Starting Well

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I’ve noticed something curious when I tell entrepreneurs what I do.

I work with growth-minded founders who are tired of feeling like the bottle neck in their own businesses and who want to get back to the thing they love to do. (Say it with me - More impact! Less friction!)

When I explain this, almost every entrepreneur says something along the lines of “Oh, that’s me,” or “I wish I could do something like that”. (Uhm, you can.) What’s funny is how different they all are. They’re folks who have been in business anywhere from one month to one decade and they range from solo freelancers to leaders of large teams. I find it fascinating that this entire spectrum of leaders all feel uncomfy about being the bottle neck in their business; that all of them, no matter how new or established they are, all feel like they need to get back to more of the work they love.

At any stage of a business, it can be tempting to get right to work on systems and tasks and skip over the intentionality of crafting strategy. You want to get moving. Zooming out to see the whole picture slows you down. That means staying true to “the soul of the thing” becomes really difficult really quickly.

Because there’s no roadmap, it’s easier to do tasks yourself than it is to explain to someone else what to do and how to do it. You don’t (can’t?) delegate because too much of what is happening in the business is tied up on your own desk. The bottleneck forms. This never improves accidentally and there’s a certain degree of growth that’s just not possible with this set up.

Founders who start this way end up with to-do lists that make them squirmy. The work that drove a you to start a business becomes just a tiny portion of your to-do list. You can tell you’re here if you’re begrudgingly eying “reconcile quickbooks” on your list while opting instead for tasks that feel like play. Carrying this tension can throw a leader into burn out. It pulls you away from vision and too far into the systems. Then you spend too much time creating or refining systems because of your immediate sense of overwhelm when really, that just creates a defeating and exhausting cycle.

You can prevent yourself from falling into this cycle if you take the time to invest in aligned strategies and systems from the beginning. This WILL cause you to move more slowly, especially at the beginning. If you can stick with the intentionality, it’ll take you longer to feel like quitting and you’ll be more likely to end up where you intended.

How to use this:

1. Invest in systems that talk to you. 

   By this I mean that it’s helpful to use systems that sent you reminders, alerts, etc. The more effort it takes you to remember to keep up with a system or to even check it, the less likely you are to keep using it and they less likely it is to help you. Where are there places in your workflows where you could use some nagging to prevent you from falling behind? Put a system there.

2. Invest in systems that get stuff out of your head - quickly.

   This means the best choice is whatever’s the most intuitive to you. Once it’s set up, a system should reduce the number of tasks on your plate, not add to it. Invest in options that are easy for you to set up. Bonus points if it offers automations that eliminate how much you store in your head.

3. Invest in systems that keep you in your sweet spot.

   I always say - the system works for you; you don’t work for the system. If a system takes some of those annoying tasks off of your plate and allows you to keep doing the tasks you love, it’s worth investing some time and money in setting up. What is the biggest category of annoying tasks on your plate? Accounting? Chasing down payments? Following up on proposals? Plug systems in for those categories sooner than others.

Events & Free Stuff

Life is Sales by Brandon Rush

My friend and biz homie, Brandon, is kicking off an email series about finding the commonalities between your sales process and your daily life. The series will help you:

• Pick up on patterns in your sales cycles more easily

• Get ideas from other parts of life to use in your sales cycle

• Make the act of selling more approachable

This cool thing I found

Stuff I’ve loved or recommended lately:

It’s fat bear week!

In Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska, brown bears start to fill up on salmon to get fat for the winter. Fat Bear Week is an single elimination tournament annual tournament that tallies votes to celebrating the bears’ success in preparation for winter hibernation. Check out the tournament or watch them live on youtube. 

Speaking of tallying votes…

One very cool thing is voting in elections! Be sure to confirm your registration and then, if you live in Georgia, head over to Branch for help discerning which candidates match your personal beliefs.

Get into a Groove

Groove is a co-working app that I’ve been depending on lately to help me through the less fun parts of my to-do lists. It offers structured one-hour coworking sessions with 1-3 other humans. Join a Groove whenever you’d like a burst of encouragement and accountability. Get a free trial here and be sure to add me to your orbit!

I’m Laura Green - a strategist helping growth minded founders do more of the work they dreamed of. My work focuses on using systems & strategies to find more impact and less friction. I love charts, good beer, nerdy nature books, and sneakers. When I’m not spinning up spreadsheets, you can find me gardening, hanging with my wonderfully wild kids, or sneaking in a nap. ✌️

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