Gill Moakes 0:00
Hello, hello. So you are in for an absolute treat this week honestly, I'm joined this week by Charlotte Lester. Now, I've known Charlotte for a long time now, she's the founder of the Burnout Slayer isn't just the best name ever.
She's an online business consultant. And she goes really deep into the heart of a client's business. And she basically helps her clients develop sustainable systems that just stop you from burning out systems really are the key to having a business that gives you freedom. And isn't that as entrepreneurs isn't that what we all seek, we don't want to be chained to the processes inside our business.
We want the business to be able to run to a certain extent without us being the bottleneck for every decision, or every task or process that needs to be done. And in this episode, Shana, and I talk about how important creating systems within your business are.
I can't think of anyone better to go over this with you, because she really does shine a spotlight on the implications of making business harder for yourself than it needs to be by not creating systems, even if you're even if it's just you.
If you're a solopreneur. It might feel like overkill, but actually having really well defined documented systems of how you do things, which, to be honest, is always my kind of definition of what a system is. It's how we do things around here, right? It's as simple as that.
It's a documented, saved process of how something gets done within your business, whether that's onboarding a client, whether it's onboarding a team member, whether it's one of your marketing strategies, perhaps it's the management of your social media, how something is done inside your business, that's a system.
And the more you can define and document your systems, the smoother your business will run, the easier you'll find it to delegate to your team. And the more freedom you're going to have for yourself a little bit about Charlotte.
So in addition to running her own business, Charlotte is also the co author of an Amazon best selling book, she has appeared on multiple podcasts.
And she's often pops up as a guest expert in groups and memberships as Charlotte funny amount of lives in the same county as me in the UK, which is unusual because I've no as online business owners, I always find it really surprising when someone is, is quite close to me.
And she's just an all round, amazing person who has taught me so much about the calm and controlled feeling I can get when I know that systems are implemented really robustly into my business. So let's dive in and hear from her.
Welcome, welcome to the heads together Podcast. I'm Gill Moakes. And I am obsessed with cutting through the noise when it comes to growing your business each week via intimate coaching conversations and inspirational stories. I share what it really takes to get the results you want, in a way that feels right to you.
I am all about attracting higher ticket opportunities, building authentic relationships, and creating the abundant full fat version of your dream business. I mean, how many of us have even away creating a light version of what we really want?
The thing is, I honestly believe when you're outstanding at what you do, there is no limit to what you can achieve. So are you ready to put our heads together and make it happen? Let's go.
Charlotte, thank you so much for joining me today. How are you?
Charlotte Lester 4:21
Thank you for having me. I'm so well! Oh the sun's out, so it's amazing.
Gill Moakes 4:26
It's lovely. For those of you listening, we've just been having a chat before this. And the last word Charlotte said before hit record - my cheeks are hurting already. This could be a fun episode.
Charlotte Lester 4:39
It will be.
Gill Moakes 4:40
I mean, we've known each other a while now, haven't we? I think our story is quite interesting, really because of how we were in such similar fields. We've both kind of moved on a little bit from that now, but we were both in a very similar thing with the VA agencies weren't me.
Charlotte Lester 4:57
We were it seems like so long ago. No, for me, it's very new kind of breaking away from the agency side. So that's really interesting but yeah, I think it's been about five years now.
Gill Moakes 5:08
I think so yeah. Yeah. Crazy. And Charlotte for everyone listening is just one of my absolute business besties. I think we all have them or we all should have them. If you don't have one, you need to get one.
And I'm so fortunate to have a couple of women in my life who are just such a support for me. We talk regularly, don't we? You're so supportive of everything I do. And I'm just want to tell you that now, but I appreciate you so much.
Charlotte Lester 5:36
And ou. I appreciate you so much.
Gill Moakes 5:39
Thank you. I feel like a loving. I love it. So, Charlotte systems, the S word?
Charlotte Lester 5:49
Yes. The word that people run away from.
Gill Moakes 5:53
Yeah. Don't talk to me. Yeah, don't talk to me about systems. And you know that systems people equate, like tech overwhelm with systems, don't they? Just I'd love it if you could, because that's not the full picture. Is it? The tech isn't the full picture when it comes to systems?
