Sarah Noked: Hey everyone. I'm Sarah Noked, a certified online business manager and trainer and founder of Sarah Noked OBM. I have spent the last decade supporting and teaching other online entrepreneurs, how to efficiently scale their businesses with virtual base support teams in ways that are aligned and sustainable. So I'm really excited to welcome you to this master class that I'm teaching as part of the Side Hustle to Self Employed Summit. I am absolutely honored to be part of such an amazing panel of expert speakers together. We're going to help you grow your business by teaching you our tried and tested strategies for scaling and leaving that nine to five behind. Now, if you're here on this training listening right now, I'm really glad that you are today. I want to show you a clear and achievable way to sustainably scale your business. Really, there are two key elements you need to start thinking about when you're looking to scale your team.

Sarah Noked: First of all, you need a team, um, and that you need that team to be built on functioning solid systems. Now, a lot of entrepreneurs struggle to effectively grow a business with team and maintain a healthy profit margin. So often my clients come to me after they've had a lot of bad luck hiring, and here's the thing. 94% of problems in business are systems driven and only 6% are people driven. Now that's a quote from w. Edwards Deming. It's quite an old one, but still totally relevant. And I just really want to let that sink in for a second. 94% of problems in business are systems driven and only 6% are people driven. So if you are, if you are really struggling to get out of the day-to-day grind of your business, you want to focus on the important activities that will generate more revenue and finally stop wearing all the hats in your business.

Sarah Noked: You have an online business with amazing growth potential, but you're stuck on the hamster wheel. You likely know that you need systems to scale your business, but you don't know where to start or what that should look like, right? You're definitely in the right place. You might already have a growing business and a growing team, but their roles aren't clear cut. None of your processes are documented. And if a team member leaves you you'll be scrambling to onboard somebody new and get them up to speed. You're ready to have your business be built on systems and not people. Can I get an amen? So if any of these apply to you, maybe all of them do, but if any of them do, then you're definitely in the right place. I know that I can help you break this cycle and really start to own it so quickly before we get into the real juice, want us to understand exactly what business systems are.

Sarah Noked: So let's define what is a system. A system is an automated process, which addresses a specific issue within your business. The key thing here is that they allow you to work smarter, not harder systems, improve productivity, and they'll save you time and money by automating the repeated processes in your business, in a strategic and somewhat effortless way, right? So every repeating business activity in your business is game for a system documentation and recurring tasks assigned. So classic examples of activities, which are repetitive or recur and can be systematized include invoicing, time tracking, email marketing stuff, social media postings, like the list absolutely goes on and on and on it's it's it's anything that recurs daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Those are the things that need to be documented and then streamlined E-Myth revisited, which is a must read it's by Michael Gerber. Um, I pulled this quote from there, organize around business functions.

Sarah Noked: Not people build systems within each business function, let systems run the business and people run the systems. People come and go, but the systems remain constant. So leading with a systems approach will mean that you don't have to waste time on the small time consuming activities in your business with solid systems in place. Things will run like a well oiled machine, and you will be able to focus your efforts on the important activities that will add value to your business. So I know that for many people systems are scary, really scary. I see a lot of business owners who are unsure how to begin building out systems, struggling to identify which ones they really need and how to optimize them to save money, time, and energy. So that's what we're going to cover here today. I'm going to help you nail down a systems approach to your business.

Sarah Noked: So let's think about it this way. Okay. Here's an analogy for you. So let's say your team is on a treasure hunt, right? The treasure that they're after sits at the center of a very complex maze with multiple entry routes in it, think about the treasure as a completed business activity, sending out the blog, email broadcast, accepting the new member to the Facebook group, onboarding a new client. The list goes on. Now, there are multiple routes leading directly to the treasure, these different, um, each are different and have different outcomes. Some are easier to navigate and some are more difficult. What your team needs is a map. They need a map to outline which direction they need to go in which current turn they need to get to take in order to get there in order to reach the treasure before another team. For example, without a map, they might end up taking the slowest route.

Sarah Noked: Yes, they'll reach the treasure, right? However, they'll run the risk of someone, beating it to it, beating them to it. Not only would your team have wasted valuable time, but they also will lose out on profiting from their efforts by not using the most efficient way in. So essentially without a map, they not only are not going to take the right route. They could or could not, but they will get overwhelmed, burnt out, um, trying to find the best way. And they might even give up trying, right. This is what I call team turnover. And I see this a lot in businesses without systems, without documented systems. Every business has systems. Now with a clear map and instruction, the team can the team member can whiz through and complete the treasure hunt in the more effective, streamlined, and standardized way. So the systems I'll be teaching you about today are the exact systems that I've implemented in leveraged in my very own business.

