Ash Roy:
00:00 Productivity, 2020. Part II. Systems.
Ash Roy:
00:12 By the end of this video, you’ll learn how to create systems that help you to automate, outsource, and delegate repetitive tasks in your business so you can spend more time doing the things you love, including growing your business profitably and fast. Be sure to watch this video all the way through to the end so you can learn how to say goodbye to dragging yourself through the daily grind, working in your business, into the early hours of the morning and free yourself up so you can spend more time working on your business and enjoying the benefits of your efforts. I’ve used this exact system to help several of my clients grow their businesses profitably and fast. I’m looking forward to helping you do exactly the same thing. Be sure to subscribe to this video to make sure you don’t miss out on any future episodes just like this and do leave a comment below letting me know what your biggest challenges when it comes to growing your business profitably right now.
Ash Roy:
01:15 To get results from this video, all you need to do is take action. Are you ready? Let’s begin. Now in the first video in this series on productivity 2020 which you can check out here. We talked about the Eisenhower matrix and it’s four quadrants specifically we focused on quadrant two and explain why it’s really important to focus on activities that are important but not necessarily urgent. Why? Because these activities tend to be strategically very critical in your business and if you ignore them for long enough, you’ll end up in a quadrant one situation which is typically a crisis. Now, systems are a classic example of this quadrant 2 type activity. See, if you build good quality systems, you’re likely to create processes in your business that enable you to delegate repetitive tasks to your team. You’re able to onboard new team members more efficiently and you’re able to create a better working environment, thereby creating a business that supports itself and minimizes the chances of your business falling apart because of lack of cash flow, lack of profitability or frustrated employees or team members walking away and your business.
Ash Roy:
02:35 Because there is no clear direction on what they need to help you grow your business and for them to contribute effectively to your business. So that’s why we’re going to be talking about systems today. And the second part in this video series, and we’re going to talk about how you can use systems to empower your team to function effectively and efficiently and enjoy their work, which I believe is critical to building a powerful business with a strong culture. Ignore the process of building systems for long enough and you’ll end up in a crisis situation where you might have frustrated employees leaving your business or you might have a business that is suffering from poor profitability and poor cashflow. So what’s the system? I define a system as a combination of people and or processes that enable you to reach a certain outcome predictably when those specific processes are executed in a specific sequence, I’ll say that again.
Ash Roy:
03:37 I define a system as a combination of people and or processes that enable you to achieve a certain outcome consistently when executed in a particular sequence. Now as I mentioned before, these processes are often repetitive and automation is usually a great way to help you to leverage these processes more effectively. But unless you create a system around those processes, it is going to be a lot harder for you to automate. So creating the system is absolutely critical. So let’s look at some examples of systems. You could have a system for creating content and publishing content to different platforms and then promoting that content. In fact, this video has been created by using one such system. You could have a system for onboarding new employees into your team and helping them to use things like Dropbox or Google drive. And you can do this by creating videos as part of your system using a tool called ScreenFlow, which will enable you to create detailed standard operating procedures, which show them how to work their way around the various assets within your business that sit within Dropbox or Google drive.
Ash Roy:
04:53 We’re going to walk through a couple of examples of systems. Specifically, we’re going to talk about how to create tutorial videos for your staff to minimize repetition around training so that you can only train by exception rather than train each member every time they start, which is a mistake that I see a lot of business owners making. So what you need to do to record a tutorial video is to get an application called ScreenFlow for your Mac or an application called Camtasia for your PC. I personally use ScreenFlow. I prefer it and I prefer in general, but if you’re using a PC, you can use Camtasia. Essentially what this application allows you to do is record your screen. Now they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, recording your screen is worth a million words. It makes a huge difference to be able to just show the person exactly where to go, what button to click on or what part of the screen they can find, what icon.
