Process Prodigy – Work Less, Make More Money & Create Outrageously Effective Systems for Your Business

Watch me be in 2 places at 1 time

By Beth Schneider · Comments View Comments

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

What’s that saying? When opportunity comes knocking you have to take advantage. But what do you do if a great opportunity comes along and you already have a date that night?

That’s kind of what happened to me. I was already booked to speak to a group of high end attorneys in Santa Barbara and then I was invited to sponsor Lisa Sasevich’s Speak-to-Sell event in San Diego. Here’s the rub. Both events are happening at exactly the same time and in case you aren’t familiar with Southern California geography, they are in opposite directions.

What’s a girl to do? Well this girl has her Outrageously Profitable Systems in place so I pulled together our tradeshow/sponsor systems and asked Sandye to go to San Diego in my place. There you go, in one fell swoop I’ve cloned myself. Not in a weird Dolly the sheep way, but in a way that someone can take over for me and represent my company the way I want them too. It’s an incredibly powerful and comforting feeling to know I don’t have to be everywhere at one time. Plus I’ve just doubled my revenue opportunity. I’ll be collecting leads in Santa Barbara while Sandye collects leads in San Diego. Not bad for one weekend.

There are some basic systems that every business needs and if you are looking for that feeling for power and comfort then I really recommend you take a look at our Outrageously Profitable Systems program www.processprodigy.com/ops.

In the mean time enjoy this week’s article from Systems Coach Sandye Linnetz. Oh and if you are going to be at Lisa Sasevich’s event, be sure to introduce yourself to Sandye.

Take care,

Beth

OPS

FACT: You can dramatically increase your income –while you focus on the fun parts of your business.

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Check out the whole scoop at www.processprodigy.com/ops

Systemizing Your Business: Get Wise. . . Prioritize!

Thoughts from Sandye Linnetz, Systems Coach and Goddess

Men tend to be single focused; they generally deal with one thing at a time. Women, on the other hand, tend to have diffuse attentiveness and a natural ability to multi-task. While diffuse awareness is a huge asset when it comes to finding the car keys while cooking dinner, answering the phone and designing a new marketing plan, it is a not so helpful when it’s time to choose a priority and focus on just that.

When you set out to design the systems your company needs to operate most effectively and successfully, you have to choose a starting point. Truth is, one of the main reasons that so many companies don’t have systems in place is that they simply can’t decide where to start… what systems to design… and when!

The secret is to PRIORITIZE… and then FOCUS on those most important choices. First take a look at the way things are currently handled in your company the (AS-IS). Next decide how your company would operate at its best (PERFECT WORLD). Finally, design an action plan, a map, a flow-chart system to achieve that level of performance. Once you have determined how things are done and who “currently does what”, make a list of where you see that things could be done differently, more completely and what everyone “wants to do”, – congratulations, you’re about to design some systems. The question is, which systems come first? To determine that,you will first need to make a list of all of the systems that would boost your biz; make a system creation to-do list. (Note: This is an excellent time for team brainstorming. List ‘em all…)

Start here: Take your system creation to-do list and highlight each one that will be the basis of another. When you build a house, would you start with the roof or the foundation? When you get dressed what goes on first? The panties or the slacks? Get the idea? Once you decide what needs to get done you also need to decide what takes priority in getting done! What do you want to accomplish right away?

Choose a BIG PICTURE FOCUS for the next 30 to 60 days:

· Get rid of the “extra” stuff on your plate

· Streamline

· Create a new product

· Create a new department

· Hire someone

· What else????

Now go back to your job descriptions and highlight, or put a “P” next to all of the items that relate to your focus. Concentrate on these. What are the three MOST IMPORTANT things to focus on for the next 30 -60 days? What will put the most money into your pocket in the least amount of time? Consider starting there.

Not having a FOCUS is akin to sitting down at a restaurant and ordering “the whole menu” because it all sounds so good. No one says you can’t eventually order everything on the menu; we just don’t want you to order it all at once. It’s time to choose what sounds BEST and start with that. What is the number one thing that you need to be doing right now? That’s IT! Start with that. Make that your #1 priority and focus in that specific direction. Everything else will fall into place. In fact, as the process itself begins to unfold, the “what’s next” becomes more and more obvious.