Sarah Noked: And in my clients' businesses, these are proven systems that really work provided. You invest a little bit of time setting everything up in the initial stages. In fact, I'm making a promise to you today that I'm going to give you all of those golden nuggets that you're searching for. So you don't need to end up in the dirt yourself. My promise to you for today's session are the following that I will give you as many tools, strategies, and as much value as I possibly can in this training to show you how your, how systems can help you scale your business to the next level. You're not learning just from quote-unquote theory, right? I've invested hundreds into finding out what works, everything I'm teaching you today is tried and tested by me, my clients and hundreds of my students. It absolutely works 100% now, are you ready to get stuck in?

Sarah Noked: I am. So let's get this going. So first I want to lay out some ground rules, right? We got to have some ground rules. Like I just want you to remember that this training is all about you and your business. This is a learning environment where we are going to bust through your business woes, but it does require a level of focus and being attentive. If you're going to take away the true value of what I really want to teach you today, all I'm asking in return for all of these juicy tools and techniques I'm giving you today is that you attend this very juicy masterclass with an open mind and full, full attention. That means to turn off distractions like your phone and shut down on social. If you're like me, you have 800 tabs open. Um, you want to really kind of get yourself into the mind space of business development, because this is what systems are all about, right?

Sarah Noked: I want you to take tons of notes so you can implement what you learn. And in a second, I'm going to give you the download so that you can grab that. So it's not going to be all bad, right? This is really about you carving out some valuable time to invest in your learning. And in the end, your business will reap the rewards of this time that you're now able to spend on yourself. So you're here because you likely want your business to become more profitable. You probably want to leave your nine to five, or you might have just left your nine to five. You want to scale it bigger and better. You want to be confident when you take that next step. Um, we want to have, like, we want to create a business by design, right? Isn't that why we become entrepreneurs to begin with so that we can live life by our own design and live life to the beat of our own drum.

Sarah Noked: So does that sound like you, is that desire? Is that the desire you had when you started your business? Because I know that's how it felt for me. So if you're nodding your head, I'm happy that you're here because ultimately that's why I chose this topic to run this training on. And this is really what I love talking about. So what I could talk about all day, all night, so first things first, I want you to know about this bonus that I'm giving you guys right now. This is the very foundational blueprint that I use in my business. And I want you to start off on the right foot when it comes to systems and your business. So I'm going to drop you a link now on this video to my very own SOP template, as well as my SOP for creating SOP. So you can get that at the link below.

Sarah Noked: Um, so SOP stands for standard operating procedure and these babies are they key to beginsystematizing your business, this template I'm going to give you is the exact same template I use in my own business. I formulated it. It really works. And I still document all of my procedures in my own online business, using this very template. Here's what this looks like. Essentially, what these SOP is do is document is document the entire process for any given business activity. So for example, you can have an SOP for publishing a blog post, but it will also link to the prerequisite processes. It'll outline who is responsible for the process, the parties involved, and then the actual process or procedure step-by-step. Once you get access to this, we will be able to plug it into your business and use it time and time again, to systematize every single activity in your business.

Sarah Noked: It's so valuable when it comes to growing your team and arming them with the systems that they need to shine. So if you didn't, if you didn't get this already, I am obsessed with standard operating procedures. They are the foundations to building solid, reliable systems that will optimize your business, give you peace of mind and give you back your life, right, and help you leave your nine to five above, above all. If there's one thing that's especially important for businesses, it's consistency. And this is the main focus of utilizing SOPs and putting systems in place in your business, implementing consistent processes is what will help you develop that positive habits, positive habits, which eventually become second nature. And in the long run, this will take a lot of weight off your shoulders and off the shoulders of your team. And future team leveraging systems was the number one way that I streamlined my business.

Sarah Noked: Um, it allowed me to gain the freedom and flexibility that I craved as a business owner. So before we get into the meat of this juicy masterclass, I want to tell you a little bit about my own business journey, because I know some of you will be able to relate to this. Cause I too had to side hustle from my nine to five. So as some of you may already know me, I am a CEO, mom, wife, and certified OBM trainer over at Sarah Noked OBM. And when I'm not helping people transform their online businesses, you'll probably find me on the Mediterranean where I live with my three kids, eating French fries, ice cream, and playing in the ocean or playing in the sea, I should say. So aside from all the mom duties, and that's my number one job, just in case we're not clear.

