How to Make Success a Little More Effortless
Systems
When you think about a system what do you think about? For the successful entrepreneur a system is the life of their business, the veins in which blood is carried through the entire business. Without a system there is no success in business.
How can I work smarter not harder?
Creating systems help you work smarted, not harder. Isn’t that the dream of any entrepreneur, to get more work done with less effort and time? When you create a system you can streamline any process by creating easy and specific steps to follow. The reason systems help you work smarter and not harder, are they leave no room for error. The directions are clearly printed or explained step-by-step making it less interpretive, and easier to grasp.
How can I perfect my current systems?
No system is perfect; there is always room for human error. One thing Successful entrepreneurs are constantly thinking about is how to perfect systems they already have in place. Just because there isn’t a perfect system, doesn’t mean we can’t get very close. James Malenchak calls it playing “smoky the bear” because you are constantly look for how to put out fires. Not literally of coarse, but you are thinking of what could be a potential problem, and how to fix it before it happens.
How can I create new systems?
Why stop at just one? Why not create systems for every part of your business that you can? Almost everything in the world can be boiled down to a good system, it may take some creativity but there is a secret to creating a system for almost anything. First you need to know all of the steps it takes you to complete whatever you are trying to create a system for. Write down exactly what you do every time you complete this task. Now go back and figure out if there are steps that can be taken care of before hand. Can you create something that applies to every time you complete this task? How can you simplify each task? What can you do to delegate this task effectively?
Leverage
Leveraging is one of an entrepreneur’s main weapons when braving the war zone that is business. But what is leveraging exactly? Basically it is a scenario that your business can put out relatively low cost, to the return you are getting out of it. For example say one minuet of my time is worth 10 dollars, and it takes me 3 hours to clean my house. That technically costs me 1,800 dollars to clean my house. If a cleaning service charges 60 an hour, I just saved myself 1,620 dollars.
Who can I leverage?
When you are thinking about whom you can leverage, you want to think about what will someone do for cheaper, or what will take someone else less time. When you find someone to do something for less money then it costs you to complete a task, you are leveraging your time. On the other side when you look for someone who can complete a task in less time, with less effort than you, you are leveraging someone else’s skills. Another type of leveraging is leveraging influence. The way leveraging influence works, is you basically attach your name to someone who has more influence in the industry you are in, whether this means working with them for cheap or free, having them speak for you, or just being in a part of their inner circle.
What can I leverage?
Essentially you can leverage time, money, or influence. When leveraging time you getting more out of your time, then you are spending. You can hire someone to do your coding if it is going to take you hours upon hours to get basic code, or you can pay a professional and get your work done while they code for you. This will end up saving you money because you are spending less time to get a better product. The next main thing you can leverage is money, When you leverage money your return isn’t as instant as time. This is going to be something like hiring someone to grow your social media. It is going to take a lot more time, you will be paying money, and not receiving anything on the front end. But leveraging money gets you money on the back end. This works by growing your network, reach, and influence to create more moneymaking opportunities. The next is leveraging influence, when you are leveraging influence you aren’t necessarily spending money, you could be offering services. If you offer your services to a celebrity for free, you can now say you worked with that celebrity, this association will get you more business.
How can I serve?
Serving your way to success is the best way for a successful entrepreneur to think. This doesn’t mean go around spending all of your money time and energy helping other people. Just because you serve doesn’t mean you aren’t getting taken care of, paid, or something out of it. When successful entrepreneurs think of their businesses the truly successful ones believe their businesses fix problems. Every problem that is fixed is someone they have served.
Who can I serve?
One of the main problems with networking events is people go thinking how can these people serve me. How can I get more costumers, how can I get something from these people? You want to go in with the opposite mindset! You want to think who can I serve on this room, if I fix roofs, who in here needs help, or may know someone who needs help fixing a roof. Again, even if you are doing discounted or free services, you are creating connections, building your network, and creating someone to refer you. When you serve other people you gain everything from experience to leverage.
In what way can I serve?
Serving is different for every person. Depending what you do, how much time you have, and what value you can contribute to the world. What is your passion? Generally if you choose to serve in your passion, it is easier for you to get excited about serving. The first thing you need to do is to decide what you want to give, and whom you want to serve. Do you want to give time, money, or share value? Do you want to serve other entrepreneurs, kids, or the homeless? The way you can serve depends on whom you want to serve and what is most needed, NOT what you think they need the most.
When you think about these things daily, you will transform your mind, and by doing that transform your world, and your business. Focus on ways you can create systems, leverage, or serve others! Drive each day with these three thoughts and look at every person, place and thing as having a system, if it can or is being leveraged, and how can you serve them. Success isn’t easy, it is something you always have to reach for, but these three thoughts will help making reaching a little more effortless.
