Systemize Your Success

By having a clear vision, mission and business objective you’re more likely to achieve in succeeding your goals. In this episode of Systemise Your Success, Steve dives into the need for structured project management, creating milestones and aligning your business with your vision. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Having a clear vision of your company's vision and mission allows you to know whether the project is taking you one step closer to reaching the company's goals, if it is then continue with the project. If it does not align with your company's vision, you need to either get rid of the project or adjust it so that it does take you closer to your vision. 
• When you are starting a project and you are wanting other peoples’ involvement in it, it is tempting to start instantly. By doing this, you may not have a clear vision for the project and be left unsure of which direction it is going. 
• One of the best things you can do is to introduce a vision board for your projects. Before you start the project think about who is using your new project and the problems that you can solve. 
• The four things to consider in a project are The target users; the problems you need to solve; the solution and what is the business objective. Overriding all of that is what the vision for the project is. 
• When planning a project you need to ensure you have deliverables that are going to have short time intervals. These will allow you to assess where the project is up to. These are stepping stones towards the end goal.
•  Creating milestones that allow you to assess where you are in the project allows you to test things to see if you are on the right track, or whether you need to change the direction of where the project is going based on the feedback of those who are involved within the project. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“Put time into thinking about your company's vision so you can put it into everything you do.”

“What is the overall objective and desired outcome.”

“Make sure everybody is 100% clear on why you’re doing it, what the problems are that are going to be solved, the solution and what the business objective is.”

“It’s not the tasks that matter, it is what you are going to do at the end.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/ 

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday 

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money. 

Property Investor, #1 best-selling author and property coach, Bronwen Vearncombe joins the show today to share how she quit her corporate job for a life where she became her boss and found financial freedom. Together they discuss the importance of networking and systems and how to value your own time. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Using Zero Accounting for your bookkeeping gives you control and supply great bookkeepers who can provide you with the right data in the right format. Any issues you may encounter will be solved by several experts. 
• Having the right people is crucial and so is having the right reporting systems in place so that you can measure your success and see whether you are achieving your goals. People and systems combined will grant you success. 
• You cannot rely just on systems if you want time freedom as well. You may have to go through the lengthy process of testing things out yourself before you can train people up to make sure they are implementing processes the way you know best. 
• If you have a high hourly rate, you need to look at the tasks you are doing and see whether or not they are bringing in the same as you would charge per hour. Just because you enjoy doing something, does not always mean it is a good use of your time. 
• To ensure you are successful in your field you need to become good at finding great people. Networking, working alongside great people and trying to find experts to help in highly skilled areas will help you on your way to success. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“This book was not easy. It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done.” 

“Always try to work with experts.” 

“You have got to go around that loop a few times before you can be confident that things are working in the way that you need it to.”

ABOUT THE GUEST 

Property Investor, #1 best-selling author and property coach, Quit corporate job 5 years ago and invested in property. Within 2 years, had replaced income, travelled the world, lived in NZ for 6 months. Currently in Namibia wildlife conservation since October. Bronwen Vearncombe has built a successful business over the last few years and has been able to give up her full-time corporate banking job and find freedom.

Having been told she’d not be able to retire until age 67 – she knew there must be a way to escape and to spend more time with her husband and two children, and maybe even be her boss! 

In just two years she and her husband replaced their corporate income with property rental and left their jobs. Inspiring many people each year through her success, not only does she have a great property business, but she teaches others through her online learning platform established in 2017.    

Just two years later they set out to follow their dreams and specific adventures:  John circumnavigated the globe with the 17/18 Clipper Round the World yacht race, and Bronwen followed working in the business and volunteering along the way.  Travelling the world proved that they could balance a property business and adventure. In 2019 they spent 6 months working from The Whitsunday Islands in Northern Queensland, where Bronwen wrote her book Building Your Dream Life which was published in 2020.

Featured in national property media, Bronwen loves to share her knowledge and to help others get onto the investor ladder of success.  Her programme of pre-recorded webinars and coaching enables easy, but supported, learning of the very foundation steps and uses examples from her own Hampshire portfolio too. 

Bronwen is currently in Namibia volunteering at her favourite wildlife conservation group, Naankuse – a great place to escape the UK lockdown and continue to work from her laptop!

