Standard Operating Procedures: Getting Down to The Nitty-Gritty
Working in the corporate world has taught me one very important thing about operating a business: Having structure MATTERS. This is why it's so easy for companies to hire and fire, continue to generate revenue and expand when necessary. If you don't have structure in your business, things will never work out as you planned for them to.
In order to build structure in your business, there have to be policies and procedures set in place so that once it's time to hire someone or once you've decided you'd like to sell your company, the transition can be a smooth and easy process. This is where Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs come into play.
A Standard Operating Procedure is literally a step-by-step guide on how something is done in a business and why. It gives a business owner and their team members a solid place of reference whenever training or retaining is needed on a task, project, software, or program.
Getting down to the nitty-gritty of SOPs:
Most business owners think that SOPs are quick and simple to produce, but in fact, they can actually take a lot of time to produce depending on what type of procedure you're writing an SOP for.
If you've never written an SOP or you find yourself needing a little guidance, here are some pointers for you to keep in mind as you go along:
Create an SOP for each task you do currently in your business such as checking your email, returning messages, or simply how you start your day. Literally start from step 1 and work your way down to when the task is completed. Remember, each thing you do should have its own SOP, try to avoid grouping them together all in one.
Be specific as possible when explaining what the SOP is used for, the steps you take and why, and add links to the SOPs created for any program or task mentioned in the SOP you're currently writing. Think of it as a handbook for your business, you want to know the ins and outs. (PRO TIP: This is a great way to determine whether or not something is actually working in your business and it also allows you to tweak anything as you go along to make things run more smoothly.)
Update your SOPs as you go along because things can gradually change in your business over the days, weeks, months, or years, and you want to make sure your daily Operating Procedures reflect those changes precisely. Keep in mind you don't have to update these on your own, you can delegate it to an OBM or VA, just keep in mind that if they do not do these tasks themselves it will be harder for them to write the SOP for you.
If you keep these 3 things in mind while you're writing your SOPs, it will get easier for you to write them and you'll start writing them as you go along versus doing them all at once or just not doing them in general.
Having SOPs in your online-based business not only gives you structure in your business, but it also gives you that sense of legitimacy like a large corporate company. No more doing things off the fly or "just because," take your business seriously and it will pay off in the end.
