What I Actually Mean When I Say "Systems"
You know that thing in your business that you do over and over, and every single time you think "there has to be a better way to do this"?
That's a system problem.
One you've probably been avoiding fixing it because the current way technically works even if it’s annoying and you think "working on systems" means learning complicated software you don't have time for. Right?
Nope. And this misunderstanding is costing you hours every week and making your business harder to run than it needs to be.
What Turkeys Taught Me About Systems
I’m so over this dark winter grossness and have been dreaming of spring, so I need to tell you about the turkeys.
Every summer, once they have enough feathers to stay warm, we move our turkeys between pasture and their pen twice a day. Lush pasture full of bugs to chase and dandelions to eat in the morning, then back to a cozy pen with dinner waiting in the evening. Last year we had 20 birds making this little journey.
Sounds easy enough in theory but I assure you, the first attempt was pure chaos.
Twenty turkeys scattering in twenty different directions. No clue what we want them to do. We're waving our arms, trying to guide them, and they're just... everywhere. One's checking out the barn, three are heading toward the driveway, some are going backwards. It takes us 30 minutes and by the end we're sweating and questioning our life choices.
The second time was still chaos, but maybe 15 minutes of chaos.
Third time was under 10 minutes and they're starting to get it. A few of them remember there's something good at the end of this walk.
By the end of the first week? We open the gates and they just... go.
They know exactly where they're headed and why. The whole flock moves together mostly but even when one turkey decides to go on a little side quest, it's easy to redirect them. The rest of the flock is already moving in the right direction, so getting the stray back on track takes seconds and the kid usually has it handled before I even catch up.
What changed?
We do it exactly the same way. Every single time. Same gates. Same path. Same destination. Same time of day.
That's it. That's the whole system.
We didn't need fancy equipment or turkey whispering abilities, we just needed consistency. Do the same thing the same way enough times, and it becomes automatic for everyone involved.
Here's Why This Matters for Your Business:
Your clients are the turkeys. (Stay with me.)
The first time they work with you, they don't know what to expect. Where do they go? What do they do? What happens next? If you're doing it differently every time—different process, different timing, different communication—they're scattered. Confused. You're spending all your energy herding instead of actually doing the work you're good at.
But when you do it the same way every time, they know what to expect. They know where they're going and more importantly, why. So, they move through your process smoothly and when something goes sideways (because something always does), it's easy to course-correct because the system is solid.
That's what a system actually is. Not complicated software or rigid. Just doing things the same way, every time, so it becomes automatic for everyone involved.
The Question I Get Every Single Time
When I tell people I'm a Systems Business Coach, they almost always ask the same question:
"Oh! So what systems do you use? Like, what software do you implement?"
They're expecting me to say "I'm a Dubsado expert" or start listing off my tech stack.
And I get it. The word "systems" has become synonymous with software. Expensive platforms they don't know how to use or complicated tech that requires IT support and a boat load of man hours to set up and optimize.
Most small business owners don't understand what I mean by systems and honestly, that's not their fault.
So they avoid it. Because who has time for that when you're already drowning in client work and daily firefighting?
But that's not what I mean by systems.
What "Systems" Actually Means
Ready for this?
A system is simply the way something happens in your business.
That's it. That's the whole definition.
But let me show you what that actually looks like in practice, because I know "the way something happens" still sounds vague.
Here are systems you're already running right now:
Client Onboarding - However you bring new clients into your world, that's a system. Even if it's chaotic and different every time, it's still a system. Just a bad one.
Invoicing - Whether you send invoices immediately, wait until project completion, have a template ready to go, or frantically Google "how to write an invoice" every time—that's your invoicing system.
Content Planning - Maybe you have a content calendar mapped out for the quarter. Maybe you panic-write something the morning it's due. Maybe you batch-create a month at a time. Whatever you're doing, or not doing… You guessed it, system.
Email Management - Do you answer emails as they come in? Batch process twice a day? Let them pile up until you can't see your inbox anymore and then declare email bankruptcy? All systems. Just very different levels of effectiveness.
Client Communication - How do clients reach you? How quickly do you respond? Do you have templates for common questions or write everything from scratch? What happens when someone asks for something outside your scope? That's your client communication system.
File Storage - Where do client files live? Can you find last year's project in under 30 seconds or does it take 10 minutes of clicking through folders?
Knock, knock. “Who’s there?” “It’s your system”
The difference between a business that feels chaotic and one that feels calm isn't usually WHAT you're doing. It's HOW you're doing it and whether or not you’re doing it with consistency.
Remember the turkeys? They didn't learn a new route. We just did the same route the same way until it became automatic. That's what we're doing with your business.
You're Not Starting From Scratch, I Promise
You're not starting from scratch. You're making conscious what's already happening.