Social Media links:

WEBSITE: https://membership.propertyinvestingfoundation.com/free-membership

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/propinvfoundation/ 

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwenvearncombe/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bronwenv64    @bronwenv64

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bronwen_pif/

ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money. 

Have you ever had somebody leave your company, and months later discovered they still have access to company folders and files?

Join Steve as he shares how creating ‘groups’ within your company can simplify the process of granting or removing access to new and former employees.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The idea of a ‘group’ is that it is a collection of users or email addresses, these may be users of your company or contractors. The benefit of using a group is that you only need to add the group email address to a folder or file to give access to everybody within the group instantly.
• When you want to remove access to a specific person from the folders or files they had access to once they have left your company, you can remove them from the group and they will lose access to every folder or file they once had access to.
• When someone new joins the company, all you have to do is look down the list of roles that that person is going to undertake when they’re working for you and add them to the corresponding groups that you have already set up. Those groups will already have access to the files and folders the new joiner will need access to. Therefore by adding them to the group, they have instant access to the files and folders they will need.
• Set up a spreadsheet and list the shared drives or folders and the groups you have set up. Then tally up what groups need access to which folders or shared drives. Next, create a list of everybody within the groups so that you can remove individuals from groups when they leave the company.
• Using groups simplifies lives, makes you feel more secure and makes new joiners feel welcome when they come into your company as they have access to everything they need straight away.

BEST MOMENTS

“It makes it so much easier to share all your folders and files.”

“Using groups simplifies this process.”

“You have now got total organisation of your sharing.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money.

Outsourcing expert and coach, currently making her mark as Founder of The Freedom Geek, Imogen Cook joins the show today to discuss her journey to being the go-to person for Virtual Assistant assistance. Together, they discuss how the virtual assistant industry is going from strength to strength, the importance of doing your due diligence when searching for a VA and how with the right training, a VA can do almost anything. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• The virtual assistant’s industry is going nowhere, in fact, it is only getting bigger and bigger. The remote working world has accelerated during the pandemic. 
•  A virtual assistant is a smart person who works remotely. A smart person can do almost anything, they just need training and experience. Don’t limit what a virtual assistant can do and then it will open up a world of opportunity. You will then need to figure out how easy it is for a virtual assistant to fit into your business. 
• A virtual assistant is a remote worker regardless of region or speciality, it is a huge term that encompasses a lot of different things. A virtual assistant can range from assisting with short term, ad hoc projects to longer-term projects. 
• There is no one task in a business owner's day, you are always spinning plates and have always got to limit the time you have got to spend on things. That is not the case when you hire somebody else. As the cost of hiring from countries like the Philippines is so low, the virtual assistants can take their time with things to ensure it is done right, and to a high standard. 
• If you filter and do a lot of due diligence when hiring a VA, it is much less likely that you are going to encounter problems. After that, be very close to your VA’s and talk to them every day because when something does go wrong, you will be able to feel it. 
• On day one, don’t get too overwhelmed and try to start simple. Don’t give the virtual assistants the ‘self-destruction’ button to your business empire, give them something easy and simple that does not have complex data implications and then take it from there. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“Nobody wanted to talk to me about anything else, nobody even wanted to talk to me about raising money, they just wanted to talk about Filipino virtual assistants.” 

“It’s transforming peoples’ lives.”

“It is no wonder that people are confused by the term ‘virtual assistants’. 

“I learned and got good by messing up on day one.”

ABOUT THE GUEST 

Imogen Cook: Imogen Cook is an outsourcing expert and coach, currently making her mark as Founder of The Freedom Geek – a dynamic company leveraging talented individuals (Virtual Assistants) in the Philippines to assist overwhelmed Entrepreneurs with delegation, working smart and accelerating their businesses. 

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/imogencookthefreedomgeek

Website: https://thefreedomgeek.com/home 

Socials: Facebook Twitter Instagram

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/ 

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday 

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money. 

