Need a New Hire So You Can Focus on Revenue? Build a System.

One of the main takeaways I've internalized from the E-Myth concept is the idea of building systems in your business so that it "runs smoothly, with or without you." (That's right there on the website.)

I spoke with a startup publishing client the other day, and we discussed a very straightforward embodiment of that concept. I often tell someone I'm coaching that they need to pay someone else $20-25 per hour so they can do the $200-250 per hour work. In this case, it was getting a publication founder to pay someone else to edit and assemble the newsletter while the founder spent more time on sales and revenue.

As we spoke, I realized this is the perfect opportunity to implement a core E-Myth concept. The founder has been building the newsletter long enough to have a system for it. By simply documenting that system, she’s in good shape to hand that job off to someone else… and start building a new system focused on revenue generation.

If you're in a similar position—especially if you've got this idea of "hiring someone to do this thing" rattling around in your brain, ask yourself if you've created a system for it. Then, grab a cup of coffee (or your soothing beverage of choice) and write out the process.

For example, I produce a weekly newsletter for one of my content-marketing clients.

Here's my process:

• Receive 2-3 blog posts from the client in Basecamp in the Documents folder we've created for this week.

• I copy and paste each story into Grammarly and use the guidance in Grammarly (and my own editing chops) to clean up the blog posts.

• I then copy the final product into a new WordPress post.

• Usually, I have to switch over to the Code view, copy that, paste it into BBEdit, and then delete all <div> and </div> tags. Paste it back in for a clean blog entry.

• Next, I go to Yoast tools in the post and write the SEO headline and excerpt.

• After that, it’s over to Envato Elements to find a suitable clipart photo for the blog post if we don't have one from real life.

• Add that new image as the featured image, give it an ALT title and save the post.

• Paste the post URL back into Basecamp for client approval.

• After completing all the posts, I move to Publicate to drop them into the template.

• And so on ...

Could I hire someone to do this for me? I could. Now that I've done it long enough, there's a system in place, and I've nearly finished writing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for it during the 10 minutes I've been typing this post.

With that SOP in pace, I could hire someone with a good attitude and a grasp of English to work with this client. I'd need to supervise the switchover since there are some industry terminology and points of emphasis from the client that I've grown accustomed to that we'd want to teach.

So, how do we justify the switch? In the case of my client, they wanted to move on from these rote editorial tasks to focus on sales. That's perfect. My advice: Make your first sales goal a fast and simple one—get a contract or contracts large enough to cover the editorial hire. If you're hiring someone for $20 an hour at 10 hours per week, sell something for $800-1000 monthly to cover that cost.

Book that, feel good about it, and get that person on board. Now, you're in great shape to focus on revenue (or whatever is next) and develop a system. Eventually, you can hire someone with a good attitude and growth mindset to work that system for you. Rinse and repeat.