Charlotte Lester 6:10
No. And this is something that gets so muddled, and especially in the online world. So systems is the tech is only part of systems systems is the overall it's including of the processes, it's including the procedures, it's the inclusion of the how the What the Who, and obviously, the tech specs that come along with that.
But people do often think No, I know people when they get called me and now say, oh, I need help with my system, so I'm not perfect. So where are we with your systems now?
Well, I'm using this tool, and I'm using that tool and I like I need to consolidate them. And it's like, okay, but we need to go a bit deeper with that we need to actually go into what you're doing, you know, why are you doing it? What's the objective for the system? What is the objective for that area as such, and when people start looking at that, it becomes less overwhelming.
Weirdly, I know people say, but there's lots more involved, there is lots more involved, but it provides that clarity, because you understand what's happening at any one time where you are with things.
And I know as an example, here were systems I have the past couple of months being quite trialling for me with I've had my youngest being poorly. And one of the days meant that I got home from the hospital at like three, four in the morning.
And I was up again, first thing the following day. So I had some client work that I had to get done. There is no way that I could have functioned and done that client work without having my system there.
Because you're not reinventing the wheel all the time. You literally can follow a set process of what you're doing. You know what you're doing. And it just makes things so much easier in life and business. Yeah, so I love systems. Yeah, I'll talk about all day, you'll have to shut me up.
Gill Moakes 7:56
Oh, no. Do you know what I do, though? I love systems as well. And I think I feel like sometimes there's this myth out there that if to be creative, you're naturally going to hate systems.
And I don't think that's true at all. I find that I think I'm pretty creative. You know, I like creating content. And I love writing. I class myself as pretty creative. But I also love feeling organised in my business. Yeah, I love coming in, you know, I'm an Asana addict, might have to start a group because I am a little bit obsessed with it.
But I find that so my team and I don't think we could function as a team without Asana. And I yeah, I suppose I'm looking at it from the inside out. But I don't understand how business owners operate without systems for communicating with their team systems for onboarding a client.
Yeah, you know, how can you function if you're like you said, just now if you're reinventing the wheel every time you do something, which is something that occurs regularly in your business, it must be such a time suck to have to kind of start from scratch every time with no templates, no standard operating procedures, you know, nothing to guide you through it.
Charlotte Lester 9:25
Yeah. One of the biggest things that people find the biggest hurdle is that they they know about systems, but they're not clear about systems not clear on what it actually brings to their business.
And I know we were talking just before about systems and kind of my most clients that I work with with systems are around earliest, probably around 18 months that they've been in business, however, systems you need them throughout the business, you need them as a startup and I would always bang my drum and say there's never too early of a time to create IT systems in your business.
But I think it's one of those things where if you haven't lived that fear that struggle of battling through, you can't really appreciate having a system there. And what that brings to a business. And I think that's why a lot of people pull it off and don't have systems in place earlier on. But they're game changing completely completely game changing. It's just that understanding of why.
And then when people are at that stage, I say they are at the 18 month stage already overwhelmed, it always already stressed out. And then you say to them, right, let's sit down. And let's map out your process. Let's see what's going on. Let's look at your tools. Let's look at who's going to be responsible for this.
Let's look at the objective. They think I don't have time to do this process, let alone sit down and work all this stuff out. But it's understanding that actually working all this stuff out is going to save you such a huge chunk of time and money further down the line.
And one of my bugbears and this is coming from I know you'll agree with me here, Gill is coming from that support industry world where I don't think any of my clients had processes that I took on when I originally was a PA, it was kind of doing it myself. And I created that process when I was in the role, because that's just how my head works. My head is process driven. But when they kind of come to you, and they say, oh, I need this work, I need that work.
A lot of the time, they don't need a VA, they just need some structure and some organisation in their business. And that's what I think people are really missing the trick there. Because quite often, I think everyone blurts it out, don't they you need to be a you need to be a you need a VA.