When managing or working within a remote team, it may be difficult to build trusting relationships. Join Steve as he shares his tips and tricks on how you can develop a brilliant relationship with your remote team. Steve discusses how the trusting relationship begins at the hiring process, how to hire people with the same values as you and why regular meetings can help you get to know your team members.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are key things that you can do when you bring somebody into your company that create a lasting professional and productive relationship. This process needs to start at the hiring stage.
• In your job specification, talk about why your business is different, show that you care about your employees because you want to attract people that are attracted by the values that your company stands for. By doing that, you are going to put off people that aren't on the same page as you.
• Have a short team meeting every morning whereby you review the previous day, any challenges that were faced and what is on today's agenda. That allows everyone to know what each other is up to in the team, gives people the chance to get to know one another and also lets everyone know what each other is working on. This is helpful when sharing knowledge.
• Have a weekly one to one meeting with each of your team members so that you can allow them to share any concerns that they have and can build a relationship. This should be done via video chat so you can build a rapport.
• Knowing the stuff that your employees love doing as well as the stuff they hate doing, can benefit you and them in the long run.
• Have company meetings whereby you go through a structured agenda, allowing people to go through any issues they may face so that each week they know that they can get their problems answered. Talk about KPI’s, goals for the quarter and revisit previous meetings to ensure tasks have been completed.

BEST MOMENTS

“Don’t overwhelm them and throw thousands of tasks at them in one go.”

“They’ve come to work for you because they believe in what you believe in and therefore they are the right type of person for your company.”

“You keep the cogs moving forward.”

“That is an opportunity for you to come together as a team.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money.

Discover today how you can use an online assistant to save you time when sourcing property or other admin-based tasks, allowing you to focus on the high-value tasks and make more money. Join Steve as he discusses how you can create replicable systems for virtual assistants to utilise, how outsourcing can speed up the buying process of properties and how to work out your value to ensure you don’t spend your time earning less than you are worth. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• When you are looking at a big process such as property sourcing, there are upwards of fifty tasks involved to achieve it. You have to think about the research that needs to be conducted, considering things such as schooling, house price statistics, and local demographics. This has to be done each time you need to research an area. 
• Systemising the researching process so that other people can replicate the process can allow you to outsource this task to a VA. 
• Once you have conducted your research and sources properties within that area, there are certain preliminary things you need to know such as EPC, planning regulations and conservation information. Getting somebody to do this for you will speed up the buying process.
• When you outsource, you gain time. Gaining time will allow you to make more money because you now have the time to do high-value tasks. You don’t outsource to save money, you outsource to make money. 
• When outsourcing you have to understand your value and how much you are worth. Look at everything you earn, including interest and dividends and divide that by the number of hours you work annually. 
• Whatever that figure is, is your hourly rate, if you are spending time completing tasks that earn you less than that, you have to consider outsourcing. The moment you free up your time, you can focus on tasks that will bring you a higher value. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“Your life is so much easier.”

“Getting someone to do this for you can make your buying decisions much quicker.”

“I don’t outsource to save money, I outsource to make money.” 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/ 

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday 

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money. 

Intellectual property lawyer, branding expert and IP business advisor, Shireen Smith joins the show today to share her IP secrets that you can utilise to protect your business. Together they discuss the importance of understanding IP, how IP often acts as a container for your brand's values and why focusing on having unique branding will help separate you from your competitors.

Shireen's latest book 'Brand Tuned the new rules of branding, strategy and intellectual property' is available on Amazon 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• One of the big problems within branding is that people are not trained in IP which is of central relevance to brands because all the identifiers by which a brand is recognised are intellectual property. This intellectual property needs to be protected and the business can often be uniquely identified by a name or other identifiers.
• Intellectual Property (IP) acts as a container for the brand value. So using a name that is uniquely yours, helps contain the value of your brand. When you are using a name that other people can use, you have a colander rather than a container. Other competitors can use the name and customers may find other people when looking for you which will therefore lose your business.
• Don’t choose a name until you know the business is viable. Therefore you do not have to get into all the costs of trademarking. When you are ready, register a name and trademark it immediately.
• Understanding IP at the same time as creating a brand or when trying to grow your company will allow you to develop the right strategy. Instead of focusing so much on how you can be different to your competitors in terms of products you offer, designers should be looking at coloring, branding and how they can visually stand out. They cannot copy your distinctiveness.
• There is a tiny percentage of people who find themselves in a situation where another company begins using the same name as them and they are unable to fight back. You have to decide whether to take the risk of not trademarking your company name. Try to protect yourself within your home market and try not to worry about international companies unless you have a more substantial business.

