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Introduction

Dreaming about what you want to do and what you want to be later on in life is easy. It’s the journey getting there that’s not. It’s easy to say you want to become a successful entrepreneur or business owner in 5 years or so, but then not do anything about it. Or, you do get to doing something, but you give up in 6 months because it got too difficult and you think you’re in over your head. It’s like wanting to go on a round-the-world trip without planning all the logistics of how you’re going to get to different places. You make very little preparations, and you don’t know exactly how you’re going to keep yourself safe throughout your journey. There’s a lot of elements and planning involved in making your dreams come true.

Without that driving force within you, you’ll find it hard to succeed in anything.

You’ll be tied to a job you hate. You’ll be living a mediocre life. You’ll be wishing you can someday live the life you really want. If you want to finally succeed in life, then read this entire guide. You’re going to learn a lot about what you can do to uncover what drives you.

You’re going to discover how you can set the right kind of goals and how you can keep your enthusiasm and your motivation all throughout your journey.

The road to success is going to be filled with obstacles. Let this guide help you navigate your way around the potholes and the roadblocks.

By the time you finish you reading this guide, you’ll be better equipped to tackle all challenges.

You’ll have everything you need to accomplish your goals and finally achieve success!

Chapter 1 – Chase The Right Kind Of Goals

“All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go and what he wants to be or do.” - Norman Vincent Peale

Norman Vincent Peale is right – you can’t get anywhere if you don’t know where you want to go. If you want to ultimately end up successful in life, then you need to have a goal in mind.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? Are you happy with where you are right now? Can you see yourself doing the same thing until you say goodbye to this world?

If you can, then good for you. Maybe you’ve already found your passion, and you’ve achieved your life goals. But I bet, for the majority of people reading this guide, you’re not truly happy.

If you can see yourself doing something else, doing something you really love, then you can set that as your goal.

If you can see yourself moving someplace far away doing the things you really want to do, then start planning how you’re going to get there.

Now, this is where it gets tricky. How do you know if you’re setting the right kind of goals for yourself?

Realistic Versus Unrealistic Goals

Ask yourself this question before you embark on your journey, “Is my goal realistic?”

If you answer “no,” you could end up wasting all your time, energy, even money, for nothing.

Dreaming big is perfectly fine. Many successful people started from humble beginnings, but they dreamt big and they managed to achieve their dreams!

However, it’s important to mention here that when they first set their eyes on their target, they already knew there was a possibility – no matter how small – that they can achieve it. If they set their eyes on something where they have zero chances of succeeding, then they wouldn’t have succeeded. At all.

If you want even the slightest chance of succeeding, then you need to make sure your goals are still within the realm of possibility.

Let me give you an example: you love basketball so much that you want to someday play in the NBA, the most prestigious basketball league in the world.

You’re a great player, but you’re only 5 feet tall and you’re not going to grow another inch. Plus, you’re scrawny.

What are the odds of you ever becoming a professional NBA player? Zero. That’s the harsh truth. You may be a great shooter, but you’ll be a defensive liability on the court.

There are many great basketball players who are tall, strong, and talented. But a great majority of them are never going to make it to the NBA.

So, why would you think you can? If getting into the NBA is your dream, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Maybe a more realistic goal for you would be to someday watch a live NBA game. Or have your picture taken with your favorite player and get his autograph, too. Most people would be happy with that.

Now, if you were 6 feet tall and you’re really, really talented, then you may just have a shot at getting into the NBA. If you’ve got the skills, then you can work on it, and do your best to get the attention of a basketball scout.

I hope you can now see the difference between having a realistic and unrealistic goal.

How To Set The Right Kind Of Goals

Knowing how to set the right kind of goals is the only way you can ensure you’ll have a shot at success.

To start with, your goal would need to be a S.M.A.R.T. goal. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. When you identify a goal that meets this criteria, then you’ve got an excellent goal right there!

