One of the biggest challenges I see for business owners, both new and seasoned, is a lack of established workflows and processes. Not having those processes in place can cost you time, money, your clients and your sanity!
Think about all the different tasks you do in your business every day or each week. Each task, whether you know it or not, has its own workflow. Some examples of workflows you may already have:
- Client processes: You have a specific way you onboard and work with clients, depending on what kind of project you’re working on.
- Social media: You post to social media on certain days, on certain platforms. And then go back to interact with your audience, perhaps, at scheduled times.
- Bookkeeping: To keep up with your cashflow, you have a system for invoicing and for paying your bills.
- Content creation: Marketing your business through content creation is its own beast, since there are so many avenues to share content—blogging, YouTube, Insta stories, Facebook Live, email marketing, etc.
When you think about it, you typically DO have workflows for every part of our businesses. But we need to get them out of our heads and into a system like Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Dubsado, 17hats or whatever systems work for us in our businesses.
Benefits of Workflows
- Improves client experience. With an organized workflow, our clients get the information they need without having to ask for it. If you have tasks that they need to do, you can set up a project management system to notify them. Everyone stays on track, the client knows what stage their project is in and everything gets done on time. It’s a win-win-win!
- You save time and money. When your workflow is organized, you know right where to find the collateral materials and resources you need. Your stock images are right where they should be and your social media queues are never empty. You’re not hopping into your inbox to find that missing file and you don’t have to buy that image for your client…again…because it’s right where it should be.
- Your future hires know what to do. You may not have plans to grow right now, but you never know what’s down the road. When you’re ready to hire an online business manager or a virtual assistant, they need to know what your processes are. And if you’re ready to hire, you need to have workflows and processes written and ready.
So, yes, you’re already using workflows in your business but you just might not be very efficient at them.
It’s time to find some resources that can help you get your workflows out of your head and into a true system.
Cindy Maka is a small business owner in Phoenix, AZ. With nearly 20 years of experience in business management and administrative support for big businesses, she started Maka Made, where she creates and sells handmade clay jewelry. Cindy specializes in time management, workflow, organization, and creating healthy working habits. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.