BEST MOMENTS

“It is important to find a name that can be uniquely yours.”

“In the 21st century we have the internet, which has changed everything.”

“Distinctiveness is what you can protect.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

“Shireen Smith is an intellectual property lawyer and business advisor specialising in trademarks and brands, and founder of IP law firm Azrights. Her interest in business and entrepreneurship led her to in-house positions at Coopers & Lybrand and then Reuters. She briefly returned to private practice, working at the international law firm Eversheds while raising her two daughters. Shireen is also a trained journalist and writes extensively about brands, business and IP on her various blogs. She has a strong social media presence, including a YouTube channel, and has published articles in numerous journals. She has been a regular speaker at the British Library, LSE and conferences for the legal industry and entrepreneurs, and has written 2 books, Legally Branded and Intellectual Property Revolution, which focus on the impact of the internet on business IP. Intangible assets are more important than ever to businesses, yet many entrepreneurs are unaware of the IP implications of their work or their brand creation. Drawing on her own marketing experience with Azrights and her extensive work with clients, Shireen created Brandtuned as a unique combination of branding and IP that helps businesses position themselves for the 21st century.”

Shireen's Contact Information

Website: https://www.brandtuned.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandtuned/ 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/brandtuned/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brand_tuned

Shireen Smith Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShireenSmith

Shireen Smith FB: https://www.facebook.com/shireensmith.4/

Shireen Smith IG: https://www.instagram.com/shireensmith/?hl=en 

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money.

Understanding the different types of company email accounts available to you can save you a lot of money, join Steve today as he lets you in on some tips and tricks that can help keep your costs down. Steve discusses understanding which staff member needs their license and who doesn’t, the convenience of a shared inbox and the benefits of using Alias’.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Getting company email accounts right can save you a lot of money and there are some tricks that you can use which you can use to help avoid you having an account for every single one of your staff.
• Whether or not you need a licence for every member of staff you employ depends on what it is that they do within your company. Giving every employee their email account means that you have complete control over the account and therefore it can make it easier to manage. However, there is a lot of cost to doing that, with Google, the cost is around £10 per employee.
• Using Alias can allow you to create email addresses such as ‘[email protected]’ which can allow all emails to come into a shared inbox. You may want to have the ability to have people respond from their accounts. Alias’ allows any name that you want, linked to the shared inbox to respond. This can reduce the number of licenses that you require significantly.
• Be specific about who it is that you give licenses to, which is usually dependent on the different roles they have. Take into consideration if they will need offline access or if they will be managing the accounts as this would be the main reason they would need a license.

BEST MOMENTS

“There are a few tricks that we use to reduce the number of licenses but still maintain the control that we want.”

“You can think things personal.”

“It can make it appear that people are talking to a single individual.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday

ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money.

Discover today how you can prioritise your outsourcing by creating your personalised ‘Systemization Plan’. Today, Steve discusses how creating a ‘Systemization Plan’ can allow you to think about the future of your business, how putting processes into place will see a lot of your urgent stuff disappear and why tracking your time enables you to be more accountable, encouraging you to focus on the important tasks.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• What you need to outsource first is different from what anybody else needs to outsource first because what you do in your business is unique to you. You need to create a clear plan that will enable you to go from being that person who is running around like a headless chicken, to being that person who is organised and delegating.
• Creating your systemization plan can allow you to think about what else you should be doing in your business. The point of the plan is to look at the work you are currently doing and decide what you can offload to others so that you have more time to think about the future.
• When you start, you may not have anyone to delegate to so it is probably going to be you that is doing everything urgent or nonurgent. As you identify your recurring jobs, you can think about how you can delegate that role in the future.
• When you start putting processes into place, a lot of that important or urgent stuff will disappear because it will be automatically done by people or systems in your business. This can reduce the workload on you and make it easier to focus on the high-value stuff.
• The hidden benefits of tracking your time mean you become more conscious about the stuff you are doing. It enables you to focus more on the important stuff because you have got to hold yourself accountable for everything you write down on your timesheet. It is a great way to improve your productivity without changing what you are doing.
• Focus first on the stuff that is taking you a long time and is easy or is not taking you a long time and is easy. As you develop this you will get better and you will begin to see how you can outsource more and will be able to think about the none easy stuff and how you can outsource it.

