SOP Emergency Exit Strategy: Keep Your Business Thriving Without You with Standard Operating Procedure

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If you went into labor today, if you were called away from your business for whatever reason, today, what would happen? What would your business look like? Would it still run status quo? Would things fall off the tracks? Would it halt completely? If your business would be seriously impacted by you leaving today, this is the episode for you. By the end of this episode, you will be able to take things away and implement them today, this week, this month, this quarter, and it will benefit your business. Welcome back to High Vibe Table Talks. This is your host, Rashaw Hargrave, and today I'm going to talk about something that is very relevant um in my business currently. We are into season 4, which is all about tactical things that you can take away and start to impact your business today and this is one of those episodes. And what we're talking about today is SOPs. What SOP stands for is standard operating procedure. That sounds very like heavy and intense and it's not. Standard operating procedures are pretty much step by step tutorials and how to do a specific piece of the business. You know, and I talk a lot about things that are important, but not urgent. I think that for a truly successful business, every week you should be focusing on things that are Important but not urgent. You know, making cold calls isn't urgent. There's no like a deadline unless you work for a company where, you know, your boss is like, Hey, you didn't make your 200 cold calls this week. What's going on? That creates urgency. As an entrepreneur, we have to create our own urgency. So cold calling in my business isn't urgent because there's no repercussions immediately. For not making those cold calls, exercising. There's no immediate repercussions for not going for a run today. And so you have to, as an entrepreneur, build in that urgency or create structure around that urgency. I'm sorry, around the importance of doing that. Answering an email, you know, getting a ding on your phone, saying, hey, you got an email or a text message or A phone call that is creating urgency, like, oh, I have to answer this. And true success in a business, I think is Spending every week, spending more and more time on things that are important and not urgent. The nice thing about this too is when you create systems or procedures or focus on things that are important, the things that are urgent decrease. And so it's a really nice like balance of the more high level stuff you think about, the more time you spend thinking about things that are important, really high level stuff, the number of tasks that are urgent. Naturally decrease. And this is one of those examples. If you create standard operating procedures for different tasks, when something comes in that has urgency to it, oh look, I've already created this template, here you go, or you're proactive about it and there's no urgency because it's already put in place. So, if you, there's two things, if you're feeling like burnout or, you know, struggling to keep up, then I think that systems are a good place to start. Next week's episode, I talk with Selena, who talks about the creation of systems, and we really focus on the sales aspect of it. So definitely check out next week's episode as well. But I think that creating a standard operating. Procedures in your business will make you more successful and will reduce your chance of burnout. And so, in the beginning of this episode, I'm going to talk about the three areas that you can start to focus on with your standard operating procedures, and then the second half will be, OK, now that we've talked about these things that need SOPs, now what do I do? Another reason why I'm so passionate about you implementing this part of your business today is because I believe that you should be creating a business that supports your life, not the other way around. Your life shouldn't suffer because your business is demanding so much out of you. I say that knowing that there are sacrifices that you have to make when you're starting a business. Like when I first started high vibe co-work, I couldn't create SOPs because I didn't know what the procedures that I was doing to create a standard around it. So there is a Season of your business life typically in like the ideation phase where you're just figuring out what business you like, what your niche is, who your ideal client is. And so I wouldn't say that before launching a business, you have to have a bunch of SOPs because even When I was talking a couple of weeks ago about my sales process and your CRM, I don't know what's going to work until I try a bunch of it. And so you can't create, you can create some systems around like trial and error, but you do have to tweak it. And now I feel much more comfortable in creating SOPs because I've tried a ton of ways that haven't worked and I have finally found ways that work for me. Like my LinkedIn campaign, I tried many, many, many scripts before. I found the one that I'm using now that I love, but I had to do a lot of trial and error to get there and even trial and error of does LinkedIn work for me? Maybe it's Instagram, maybe it's Facebook, maybe it's at work, maybe it's all those things, you know, we talk about the 80/20 rule. But when you're in the ideation phase, focusing on SOPs is not going to bring as much value as ideating, trial and error, just putting yourself out there and gathering