Let’s go through what each characteristic means:

Your goal should be Specific.

You don’t just say you want to become a millionaire by this time next year. Rather, you should say, “I should be earning at least $84,000 every month for the next 12 months.” Or, you can even break it down further by specifying the exact amounts you should be making each day or each week for the next 12 months.

If you’re selling a product that costs $20 and you make a $15 profit per item, then it means you need to sell at least 5,600 units per month to make an $84,000 profit. Divide that by 30 days, then you need to sell at least 187 units per day to reach your monthly goal.

You need to be as specific as possible when it comes to setting your goals. There’s less ambiguity, and you know exactly what you should be aiming for.

Your goal should be Measurable.

Measurable means you can identify or measure when you achieve your goal. It means you can easily track your progress which, in turn, can help motivate you when you see you’re getting closer to your goal.

Going back to our millionaire example, you can easily check your sales, your spreadsheet or your bank account to measure how you’re getting along.

It’s easy to see how much you’ve earned, and you can adjust your goals if you see you’ve had a couple of months where you didn’t meet your quota.

Maybe you need to market your product in other places or look into adding more talented salespeople to your team.

Your goal should be Achievable.

Here’s where having a realistic goal comes in. Being a millionaire in 1 year is entirely possible. You’ve got a good product, you’ve had good reviews from past customers.

So, you know perfectly well your goal is achievable. You just need to work on tapping hidden markets or maybe do a better job at marketing and selling your product.

You may even think about adding a new source of income within the next 12 months.

You can sell a new product or have some other projects on the side, maybe a bit of freelancing, stuff like that. When you find another income stream, then it will help you reach your goal of becoming a millionaire faster!

Your goal should be Relevant.

Is your goal relevant or reasonable? Is it really what you want? Will your current status in life allow you to pursue your goal? Is it the right time?

Do you have the resources to successfully achieve your goal of becoming a millionaire? Are you or your team capable of selling almost 200 units of your product every single day? Will you have enough money left over once you’ve paid your staff for their hard work?

If, at the end of the month, you’re left with far less money than the amount you’ve targeted, then you may want to readjust your goal (how about you make it 2 years instead of 1 year), train your team to become better at sales, etc.

Your goal should be Timely.

Introduction

The one thing everyone seems to want these days is to start their own business. Many new business owners believe that the only thing they need to be successful is a website that will bring in automated profits around the clock.

While a site is a useful tool to have, it isn't a full-fledged business. Unfortunately, many would-be entrepreneurs are not prepared to put in the effort that is required to research a niche correctly to determine that the niche they want to work in is a paying one.

Finding a paying niche, and then creating content, products, and services for that niche, is the best way to for you to build a solid foundation for a successful online business. It is also the best way to achieve the level of success and kind of profits that most business owners need to make their efforts worthwhile.

Not picking a lucrative niche is an easy mistake to make when you are excited about all the great ideas that you have. It is also easy to fall into a niche that you’ve heard people are making a killing selling online.

Passion and enthusiasm are essential when it comes to running your own business, but so is research. All the large corporations spend time researching before releasing new products to the public to see if there is any interest in a new product.

Unfortunately, most new business owners get it wrong. They first create a product, then spend the time and money to launch the product, then try to mind a market for it.

The secret key to online success is to:

• Find a paying market
• Create a product for it
• Launch the product by directly marketing to the paying market you’ve already located.

The best niche marketing strategies and tactics are based on concrete research and building a relationship with the prospective customers in your niche.

While there is a lot of popular niches out there, not all of them are paying, or even well-paying ones. While you can make money with ‘bargain basement' kinds of customers, it is much better if you create products for people who are willing to pay a reasonable price for real solutions to the issues they are facing.

This is the basis for a sustainable business, with happy, loyal customers that will come back regularly to buy from you. In fact, if you do things right, some of your customers will be so loyal that every time you launch a new product, they’ll be willing to buy it.