Sarah Noked: I've also gone from a solo online business manager to scaling a multi six figure online business management agency to becoming a certified OBM trainer and scaling a product-based infoproduct business to well over seven figures. I've been in this business for awhile. I've learned a ton about how to scale an online business through working in my own business extensively in others as an online business manager, and now with my students and private clients. But I want to just show you a little bit of what my revenue growth looked like over the past decade. So back in 2010, I was hustling on the side of my corporate gig. I know a lot of you can relate to this. I was that one woman show, but it was honestly like, I was really proud of that being that one moment show, but it was such a false sense of security because underneath it all, I was dying to get out of my corporate nightmare.

Sarah Noked: I was overworked underpaid, virtual assistant side hustling. This was before I even knew what an OBM was. And basically my husband was complaining that I worked 24/7, um, disappointing to myself was that I was offering anything and anyone and everything to anyone who would take it. And I knew I wanted to start a family at that point. I've got three kids now, but then I just had that dream of wanting to start my family, um, and be able to travel to Canada whenever I wanted, um, and be able to pick my kids up from school. So fast forward to 2012, I got hit with the harsh reality of being a solopreneur, right? This is when I had my wake-up call was when I got the incredible news that I was pregnant. Now I knew I needed to make the business work for me and returning to corporate post mat leave was not an option with the long hours and a 40 minute commute.

Sarah Noked: I knew I needed to scale up and hire someone to take the weight off of my hands and off of my shoulders. And I needed to get out of that solopreneur mindset. I just remember thinking, there's gotta be a way I can do this. And maybe you have felt the same way in your own business if you're having doubts and thinking, I'm not sure if this is realistic, but you know, you have the ambition and the work ethic to kill it and scale your own business. I know exactly, exactly how you feel because that's exactly how I felt. So I knew ultimately that there was a better way to work. And that's when I began to build up my team and implement systems. Now, if we take a look at this timeline, this is a development of me doing exactly that very thing. Late 2012, I hired my first part-time employee, Julie, and we began to create systems in my business and in my clients' businesses, which we began to implement together.

Sarah Noked: Now I wanted my team members to be the main point of contact for my clients because I was going on mat leave. And the idea was to free up my time so that I could soak up all of that wonder and joy and sleep deprivation comes with a newborn. Um, I also became a certified online business manager in 2012 and I doubled my rates and up-leveled the service that I was offering to clients 2013. I hired my first full-time employee, Emily, who later became the lead online business manager who managed my whole agency. Uh, and by making this hire and already having a catalog of systems in place to train her up quickly and with ease, I was able to fully delegate the client facing services and take the time I needed to be with my daughter. Now, between 2013 and 2018, I made a new full-time employee hire every year in addition to contracting at work to countless subcontractors.

Sarah Noked: And I just want to say here, like this is coming from a person who was like legit, really proud to be a solopreneur that didn't ever imagine her business any other way. And now here I am with, you know, full-time employees and subcontractors. You know, I'm positioning myself as a leader in the online business community at large. And by January, 2017, my agency was booming. And in December, 2018, my annual business turnover hit almost seven figures. And it all started when I became, when I made and I became began to create systems and I made that first hire and I created a systems framework in my online business. So creating the systems framework in my business was a huge game changer for me because it meant that I stopped wasting time on small stuff that I didn't need to be doing or wanted to be doing.

Sarah Noked: It meant that I could hire a team that I legit could trust to run my business backend for me, and I just spent more time developing products. And I eventually in 2017 became one of very few internationally, um, accredited, certified OBM online business manager, trainers accredited by the international Association of Online Business Managers. And I no longer felt like I was hustling 24/7. I mean, I still work really hard. Don't get me wrong, but I don't really need to, you know, I can pick up my kids from school. I can travel to Canada when I need to. I take a big vacation every year with my family, like legit without devices. You know what I mean? So the first step is to identify the bottlenecks in your business and to document them. So what are some of the tasks that recur in your business, which tasks take up the most of your time and what is it in your business that really, that you really resent having to do again and again, right?