Ash Roy:
05:50 And it just saves you hours and hours and hours of explaining the same thing to a new person every time they start. So all you need to do is install ScreenFlow on your Mac or Camtasia on your PC, follow the instructions and start recording your screen. Now when you’re recording your screen, it’s always a good idea to speak over that recording to explain what you’re doing. And that obviously helps with getting the point across because it’s but visual as well as audio. And it’s probably the closest thing to the real thing as if you were actually sitting over there explaining it to that person. In fact, it’s one step better because they are actually sitting in front of the screen watching you do the thing. And the best part is they can watch 30 seconds of that video, pause it, and then go away and execute on it. And they can go back and rewatch it if it doesn’t make sense.
Ash Roy:
06:42 So my first preference is to do screen recordings explaining each step of the process. Typically what I tend to do is I record the process on video and then I get the person who I am training to create a written standard operating procedure around that and then I review that standard operating procedure to assess their level of understanding. If the standard operating procedure doesn’t reflect what I expected to reflect, it tells me that I need to go back and update the video to make sure I’ve made my point and communicated very clearly. It does take a little bit of effort upfront, but believe me, it pays itself off in multiples over the longterm. Now speaking of standard operating procedures, I use a very simple approach to creating SOPs and that is I have a clear title. Usually it starts with the words how to, and then I talk about the piece of software involved.
Ash Roy:
07:36 So for example, if I’m creating a standard operating procedure around how to use ScreenFlow to create a video, I would call it how to use ScreenFlow to create an instructional video. Then I put down the word trigger and indicate what triggers that procedure. It might be weekly, monthly, fortnightly, quarterly, or it might be a procedure that gets triggered by another procedure being completed. I think the key here is to keep it really simple and then after that, I just lay out everything that needs to be done one step after another. I often use the standard operating procedures in conjunction with video procedures. I use them to put downlinks. For example, I might have a link to the corresponding video procedure in Google drive. I store all my training documents in Google drive and that way when the person was reviewing the written SOP, that can just click on the link and text him straight to the video procedure or the instructional video if they want to reference that.
Ash Roy:
08:34 So that’s how we work with creating instructional videos and standard operating procedures. Now a great workflow tool for you to consider when you’re creating these systems is Asana. We’ve been using it lately in our team and we’ve found it to be really effective. We have used a few systems in the past like Podio and teamwork, but asana is working really well for us right now. Why? Because it allows you to delegate systems and processes to other people in your team in the most effective way. You see asana allows you to create these workflow processes which release certain tasks when other tasks are completed. So these sequential workflows are very useful because it allows you to just focus on the piece of work that is relevant to you right now. Each person sees what is relevant to them in their workflow at a certain point in time.
Ash Roy:
09:27 Now, there are five main reasons you want to build workflow systems. The first one is it frees you up from task execution and enables you to focus on strategy as the business owner. What do I mean by that? Well, it means that once you’ve created a system to produce content like this, for example, the editing, the publishing, the show notes, the distribution through the various social networks, all of that can be outsourced to your team or to an external contractor outside of your business. This means that you can free up your precious mental energy and your time to focus on more highly leveraged activities. For example, creating more content just like I’m doing right now. Other examples of highly leveraged activities include hiring new staff, brainstorming ideas about creating new products or new content, thinking about ways to make your business more profitable, thinking about things that you can automate in your business.
Ash Roy:
10:27 The second reason why workflow systems are really important is that it makes delegation a whole lot simpler, especially if you’re using a tool like Asana. As I mentioned in my previous point, once you create a system that produces consistent results, you can then hand over aspects of that system to somebody else in your team, assuming you don’t have to do it yourself. For example, I can hand over the video editing the publishing, the propagation of this content across the various social media platforms, all of which I can do via Asana using standard operating procedures that are embedded in certain workflow templates within Asana. The third reason you want to use workflow systems is it reduces context switching is a process where your attention gets split between multiple tasks and dramatically reduces your effectiveness and your productivity. The process of having to split your focus and constantly refocus from task a, task B, and then to C and then back to a is a massive drain when it comes to productivity and systems which allow you to delegate certain aspects of these tasks, allow you to minimize context switching.
