This morning, you got in your car and backed out of your driveway and headed to work. No big deal, right? Well, yes and no. You have done this so many times now that you don’t think twice about the process. But think for a second back to when you first began driving and let’s walk through every step of the process. You walk out the door and get into your car. You adjust the seat, you put you seatbelt on. You put the key in the ignition, press the brake, and start the car. You keep your foot on the brake, put the car in reverse, and then begin looking in your side view and rear view mirrors over and over. You slowly start backing out, frantically looking in every mirror to ensure you aren’t running into the yard or hitting something.
When you first began driving, the mental concentration was immense. But now, a seasoned driver, you don’t think twice about hopping in the car and backing out of the driveway. This process has now moved into your subconscious and requires almost NO mental effort. You can now focus on other things like thinking about your day, listening to the radio, etc.
So what do this have to do with your BSC? Everything!!!
When you don’t have systems (i.e. habits or routines) in place, the mental and emotional energy required to keep things running is immense. You frantically run from task to task and place to place putting out fires. At the end of the week you are exhausted, physically and mentally, yet your company is in no better place than when the week started. You have made ZERO progress toward scaling up and giving yourself more freedom as an owner.
Recommended Reading
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
To find relief from this rat race, you need habits in your company. You need standard ways of doing business that move tasks from the conscious to the subconscious mind of your business. Hiring and onboarding should require less and less energy because everyone knows how the system works. Quality control should get easier and easier (and customers should be happier) because everyone is following the same steps to ensure it happens.
A company without systems is a company that creates stress and shackles its leaders to the daily grind. A cleaning company without processes is a people dependent company and not a system dependent company. And people dependent companies are less valuable, more stressful, less effective, and more difficult to scale.
If you want freedom, more profits, and a chance to grow and scale up, you must have company habits. Freedom awaits, but the door only opens to those who systematize much of what they do. It’s your choice.