Greetings from Provence! :)
I had coffee with a friend at a café in Paris over a week ago to invite him to join me in a 7-figure+ business club that I’m helping to create. He has an amaaaazing business, he’s so innovative and he has the most inspiring clients doing big things in the world.
But when I asked him to join it with me, he said, “I’d love to Fabienne, but frankly, I’m not there yet, and not even close. On the outside, I may have the lifestyle many people want, but since I can be honest with you, I’m still doing sooooo much myself and my business is the furthest thing from being scalable. It all depends on me and if I don’t do it, it will never get done.”
After many more questions (and apologizing for my false assumptions) I told him:
“You know, all you need to scale to the next big level is some structure and some systems. Even though you’ve rebelled around these your entire life, they’re what actually give you the freedom and income you seek.”
Then he called me something like a Systems Wizardess and we both laughed.
This message applies to you too.
When most of us started our business, we WERE the business, the whole business and nothing but the business. Pretty much nothing happened unless we did it ourselves.
And maybe you’re reading this right now thinking… “Well, actually, Fabienne…my business is still like that!”
“If I don’t do it, it isn’t getting done.”
Maybe you’re where so many of our Boldheart Business members have been, which is the place where the very idea of teaching someone else how to do what you do everyday feels more overwhelming than simply continuing to do it yourself.
Maybe flying by the seat of your pants and dealing with all of the crises that inevitably arise when you’re operating without systems in place seems easier.
But it’s keeping you stuck where you are.
At some point, if you want to grow, this is a shift you’re going to have to make. And I’m going to suggest (strongly) that no matter what level you’re at in business, it’s a shift that you boldly begin to make now.
Ready for it?
Everything that you do in your business more than once a year needs a system around it.
Even the intuitive stuff. All of it goes into an operations manual with checklists and processes. It’s your “here’s how we do things around here” bible. And it will allow you to make the shift from flying by the seat of your pants to becoming a bonafide business owner, a 7-figure one if you want that.
Without systems, you don’t own a business. You ARE the business, and chances are that you’ve got the worst boss ever because that boss is always meddling and micromanaging, and says (insert condescending voice):
If you want to make more? Work more. If there’s a breakdown? Fix it yourself. Want a vacation? Hah!
That’s not the kind of boss you are.
Instead, begin to look at your business not as a business driven by an individual, but as one that is process-driven.
Boldly say it with me:
“I am NOT running my business based on doing everything myself anymore. I am NOW the owner of a process-driven business.”
Learn to embrace systematizing everything…and everything changes.
Sure, at the beginning, it will be you that is executing most of the day-to-day operations, but as you grow you can begin to train and delegate tasks to others.
Over time, much of what happens in your business won’t require you at all.
Ahhhhhh.
(This is how Derek, the kids and I are able to take 2 weeks off every six weeks to places such as Barcelona last week and Provence this week! It’s the gift we receive because we have a process-driven business. And you can have this too.)
So here’s the invitation: Begin to look at your own business as a process-run organization instead of a personality-driven organization.
Your calendar, your bank account and your family will be so grateful that you took action on this.
And then, maybe you can join that 7-figure business club with me. ;)
I believe you can,
Fabienne
P.S. Go ahead and share this quote:
