

have arrows that you're drawing from.

25:56

One sticky note to the next sticky

25:56

note and each of those sticky notes,

25:59

you fill out the steps in order

25:59

for you to like execute a process.

26:03

So let's just say it's onboarding

26:03

is your process and the

26:05

process is on the whiteboard. You've got a sticky note for step one.

26:09

Step one is to, you know, send, send

26:09

the client like the form for them to

26:13

fill out, to get information from them. Then maybe step two is you

26:15

guys are creating a last

26:19

pass folder for this client. So then you're taking like this

26:20

whiteboard, but this is like where we

26:24

do it virtually with Myra and Canva. Essentially virtually you could like,

26:26

you know, point little arrows and

26:29

things to the different sticky notes

26:29

and you could do this on a whiteboard.

26:32

I've done it on a wall before

26:32

I have totally done it.

26:34

Whiteboard virtual, whatever

26:34

works for you, but it allows

26:37

you to visually map out. And the reason why I say sticky notes

26:39

is because you can easily pick up the

26:41

sticky notes and kind of move them around. On the whiteboard and like

26:43

erase and re point the arrows.

26:47

'cause a lot of people just like

26:47

to go straight to like documenting

26:51

verbally all the different processes.

26:53

And then they get really overwhelmed

26:53

because they're staring at a blank slate.

26:56

So like when I'm able to process, map it

26:56

out, it allows me to like really visually.

27:01

See, like the steps of the process

27:01

and easily move things around

27:04

without first documenting it. If that makes sense.

27:07

And inside the blog will also

27:07

include screenshots because I've

27:10

got some screenshots for you guys

27:10

on like what that process mapping

27:12

actually looks like as well. So step five is to create

27:14

tasks and document the process.

27:17

So after you've kind of mapped it out

27:17

visually to see high level, like, okay,

27:21

these are the steps of us to go from point

27:21

a to point B when it comes to onboarding.

27:26

Then the next thing that you're going

27:26

to do is like, if you're using a project

27:28

management system, for me, it's a sauna. We then will create the actual

27:31

project in a sauna for onboarding.

27:35

So that way we have a template. And essentially what we do is we

27:36

create these different tasks and stuff.

27:40

And instead of kickoff with a sauna,

27:40

we actually give you all of these

27:43

processes like inside of kickoff for

27:43

the sauna inside of our template.

27:47

So I'll drop the link to that program as well. But inside of kickoff with

27:49

the sauna, we have those like

27:51

already like laid out for you. And so essentially what you're

27:53

gonna do is now put the tasks

27:56

and document the process. And the documentation is really where

27:58

now you're getting into the granular.

28:01

Now you're getting into the nitty gritty

28:01

of things where first you were process

28:05

mapping high level, and then now we're

28:05

looking at, okay, well, step one is

28:09

to send the Google form to the client. For to them to upload information

28:12

and get us details for onboarding.

28:16

Then now we need to know, well now

28:16

what are the steps to doing that?

28:19

What is the Google form? That we actually need to

28:21

be sending to the client.

28:23

So now maybe you need to

28:23

be creating a Google form.

28:25

To be able to send to the

28:25

clients so on and so forth.

28:28

Number six is manual

28:28

execution of the work.

28:30

So this is where you guys are

28:30

going to actually start testing it.

28:33

This is why like the three month

28:33

period, like it takes a while.

28:36

Because the next time that you

28:36

onboard, if your issue is onboarding

28:39

process, Then you're going to

28:39

now manually execute everything.

28:43

Whenever you have a new client, that's

28:43

onboarding, you guys are now going to

28:46

go in and start actually like following

28:46

the steps that you've documenting,

28:49

looking at your process map, you're

28:49

going to find that you miss some steps.

28:52

So now let's go edit it. Let's go find Ways to fix it

28:53

or make it ways to make it

28:55

faster and so on and so forth. The next step, which is step

28:57

seven, is to identify areas

29:00

of automation and improvement. So for example, once you start to manually

29:02

do something that you'd like documented,

29:06

you started putting into place. And you guys are just like

29:08

executing it and whatnot.

29:11

This is where you're going to start looking at like, okay, so we've got this Google form.

29:15

And you know, that we send off

29:15

to the client when they're, when

29:17

we're onboarding them to ask

29:17

them for important information.

29:20

Is there a way that we can automate that. So that way, like when someone signs

29:22

a contract end up Sato, It then

29:25

automatically sends out a form or maybe

29:25

we don't even have to use an automation.

29:29

Maybe we just switch our

29:29

forms to dub Sato forms.