Ash Roy:
11:36 The fourth reason systems are very valuable is it gives you a lot more downtime, downtime, so you can spend more time doing the things you love. Maybe you want to go for a walk on the beach. Maybe you want to go for a boat ride. Maybe you want to go for a walk in the park. The truth is we all need to have downtime so that we can be more effective and more productive during our working hours. The fifth reason that systems are very valuable is that they help you to productize your knowledge. Imagine this. What if you could do with the information about what Henry Ford did with cars? Well, good quality systems enable you to do just that. Good quality systems allow you to package up your knowledge in pockets of an information just like I’m creating right now, and allow you to disseminate that to various prospects and allow you to deliver meaningful change in people’s lives, which in turn will allow you to attract high-quality clients that become lifelong customers and advocates of your business.
Ash Roy:
12:40 You can also use systems to turn your knowledge into information, products that you sell as paid products, for example, courses. So those are the five reasons why it’s really valuable for you to build workflow systems. And in my opinion, every business needs them. Remember, even if it takes you 10 minutes to create a system that saves you only one minute a day, in 10 days, that system will have paid for itself and in a year’s time, it will have paid for itself more than 30 times. One of the most dangerous things I’ve heard people say is it’s easier just to do it myself. So the next time you hear yourself saying those words, remember just doing it yourself might save you a minute now, but it’s going to cost you a lot over a month and even more over a year. One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen business owners face within my membership program, which you can learn more about if you go to GetMeToDone.com And I’ll post a link to that below this video, is that they say they feel that they are the bottleneck in their business.
Ash Roy:
13:47 I’ve often found myself in that same situation, this happened far more frequently in the past and is decreasing the case as I build better quality systems in my business. And you can do the same. Building good quality systems in your business is an ongoing process and it’s something that you get better at as time goes on. So here’s a useful question. I want you to ask yourself right now, what tasks do I do each day, each week, or each month that I don’t need to be doing myself? I’d love you to post in the comments below what that task is. I’d say that again. What task or tasks am I doing right now each day, each week, or each month that I shouldn’t or needn’t be doing myself, that I can outsource or delegate to somebody else in my business? These tasks are the first things you want to create a system around and eventually outsource or delegate.
Ash Roy:
14:44 The easiest way to start off with creating systems and outsourcing and delegating tasks is using ScreenFlow to record yourself going through that task. You can record your screen. You can do a voiceover as you’re recording yourself doing that task and you can share that task by a Dropbox with your team. You can get a copy of ScreenFlow at telestream.net I’ll post a link to that website below this video. If you’re using a PC, you can use a tool called Camtasia. Both these tools, ScreenFlow and Camtasia allow you to record yourself on camera and or record your screen as you’re going through a particular task and record your voice as you’re going through that. So you can provide detailed instructions and it’s almost like your team member is looking over your shoulder as you’re going through that task. And it saves you a whole lot of time explaining the task to them over and over and over again.
Ash Roy:
15:42 Once you’ve created that instructional video, you can use it for every other new team member as they come into your business. Isn’t that a great idea? So that was part two of our series on productivity in 2020. Systems. Be sure to watch the next video, which shows you how to use the 80 20 rule to focus on the 20% of your activities that deliver 80% of your results and eventually helps you to find the 1% of your efforts that delivers 51% of your results coming soon to a screen near you. So be sure to subscribe to this YouTube channel. And leave a comment below letting me know what you’re going to create a system around in your business so that you can automate or delegate a specific task or set of tasks that will help you to focus more on building a more profitable business and spending more time doing more of what you love and enjoying the benefits of your efforts. See you in the next video. I’m Ash from ProductiveInsights.com the host of the ProductiveInsights podcast, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon. Bye for now.