Without doing the proper research, you may end up putting in hours of time and effort only to discover that you don't have a real viable business after all. Your attempt to get your blog or website set up and to try and create a product to sell will be a waste of time unless you know your niche is part of a paying market.
Once you are sure you have chosen the right niche in a paying market, you will start to earn the profits you need to meet your financial goals.

Chapter 1 – Why Finding Your Niche is Important

A niche is a small, specific, target market of potential customers. Smart business owners try to sell their products and services to a niche base of customers by conducting detailed market research with a focus on trying to understand the consumer behavior of the people who are interested in that niche. Specifically, their needs, concerns, and desires.

Once the research shows that consumers that are interested in the niche are willing to pay for products, services, and solutions that are related to the niche, the business will then try to cater to them as much as possible by providing a range of items for sale at various price points.

Some of the products they offer will have a much broader appeal than others. For example, there will be more customers interested in golf products for beginners, than those looking for advanced information on golf because they are or are hoping to become a pro golfer.

Therefore, by focusing on products for beginners, you will be able to increase sales based on volume by offering a lower price point to a more significant amount of customers.

However, while there may be fewer advanced students looking for information and products on golf, the exclusive, high-level information that you can provide could command a much higher price than the eBooks focusing on a beginner's level.

Offering advanced students, a course, multimedia package, coaching program, membership program, or other similar products could command a much higher price point, especially if you are seen as an expert in your niche.

This is because the more credentials you have, the more money you can charge for the products and services you are offering in your niche, within reason.
Your price point has to be within reason because finding the right niche isn't just about finding the right one that pays, but it is also about what people are buying and how much they are willing to pay for them.

If the average price they are willing to pay is $29.95 and you want to enter the market with a $39 product, there will need to be an apparent reason why your product is worth more.

Your expertise, credentials, and the added extras you are offering can help to remove some of the doubt in the customer's mind and convince them that the extra cost is worth it. However, you will only be able to convince them to pay the extra money if you know what other offers are available so that you can make an even better offer.
As you research your niche, you will not only discover if it is a paying one but if there are users who are willing to pay premium prices for the kind of insider information that you can provide.

You also want to think about the life cycle of the customer in a niche. While they might start out as a beginner, by sticking with the niche and continuing to learn, they will eventually need to obtain intermediate or advanced information.

Understanding the life cycle of your customers provides you with the opportunity to continue to sell to them over and over again.

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Let's face it, most people play a losing game. To quote from Tyler Durden from the cult classic movie "Fight Club": We buy the stuff we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like.

That's the kind of life we're living. I know it sounds harsh. I know it sounds judgmental, but it's also the truth. Unfortunately, for far too many of us, we equate having stuff with living worthy lives.

We equate the stuff that we wear, the stuff that we own, and the things we focus on with the quality of our lives. In fact, for far too many people, stuff or possessions are one and the same as self and self-worth.

This should not be a surprise because far too many people confuse price with value. We think that the more expensive something is, the more value it has, and we allow
ourselves to feel worthwhile, appreciated, and acknowledged depending on the price of the stuff we have access to.

What is wrong with this picture? We live our lives based on what is expected of us instead of what we actually want for ourselves. Too many people live their lives based on values they uncritically and unthinkingly "copy and pasted" from others.

In fact, a lot of adult children are simply living their lives based on a script that they automatically imported from their parents. They did not stop to challenge the script.

In fact, a lot of people didn't even bother to read it at all. They feel that since their parents live a certain way and thought about things a certain way that they should do the same thing.

There is no attempt at any kind of analysis as to whether that script makes any sense as far as their lives are concerned. They don't think about a better fit between the script and the lives they are living out.

They don't consider whether the script has a specific historical or emotional context that may or may not be relevant today. They just automatically assume that since somebody they love and respect chose to live their life a certain way, then this path is the way forward.