Let the process begin! List your needs and wants. Then, be wise… PRIORITIZE.

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Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following:
Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com/ezine and grab your FREE systems starter kit valued at $297.00.

Categories : Business, Delegation, Systemizing

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Systems that Work: Delegate the Tasks

By Beth Schneider · Comments View Comments

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

By Mike Callaghan, Process Prodigy Contributor

One of our clients, Karen, had been running a home-based accounting business for two years. She had grown it into a successful business that was doing very well. Karen had more clients than she could handle, had actually been offered permanent positions by two of the clients, and had hired a full time assistant/office manager to help organize her company. Karen was living in Los Angeles and one of her biggest problems was the crazy LA traffic. In driving from client to client she was frequently late. Her assistant took care of that problem by scheduling more travel time in between appointments. The second problem was that she was always scrambling around before the end of the pay period to have enough money to pay her assistant. Invariably she would say things like, “I really have to invoice my clients so I have money.”

Karen was an accountant and loved what she did. Tax forms, cash flow statements and accounts payable make my eyes glaze over, but Karen loved her work. What she didn’t like was billing her clients, especially the ones who weren’t super profitable, because she felt guilty about asking them for money that she knew was not there. Karen’s dilemma was creating a collections system that worked for her and made sure she had cash in her business.

We quickly decided that Karen should not be responsible for billing. Generally speaking, in a service business, the people providing the service are invariably the worst choice to be in charge of client billing. Most of the time, whoever is providing the actual service is focused on doing a good job, providing the best service to the client, and – especially in the case of small business entrepreneurs – putting in whatever extra hours are needed to complete a project and make the client happy. Therefore, in this case, we created a system where the office manager was responsible for the billing and collections systems.

The first step was to create an invoice before the work was done. The office manager scheduled appointments for Karen and had access to her calendar. Whenever an appointment was scheduled, the office manager generated an invoice with the description and estimated amount due. At the end of the week, the office manager would forward all of the estimated invoices from the previous week to Karen for her approval. Once approved, they were mailed out to clients. This provided Karen with the opportunity to review and correct any invoices without spending the time to send them out. For example, if an appointment was scheduled for two hours and only took one, the invoice was corrected before it was mailed out.
In this system, Karen’s role with the client was only as an accountant, an employee of the company. She was no longer the bill collector; calling on the phone and hounding clients for money. Karen was simply completing a task for the “nagging” office manager who wouldn’t leave her alone about these invoices.

The system that we designed was not revolutionary or some hi-tech solution. Instead, the system included the evaluation of each task to be completed and a determination of who was best suited to handle it. In this case, Karen was the accountant – which she was well suited to be – and the office manager took on the task of handling accounts payable. With the right person in charge – the actual work got done and there was always money available at the end of the pay period for paychecks.
© 2009 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc. Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following: Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com/ezine and grab your FREE systems starter kit valued at $297.00.

Categories : Delegation

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Delegation: The how and why

By Beth Schneider · Comments View Comments

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Mike Callaghan, Process Prodigy contributor

I worked with a college to set up systems for their Computer Help Desk. I began by interviewing the Help Desk staff and observing as they responded to phone calls and requests for help. After two days, I noticed that all user requests – for a new computer, a new monitor, or even an old spare computer or parts – were routed to the Help Desk manager. The manager never actually went to the customer location to physically handle a trouble call, fix anything, or install computers. So I asked her, why she was responsible for handling all of the hardware requests before assignment to a technician?

As it turned out, three years earlier, requests for new computers or monitors were routed directly to the Hardware Technician. He had 15 -20 older computers that they kept on hand for when computers broke down. Sometimes these computers were set up for special projects or used as temporary equipment for new employees. So, when the help desk received user requests and determined they were hardware requests, they routed them to the Hardware Technician who had access to all of the spare computers. One day, however, the Vice President of the college contacted the Help Desk manager and requested three computers to be used for the two weeks of student orientation. In arranging this with the hardware technician, the Help Desk Manager discovered that, although the Technician had three computers available, they were all different makes and models. This would have been unacceptable. In order for this not to happen again, the Help Desk Manager issued a policy (created a system) whereby all requests for computer hardware would have to be approved by her before installation for any user.