Whereas actually, you don't always need a VA. Yeah, you know, there might be someone else that you need. But the first thing that you should be doing is looking at your back end of your business, going really into the heart of your business finds out what's going on. Because the last thing you want to do is take on a VA give them a process or a task to do.
And that task doesn't bring you any return back in your business. What's the point in having that VA, you're paying out and you're investing this money and getting nothing back from it.
But if you have systems in place, you're going to understand what's working for your business, what you can actually then outsource and you can do it in a structured way where you'll be able to adapt that strategy, you know, and that's something that people get so stuck with, they get stuck with this strategy that's worked for them.
And then they think, Well, why isn't this working? What's going wrong. And because they are then adding to the strategy rather than just involved in the strategy, they can often end up in this big spiral of, oh, I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what I'm meant to be doing.
Because this strategy was once working. And now it's not, but because they don't have any documented processes. They don't know what's going, they just can't see the gaps. They can't see where they're going wrong with it.
Gill Moakes 12:58
I just couldn't agree more. And I think what I see with a lot of people that I've worked with in the past has been that they start out as solopreneurs. You know, maybe it's their coaching, maybe they're a consultant, maybe it's some kind of designer, freelancer, whatever it is, they've started out as a solopreneur and didn't see any point they felt like it was kind of overkill to document a process.
Well, you know, when I bring on a new client, I just send them a contract. And there's no documented process around it. So when they grow to a point, when they do need to outsource, they do need some support.
They don't really know how to communicate to a VA, what that process should be. And yet, like you and I know as well, people tend to think of VA will come in and create all of the processes for them. But actually a VA as well, is really to follow a process that's given to them by their client.
If you're hiring an online business manager further down the line, and you've got the budget to expand your team in that way, then yeah, absolutely. They will come in and suggest processes for you. But when you're first hiring a VA, you need to know what you want that process to look like.
Would you agree Charlotte that you don't necessarily need to know all the answers of how to what tools to use and that kind of thing, but you need to know what you want the process to look and feel like?
Charlotte Lester 14:22
Yeah, absolutely. I know VAs that will say they are implementers. Effectively, that is their role. And there's a lot of kinds of miscommunication there because you'll get a lot of people say, oh, I need an accounting VA or I need a marketing VA, you know, and that's fine if you just want them to actually implement your marketing strategy that set out. But what a lot of people do is they take them on and they say, oh, I want you I want to make this objective in my marketing.
I want to reach this amount of people and grow my visibility. Can you do that for me? And it's like, well, that's strategy. You know that that's not a VAs role. Well, that's not what they are there to be doing.
And although they are business owners in their own right, and they probably can pull something together, they're not marketers or they're not accountants, you know, they that is not their role. So in order to actually get the return back, you need to invest in the right people. And I think that's really hard to find when you don't really know where you need that support.
Gill Moakes 15:26
Gosh, that's so true. Sorry, I interrupt you. But the reason I did is because I see this all the time, is that people say to me, I can't find a good VA. And I really do think you're spot on, it's not that they can't find a good VA is that they don't know what that would look like.
They don't know what a good VA would look like. Because they don't know what they want to outsource. They can't picture delegating network to someone else, or how to train someone to do that work for them.
Unknown Speaker 15:59
Yeah, and there's so much emphasis on the admin side when it comes to vas, like documenting your admin processes. But it goes so much deeper, you shouldn't just be documenting your admin processes, you're not sure they're important, every process important, but documenting your delivery, what does that look like?
Unknown Speaker 16:18
Because when you're off sick, or you know, when something happens, your VA or whoever that is, can still continue on and do their part. And that's the power of systems and processes.
Gill Moakes 16:31
Think that actually working it say if you were starting to think about implementing documented systems into your business so that you felt more in control? Because that's what it does, doesn't it having a system makes you just feel in control of of what's going on inside your business? What would you say is the real priority one? Because that really struck a chord with me when you said starting with delivery? Don't start with the easy ones, the internal ones that don't affect anyone else?
Charlotte Lester 17:02
Yeah, start with the things that bring money.
Gill Moakes 17:05
Yes exactly. I think that's massive. So So would you say that is systems like Client Onboarding? And or would you go even, maybe even further into existing client.