It is no surprise that Americans, by and large, are not happy. The end result of everything I have described above is not pretty. We Americans are overmedicated. We are maxed out on our credit cards and are overstressed.

In spite of all the money, time, effort, and mental energy we spend on getting more and more stuff, we are nowhere close to being content.

We are actually nowhere near to living the kind of joyful life we initially sought out to achieve. The reason for this is actually quite obvious - we live cluttered lives. What makes this tragic is that we are not even aware of Most people are so stressed out that they are not as effective as they could be. Their relationships suffer. They don't do a good job at work, they break down easily, and can barely handle challenges that life throws their way.

You have to understand that life is not smooth nor easy. Life, after all, is made up of one unpleasant surprise after another. Some of these surprises can turn out to be positive if you prepare yourself properly.

Sadly, too many people choose not to do this because, at some level or other, they feel that they are entitled for things to be smooth, quick, easy, and convenient. It's no surprise that so many people are stressed out. Most people are so stressed that they are not as happy and content as they could be.

They focus on what they can get not just today, but tomorrow. They are focused on things that have already happened. They obsess about past failures, disappointments,
and missed opportunities. They often engage in finding people and situations to blame for things that are going on in their lives in the here and now.

This is mental clutter. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that not only is this perfectly natural, but it actually defines who they are as individuals. That's right; you heard that correctly.

They believe that this is an integral part of their identity as human beings. Talk about missing the point. Talk about misreading the total picture.

Mental clutter, unfortunately, doesn't fall out of the sky. It doesn't appear at random. It is not something that you luck into. Instead, it is part of a larger equation. Believe it or not, physical clutter leads to mental clutter, and this produces a self-enforcing mechanism.

The more mental clutter you suffer from, the more you tend to create physical clutter around you. And when you see this in your physical surroundings, you stress out and create even more mental clutter. The process repeats itself over and over again.

It is a negative feedback loop that way too many of us are simply clueless about. If you are in any way, shape, or form unhappy with any aspect of your life, chances are quite high that you can trace that unhappiness and discontentment to mental clutter.

This toxic feedback loop holds people back from the life of victory, success, and happiness they could otherwise be living.

The worst part of this is that it's invisible. In fact, a lot of us justify this or make excuses for this to the point that this is what defines us. If somebody were to come into our lives to try to simplify things, don't be surprised if you put up a fight.

If somebody told you that a lot of the things that you're holding on to are unnecessary or even downright toxic, you would not be alone if you were to push back. You might even be thinking, "How dare you question me?", "How dare you insult me? This is part of who I am."

This is how people instinctively respond to any kind of decluttering maneuver imposed from the outside. I raised this issue because if you want to change, you have to want to change. It's one thing to mentally accept that you have to change, but it's another to let that mental awareness sink into the level of your emotions.

That is crucial because unfortunately, until and unless you develop a sense of emotional urgency regarding what you need to do, nothing will get done. Somewhere along the way, you would put up some sort of justification.

At some point in time, you would come up with a range of excuses. Now, a lot of this is not obvious. In fact, in many cases, it seems like you're saying or thinking about the most natural things in the world.

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Easy Kindle Publishing: Profiting From Children’s Kindle Books A really great way to get into Kindle Publishing is by creating children’s Kindle books. Children’s book publishing is very popular and there are lots of tips for quickly creating books. Your kids’ books can be fiction, but it’s often best to focus non-fiction informational books, because the text is simple. As long as you have a lot of eye-catching images, and write a book about a topic that both kids and parents will like, it is a satisfying read. A lot goes into writing a children’s book, though. You’ll need to understand how to research the books, where to get images, how to hire people to help you inexpensively and more. Read on for tips to help make your experience publishing a kid’s Kindle book easy and profitable. About KDP Kids KDP Kids is a children focused category for illustrated and chapter books designed just for kids. It includes a set of tools that help authors create and produce digital books in Kindle format that are designed just for kids. They make it simple for authors to use so that they don’t have to feel as if they need to be programmers to design a beautifully illustrated kid’s book. Like most Kindle books, KDP Kids authors can earn up to 70 % royalties. To help, KDP Kids offers authors tools to help such as the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator, Age and Grade Tools, and even marketing tools. You’ll be able to create a professional book for Kids easily and quickly with all the tools they provide. But, first, you need to get your book written.