Sarah Noked: So they're not in your zone of genius. You just don't like doing them, right? So when you can answer those questions, you, those three questions you'll have found that starting point for systematizing your business, these tasks are the ones that you need to be delegating to a team member so that you can absolutely focus on the activities, which will allow you to scale. So one of the first activities which I do with my OBM clients, when we're looking to systemize their business, is I get them to write out sometimes the course of two weeks, all their recurring tasks, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, like, you know, just have like a 10 minute brainstorm every day of the types of things they're doing, what they did that day. And again, these are these, these things might include, you know, invoicing, time tracking, email marketing, social media, blogging, whatever the list goes on and on and on.

Sarah Noked: These are the tasks which once delegated are going to really free up your time as the business owner, as the business owner, and allow you to focus on the activities which will generate revenue and help you to scale as you're identifying these tasks, it's time to really document the process. So this is where you can really put into play the SOP template and the SOP for creating SOPs that I'm giving you here's that link again. Um, and as you get familiar with creating your processes, you can then use this framework as like the template for documenting and building out all of the recurring processes. Yes, this involves the time investment. I didn't say it was going to be easy, but really this is the most valuable piece of the puzzle when it comes to getting your systems off the ground. And Hey, you also don't have to do it by yourself, right?

Sarah Noked: If you already have a team member, great, you know, maybe there's someone that helps you. If you don't have someone on board, then making sure you have the right first hire in place to help you build out and document your systems is key. This could be a VA or someone that's really great at writing someone that likes systems. The important thing here is that it's someone who is embedded in that systems culture, right? Um, in the initial stages, you might need to collaborate on, on this to ensure that the processes are correctly buttoned up, but making this time investment in your team member is going to save you a ton of time in the long run. So for example, looking back on my own journey, my first employee was someone with, and it doesn't need to be employee. It can be a contractor, was somebody with a systems oriented mindset together.

Sarah Noked: We began to document the key systems in my business and in my clients' businesses, which involved a degree of time investment for me in the beginning together, we implemented those key systems and built out strong systems foundations. Then by the next time I was ready to make the next hire. I had that systems infrastructure already in place so that I could free up my time to be a mom, to my newborn Ella plus having these systems allow me to make the right decision on who to hire next. Um, you know, so I can really delegate and, and it really shaped what that role would look like. So the second step is to centralize and make your SOPs accessible. So having one centralized place, commonly called the virtual office in our OBM world, where all your systems live is critical and crucial for a smooth team operation.

Sarah Noked: So by using a cloud storage system like Google Drive or Dropbox, both you and your team will be able to access important information and SOPs from anywhere, anytime. So there were some huge advantages. First off, everything's backed up and saved to a server. This is also great. If you're working across multiple devices or have a remote team, like my team is all over the world, as everything is really sinked, then across all your devices automatically, any SOP you're working on will auto-save in real time. So if you're like me, your computer is always running on a 5% battery and it, and it blacks out, you can rest assured that you have not lost all the work you've been working on. So with a cloud storage system, you can also give specific access or revoke access to team members and contractors you're working with. So for example, if I'm working with an ad agency, I want to give them access to the copy and creatives they need.

Sarah Noked: However, I don't want them to have access to all of the rest of my business files so I can give them access only to my ads folder while limiting access across the board to other things. Right? So having this capability ensures that everyone has the access they need and the files they need at any given time. Now, when it comes to cloud storage, I couldn't live without my Google Drive. That's my favorite. Um, however, it's important to note that when I'm working as an OBM, I like to use whatever the client is already using. Right? I love it. And I will say to hiring an online business manager is a great, a great thing to do. If you want to hire somebody really qualified to build systems, or if your business is already a little bit bigger, right? So at any rate, one of the things I love to do in my own business is to tie my SOPs into the tasks themselves using our project management tool in my own business, Sarah Noked OBM, we use Teamwork PM.

Sarah Noked: Uh, but this tool works well with whatever PM tool you're using. So the reason why linking your SOPs into your project management tool is really effective is because it makes sure that your team members are 100% clear on the process on what process you need for that particular task. And it saves time. It allows you to be in control, which we love to be in control, and you don't have to micromanage like that. That's also really nice and team members can work autonomously, right? Autonomy. That's what we want. So by keeping your SOPs linked with all your tasks, you also get your team into the flow and utilizing these systems and in turn, ensuring that they are kept up to date. So naturally over time, your processes will change or be revised. So by keeping your team's eyeballs on the SOPs at all times, they'll understand things that need to be changed.

