Business Systems to the Rescue!
I think of systems as a group of tasks that you do in a specific order to a singular end. I've spent a significant amount of time these five months of full time entrepreneurship putting systems together so I can work more efficiently at establishing consistency in the products, services, and content I provide.
Here are the few I've found to be most helpful.
Simply Self-Published
Of course, the first one I have is my book production system that takes me from blank page to self-published. I have a series of videos and blog posts that describe the system in detail but for now, I'll share that Simply Self-Published are the six steps I follow to take a book idea through to a product available for sale.
It's also a downloadable guide. Click HERE to buy your copy.
Club Content Batching by Amanda Warfield
You know that time when you heard someone say something "changed their life" and you rolled your eyes? I did something similar when I first heard about content batching as a system used to mass produce a month's worth of content in one week.
I scoffed in hard disbelief until I noticed the improvement in consistency from one of my favorite YouTubers who'd taken the course. It wasn't as if she was haphazardly posting to begin with, but after taking the course? She began posting videos on the absolute regular; she seemed more relaxed and her content was more cohesive. She had described the system as "life changing". Based on what I'd seen and her singing the system's praises, I signed up and took the course.
And it changed my life :-).
Since I began using this system, I've:
Produced (record, edit, upload) 18 videos—that’s a consistent three to four videos, three to four vlogs a month on my YouTube channel.
Produced (write, edit, format, upload) 14 blog posts
Got my once monthly newsletter (written, edited, formatted, scheduled) out to my community consistently on the 1st Tuesday of each month.
I was surprised at how batching my content using this system freed up so much of my time and creativity. Having this system in place ensures that I'm free to write, work with clients, AND post content to my blog and YouTube channel consistently.
This is huge to me and I've since been recommending Content Batching to all the entrepreneurs I know who produce any kind of content.
Side Note:
While Club Content Batching is open year round,
Amanda's sponsoring a Content Generation 5 Day Challenge,
Monday, August 16 thru Friday August 20th. If you generate any type of content,
this challenge will leave you with over 50 ideas for what to say to your audience.
Use my link (yes, it's an affiliate link) to sign up for
the course starting Friday, August 20.
Bullet Jornal Method by Ryder Carroll
If you're in any of the many planner communities, you've no doubt heard of the Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll. Described as, "a mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system", Bullet Journaling is the use of rapid logging to plan and track your to-do's.
I've modified it to create a custom business notebook in which I keep track of what needs to be done and how I want to do it.
Based on a training I attended a couple of years ago, I know there are a few more systems involved in running a business - Customer Service, Marketing, and Production being three of the biggies. Because I use software to manage those, I've included them in next week's blog post. Be sure to the website so you don't miss it.
Have questions or comments, please leave them below.
Until next time, sending love & inspiration,
Dana
PS. The only affiliate link in the whole shebang is for Club Content Batching, all others are there to provide information at the source.