Writing for Kids To write a book for kids, you need to understand your audience. This is the same advice you’ll get if you write for adults. As you discover the audience you’re creating for, you’ll be able to write even more interesting stories in such a way that your audience likes it even more. Plus, you’ll need to know what message you’re trying to convey in your book. It’s important to be original, but you do want to address popular subjects for your audience. Plus, never talk down to your readers. They don’t need or like that. Book Formats – Creating a children’s Kindle book will enable you to create a picture book or a chapter book. You can also combine the two and create a picture storybook. After all, children love looking at beautiful pictures while their parents read to them. About Creating Characters – Creating the characters in your children’s books can be super fun. You can be more creative with the names, based on the character. When naming the characters in your books, think about their ages and their part in the book. Try outlining each character's personality and looks before writing the book. That way you know the backstory of your characters and can pull from that as you write their lines. Entertain & Delight – Your kids’ book should be entertaining. They should delight the audience and make them laugh, cry, or feel some sort of emotion that makes them feel good about themselves at the end. Don’t Talk Down – A huge mistake a lot of new authors make is to talk down to their audience. Instead, put yourself on their level so that you can explain concepts in the way your audience thinks about them. For example, adults may think farting is gross but kids really just think it’s funny. Remember the Plot – Before putting pen to paper, you should totally understand the entire point of your book. The main events that get your message across should not be lost in everything else that is going on in your book. Each chapter should work to further the plot. Get Serious but Be Funny – Even the most serious subjects can sometimes go down better with a dose of humor. Books about death, aging, and illness often use humor to lighten the mood while explaining seriously difficult topics to kids.

A children’s book doesn’t have to be super long or in-depth to be interesting and funny to a child. For example, in the book “Toot” by Leslie Patricelli she covers the fun topic of farting in 24 pages. What to Write About Probably one of the most daunting parts of writing a children’s book is deciding what to write about. The first thing you should do when writing a children’s book is to get to know your audience. If you want to write for four-year-olds, spend some time with four-year-olds so that you know what they find interesting. Research – Volunteer at a child care center or in the classroom, depending on the age of your audience. This is a good way to get to spend time with your audience and learn what they like. You can also conduct some research online, such as locations that you may want to include in your book. Images – Most children’s books will be better received with images. You don’t have to be an illustrator to get great images for your books. You can get licensed photography online to use in your books, or you can hire someone to help you. The important fact about images is to ensure that you can legally use them before using them. Outsourcing – A really great way to handle some aspects of your children’s book is to outsource. You can find people on Upwork.com and Fiverr.com to help you with editing, illustrations, and formatting of your Kindle Kids’ book. If you see a book with illustrations you like, don’t hesitate to contact the illustrator. Ideas – The hardest part of your book is to come up with ideas. There are tried and true topics that work well with most kids. A few ideas are picture books for little ones, short stories for elementary age children, and fantasy for middle schoolers work well. The best and most easy way to come up with an idea is to solve a problem for your audience such as bullying, using the potty, washing hands, taking care of a pet and so on. Any information you can impart will be helpful. For example, maybe you want to write a book about dinosaurs. You could easily do a picture book about the top 20 Biggest Dinosaurs. Then the book would simply include a picture of the dinosaur and a description of what that one eats and when, where and how it lived.