So, as you might imagine, she soon became the bottleneck in the process. Every time a user requested a computer or monitor, the Help Desk Manager had to call the Hardware Technician to see what was in stock. They would discuss what was available, decide what kind of computer to give to the user and then the Hardware Technician would handle the installation. However, because the Help Desk Manager was responsible for a myriad of other tasks, user requests for computer hardware did not always receive prompt attention. Furthermore, when she was sick or on vacation, all requests for new computers just stopped.

Really, this was a simple case of defining a process and establishing a system. I sat down with the Help Desk Manager and asked her what factors she considered when approving or disapproving a user request for a computer. She explained that the age of the computer being replaced, the number of spares they had in stock and the level of manager making the request, were among many factors that she considered. Some of these were easy to outline in a flow chart, such as, “if the computer to be replaced is less than two years old, than the answer is do not replace it”. A flow chart was developed that the help desk and hardware technicians were able to use to determine what make and model they could install for customers without the Help Desk manager’s prior approval.

By delegating this approval authority to a lower level, almost 90% of user requests for hardware were able to be resolved without the involvement of the Help Desk Manager – who’s time was now freed up for other tasks. She was still involved in the more complicated or higher level decisions, but the results were a faster response time and positive resolution for more customers.

© 2009 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc. Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following: Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com/ezine and grab your FREE systems starter kit valued at $297.00.

Categories : Delegation, Systemizing

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Systemizing Your Business: Are you a ONE STAR SHOW?

By Sandye · Comments View Comments

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

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Thoughts from Sandye Linnetz, Systems Goddess, Process Prodigy

It is YOUR business, isn’t it? And you want to be absolutely positive that everything is perfect… done YOUR way, don’t you? You want to know every detail because it all matters. Sure, you get a little tired, but, hey, you are in charge… you’re the boss.

Drawbacks? You mean besides that you’re burning yourself out, spreading yourself too thin and doing a lot of stuff that you could farm out to someone else? Yep, there are even more drawbacks to doing it all yourself. Where do the new ideas come from? Who’s checking your work? Those things that you’re really good at – the one’s the pushed you into your business in the first place – are you giving them the time needed? Are you spending a lot of time on the “business” of your business instead of getting the job done?

So often ego and the need to control take control a harried business owner. One man shows may do well in the theatre, but off stage it can be a disaster! Even in the smallest off Broadway production you seldom find the STAR doing sound and stage crew work… and almost never selling or taking the tickets.

It all starts with your systems. Designing effective and efficient systems for the operation of your business will allow you to do what you need to do and delegate away those tasks that you either don’t like or don’t do well. You can even hand over big jobs – if your system is clear and easy to follow. And with a great system in place, those employees and associates will know exactly what to do and how to do it… the same way – your way – every time.

That’s the beauty of systemizing your business. You design it YOUR way and have the plans in place so that anyone can step in at anytime and, by following your plans, produce the results YOU want. Create your own “paint-by-number” systems. The results will astound you… and you did it!

No employees? No problem. Consider outsourcing some of your chores. There are always independent contractors, part-timer workers, on-line sources and support companies around to pick up the slack. The money you spend, if spent in the right areas, will save you the time you need to bring in the customers and bring in the bucks. If you’re not great with numbers, why do the books? Hire someone who can do it right the first time and save you time and money. Give away jobs that allow you more time to do the jobs you choose to do. In the “process” you will reduce your stress and probably even have a life outside of work. What a concept!

It’s not your work that makes you tired. You probably love the idea of what you do. It’s the way you work that exhausts you. When you work alone… it gets lonely. Share the excitement and the fears. Get insights from others and create it so that paying someone else actually makes more money for you.