Sarah Noked: An SOP is a living breathing document, right? They need to be streamlined and updated too. So I want you to take the time to streamline that step. Number three, investing time into consistently documenting your systems is what will keep you and your ship, afloat. Okay. And this is definitely what I want you to be doing. If you are in your corporate desks or you're in your nine to five, and you're planning to make your side hustle your real gig, you need to spend time on this. It is, it is not easy. It take a lot of brain cells and dedicated time, but it's worth noting. So, as I mentioned, as certified OBMs, this is what we do for our clients. We centralize and we streamline all businesses, all systems in our clients' businesses. So it might be worth considering at this stage, if you also need to bring an OBM in your business.

Sarah Noked: So refining your systems only really involved two investments time and having the right team member in place. And you want to be, you want to be taking on a team member who really has that systems mindset in place. So going back to my business, after making that first hire, who helped me build out my systems, I took on my first employee, Emily, or my first full-time employee, rather who, who, who was Emily, who was a writer, but then later became the lead OPM for my agency. And the bottom line here is that she is systems oriented. And so when I onboarded her, she already had a catalog of systems ready to work with that, man, I trained her up quickly with ease and I could fully delegate out my client facing services to her and look, new hires are usually keen to impress us, right?

Sarah Noked: So by having those systems in place already for Emily to work from not only did it benefit the whole onboarding process and got her comfortable with her responsibilities more quickly, but she was also then able to come in and look at what needed to be further streamlined. As Emily then became the lead OBM in business. In my business, we could easily map out who our next hire was going to be. Um, so now with a bunch of centralized systems, she could easily delegate out the, the, you know, and refine the systems to specific people. Um, or as we would like to call it made them the property owners. That's what we call them in our SOP template of these systems. Then on a quarterly basis, the team would revisit these processes as technology changes and the business grows not only to update them and reflect changes, but to also continuously improve both the efficiency and quality of our services and what we were providing for our clients.

Sarah Noked: So in your business, you could have an OBM do this by delegating a recurring task to your team member via your project management tool, so that they go through the SOP and update them once a quarter. So for example, my editorial manager is the property owner of all SOPs relating to publishing blog content. So I have a task in place for her to go in once per quarter review, the SOPs related to the task and ensure they are up to date with our current process. See, once you have these blueprints for these systems in place, which I'm going to give you today, again, with my SOP templates, you can really start to delegate out the whole process to your team members and repeat it over and over so that your business continues to run smoothly without your input. Now, step four is empowering your team and fostering a company culture that breeds a systems mindset.

Sarah Noked: And this one's really, really important. It's really crucial to empower your team and create a company culture based on systems so that you can trust that your team is taking care of everything in the right way. This is really the key part for you as the business owners and what will truly allow you to take a step back from your business. And this is why it's so important and really fundamental to create SOPs and use them to empower your team. Ultimately, ultimately, having these SOPs in place will make sure that your team members feel comfortable in their role and responsibilities from day one. So by giving your team members accountability for these processes, you demonstrate your trust in their ability, which in turn makes them feel valued and will help them work more efficiently by asking for their input in building out these processes. They'll also feel like they are part of the decision making process, which is huge.

Sarah Noked: And this helps develop to develop leadership, which will allow you and them to scale and grow into a bigger business. And it's just incredible. So a lot of people look at all of the setup involved with incorporating systems into their business and legit freak out. Uh, but actually it's not complicated and it doesn't need to be costly either, right? It's just time, which can be costly right time's the only thing we can't get back, so you need time. Um, and then you just need to make it a priority. So before this training is over, please make sure that you download my SOP template. Here's that link for that? Again, as I've outlined today, this template is your first stepping stone towards having a fully systematized business. I use this in my own business every day. Uh, we revise these beauties all the time and it is absolutely worth its weight in gold.

Sarah Noked: You can use them over and over again to nail down all of your processes within your business and build from there. So my final takeaway for today will be this systems are living, breathing processes. So you should plan exactly what this process is going to look like. I do this with these SOPs, which is why you need to get this, which you need, which is why you need to get on this template. Think about any technical automations you're going to use. What pieces of the processes can be automated and begin to outline the steps and finally execute your plan. You may need to set up some tech. You'll need to invest some time in this at first, but over time, this will become second nature, because it's going to give you your time back right and your life back, and it's going to become a part of your routine. So you won't need to follow your outline process. Each time you repeat this process, it will be effortless. Creating systems will become effortless. It will be less time consuming. It will allow you to really focus your energy on what really matters as a business owner. So thank you so much for spending the time to listen to this. I wish you nothing, but the best of luck as you move from your side hustle to making it your real full-time gig.