Popular Kids’ Books on Kindle One way to decide on a topic for your Kindle Kid’s book is to look at what is already popular. If you can find a topic that is popular and fill in the gaps you can have a best seller on your hands in no time. My Monster Farts, by Kate Clary – This delightful book will make kids and parents laugh as they try to read the word “fart” repeatedly. It’s only 12 pages long, and kids and parents both love it and kids ages 4 to 7 want to hear it again and again. It’s a great example of taking a topic that kids of a certain age find hysterically funny and making a book from it. How to Catch a Monster by Michael Yu, Rachel Yu, June Yu and Eric Yu – Little kids are often scared of monsters hiding under their bed or in a closet. This is a common problem for children around the ages of 3 to 5. The authors cover it nicely in only 46 pages. This book relies on amazing illustrations to tell the story for the young audience. Minecraft: Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Book 1: A Scare of a Dare (An Unofficial Minecraft Book) by Zack Zombie – This is a great example of taking a popular game and making a story from it. This book is written in diary format and gets into the mind of a young gamer. If you want your gamer to read a little more this might help. Find a topic your audience likes, in this case, gaming – with a specific game, and then make up a story around it. What If Everybody Did That? By Ellen Javernick and Colleen M. Madden – This clever book about breaking rules brings to light to the audience of pre-k and kindergarten kids the idea that breaking rules has consequences that compound the more people do it in only 32 pages from start to finish. Wonderfully illustrated with clever prose, this is a good book to learn from. Hopefully, those books give you some ideas. You can search the best-selling Kindle Kid’s books on Amazon for more ideas. But, as you can see for little kids topics are very specific such as monsters, using the potty, understanding bodily functions, nature, and more.

How to Promote Your Kid’s Book Once you’ve written and published your Kindle Kid’s book, the next thing you need to do is start promoting it. The honest truth is that, even if you never do any promoting, if you’ve worked hard on the cover, the description, and the title you will sell some books on Kindle. But, if you want to become a best seller you’ll need to promote your book. Throw a Book Party – You can throw a book party online. Invite everyone you know who has a child, or knows a child in the right age group to a Facebook Live Reading Event. Set up the scene by putting a chair in front of a good backdrop such as in front of a fireplace or you could even sit on your bed with your own child and read to them live. Ask everyone to share. Release Early For Reviews – Release the book early to friends and people who can write reviews for you. Amazon will frown on your mother writing you a review, so ensure that the people who you choose really buy the book, and aren’t related to you. There are groups on Facebook that you can locate to help you find book reviewers. Join Forums & Groups – Find groups of parents with children in the right age group, and following the terms of service of the groups, tell them about your book. Remember, in the case of most children’s books, you’ll have to get the parents interested first. Create a Book Trailer – YouTube is a great place to put a book trailer for your book. You can hire someone on Fiverr.com to make a video for you, or you can use PowerPoint or KeyNote to do it for you, add some music and some words and upload to YouTube. Be sure to link back to your book. Attend Public Events – Even though your book is an eBook, you can still attend public events, and readings, in order to attract more buyers. Remember, if no one knows about your book, it can be hard to get enough readers to make a difference. Blog & Write Articles – Get published where parents will read about you, and then they’ll use your bio to find your books that you’ve written for children. The more parents like you, the more they’ll trust you enough that they’ll buy and read your books to their kids. If you write for older kids, even though parents won’t be reading them to their children, they need to know your values and morals in order to trust you, too. The key thing to remember when promoting a children’s book is to promote where your audience is. Consider blogging, creating YouTube videos, and also using social media like Pinterest to get the word out about your book.

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Chapter 1: Introduction - The Benefits of Systemizing Your Business

The Internet has changed the way people think about companies, especially when it comes to owning a small business. Millions of people have tried to start an online business, with many of them finding success. While there are several reasons why one might fail to get their online business off the ground, one of the main reasons is because the owner was unable to systemize the company and utilize the available resources.

People who have found success with their online business know that they need a great idea, as well as the resources to cultivate a customer base for that great idea. They also understand that the same daily activities that are done in a brick and mortar business, also apply to an online business. They know that they will need to take the necessary steps to either learn those skills or outsource them to trusted and reliable sources.