Charlotte Lester 17:17
I would go even deeper. So I think Client Onboarding absolutely are super, super important. A lot of Client Onboarding can be automated. But again, without a system without process, you're not going to be able to see where that automation comes in. And for many people, they would always start with the admin.
But for me, I would always start with how are you delivering to your clients? You know, what does that look like? And of course, every client's business model is different. Some people deliver one to one, some people group programmes, some people courses, you know, whatever that looks like for you.
But looking at, okay, so where are you spending your time, because if you are spending your time on delivering to the clients, but therefore being that sole person of contact, where you're delivering the customer service, where you're delivering the courses where you're if your drip feeds, and if you're automating it, what does that look like?
And can you send some of that off to a VA, because ultimately, that's the stuff that's going to create the experience for your clients. And, you know, we're all humans, I think many people, especially when they create courses, they forget to create that experience as well. Because you want to be able to have your clients rave about you, you want your clients to love you don't you want your clients to come back and to keep them and to retain them.
And the way to do that is to create an experience. And an experience means having kind of a set timeframe that you're going to return their calls, their emails, you know, whatever that looks like their support, the amount of clients that you will get that will say, I've lost my login, or I don't know, my login, or I've locked myself out, making sure that you have a specific system in place that you have delegated down that says to someone, okay, well, if they've lost their login, that admin person can then go in, sorted out and you want it done within a set amount of time.
But making sure that you're communicating that to the VA as well is super important. Because that's another thing that people often forget to do is they'll say, oh, I want someone to help with my customer service, for instance, for this particular programme.
And then the VA will come on, but they just forget to say that little thing of, oh, by the way, I want any email communications to be like returned back within four hours or something like that.
The VA is happily sitting there going away. And then the following day, maybe they've got around to doing that bit of work and you're then frustrated as a business owner, because you're saying no, I've promised my people I'm going to go back to them in four hours.
You've now left it 24 hours, and that's not good enough. And they kind of then look at the VA and think well, you're not a great VA you're rubbish. Yeah, you've let me down. Whereas actually, it's that lack of communication and that's something that a system will correct because if you have a system there that says, you want the emails to be checked at this time or in the morning not being too stringent at times, because that's not really possible when you're a VA and you're juggling different, different priorities.
But having I wanted checked in the morning, and then having kind of, okay, well, if someone has locked myself out, if someone's not nice, I want them to be able to sign back in within four hours, you're setting that communication, you're setting that bar as such, and that VA then knows what they're doing.
And nine times out of 10, the VA is going to be fine with doing that, but they don't know until you tell them. And I think that's something that's really missed, especially in the online world.
Definitely coming from corporate, you can't You're very used to having that feedback. You're very used to kind of someone saying, Well, no, I wanted you to go back within this timeframe, you can go and do it, you know, but there's a real kind of barrier. I think when it comes to that communication.
Gill Moakes 20:52
Yes, there is there is a real disconnect isn't there between what a business owner takes as red as cut because they're, it's their business, they they know what they want to happen.
But that assumption they make that other people who come on to their team are gonna know what they want to happen when and how and by whom? whose responsibility it is, you know?
eah, but with system Charlotte, what's so so if someone's listening to this and thinks, God, this is really resonating with me, because I feel unorganised in my business. I feel like nothing is automated. And I am reinventing the wheel. Every time I work with a new client every time I bring on a new team member, everything's kind of a muddle.
Charlotte Lester 21:36
Yeah, it's like pushing water up a hill.
Gill Moakes 21:39
Yeah, exactly. So for that person, what's the easiest way to get a system out of a business owners head and get it documented? How do you tend to recommend people document their systems,
Charlotte Lester 21:54
It varies greatly depending on the specific client and where they are. So probably the majority of the time, I would say, if you're that client that you're stressed out overwhelmed, you can't think of doing anything else than just video, record your screen when you're doing the task.
The only thing I would say with it is to make sure that you were talking it through as you're doing it. And there's reasoning behind this. So as an example, I know a lot of other people, especially when they're talking about systems, or they're saying about systems are easy, just record your screen, that's it, and then just send that over.