a bunch of data to figure out what does work. It's more In the growth and scale phase of your business that you really want to focus on SOPs because you have found what works, you find found your ideal client, you found what is really aligned with you, because again, someone else's SOP, someone else's script, someone else's way of doing things are not going to necessarily be aligned with you. And so you have to find out what feels the best for you. So part of SOPs is creating a business that supports your life, not the other way around. The more structure you have inside. of your business, the more freedom you have. And structure and freedom feel contradictory. You know, it's like, Marshaw, I can't have structure and have freedom. You create more freedom when you create more structure. I'm going to bring this back to sales again because this was what I really had this epiphany, was when I was cold calling and initially I would cold call all day and I had no like real system in place for it, and it would take me all 8 hours or 7.5 hours of my workday, and I would make like, 20 cold calls. Then I found a script, I found a structure. I found my groove so that I was making between 15 and 20 cold calls in an hour. I had to make, just to make the math easy, let's say, I could make 20 cold calls an hour and I had to make 200 cold calls a week. OK. How can I structure 10 hours a week to do cold calling? The beauty in that structure is, now I have 30 hours a week to not do the thing that is. Soul sucking that is cold calling, but I can move those 10 hours around in my schedule to what fits best. And if Friday afternoon cold calls isn't how I want to kick off my weekend, cool, I don't have to. If I'm going on vacation and taking a Monday off and Normally I do 2 hours of cold calling on that Monday. Awesome. I have the freedom to now move those 2 hours around. If you create these SOPs, create the structure for your sales, for your operations, for your money, for your conversations, now you put so much more freedom because when you get a request in for A new client, hey, I have bang bang bang bang. That now takes 20 minutes versus 90 minutes if I was doing everything from scratch because I haven't documented anything. So creating structure in your business will create freedom. So if you want more freedom in your business, start to create structure and a great way to start, uh create structure is to use SOPs. OK. If I were to say, OK, let's start SOPs in your business, you're like, well, I do a million things. The three aspects that I want to focus on SOPs with are Sales, obviously I talk a lot about sales operations, and that's like post-sale and non-customer facing things. And number 3 is money. I do think that money bleeds into the other two. Obviously there's money in sales and obviously there's money in operations, but I wanted that as a separate topic because it is something I really think that we don't talk about money enough, and we're expected to know so much about money, and I just think we like to ignore it. And so really highlighting it in this discussion, I think can be really powerful. So, let's start with operations. And so how I define operations is either post-sale or non-customer facing things. So, a customer has decided to buy your product or service, now what happens? Or things that you do behind the scenes that are not customer facing, they don't necessarily directly impact. Not directly impact the customer because they do, but like, it's not necessarily something that the customer has any ideas going on. So, uh, post sale. What happens when a new customer comes in? Do they get an email sequence? How do they set up their payments? Again, that's how money kind of bleeds into some of this. Um, you know, for my business right now, it's like, OK, someone wants to join the mastermind, they get their payment link, but now they have to get the invites to all of the meetings. How do I add that? to the meeting invites. Uh, if you have like a product-based business, how do you refresh inventory? How do customers know when something is sold out? Where do you store everything? And again, this goes back to like, if you were to have to walk away from your business today, what would happen? Could someone else Look at this document for purchasing and purchase exactly what you needed based on the information there. One of the easiest ways that you can start creating SOPs is creating an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet, whatever you use, with all the logins to your accounts. Obviously, you want there to be security measures around this. Um, I think that while there can be frustration, In MFA multi-factor authentication. So that's like, oh, I just sent, you know, you're trying to log in on your phone, and it's like, I just sent you an email with a passcode, or, you know, like the, the two-factor authentication on Google or Apple or whatever. It's frustrating, but with the amount of fraud in today's day and age, I think that that extra level of security is so important. And, and so I try to be like, OK, this is for my own good because I would hate if someone Uh, the back end if someone hacked into any of my stuff would be. So detrimental. Anyways, this would be a great place to start for your operations. What are all the accounts that you use on a weekly basis? Do you use Shopify? Do you use Wix for your website? How do you log into your CRM? How do you log into your LinkedIn? And so creating a space that has Um, your account information and how to log into them is a great