Listen, you can’t brainstorm with one brain or discuss a problem all by yourself. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto… I like to say that it’s easier to edit than it is to write. Well, how about you delegate tasks and then “proofread” the work that’s been done. You don’t have to be running the whole show every minute to know if you have a hit.

Sure, you want to be the STAR and you can be… but you don’t have to sell the popcorn and drinks, too.

© 2008 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc. Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following: Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, along with her team of highly sought after operations consultants, reveals the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, the Process Prodigy tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600% and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com and sign up to receive the Process Prodigy Ezine, “Your Tips” and the FREE Report “How to Save Yourself Time Energy and Money”

Categories : Delegation, Systemizing, Time Management

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BUT I HAVE TO PUT OUT THE FIRE!

By Sandye · Comments View Comments

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

[display_podcast]Thoughts from Sandye Linnetz, Systems Goddess Process ProdigyThere are lots of things that STOP us from getting our work done during the course of our days. There are phone calls, pangs of hunger, “small” favors for others, errands to run, questions to answer and mail to read. “You’ve Got Mail” is an all too real and familiar example for most of us. I mean, come on, what interrupts us – and takes up our valuable time – more than reading and replying to emails? Many of our daily interruptions can be put off for a more convenient time, delegated to someone else or ignored… unless it’s a fire we have to put out.Emergencies are unexpected interruptions – sometimes urgent and valid. So, how do we identify when we are faced with a true emergency?First let’s take a look at what constitutes an emergency. There are four possible descriptions for any interruption. The situation may be:1. NOT URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT (a phone call from a solicitor)2. NOT URGENT and IMPORTANT (a client has a question)3. URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT (someone needs a phone number NOW)4. URGENT and IMPORTANT (your #1 client wants to make some changes to an order ready to be shipped)Obviously, in situation #1, your immediate attention is not required. You have the luxury of delegating or ignoring – or stopping what you are doing. And, let’s face it; there are times when we actually hope for an interruption. Only you can decide to stop what you are doing. If you do decide to stop, be sure to record what you were doing and where you were on it…Situation #2 requires handling – not necessarily by you, and not necessarily immediately. You can choose to STOP and take a moment to explain that you know that this is IMPORTANT. You can then arrange for a better time to talk about it, or reroute the question to an associate who will have the necessary information. Frequently people just want to acknowledge their importance.Emergencies are not necessarily YOUR emergencies. When someone interrupts you with their emergency you will need to determine if you have the time (or the inclination) to STOP what you are doing and take on their problem. It’s easy to get caught up in the trap of assuming other people’s emergencies and time constraints. That’s fine when they don’t interfere with your own, but be alert to the possibility that YOU may not need to handle someone else’s problem. You may be able to give some quick suggestion that will empower someone to take care of it by his or her self. Most likely, situation #3 will either be handled quickly – by you – or rerouted to a team member who is equipped to handle it. Delegation is invaluable here!That brings us to situation #4… URGENT and IMPORTANTURGENT (adjective)(of a state or situation) requiring immediate action or attentionIMPORTANT (adjective)of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-beingSituation #4 is when you put the fireman’s hat on your head! When an interruption is both IMPORTANT (to you) and URGENT, your attention is demanded. This is when you STOP whatever you are doing. Concentrate on what needs to happen with immediacy and HANDLE it. Take control, and do so without losing sight of what you were doing. Eventually, because you have recorded what you were doing and where you were; RESUME your current tasks.The list of the four possible INTERRUPTION situations – and examples of each – should be shared with your entire team. A process to handle these interruptions can be co-created after a discussion of what “has come up” and what ”could come up” in the course of a normal business day. Design a system for determining emergencies and how to handle them. Like the Boy Scouts and the Fire Department, BE PREPARED is important for handling every situation…and PUTTING OUT FIRES.© 2007 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc. Want to reprint this article, feel free as long as you include the following: Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com has a team of highly sought after operations consultant who reveals the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, her tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com and sign up to receive her Ezine, “Your Tips” and for a FREE Report on how to Save Yourself Time Energy and Money