29:32

If we're already like signing

29:32

the contract to dub Sato.

29:35

Why not have them automatically send

29:35

out a form that's within DUP Sato.

29:39

So this is where you're

29:39

starting to talk to your team.

29:41

Or if it's just you, you could talk to yourself. Cause I do that all the time.

29:44

Or if you're in like a group or a

29:44

community, you could start, you know,

29:47

bouncing these ideas off other people. Inside a breakthrough people bring these

29:49

discussions to our coworking sessions.

29:53

That way you guys can see the areas

29:53

of opportunities, but I find a big

29:57

mistake that a lot of bookkeepers

29:57

and accountants make is that.

30:00

They try to automate before

30:00

understanding the manual process.

30:03

And so this is like a big trip

30:03

up because people are like,

30:06

well, I can't figure it out. Like, I don't know how to

30:07

automate is because like, you're

30:09

trying to automate something. You don't even know if

30:10

it's like your process.

30:12

Right? So we're going to start looking at

30:13

areas of opportunity improvements,

30:16

and then automations as well. During that step, step eight

30:18

is to implement the changes.

30:20

So as you're doing the execution of

30:20

the work, you've mapped things out.

30:24

You're starting to. You know, automate things and make

30:25

some improvements with some steps

30:27

around and, you know, start creating

30:27

assets that allow for it to go quicker.

30:31

So for example, if it's your cleanup

30:31

process, you're focusing on that.

30:34

Maybe you want to create like a

30:34

template master chart of accounts.

30:37

That's something that we did at our firm. And it just helps us

30:39

in the cleanup process.

30:41

Now it works faster. And that's like, it's not automation.

30:44

That's like us just creating

30:44

a manual asset that we can use

30:48

to help us like work faster.

30:50

And so how can we template things? Can we template the emails?

30:53

Can we template the projects, the

30:53

tasks, the assets, the things, the

30:57

folders, the automation using Zapier,

30:57

like whatever that looks like.

31:01

So this is where you're really doing

31:01

like the deep diving of change.

31:04

And so that's why I always say

31:04

three months is perfect because

31:07

it's like the first month you

31:07

might be focusing on working on.

31:10

Mapping out your process, documenting

31:10

it, and then like month two, you're

31:14

like practicing it, like in the sense

31:14

of like every next time someone's

31:17

being onboarded, you're, you're,

31:17

you're testing it so on and so forth.

31:21

And then month three is like,

31:21

let's implement some changes.

31:23

Let's automate, let's improve. Right. And then the last step is to test

31:25

the process and make adjustments.

31:28

So everything is all about. Adjusting tweaking.

31:31

And like I said, even if you're

31:31

not like, if my core focus, because

31:34

like I said, my core focus is. Our cleanup process for my firm.

31:38

It doesn't mean that I can't

31:38

also fix my hiring process.

31:41

Like I'm literally in the

31:41

middle of hiring a personal and

31:44

executive assistant for myself. And of course I'm tweaking my hiring

31:46

process, but my main focal point, the

31:51

thing I'm talking to my team about. Is the cleanup process.

31:54

We're getting on like collaborative

31:54

meetings together and so on and so forth.

31:58

And one thing I'd really recommend for you. That's really helped me a lot is

31:59

to create a simple Google doc.

32:02

And I want you to name it, like

32:02

whatever your process is that

32:05

you're working on for that quarter. So if yours is onboarding process,

32:06

a simple Google doc that just

32:10

says onboarding process, I want

32:10

you to bookmark it on your Chrome

32:13

or whatever browser you're using. The reason why I say that is we have like

32:15

three different areas on that Google doc.

32:20

And it's simple. Like it's nothing complicated,

32:21

three different areas. It has the good, the bad, the ideas.

32:25

And essentially all you're doing is that

32:25

while you're working on a certain process,

32:29

what I really recommend is that like,

32:29

as you're onboarding, let's just say the

32:32

next time you're onboarding your clients. You're not going to have time to go

32:34

fix the process right away when you're

32:37

in the middle of doing the work. But if you have this, like, Document

32:38

bookmark on your tab, you can open it

32:42

up and say maybe one of the bad things

32:42

was the automation didn't go through.

32:46

So just quickly jot down. Automation between Zapier and dub Sato.

32:50

And the Google form didn't go through.

32:52

We've got to find a way

32:52

to fix it or whatever.

32:54

Maybe a good thing that happened was someone. One of your clients complimented

32:56

you guys on your onboarding

32:59

process being super smooth. Maybe you have an idea in your

33:01

head where it's like, oh, I'd

33:04

love to have like a video of me. Saying hello, welcome to our

33:05

firm on the landing page.