place to start, and that is something I think you can do between today and next week when the next episode of this comes out. Operationally, you know, kind of goes back to like the inventory and how do you keep up with it and how do you know where everything is? How do you, when someone orders a lilac candle, How much lilac essential oil do you put into the wax and how much wax do you use and what temperature does the wax have to be at to melt and what size jar do you use for the small? And when do you put the label on versus when you pour the wax and You know, does the wax expand or does it reduce when it cools? And so, what level in the jar do you need to pour the wax when it's liquid versus where will it be when it is solid? To kind of step back again and say, if someone were to walk into my business today having no idea what I do on an hourly, daily, weekly basis, how could I set something up that They could figure out how to do it. You know, even like my daughter came home from school this past week and had this order of operations. I can't remember exactly what they called it, but that was the idea for like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What's the first thing you do? Oh, well, you put the peanut butter on bread. Where's the bread? Where's the knife? Where's the peanut butter? Like you have to really go back, like, walk over to the pantry, take out the bread, open the bread bag, take out two slices of bread, go to the utensil drawer, which is 2 drawers uh to the left of the fridge, you know, really getting more granular than you would think you would need. The next aspect in which I think you should be setting up SOPs is sales. And part of why I wanted to break these out into three groups. Maybe you focus on like 1 a month for the next quarter, and I'll kind of get into like how to apply these later in the episode, but Not getting so overwhelmed by all of the things, but like, OK, how can I systemize one thing with sales today? So when you're thinking about sales, and I talk a lot about this on here, it's like the funnel. How can I systematize filling the funnel? How do I bring people in from like the ether into the top of my funnel with some awareness? Again, how do I log into my Instagram? If that's where you bring awareness. When people sign up for my freebie, what is the way that they then get added to my email address, email list? How do I create a newsletter? Uh, what's the login for my newsletter? You know, moving them further down the funnel from awareness into interest is what? Um, What type of language do I like to use when I am DMing people, whether it's on Instagram or LinkedIn. You know, right now, I have 2 scripts, and I have the timing in which the scripts are sent for LinkedIn. So, um, you know, one thing I'm working on right now is how do I find people on LinkedIn. And I go through step by step of how I filter. The people on LinkedIn to find potential people who are really aligned with what I'm looking for. So first I go here, then I put in hashtag soloino, and then I filter it to 2nd and 3 connections. Then I scroll through and I primarily connect with women or female presenting. And then I go to the connect button, and then I send a note, and then I have the script in my notes, and I copy and paste with their name. So, all of that, again, it's in my head right now, and right now what I'm working on is getting it all into an easy to read document so that An alien could beam down right now, read it as long as they understand English, and perform the tasks with very little knowledge of me and who I am and what I do. You know, what system do I use? When someone does want to buy, what does that process look like? They say, yeah, I do want to buy your mastermind. OK, where is the link? What's the system that takes their money out of their bank account and puts it into your bank account? Are you struggling to stay consistent with your sales? You are not alone, especially if you have ADHD. But what if prospecting felt easier, even fun? That's exactly why I created Sales Prospecting Simplified, a space for women entrepreneurs to stay accountable, get support, and finally build a sales process that works with. Trainings that come in written form, downloadable PDF, and prospecting power hours. There is a system designed for exactly how your brain works, and you'll stop overthinking and start selling. To learn more or join, go to high vibecowork.com/SPs, as in sales, prospecting simplified. Do they have a contract? How do they get that contract? How do they sign it? And some of the beauty of creating SOPs and sales is that it reduces the friction for your clients to buy, to say yes to purchase, and reducing that friction is so key. We talk about it sometimes with like niching down and focusing on the one thing. Um, if you are off, if you meet your ideal client and you're like, hey, do you want to buy my mastermind? or do you want to buy this $7 workbook, or I have a, a freebie course, or do you want to sponsor my podcast, or this and they're like, Like that's so much. I mean, think about going to the cheesecake factory in their menu and you're like, I don't even know where to start and you already know that you're hungry and you want to eat and you chose this restaurant. Now think about that in the service-based ether of the internet. So reducing the friction. For someone to buy is crucial, and setting up SOPs is a great way to do that. I think that's all I have for that aspect. The last part of this is money, and I, this is kind of top of mind for