In business, there’s a critical difference between building a business system and a company. A company is a group of people who come together to make a product or service, whereas a business system is a tool you create to generate profits automatically, without your personal involvement.
Entrepreneurs have this idea that they’re building companies from the ground up, working hard on getting customers and making profits. But that’s not the smart approach to leadership. And it means that you’ll forever be giving up your time for money. What you really want is to automate that process, getting money without having to exchange your personal energy in return.
Think about it. Wealthy people don’t work for their money directly. Instead, they focus on building systems that will do it for them.
For instance, Bill Gates today doesn’t work for his money. Instead he gets a massive daily income from his options in Microsoft and other investments. The same goes for Jeff Bezos. Amazon is a business system that he created to automate personal wealth creation. He doesn’t need to work for a living – his business system does it for him.
Hopefully now you can see the difference between a regular company and a business system. In the former, you’re putting in the effort and energy to get the matter. But in the latter, the business is doing all the legwork for you. You just cream off the top.
Building business systems can be a challenge. So here’s our advice.
Focus On The Structure
If you want to build a business system, don’t get involved with the day-to-day work. Instead, involve yourself in the structure of the enterprise. Find ways to put together a money-making machine a bit like a jigsaw. Think about the machines you need, premises you need to hire and the people you require. Then put them altogether and see what happens. Where possible, avoid doing any direct work for customers. And certainly don’t take over other people’s tasks. Once you set up your business, you can even hire a CEO to run it on your behalf.
Automate Your Processes
If something can be done by machines, make sure that it is. Don’t let anything slip through the cracks.
Automating your processes is something that you should do task by task. For instance, use invoice software to automatically bill your clients. Use social media support software to automate your Tweets. And get accounting software to link to your bank accounts.
See Yourself As The Organizer
Creating business systems also requires that you see yourself in a different way. You’re not a regular employee, performing a task. Instead, you’re the person putting the system together. That’s your role. Get out of the employee mindset and view yourself more like a systems manager – someone who keeps all the plates spinning.
Release Your Business To The Control Of Others
Lastly, get comfortable with releasing control to others. Feel confident allowing your firm to set sail by itself, without you necessarily at the helm.
Remember, you don’t need to be at the controls for the entire lifetime of the company, unless there’s a good reason for it. Instead, you can allow others to manage your enterprise, yet still maintaining ownership yourself.
Focus On Scale
Regular businesses deal with individual clients, promising to meet their bespoke needs. But truly profitable firms always focus on standardization and scale.
Think about restaurants, like McDonald’s. These outlets never deviate from their standard menus. Instead, they just repeat the same process over and over again, creaming profits off the top.
Ideally, you want to do something similar. While there will always be room for highly personalized services in the market, they don’t tend to make a lot of money and they require enormous quantities of human energy to complete. Scale-based enterprises, however, do not. Adding extra output hardly requires any additional investment, time or energy at all.
Build A Brand
While physical systems are critical to creating a cash-cow, so too is building a brand. Branding is what lets you differentiate your company from your rivals, encouraging your customers to choose you above them.
How you go about branding is very much a personal decision that depends on the nature of your brand itself. But you want something that sets you apart so that you can earn a constant stream of customers.
In conclusion, building a business system is ultimately what entrepreneurs want. You don’t want hard work or long-hours in the office, but rather high income and plenty of leisure time. And that’s what business systems give you.