33:08

Whenever they sign their contract. That's an idea.

33:10

So you'd put that in the idea space,

33:10

but having this Google doc helps me

33:14

because as I'm working on that process,

33:14

I sometimes I don't even have time

33:18

to like work and fix the thing, but

33:18

I want to get it out of my brain.

33:21

So that's one of my biggest recommendations. I want you to just kind of recap,

33:23

like, and just write down if

33:27

you can, like I said, you can

33:27

always relisten to this episode.

33:29

You can always read the blog on this

33:29

by going to workflowqueen.com/podcast,

33:33

if that helps you in any capacity. But one thing I'm going to do is I'm going

33:35

to repeat these steps for you to identify

33:40

what's the core problem in the business

33:40

and actually executing on fixing it.

33:44

So step one is to identify the

33:44

core system you need fixing.

33:47

Step two is identify the process. the core process requiring attention.

33:51

Step three is to plan to work

33:51

on it for at least one quarter.

33:55

Step four is to process map using

33:55

tools like Myro or Canva or a good old.

33:59

Sticky notes on the wall. Step five is to create tasks and

34:01

actually document the process.

34:04

Step six is to manually

34:04

execute on the work.

34:07

And then step seven is identify

34:07

areas of automation and improvements.

34:12

Step eight is implement the actual changes. And then the last step is to test

34:14

the process and make adjustments.

34:17

I know that sounds like a lot,

34:17

but once you get really used to

34:20

like focusing on a process, it's

34:20

really like super straightforward.

34:23

It just does take time. It does take me three months guys, even

34:25

for someone who's super systematized.

34:28

And I always fixing our stuff

34:28

because like, even for myself,

34:31

Our onboarding is pretty solid. We do it really well.

34:35

A lot of it's automated. It's great. But there's still things that even

34:37

myself, I still want to like add to it.

34:41

So for example, I actually want

34:41

to add like a welcome video.

34:44

When someone signs a contract, it

34:44

sends them to a certain landing

34:46

page that says, like, it's a video

34:46

of me saying, thank you so much.

34:50

Here's what to expect next, where I

34:50

don't have to actually get on a call

34:53

to tell them what to expect next. And so like, there's even

34:55

things that I want to do, but do I have time all the time?

34:59

No, but if I'm focusing on that

34:59

core process, it gives me the

35:02

opportunity to really zero in on

35:02

like the things that I need to.

35:06

Due to like really amplify it

35:06

and make it more of my own.

35:10

Right. And so I just want to encourage

35:11

you to like, take a step back.

35:13

If you don't even know what

35:13

process that you need to be

35:16

working on, you can seriously

35:16

email me at support at work folk.

35:18

We not com or you can voice note

35:18

me on IgE at workflow queen.

35:22

And the reason why I really

35:22

recommend this is because brain dump.

35:26

What you have going on? Because I really do have

35:27

a very specific skillset.

35:31

Where people can tell me their whole

35:31

entire problem, their business.

35:34

And I can tell them right away. Oh yeah. That's the QC process.

35:36

Oh, you really definitely need to be hiring. So that's the hiring process.

35:39

If you don't know, what's

35:39

your biggest issue right now?

35:42

Come talk to me about it. Like I said, you might have issues in a

35:43

lot of different areas and that's okay.

35:46

But what is the biggest one that needs

35:46

the most attention that will change

35:50

the way that your business is ran? The whole goal to become a removable CEO

35:51

is really to just take that first step.

35:55

To getting used to like this process

35:55

of identifying your core needs and

35:59

actually beginning to execute on it. Because as much as we would all love

36:01

sometimes like this team that would

36:05

build all these things out for us. Sometimes that's not the reality for you.

36:08

So you might have to do some of that work,

36:08

but it doesn't mean that you can't maybe

36:11

hire a VA to help you implement or work in

36:11

a mastermind to like see what other people

36:15

are doing or come into like our programs. Especially if you're one of our students

36:17

collaborate, take, take advantage of our

36:21

coworking calls of our coaching calls,

36:21

the homework reviews, everything that

36:24

you need in our programs that way, like

36:24

you can get the support that you need.

36:28

I really hope that you

36:28

enjoy today's like episode.

36:30

I really like. Talking about the logistics of things.

36:33

If you want to hear more episodes

36:33

like this, or you want to just leave a

36:36

review and just share your love for this

36:36

episode, I would greatly appreciate it.