You're taking the things you're already doing, the patterns that already exist, and making them easier, faster, and more consistent.
Here's what most people get wrong about building systems:
They think they need to design something new. Burn the current way down and create some elaborate process from nothing. Learn best practices and industry standards and implement them perfectly.
Not necessary. One of the most powerful things we do is to just write down what you're already doing.
That's it, that’s where we start. We document the mental mess. We capture the process that's currently living in your head—the one you mostly remember each time but sometimes do in different orders, which is where steps get forgotten.
Just seeing it on paper reveals everything.
Let me show you what this actually looks like:
Megan came to me because her client onboarding and general admin felt chaotic. She was forgetting things, clients seemed confused about next steps, and every new client felt like starting from scratch even though she'd onboarded dozens of people.
In our first working session together, I asked her to walk me through her current onboarding process. Here's what she said:
"Okay so when someone says yes, I send them a welcome email with the contract attached. Well, actually sometimes I send the welcome email from my phone and then I send the contract later when I get to my computer. Then once they sign it and send it back, I send the invoice. Unless they ask about payment, I’ll send the invoice over sooner. Then I need to schedule our kickoff call, which I do through Calendly, but the link hasn’t been working properly so right now I’m suggesting times over email instead. And I need to add them to Asana but I always forget until like the day before our first call. Oh! And I have this intake form with prep questions but it’s not quite done, so I’m not using it yet"
I wrote down exactly what she just said:
Send welcome email with contract attached - sometimes needs a second email
Wait for signed contract to come back
Send invoice - timing unclear
Broken Calendly link - back and forth email for kickoff
Add client to Asana - usually forget and add right before call
Send intake form with prep questions - not done
??? Store their contract somewhere? Where do contracts live?
??? What about Zoom link for kickoff call?
Just seeing it written down revealed everything:
Step 1 is already unreliable - this is how things get missed
Step 3 has no clear trigger - invoice timing is random, which probably confuses clients about when to pay
Steps 4, 5, and 6 are all "manual remembering" steps with high failure rates
Step 5 happens too late - if she's adding them to Asana the day before, she's not tracking anything up to that point
Step 6 is incomplete - sets up for inefficient first session
Steps 7 and 8 aren't even on her radar but definitely need to happen
No communication to the client about what to expect or when between "welcome" and "kickoff call"
What this means for her clients:
They get the welcome email, sign the contract, then... silence. They don't know when to pay. They don't know when they'll hear from her next. They're not sure if they're supposed to DO anything. Then suddenly they get a Calendly link and maybe an Asana invite the day before the call, and they're scrambling.
No wonder onboarding felt chaotic. It WAS chaotic.
The 15-Minute Fix:
We didn't rebuild the whole system right then. We just identified the THREE things causing the most problems:
Invoice timing - decide on ONE rule (invoice goes out same day as contract, payment due before kickoff call)
Intake form - send it WITH the contract so clients have a week to complete it
Asana setup - do it immediately after welcome email, not day before call
Just those three changes mean: clients know when to pay, they have time to prep, and Megan’s tracking the project from day one.
The rest can be improved later. But these three fixes make onboarding feel completely different for everyone involved.
Time to document the mess: 10 minutes
Time to spot the problems: 3 minutes
Time to decide on three fixes: 15 minutes
Total: 28 minutes
Once she had the plan, it took her about an hour to implement, automate what she could and refine with a couple trial runs.
This is what I mean by systems work.
Not learning new software. Not implementing complicated processes. Just making visible what's invisible, so you can see what's actually broken and fix the thing that matters most.
What Actually Happens in a Systems Assessment
Okay, so I keep saying "book a Systems Assessment" but what does that actually mean? What happens in that hour?
Let me walk you through it, because this isn't a sales call disguised as strategy. It's actual systems work.
Before We Talk:
You fill out my Entrepreneurial Journey Assessment. It's an in-depth questionnaire that gives me the history and context I need about your business—how long you've been running it, what's working, what's making you want to tear your hair out, where you're trying to go, and what's standing in your way.
This isn't busywork. It means when we get on the call, I'm not spending 30 minutes learning your business. I already know your business. We can jump straight into the juicy bits and start solving problems.
During Our Hour Together:
We review your assessment and I ask clarifying questions. Not surface-level stuff—we dig into the patterns. Where are the bottlenecks? What keeps breaking? What are you holding in your head that should be documented? What's working that we need to protect?
Then we identify your systems gaps. These are the places where you don't have a system, or you have a system that's actively making things harder, or you have a system that used to work but doesn't anymore because your business has grown.
Usually it's things like:
Client onboarding that feels different every time
Invoicing that happens randomly instead of systematically
Content creation that's a constant scramble
Google Drive that's a black hole where files go to die
No client offboarding process, so projects just... end awkwardly
Admin tasks you keep forgetting because they're not in a reliable rhythm
Here's what makes this different: We're not just identifying problems. We're prioritizing them.
