Art Of Money

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This post begins with a confession: creating and following systems is something I truly suck at.

That’s why, in a desperate hope to free myself from the constant pain in my shoulders (from carrying the weight of my online ventures solely on my own back) last summer I picked up James Brausch’s Freedom Business Systems home study course.

I hated it. Too simplistic, too basic, not clever enough for me.

Then a couple weeks ago, after yet again realizing that I had created a non-scalable system (ie. the business needed me to do almost everything, therefore growth and success were limited to the number of hours I could work) with my blog network.

I’m Determined to Reform my Ways

I ordered a copy of Tim Ferris’ Four Hour Work Week, and while waiting for it to arrive I decided to give James’ home study course another look.

Much to my surprise, it had improved dramatically in the 10 months that I have been neglecting it

What is a Business?

A good place to start is with a definition of a real business. This is what I want:

A company that produces a profit; and if I was to be exiled on a deserted island for 12 months, when I returned to civilization, the company would be thriving and worth more than when I left.

Freedom Business Systems Review

The question is then whether or not James’ course can provide a framework and guidance to achieve that goal?

Or at the very least a bit of hope in that direction for a die-hard control freak (the real reason folks have trouble with business systems and outsourcing.)

And yes, I do think a blog or a simple website can be a business system and be fully outsource and done by trained staff.

Creator’s Depth of Knowledge on the Topic

James gives some example of how he came to learn the importance of business systems from working in corporate software development and seeing the huge advantage that the systems provided on many levels.

Not only did the business systems that he witnessed provide ways to dial in on continuous increases in profit, but they created freedom for the owners and they increased the scalability and sale-ability of the business (it is next to impossible to sell a business that depends on you to run.)

The Difference Between a System and a Project

One of the fundamentals of the Freedom Business System course that I like is the re-framing of the concept of a project. In my mind I wondered how can a business ever run without me; won’t there always be one-off projects that need to get done?

The goal is to STOP the PROJECTS, the only projects should be to create the systems so you no longer need to have any more projects. Then your are free and your business can continually improve without your involvement.

The Meat & Potatoes

The course, like I said is very simple. It explains what the goals are with each component of a business system.

You start at the top with an overall diagram of your business (there is a good example provided). From there you outline all the processes used to perform every task in the business.

Then you create procedures, which are just step by step walk-throughs of all the tasks needed to complete the high level processes.

Metrics

Each procedure must have a metric that is used to measure it’s success. For example the overall metric for your business would most likely be “profit.” But each procedure that someone performs should also have a metric.

In the course, the example used is “article promotion” a procedure for submitting articles to article directories. The metric for this procedure is backlinks as a result of the article being distributed.

This metric should, of course, relate in some way to the overall goal of profit, but it may not relate directly.

Continuous and Never Ending Improvement

The other really important factor (if you look at my desert island test from above) is continuous improvement. Each process must have a method that insures it is reviewed and new ways of performing the same task are tested to try and improve the metric.

The course provides two ways to review processes and procedures looking; for increases in quality or reductions in costs. This is known as ratcheting your systems.

Other Factors Touched On

• Document management - the need for centralized repository of business records.
• Creation of spreadsheets to manage and review metrics.
• How to handle possible staff objections to being part of a business system.

What’s included in the Package

3 main screen capture videos that walk through the entire methodology and explanation of setting up a systematized business.

4 example processes, including the procedures in step by step text documents and screen capture videos that an employee would follow to complete the task.

The Cost

$100

In Conclusion

Like I mentioned it is a very simple course. That is the strength of it. You will get it; why you need to do all this documentation, and how to do it so that your business (or even just a simple website or blog) can run independently of your involvement.

If you’re like me and come from a long line of job slaves, you probably will find that you’ll start out creating these systems and then when you experience pressure or get I-can-do-it-better-than-anyone-else-itis you’ll probably revert back to doing things in the business rather than creating systems for others to be able to do the work.

At least then we can crack out the course and get back on track. That’s what it’s been like for me, maybe you’ll have an easier time at getting out of the do-it-all-yourself mindset. I know I’m not going to give up on my dream of having a constantly improving business that can operate without me breaking my back at a computer all day.

I think of the Freedom Business Systems (yes the sales page is butt ugly - James is an avid tester so the version I’m seeing currently has fluorescent green headline text…yikes!) as the blueprint for how things need to be in order for me to create that dream business and life.