This article is so key especially for NEW business owners who think that they have to do it all. Take heed to these words of wisdom from E-Myth!

Simone

Often, as our coaching clients begin designing and documenting systems they face a particular challenge: how do they replicate and document the personal touch they feel is theirs’ alone to give?

These business owners believe in the overall idea of systemization, but they become somewhat stymied when they realize that it means their personal touch, their “rainmaker status,” the patterns of behavior that attracted customers in the first place, must also be systematized in order for the business to function without them.

The First Step Is Recognition

The initial step is to recognize the reality. What results do you achieve in your business?  Yes, you created patterns of behavior (systems) that you’ve followed in order to achieve a degree of business success. You pride yourself on your abilities. You enjoy the fact that in your growing organization, nobody has the same personal touch with the customers that you have. I mentioned rainmaker status above, for often this is how this pride in the personal touch shows up; you feel recognized and special for your personal ability to achieve great results.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being good at what you do! It’s fantastic! You’ve found a particular way of doing business that has made you successful. But here’s the key concept: if the business is totally dependent on you – on how you do things – you’ll never be able to get away from the business. You can’t sell a business when you are the business. You can’t take a vacation from the business because when you go, the business goes too.

When you understand that, you understand that you have to let go of those rainmaker reigns and learn to replicate the processes you’ve used to deliver that stellar customer experience. If you systematize what has made you so close to your customer base, you will have a business that can function without you. You’ll have a business that can be sold or passed on to family members. You will be on your way to creating an E-Myth’d business.

Personalization is the Key

At E-Myth we know that the personal touch that you’ve mastered can be re-created as a system. A personalized system that communicates your values, vision, purpose and standards — the heart of your company culture. Having a Strategic Objective and a set of “rules of the game” (your defined way of doing business), gives you the framework for creating the culture and necessary processes for your employees to achieve those same results.

So you must first create a clear vision and value statement, back it up with standards and structure that reflect your purpose and intention, then begin observing and analyzing the way that you personalize the relationship with your customers. Next, check any idea you have that it can’t be done, otherwise, you’ll fall back on the old way of just doing it all yourself.

Intense Observation and Self-Scrutiny

What will your systems look like for replicating the way you do business and interact with clients? It’s beyond the scope of this article to describe the process completely, but to begin, try capturing each leverage point of customer interaction. Then, create a repeatable system around that interaction. Become alert to interactions that you handle, especially those that, if asked about how you did it, you’d simply say “I just knew,” or “I did it, no problem.” Let others observe you in the midst of these activities and see if they can help you pick apart the actual steps you took to create that particular response…..

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