And that's fine. But it does need to be documented. And the reason behind that is coming from someone that's been on the other end of systems as well. If you give that to a VA, if we're just use as an example, and they have to always re recall or re watch that video, it's going to take them double the amount of time to do a task than one it would be to follow a documented process that's written out that they can just literally use as tickbox to go through.
So I'd always say to start with recording your screen, talk it through, because then you can get a transcript from it and makes it easier to then document. But if you literally just record your screen and you think that's it, I can't do any more, that's fine.
If you do then take someone on to then do it, then make sure that you are putting in kind of buffer time for them to document that process and make that clear that that's part of what you want them to do.
Gill Moakes 23:27
Got you so that so you would just kind of get everything out of your head around how you do it. Yeah, so basically, as a business owner, you would be able to get all of the kind of process that's just in your head that stops you delegating, because you you know, like business owners always say the same thing to me.
And that is it just it will take me too long to teach someone else how to do it, I might as well do it myself. I hear that all the time from clients. But you what you're saying is that actually if they just an even if it's not following on the screen, if it's a process around just getting out of your head, how you want a client experience to be or feel, just record yourself, and then hand that over to the VA as a task and get them to create a documented process for me, is that right? Yeah, exactly. That makes so much sense.
Charlotte Lester 24:25
You know, of course, in a perfect world, it would be to video record your screen or to you know, record you doing the task then to document it out. But in a realistic world, that's probably not going to be the case for many people that are in that stage of I need systems now.
So coming from that kind of realistic pace, it is a case of literally recording what you want recording what that is what that looks like the objective who's responsible for it, who's going to be responsible for this particular thing?
And also, I think something else to pinpoint here is we've processes Some people always talk about outsourcing a task, I would talk about outsourcing the process. Because, you know, it's one of those things where too many cooks.
Gill Moakes 25:10
Oh yeah, too many cooks spoil the broth.
Charlotte Lester 25:12
You know, it's the same when it comes to business and systems. Because if you have, for instance, a team member that's just doing this task that's doing that, but then you're then doing X, Y and Zed part of it really look at okay, do you really need to be doing that? Can that team member do? Is that something that you really need to be doing?
Gill Moakes 25:31
If my VA Emily is listening to this, which of course she will be, obviously, it but she will be thinking, Yes, Charlotte reminds you of that, because I'm guilty of that, I will outsource a task, that's part of a process.
But the process then is still dependent on me to do my bits within that process as well. And we are getting better, I'm definitely something I'm working on, is really delegating the entire process around something to someone so that it's not dependent. So because otherwise, I end up being the bottleneck all the time.
Charlotte Lester 26:08
Yeah, of course, there are certain parts you can't outsource. So taking a podcast as an example, we have Gill, like, you can't outsource you doing this podcast, this podcast is you, you know, but your hands on in the podcast only needs to be the recording of the podcast, like everything else in the process can go off to someone else, there's nothing else in there that need you.
And of course, here it comes a bit of because I know a lot of people say oh, well, clients don't give permission effectively to their team members to go and do something, you know.
So as an example, like having it documents out having it in a system, there might be a way that that team member goes, actually, it'd be a bit quicker doing it this way, or actually, this tool might be a bit better to use.
But a lot of the time, they won't speak up, because you've told them this is what you want to be done. And you've not been said, have your input, have the input. If you feel that there's a best way, if you feel that there's something else that we can improve on, and making sure that that kind of door for communication is always open.
And I don't like using this verb because it's very cool proceeding coming from my corporate head. But having that kind of appraisal that quarterly appraisal that five, like every six months, the appraisal just to be able to communicate out what's working well, what's not working, well, what can we do better, but treat it more as like a partnership and bringing them in on your business, rather than just kind of treating them as kind of that outsider that you're just giving the task to.
Oh, that is so true. Yeah, it makes makes life so different, just completely changed his life. But you do need systems at the core of that to be able to have that work well. Otherwise, if you don't have that in place, it's just going to you ends up in a hot mess from every angle, and you end up with a really frustrated burnout VA because you're trying to get them to do stuff, you're getting frustrated, because they're not doing stuff to how you want it done.