me right now because we are wrapping up tax season and I have a relatively simple business plan and not a ton of like money coming in and out, and it was stressful for me. And so creating SOPs of like, where do your receipts go? Where do your taxes go if you're not taking the taxes out, your retirement, how does that money kind of come in and then where does it go? Where does it have a spot to go, so it is doing the things that you want it to do. Where do you put your money so that when bills come in later, That money is reserved for that. How do you get your money from clients? How do you remind your clients, hey, your bill is due or it's overdue, or you said you were going to pay this, I'm still waiting, you know, and all of those things can feel uncomfortable. Again, it is important, but it's not urgent until it is, such as tax season. But if you create SOPs, you create structure. Think about how beautiful next April will feel. They'll be like, oh, Texas. Done. OK. So, operation sales, money, I think I gave you some good tips on how to create at least one SOP in each of those areas in the near future. This week on Elevating Enterprise is all about access, funding, education, and real support for entrepreneurs and SMEs just like you. I'm RJ Williams and I'm Jazzy T, and our mission is to connect you to industry gatekeepers. And open doors that will elevate your small business. We're talking to Jahida Zapata. She's the deputy director at the Enterprise Center at Pathstone. Subscribe and join us as we elevate enterprises, starting with yours. Now that you're like, OK, I think that this is important and I think I can do this. What are your first steps? Brain dump. Brain dump all the things that are always on your plate, that are always like, oh, I have to do this, or even just like, I don't know if you've seen those templates that have, like, how do you spend every 15 minutes and you literally track every 15 minutes of your day, and do that for a couple of days, maybe a week. And that will really bring into your awareness what are all the things that you're actually doing throughout the day. Step number 2 is give yourself some grace. You are not going to systematize your business overnight. As I said before, if you're in ideation phase, it's nearly impossible to systematize all of your business cause you don't know what the systems. That work are yet. This is more of, OK, I need to be more efficient. I want to think, I want to work on my business, not in my business. That's how you step away is by creating systems, which then allow you to delegate. So, Give yourself some grace that you're not going to systematize this overnight. What are 3 things you can do this quarter? To create systems. It's not a flip of the switch, as I always say, big dreams and small steps can transform your life. These are the small steps that you're taking. It's one thing at a time, but this does then allow you to delegate. So, for example, if you're like, well, next year I want to go on a 2 a month vacation, this is how you get there because Then next year, when you're planning on taking the month vacation, everything has systems. You can either outsource, delegate, hire, automate with, you know, technology. Whether you are a solo panor or have employees are looking to hire, I think starting these things today with some time and space is really impactful. One, The thing that I know I had friction with and others have too as well. I want the conversations to feel authentic and in my voice. So, how can I do that if I'm creating systems and templates? And scripts. If anything, you're able to be more authentic when you're creating these scripts. If I feel really rushed in the email because I have, there's this urgency, I have to get it out. I'm not sounding like my most authentic self. They will feel the hurry. The hurry will come across in the way that you're speaking. And so if you take time to say, OK, if a new client comes in, What would I want that email to look and sound and feel like? Now I have the time and space to really do that. You're able to put things in place that are aligned with who you are, who your brand is, the voice you want to have a tangential example is like meal prepping. Like I, I don't meal prep, but I try to meal plan on the weekends. Because that like dinner hour is crazy. And so if I'm like then in it like I need to put something on a plate, and it's probably not gonna be the most tasty or nutritional meal. But if I plan on Sunday, OK, I know I'm really busy on Tuesday, so I want to Do this ahead of time. Now I'm have the space and energy to think about the nutrition, how much time it takes, how tasty is it, what do I have all the ingredients to put something together in a short amount of time. So I hope that you took something away from this. You understand that not only is this really important, even if there's no urgency to it at the moment, it's something you can do. And taking one step towards that today for your business's freedom and reducing burnout. So, until next time, remember that big dreams and small steps will transform your life. This week on Elevating Enterprise is all about access, funding, education, and real support for entrepreneurs and SMEs just like you. I'm RJ Williams and I'm Jazzy T, and our mission is to connect you to industry gatekeepers. And open doors that will elevate your small business. We're talking to Jahida Zapata. She's the deputy director at the Enterprise Center at Pathstone. Subscribe and join us as we elevate enterprises, starting with yours.