Because you probably have 15 systems gaps. But we can't fix 15 things at once. So we figure out: Which one system, if we fixed it, would make the biggest impact on how your business feels to run?
Maybe it's the onboarding chaos that's making every new client feel stressful. Maybe it's the invoicing randomness that's creating cash flow anxiety. Maybe it's the lack of consistent client follow up that affects repeat business and leaves you exhausted.
We figure out what matters most. Then we build a rough roadmap.
What You Leave With:
You leave the call knowing:
The specific systems gaps that are making your business harder than it needs to be
Which one to tackle first (and why that one matters most)
A rough roadmap for getting from chaos to calm—not all at once, but in a logical order that builds on itself
Clarity on whether we should work together to actually implement this, or if you've got what you need to tackle it yourself
That's it. One hour. No fluff. No generic advice. Just specific insight into what's broken in YOUR business and how to fix it.
And yes, sometimes people leave and fix it themselves. That's fine. I'm not here to manufacture dependence. I'm here to give you clarity on what needs your attention.
But most people book a follow-up because once they see how much easier their business could be, they want help actually building the systems instead of just knowing they need them.
Why This Costs You More Than You Think
So what actually happens when you keep avoiding "systems" because you think it means learning complicated software?
You keep running your business the hard way. And here's what the hard way looks like:
You recreate the wheel constantly.
Every client onboarding feels like starting from scratch. Every invoice requires remembering what you charged last time and how you worded things. Every content deadline sneaks up because there's no rhythm to your planning. Every time a client asks a common question, you write the answer from scratch instead of having a template ready.
You're solving the same problems over and over because you haven't captured the solution.
The mental load is crushing.
You're holding everything in your head. What did you promise that client? When is that invoice due? What are the steps for offboarding? Where did you save that file? What's the login for that thing?
You spend more energy remembering your process than executing it. And you're constantly worried about what you're forgetting—because you probably ARE forgetting something.
You can't take time off.
Because if the process lives in your head, your business stops when you stop. No one else can step in (not a VA, not a contractor, not even a business partner) because there's nothing for them to follow. You're the system. Which means you're trapped.
You can't grow.
Not really. You can add more clients, sure—but that just means more chaos. More things to hold in your head. More wheels to recreate. More exhaustion.
You hit the wall where you're too successful to quit but too overwhelmed to enjoy it. You know you need help, but you can't bring anyone in because you can't explain what you do. You just... do it.
This Can Change Faster Than You Think
Here's what I want you to take away from this: Systems don't create complexity. They reduce it.
You can build a system in less time than you spent procrastinating the tasks you need systems for.
Seriously.
Remember Megan’s onboarding chaos? Under 15 minutes of documentation and conversation revealed exactly what was broken. Another 15 minutes to decide on three fixes. That's less than 30 minutes to go from "every new client feels like chaos" to "I have a workable system."
Not a perfect system. Not a complicated system. Just a better-than-what-you're-doing-now system.
Pick one thing in your business that feels chaotic right now:
Client onboarding
Invoicing
Content planning
Email management
File storage
Project handoffs
You can have a basic system framework for it within an hour. Maybe two if it's particularly messy.
Now, will it be perfect on the first try? No. The first few times you use a new system, you'll spot things that need tweaking. Maybe a step is in the wrong order. Maybe you forgot something. Maybe there's a faster way to do part of it.
That's normal. That's actually how systems get better.
After three or four uses, you've worked out the kinks. The system is solid. And from there? It gets faster and more efficient every single time you use it. What took conscious effort becomes automatic. What felt clunky becomes smooth.
Remember the turkeys? First few times were chaos. By the fourth time, they got it. By the end of the week, it was automatic.
Same with your business systems.
Now imagine doing that once a week for the next three months.
One small improvement. One thing made easier. One process that stops living in your head and starts existing on paper.
That's 12 systems that are now running more smoothly than they were.
Small, consistent steps. Evolution, not revolution.
That's how you build a business that supports your life instead of consuming it. Not through massive overhauls that require learning new software. Not through complicated implementations that take months to see results.
Through recognizing what's already happening and making it better. One system at a time.
Ready to Stop Avoiding the Wrong Thing?
If you've been putting off "working on your systems" because you thought it meant something overwhelming, I get it. Most of the business owners I work with felt the same way before we talked.
The difference? They took one hour to identify which system was costing them the most time, energy, and sanity. Then we fixed that one thing. Then the next. Then the next.
Book your free Systems Assessment here and let's figure out which system deserves your attention first.
Because here's the thing: you're already running systems. We're just going to make them work for you instead of against you.
Your business doesn't need to be more complicated. It just needs better systems. And now you know what that actually means.