You don't have the time to communicate to them how you want it done. So then you fire them, you go and look for someone else to it. There you go. You burn that VA out because you just it's kind of that kind of cycle of doom, I suppose is how I would call it.
Gill Moakes 28:20
Oh my goodness, that is so spot on. That's exactly what it is. It's like a cycle, isn't it of it's a cycle of disappointment, when you don't have your systems documented, is because you have such high expectations of how your team is going to change your life, your VA or you know, whatever team members that you bring on are going to change your life.
Yeah, you're gonna be set free. And of course, it doesn't work like that. But it can yeah, right. It can. That's where I feel like you came in for me. And because I've learned so much from you about getting systems that well. It's just just the thing you said just now about outsource a process, not a task. That's such a golden nugget for me. Yeah.
And I think anyone listening, it takes that away from this. Don't keep outsourcing tiny pieces of the puzzle. outsource the puzzle. Yeah. And it's the system that will let you do that. I mean, this is really your business now is completely laser focused on helping business owners implement systems get set up with with robust systems that are going to really enable them to grow and scale their businesses.
Tell me about that. Tell me how you work with your clients.
Charlotte Lester 29:40
Yes. So as you know, I had the agency for about six years and last year kind of decided something that I was putting off for a while deciding to really hurt to hold on the agency and to really go in on the simple system to scale and that side of my business.
Gill Moakes 29:56
Say the name again because I love the name!
Charlotte Lester 29:59
Simple systems to scale, magic potion, I love it. But I, I just love it. And it's really stemmed from the fact of working in the agency and working with clients and working with VA working as an OBM, and kind of really understanding that there's this real mismatch when it comes to systems.
And I think even from VAs, you know, even the kinds of pictures even muddled there, because bas are even led to think that it's just a tool, you know, it's just that one tool that you're using, whereas it just goes so much deeper.
And without having it in place. I've seen it from both sides, I've seen it from kind of the agency owner side where I've wanted to outsource to team members. But then I've also seen it from the outside point of view of being a VA and working with a client that doesn't have any processes or systems in place.
And I've seen that kind of real mismatch that when they're not there, it creates a beast, you know, it creates this business that you're just you're slugging away at, you're working at all the time, and you just never have any freedom from you are constantly involved in every decision in everything that's going on.
And it's when you are not available, you know, or not even when you're not, well, if you've got children, and you want to go to the park, or you want to do this thing, and you want to have that freedom for yourself, then you need to have systems because without them, no one else is going to be able to do anything in your business, everything is going to be reliant on you.
And it's kind of making sure that you have that process there. It's not saying just you know, hand something off to a team member, let them go off and figure it out and work it out and post whatever they do on social media. It's not saying that it's just saying to have some structure there.
So as long as you're kind of scheduling in advance your social media posts for an example, if you're scheduling in advance, it's not that sense of urgency of oh, I need to go and check and approve these posts today. Because it gives you time to be able to do that gives you time to be able to schedule that in.
But you can't do that without a system because the VA is probably not going to create these posts in time because you're going to be a hot mess thinking, Oh, I haven't done any social media posts quick. I need some posts fit together, they're gonna go away frantically trying to do it or not do it to the best of their ability, because it's all a rush. It's all chaos is so mad, and then kind of coming back. And then they're thinking, Oh, okay, well, I need to approve all these things.
Now. I'm not happy with it. So I'm not happy with that. And it kind of really just takes away that disappointment. So I've just seen it from both sides.
Gill Moakes 32:27
I think that's such a good example, post to social media, such a good example of the difference between a system and a tool. So sometimes people will think they have a system, because they'll say, oh, yeah, because we use HootSuite. Yeah, my VA does it and chooses HootSuite.
That's not the system, the system is on the first of every month, this amount of content is created on this day of the week this content is created on this day of the week, it's marked as approved on this day of the week, it's scheduled in HootSuite, then it's followed up by this, then it's marked as that whatever the moving parts are around that entire process. That's the system, isn't it?
Charlotte Lester 33:07
Exactly.
