When I invited our guest, Henry Gornbein, to be on the show a few weeks ago, I realized I had triggered a Signature System that allowed this radio show to almost run without me. It actually does too except for my time during the show.

There are a dozen or more steps that take place flawlessly between the time that I invite a guest to be on the show, till the moment I start the show each week.

I remember sitting down with my first assistant, Megan, years ago, and telling her all the steps that I believed needed to happen to make the show run smoothly. In addition, there is a whole process going on with the radio station itself. That makes our job easier on our end. Megan documented all the steps, even adding things I had missed and then added the steps to our operations manual. When she left to go grad school, our new assistant, Jillian, was able to pick up the manual and take over the process without me getting involved. This is a secret to avoid creating a bottle neck in your systems.

At one point, we added social media promotions, and ended up with two people running the process. I noticed that the process would be smoother and more effectively with one person managing both projects, so the manual was given to my current Virtual Assistant, Tara, who consolidated and simplified the system even more.

Some might think that systems are confining, but for me, systems give me freedom, and increase my income, confidence and happiness.

Where are the places in your life and your business that you can create systems?

The key to creating systems is to identify if you are a “Front Stage” or “Back Stage” person. Both positions are important and one is not better than the other. The sooner you can identify your strengths, passions and unique abilities, the happier, healthier and wealthier your life will be.

The Back Stage People: There are people who are very uniquely qualified to ‘run things”. They love that work and excel at it. My Virtual Assistant, Tara, is one of these people. I call her the executer, because as soon as I give her a task, I can guarantee that it will be done on time, and much better than I could ever do it. She also makes me look good because she doesn’t allow me to miss things that I say are going to happen.

I am a Front Stage Person: I’m a visionary, problem solver, idea person. In addition, I’m very intuitive and love working with people. I know what needs to be done and the sooner I hand it off to my backstage person the better. That’s when the true magic begins. BTW, I love to delegate!

Creating systems, give you freedom to focus on what you do best while delegating the rest. I create systems for everything.

The “T” Exercise: Where to Focus and What to Release

1. Get out a piece of paper, and draw a line down the middle and on one side write down all the things you are fantastic at, the things that bring you passion, that generate revenue effortlessly for you, the things that you would do for free. In addition, write down all the things that are going well for you in your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

2. Then on the right side write down all the things that drain your energy, all the things that you do but would love to stop doing, all the things that you do that don’t make money for you but you end up doing them anyway it seems. Also list all the ways that you sabotage your health, your relationships, wellbeing, and self care on this side of the paper.

3. Now I want you to spend some time to study the left side of the paper to figure out how to incorporate the things you love and that will bring you optimal health, joy and wellbeing in your life. Your goal is going to be to focus 80% of your time on the things you love doing, bring you joy, vitality and vibrant health and mental clarity — and to eliminate, delegate and outsource all those things in your life that you don’t like doing and are sabotaging your optimal health and wellbeing.

4. The final step is to take the time now, with your team to have them create systems for every single thing that they are doing for you and to document these all in a manual. This way if anyone on your team leaves, you still have all the steps, contacts, passwords and files, so the next person can step right in and take over for them. This will give you peace of mind and will increase your time, energy and money!

If you are interested in learning how this works, I have created a 30 minute video on my signature system that I have used over the last 25 years for myself and my clients. It’s a six-step system. Remember, that every step of the system has its own signature system. Its professionally edited with a beautiful workbook. You can access it at www.MidlifeMillionaireSecrets.com It’s actually video 3 in our free 3 part series on Creating Your Midlife Millionaire Lifestyle. The first two videos are 13 minutes long and the 3rd is 30 minutes long. All three include workbooks as well. I know you will enjoy them at www.MidlifeMillionaireSecrets.com

 

 

 

Katana Abbott, CFP®, is a Retirement Coach, founder of the Smart Women Companies, and the host Smart Women Talk Radio with over a million subscribers.  For over 30 years, Katana has shown women how to take charge of their life and finances and believes it’s never too early to plan for expected and unexpected events like retirement, encore careers, moving abroad, or preparing for long-term care.  She has written several books, created a financial literacy course, and is a popular speaker. Katana has been honored by NAWBO as one of Detroit’s Top 10 Business Women, receiving the Breakthrough Award. To download her new ebook, The Five Biggest Money Mistakes Women Make and How to Fix Them, visit www.katanaabbott.com