Recurring Tasks: The Baseline of Operational Efficiency
Can you imagine a world where you are not scrambling to prepare for a crucial meeting, where your team is consistently delivering on your expectations and they feel empowered to troubleshoot challenges on their own? A world where your business foundations are strong and stable, allowing you the freedom of time and some white space on your calendar? If you can believe it, all of this is possible.
I’ve recently been listening to the Atomic Habits audiobook by James Clear and one of his points really stuck with me:
“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems”
To me, this means that if I want to achieve my goals of being a successful entrepreneur with the freedom of money and time to do what I want, I need to make sure my systems are strong and supportive so that I have the opportunity to rise to my goals.
In this blog post, I will explain my passion for setting up strong foundations in your business, what are recurring tasks, and how to establish and delegate them.
Why is this important?
Picture this: You're about to enter a meeting with a potential client, and you're frantically pulling together last-minute documents and presentations because your team didn't have the time to get you ready in advance. Frustration bubbles as your stress level rises you start to rush toward preparing for the meeting and you start questioning all of your expectations of your team members. You are aggravated and questioning whether you have the right team members in place and if you can really count on them to support you the way you need them.
This is a common story for many small business owners and entrepreneurs, especially when they have started to establish their business and your time seems to be going everywhere except working on your business. These are types of moments where you say: “Let’s just burn it all down” or “Fine, I’ll just do the best I can on my own. I don’t need a team to help me”.
The truth is, that success demands more than just hard work, hustle, and sales calls. To be truly successful in your business and give yourself the opportunity to grow, requires a strong operational foundation and efficient processes that will eliminate the last-minute scrambles.
What does it take to set up a strong foundation in your business?
Obviously, there are so many components to setting up the foundations in your business, such as making sure you have a bank account for someone to pay in, you are legally authorized to work in the country you are living, and you know what you want to offer to a client.
I want to take a moment to focus on the Operational side. Far too many times the operational foundations in a business are not set up efficiently because the first step is to “get more clients” or “make more money”. I totally get that and that is also where I started! However, in order for you to be able to grow and scale your business in a sustainable way, both for your mental and physical health, you need to put key operational foundations in place. This post will focus on the #1 most important foundation in your operations and where you need to start: Establishing your recurring tasks.
What are recurring tasks?
Recurring tasks are the routine activities that shape the operational cadence of your business. They over and over again in a given time period, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or annually, and strive to achieve the same result each time they are performed. Ideally, each time these tasks are done, they would use the same process and steps to make sure you achieve the same result.
Some examples of recurring tasks:
Sending/Tracking Client Invoices
Blocking your Calendar for Holidays
Publishing your Podcast Episode
Reconciling your Expense receipts
Scheduling your Social Media or Email Marketing content
Paying any non-auto paid invoices
Preparations for a new Client meeting
Recurring tasks not only provide structure to the operations of your business, they also set the stage for consistent results.
Why are Recurring Tasks the #1 Step in Operational Efficiency?
They allow you to delegate more tasks to your team and free up your brain (and your calendar) to strategize your next big business move. Your team is there to support you in your business. They are not malicious, they do not mean to allow you to get into a meeting unprepared or forget to send an invoice, they just didn’t have the tools and reminders to prepare you with what you need. As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats, juggling countless responsibilities. But the path to realizing your dreams and growing your business lies in your ability to delegate effectively. It's not about doing everything yourself; it’s about freeing up your time and allowing your team to feel empowered and ultimately, feel motivated to support your vision and your goals for your business.
Let’s be real, we will never get the last-minute scrambles to stop 100% of the time, especially as your company continues to grow. However, you will be able to create an environment where the expectations of what tasks and activities are coming up are visible to you and your team and they can plan their days accordingly. Before you can create that environment, it’s crucial to lay out what tasks are recurring regularly, who is doing them, and how they are getting done.
Where are you today with your Operational Efficiency?
If you don’t already have the inventory of your recurring operational tasks, look at this valuable free resource I created —the "Stress-Free Delegation" guide. This guide will walk you through the process of identifying recurring tasks that can be delegated and start giving you the tools you need to start streamlining your operations.
I’d love to hear where you are today! DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn and let me know where you are with your operational efficiency!