Gill Moakes 33:08
Yeah. Hootsuite is a tool.
Charlotte Lester 33:10
That's it, that's how you do it. You know, that's the how, but you need to have the person that's responsible. And when you really boil down to it, people are really surprised by how minimal systems they really need to have, because people look at it, and they think, oh, I need a blog system. I need a podcast system.
I need a you know, all these different things. Whereas actually, they need a marketing system. Yeah. How do these pieces come together? What's your content marketing? And that's your system. You know, that's your your marketing system, your objective will be your marketing objective. What is the objective of this system? What are you trying to get from this marketing?
And of course, that's always going to change and something that I think people have done, certainly clients of mine that have come to me, they've had systems previously not really been scalable systems, I've just kind of been documented Word documents.
And let's face it, you know, I'm not a word document lover when it comes to systems because what's like, I can't think of anything worse than being back in corporate and then starting a new role. And then coming to me with like a 40 page document. Here's the systems and processes really the way no one reads them.
No one reads it, no one is going to read that. And it's understanding that you need to make the music, you need to make them something that people actually going to use. And that's what people have come to me with. They've kind of been like, oh, I've had this system, but I haven't updated it for like two years and no one followed it.
And I'm not I'm not surprised that no one followed this, you know, it's a huge white document that's got loads of like Fitty information in there and you've not updated it. So it doesn't it's not even relevant anyway. It's kind of knowing that prompt so systems are created. It's that maintaining of that system to make sure that it really does stay on top of your business, you know, it should be at the heart of every single business.
But understand that it doesn't mean that you have to have all these processes. And it's a really good opportunity to, which is what I've enclosed in simple systems to scale now, because the program's kind of grown six months, which is incredible, because it's kind of that business development journey. So it's going through and making sure that when we're creating systems, we're looking at what we're doing already, and really delving into being honest and thinking, Okay, well, do I need a system for this? Because is it working for me anymore?
It's not working, Let's ditch it. And let's carry on with the things that are working. So it's kind of almost that minimalist approach, I suppose, when we're actually going through and I think everyone has been there, where they've been a hoarder of their business strategies, where they've just been, you know, not letting the strategy go, because I want to keep it, I need to do this, or it works.
And it's done this and that it's gonna work again, because it's worked before. But rather than actually adding to them, it's just kind of breaking away from the things just that just aren't working now, because we evolve, our business evolves, and ultimately, our systems and processes need to evolve as well. Absolutely.
Gill Moakes 36:14
And when clients come to you, and sign up for simple systems to scale, so is this a programme that people can sign up for at any time?
Charlotte Lester 36:24
Yes. So at the moment, because I'm going through my big refresh of it, so it's actually going to be going live in June, but they can sign up now is absolute fine. We've got payment plan, so it just makes it even more affordable. So it's just like an extended payment plan.
Gill Moakes 36:41
And when someone signs up for the programme, which systems do you go through inside the programme?
Charlotte Lester 36:50
So we go through the core system? So we will look at the marketing sells client services? How HR and finance? I think there's six, I think there's six systems in total.
Gill Moakes 37:06
It's those core ones that really move the needle, isn't it?
Charlotte Lester 37:10
Absolutely. And we go through from the very beginning. So we will go through right from the structuring of the business. What does that look like, finally? And how does that work? What do your departments look like, because not everyone's departments going to be the same.
And some people just miss that point, they don't break things down into departments. So as an example, here, if you take on an admin person for an example, they don't really need to have your marketing, your sales, your finance, all these different areas, depending on what you're outsourcing to, they're probably just going to need that admin operational side.
So you can then just kind of assign the operations to that person. And it's going to make it super clear. Because, again, there's nothing worse than coming into a business from FBA, or any kind of person that you've hired and coming into a business and then just being given this whole huge Dean, it's going to create overwhelm.
So you want to limit that not just for you, but for anyone that comes into your business as well. So by doing that, and separating it out into departments that really whittles down on that overwhelm, and I love it, because when people are listening like,
Gill Moakes 38:16
Well, my business doesn't have different departments. It's only like me and a couple of people for support. But I hit this is a super important thing, isn't it is that all the time you think of your business as too small to have SOP standard operating lease, or too small to be split into departments of or areas of that cover different topics within the business?