BEST MOMENTS

“This is all about creating your personal systemization plan.”

“You need to free your time first.”

“Only focus on the important things.”

“Focus on the easy stuff now.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SystemsAndOutsourcing/

Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/welcome-1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/drsteveday

 ABOUT THE HOST

Steve used to be a slave to his business but when he moved to Sweden in 2015, he was forced to change the way he worked. He switched to running his businesses remotely and after totally nailing this concept he decided to spend his time helping other small business owners do the same. Steve’s been investing in property since 2002, has a degree in Computing, and worked as a doctor in the NHS before quitting to focus full-time on sharing his systems and outsourcing Methodology with the world. He now lives in Sweden and runs his UK-based businesses remotely with the help of his team of Filipino and UK-based Virtual Assistants.

Most business owners are overwhelmed because they don't know how to create systems or get the right help.

Our systems and outsourcing Courses and coaching programme will help you automate your business and work effectively with affordable virtual assistants. That way, you will stop feeling overwhelmed and start making more money.

Entrepreneur, Author of ‘Stress To Success’ and owner of award winning sales and lettings agency, Castledene Group John Paul joins the show to explain how he went from working in his business, to stepping back and working on it. Together they dive into all things systems and discuss the importance of nurturing your staff, how to start creating processes to systemise and why letting go and trusting people to systemise for you, can help boost your company's success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A good staff can write the systems for you. However, you can have the best system on the planet but if you have got staff who cannot understand it, then the systems are just going to fail. It is equally important to train and develop your staff as it is to implement successful systems.
• When you have really good systems you need to be able to manage and measure the staff based on something. If they follow the systems and trust the process, they will do well and you will get the results you want. However, if they don’t then things go wrong, it could be a case of their skillset or motivation.
• One important question to ask potential staff during their interview is about their values. This way you can see if their values align with your businesses’ values. It helps to weed out those who are not suitable for your business. So long as you are training them to the best of your ability, they have the best possibility of succeeding.
• The most vulnerable time for a new starter is right at the beginning. Do not just give them a manual and leave them to it. You have got to nurture that person to make sure that they know and understand your processes and help and support them throughout their career.
• Business owners tend to be more emotional whereas creating processes is a very logical thing. It is sometimes hard for people to understand the importance of a system and how to process and map it. It can be as simple as writing things down on a post it note and developing them deeper.
• It is important to use smart objectives. Make things measurable, specific, achievable and timebound.
• Success is achieving whatever your goals are. Whatever you want in life, so long as you achieve that, then you are being successful.
• You can systeminse anything. If you surround yourself with good people, you have the knowledge and the desire to systemise things by letting go and trusting people, then you can systemise any process.

BEST MOMENTS

“I have got an amazing MD who is far better at managing people than me.”

“The only two things that can go wrong in a business are, is it a person issue? Or a process issue?’”

“You systemise businesses to operate in a certain way.”

“Once you get definition into a process, then it is a lot easier to measure and manage that process.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

John Paul is an entrepreneur, leader and owner of the Castledene Group, an award-winning sales and letting agency based in northeast England. Widely regarded as one of the leading experts in the property industry, John won the Sunday Times Outstanding Contribution to Lettings Award in 2015 and speaks at networking events all over the UK. John has grown Castledene Sales and Lettings into seven branches employing fifty staff. Thanks to the five part system, he no longer has anything to do with the day-to-day operations of the company. Through the Property and Leadership Academy he aims to improve management and leadership within the industry and consults with many companies around the UK. In doing so he helps people to systemise their businesses and make themselves non-integral to the running of the business. John is also on the Board of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), representing the North of England. He has also just started his Masters in Leadership. John has three amazing children - Stephanie, Jack and Bella - and a long-suffering but supportive partner, Gemma. They live in Redmarshall in Stockton on Tees

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