If you have an online business, there is a good chance that you do certain things over and over again. Since everything you’re doing (or at least most of it) is online, it may involve a lot of different steps too. You don’t want to have to “start from scratch” to remember what to do every time you need to do something.
This is why you need to have processes in place. It might sound complicated, but it’s really simple. Basically, you should have a lot of lists. If every time you do something, you do the same specific tasks with it, make a list so that you won’t forget it. Write it down somewhere and keep it in a place that you can easily refer to it.
Here are some great reasons that it’s helpful to write these processes down so you’ll always have them.
You Won’t Need to Remember
We all have a lot on our minds…all of the time. It can be easy to forget a step when you’re doing something. Especially if you haven’t been doing it all that long, or haven’t done it very often.
For example, if every time you write a blog post, you post a link to it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and then send an email out to your list, write that down. The next time you write a blog post, refer to that process, and you’ll never forget exactly what you want to do every time you post a new blog post. Without the list, you might forget one of the social media sites.
Let’s say every time you create a video, you upload it to YouTube and add a description. You then email your list about the new video. Then you post to 4 different social media accounts about your new video. Then, you set it up to post multiple times so that more people will get a chance to see it. To make it even more complicated, then you take just the audio portion of it, and post that a few different places as well.
That’s a lot of things. Don’t get me wrong, that’s awesome, and you’re repurposing content and getting a lot of possible views of one piece of content. You should definitely do this or something like it. But it’s a lot of things to remember. So write it down somewhere, and the next time you create a video, you’ll know exactly what you should do.
You might think that you’ll remember how to do it, especially if you’re doing it often. But what happens when something comes up and you don’t do it for a week? Or you go on vacation and forget a step or two when you get back? You don’t want that to happen. Write it down somewhere and you’ll have a process you can follow each and every time you upload a video. You won’t have to worry about forgetting any parts of it.
You Can Automate Some of It
Depending on what it is, if you’re doing the same thing over and over again, you might be able to automate some of it. Let’s say every time you get a new customer, you send them an email thanking them for their purchase. Then, a few days later you write them to see how they are liking their product. Maybe a few days after that, you send them another email with some suggestions of how they can use the product better and get more out of it.
That’s all very helpful, but that’s a lot of emails to write and send out. Now imagine you have multiple people buying your products and they’re all at different stages. Now you have to remember to send one person the first email, another few people the second email, and so on.
You can automate this with an autoresponder series, so that everyone will get the same emails once they make a purchase from you. You won’t have to do anything except set it up once, and all of the work is done for you. You don’t have to send a single email manually, and each customer will still get all of the emails you want them to.
This is just one example of how to automate something. You can automate many tasks within your business. If you write down your different processes, you can then go through them and see what can be automated to save you time and energy.
You’ll Do Things Faster
When you have to think of what the next step is every single time you do something, it’s going to take longer. You’re going to have to think about it, and make sure you’re not forgetting something.
When you’re looking at a list (whether online or on a piece of paper, it doesn’t matter) you do one step, and then the next. You follow the list and don’t have to think about it at all. This saves time and you’ll get things done faster this way.
Someone Else Can Do It
If everything you need to do is in your head, you’re the only one that can do the tasks. If you have them written out, step by step, anyone can read the task and follow it.
This will allow you to outsource certain tasks if you want to. This will give you more time, and allow you to get a lot more done. Having processes allows you to get help, and you don’t need to be the person that does absolutely everything anymore.
You’ll Grow Your Business
Having your processes written down will make it so you’ll get more done. You’ll follow them and make sure you don’t miss any steps. You’ll take less time to do these steps. You’ll even be able to have someone else do some of the processes if you want.
This will give you more time to get other things done. You’ll be able to create or promote more products. You’ll be seen more on social media, and will have a more engaged list. You’ll be consistent in everything you do, and people will notice this. This will help you grow your business!
Enjoy,