You know, all the time you keep playing small and thinking it's overkill for me to do that, then you keep yourself playing small, right? Yeah, it's not until you actually do start thinking about a scaled version of your business, that you're going to be able to step into a scaled version of your business.
So I love the way you approach it. And I love the way that you use that up level language around departments and processes and systems because I think that's what does galvanise people to be able to scale their business.
Charlotte Lester 39:15
Yeah, it does completely. And I think it's, people will say, Well, there's only me, so I haven't got an HR department or I don't, I'm not going to have a HR department, but you know, dream big, because one day you might that if that's what you want, that's what you guys get.
But it's making sure that okay, well, it might just be you, but you were super clear on Tuesday. I'm working on my marketing on Friday, I'm working on my finance, it makes it really clear for you as well to be able to time block to understand really where you're spending your time.
Because just having a loaded jumble of things that you're kind of just working through comes across jumbled in your mind because you're jumping from this to that to this to that in all different areas.
Gill Moakes 39:57
It's cutting through that overwhelm again, Isn't it, that's what we keep coming back to, with this, with having the simple systems that are gonna let you scale your business without feeling overwhelmed.
So if someone at the moment is listening, and they can really identify with this and would just love that feeling of being in control again, and that feeling of being able to outsource processes without them always be bottlenecked by them. How can they find out more about your programme?
Because I just think you are the best in my opinion at this. So I really want people to reach out to you. I really do. How can they do that? How can they find out more?
Charlotte Lester 40:42
Yes, so I've on my website is probably the best place. Because that's going to be he's going through a little bit of an update at the moment, but it is still live.
Gill Moakes 40:49
Okay, so we'll put the link to that in the come through. Yeah, I'll put the link to that in the shownotes.
Charlotte Lester 40:55
I have got the group programme option, which is kind of predominantly the the main one that people go for. But I have also because I've had a couple of people asked for a one to one version.
So I have also opened up a couple of one to one spots where we will, the great programmes amazing if you are clear in your business. So as long as you're clear in your business of kind of where you want to be, and that strategy side of things, then the group programme is perfect.
If you are a bit stuck in all areas, you kind of just want someone to come into your business to be able to pick those bits out and to really kind of have that one on one bespoke side of it, then we work through the programme. So you can still go through the same modules, but it's just that I'm specifically in your business.
Gill Moakes 41:39
God, that must be a game changer for your clients. Yes.
Charlotte Lester 41:43
It's been incredible. Yeah. Yeah, it's been amazing. And for six months, you get me?
Gill Moakes 41:48
I mean, who would not want that? I know I do. I need I need You more regularly than anyone though, in my business? Because I feel like you're the voice of reason for me. I mean, I'm pretty organised. Because we come from a similar background, don't we? But I think you're always the voice of reason.
For me in terms of just keeping things simple, keeping things documented. That's I always have your voice in my ear. Yeah, around, you know what happened? What if I do want to take a couple of months to tell me that you're an ear worm lesson, that's a horrible thing to say. I think this will be people listening, this is going to be a game changer.
And I really want them to get in touch with you because it will change the face of their business for a start in terms of their client delivery once they've got systems in place so that it's seamless and consistent.
But it also is going to change the way they feel about their business, isn't it, it's going to change how in control they feel, how calm they can feel. It's what we all want when we start a business, but we kind of don't know how to get it. And that's where this a amorphous thing called a system that you make so clear for people. That's where it comes in. So thank you so much.
Charlotte Lester 43:12
No, thank you. Thank you for having me. It's been so fun.
Gill Moakes 43:16
It really has. Thanks, Charlotte. And for all of you listening as always links in the show notes of how you can reach out to Charlotte, and thanks for joining us.
I hope you enjoyed this episode, and that getting our heads together this week has filled your mind with what's possible. If you love the show, would you do me a massive favour please? Would you leave a five star rating on Apple podcasts? It would really help you put more heads together, which will ears and expand more minds. Until next week. Bye for now.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