Online business systemization is about combining the vision with the practicalities of the business world to become successful. The process of systemization is no great mystery. It is possible to learn how to effectively systemize your business and position yourself to run a successful online business that makes a profit on a consistent basis.

What is Systemization

Many online business owners, when they hear the word “systemization,” turn to the idea of an endless array of meetings that create a ton of action items that must be followed up on at the next meeting so even more action items can be created. In short, people believe that systemization is nothing more than an ongoing, convoluted series of processes that only make running a business more complicated. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Having a systemized business doesn’t mean that you’ll be caught up in so many policies and procedures that you lose all ability to work on anything productive and it’s not about filling time or creating the illusion of being busy. Systemization is not about creating a machine and being dominated by that machine. Systemizing your business doesn’t have to be complicated.

True systemization is about creating a stable functioning procedure that knows what needs to be done, has a way to do it, and gets the job done. When you have a truly systemized business, you free up more of your time to focus on more important aspects of your business, like marketing, strategy, and product creation. When your company is systemized correctly, the procedures make sense and always have a purpose. With systemization, everyone in the business knows what to do and when to do it. There are no endless meetings to deal with, no complicated policies to follow, and no time wasted with spinning the wheels. This isn't to say that all the processes within an adequately systemized business are going to be fun. However, when organized properly, the tasks can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, leaving the rest of the day to work on something more interesting, like converting more prospects to buying customers, creating a new product line, or writing new sales copy. True business systemization, frees you, while a lack of systemization creates endless work and stifles your ability to succeed.

Why You Need to Systemize Your Online Business

There are many benefits that you can gain by systemizing your online business. With a sound system, people in your organization have a clear understanding of the work they need to perform and what is expected of them. Without policies, there are many unanswered questions, and quality and service can’t be guaranteed. Now that you understand why it's good to have a systemized business let's explore the benefits that you can gain.

Reduce Costs

Managing your email inbox or reading through piles of mail isn't the most efficient use of your time. As the business owner, your time would be better spent analyzing new business opportunities or developing new product lines. Delegating many of the days to day tasks that are required to run a business, can free up your time so you can focus your energy on the activities that will allow you to grow your business and increase revenues.

Without clearly documented business procedures, you can’t delegate those daily tasks that eat up most of your time. By recording your processes, you can easily delegate tasks knowing that they will be done correctly, allowing you to free up your time to oversee more projects, which brings in more revenue for your growing business.

Increase Efficiency

Documenting procedures allows you to discover any unnecessary steps that you may be taking. When you record your systems, you provide yourself with the opportunity to improve the process, which can result in cutting costs and freeing up your valuable time to grow your business. It can also help you complete tasks with fewer mistakes. Taking the time to document new procedures and re-document existing procedures can provide you with opportunities to make the daily tasks more efficient and freeing up your time to focus on growing business revenue.

Improve Performance

Businesses that lack procedures often have employees that have their own way of handling tasks. While this can make your employees happy, it can also lead to inefficiencies. Not having documented procedures can lead your team to complete the same function in different ways. Recording the best way to perform the task will allow everyone to become more efficient in his or her jobs and improve their performance.

Improve Communication

One of the biggest killers of time and profit in a business is miscommunication. When there are no documented procedures in place, internal and external communication becomes a huge issue. When you have clearly written procedures, there are fewer arguments over how things should be done.

Scale Your Business

Having procedures in place for training new staff will reduce the stress your current staff endures when training new team members. Following documented hiring procedures will allow you to hire the right people for each job and they'll be able to follow procedures without requiring additional assistance.

When your new hires receive better training, they can become more productive at their jobs. They can be trained in a way that reduces the number of mistakes being made and improve their overall performance. When your employees perform better, you can gain more sales and have fewer errors to deal with, ultimately cutting costs.

Measure Your Progress

While the money coming into your business is one way to measure your progress, being able to measure your marketing efforts or the development process of new products will provide you with a better picture of the health of your company. If your business is organized and has clear documentation of your procedures in place, you will be able to quickly check on these things, as well as other areas of concern and obtain real-time data on how they are doing.

Meet Deadlines

Without having a basic plan in place for each day, the daily activities that are needed to keep your business operating can begin to build up, eventually creating a bottleneck and bringing other essential tasks to a halt. For example, if you aren't posting your Accounts Receivables and Payables on a regular schedule, you can find yourself with a lot of work when it comes time to pay your employees or calculate taxes for the current quarter. Having an organized, well-documented system in place, ensures that you won't run into situations where you have to drop other tasks to play catch-up.

Free up More Time

When your business is systematic in its functions and operation, it frees up your time, so you can focus on the activities that will help your business grow. Instead of spending the afternoon responding to emails, you can work on your marketing efforts or promote your business at local business events. Business systemization provides you with the opportunity to spend your time on those endeavors without having to worry that your company operations have halted because you're away from the office.

Take Time Off

Being able to take time off from the business is one of the main benefits of a systemized business. When your business is systematically organized, you can take a vacation knowing that your company will still be able to run, even in your absence.

Now that you’ve been shown the many benefits of having a systemized online business, it’s time to take a moment to evaluate your circumstance and make a list of what you want to accomplish with your online business. Write everything down, no matter how small, vague, or inconsequential it may seem.

One of the easiest ways to become burned out before your business even has a chance to succeed is trying to master everything yourself and doing it all. No matter how good you are, this line of thinking is just not realistic. Developing a logical and workable business system will allow you to build and run a successful online business.

Chapter 2: Start Here - List Your Most

Recurring Tasks

Whether you already own an online business and find yourself constantly exhausted from the daily work, or you are planning on opening an online business in the future, there is still plenty of time for you to get into the swing of systemizing your business. Once you start working on the steps outlined in this guide, you may begin to realize that many of them are simply common sense.

Step One: Identifying Recurring Tasks

To start systemizing your business, you need to begin by listing all the general functions that you do both daily and through the course of the week. It doesn't matter if you are a brick and mortar business, an online business, or a hybrid business that involves an Internet presence as well as a physical site. Here are some of the more common tasks that will apply to every business.

Accounting

When it comes to your business’s income and expenses, you have to create some sort of process for keeping track of what comes in and what goes out. Having business systems in place for your accounting tasks will allow you to ensure that you are profitable, as well as making sure you have the appropriate records to back up your tax filings, that you have paid your vendors, and that your customers are paying you within your set terms. It is also essential to make sure that your paying your employees on time and have the right amount of taxes being deducted from their pay.

This is one of the systems in your business that you have to keep a close eye on. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to do the work yourself. Financial management systems will allow you to keep track of everything from tracking credit card purchases to invoicing clients, to following up on past-due accounts. Here are some of the other accounting systems that can be systemized.

• Purchasing
• Tracking credit card purchases
• Accounts payable
• Accounts receivable
• Deposits to the bank
• Cutting checks
• Payments on taxes
• Profit and loss statements
• Invoicing
• Daily cash out
• Petty cash
• Employee expenses
• Payroll

Putting these systems in place will help to prevent employee theft and allow you to have a clear picture of your business’s numbers. They will allow you to control your purchasing and ensure that you sign-off on each decision that is made.

Administration

Somebody has to ensure that the day to day tasks are being accomplished. Depending on the size of your business, this may involve a central manager or supervisor, or several managers who oversee one or more departments.

Administration is an essential area of your business to systemize because of the high turnover rate that most administrative roles see. Implementing a series of systems can help to reduce training time and keep you from having to explain to new hires how the phone needs to be answered every time a new employee joins the team. Here are the administrative tasks that should be systemized.