Time to SOP it up!
Do you have SOP? Where do you keep it? Is it in your head, or well documented?
What is SOP? SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedures, and it’s something every business needs, even one-person, home-based businesses. The best time to develop your SOP is when you are just getting started. Of course, it will probably need to be modified from time to time, but at least you have something to work from.
This topic is covered in Michael Gerber’s bestselling book, The E-Myth Revisited. Gerber suggests that you prepare from the outset for the day when you need to start delegating to employees or outside services, by preparing an organizational chart for your business, complete with job descriptions for each role you currently fill. Even if your company never expands to the point where you need to hire employees or subcontractors, it will ensure that the work is performed in a consistent manner, which improves efficiency and allows your clients to know what to expect.
It is much more difficult to start developing your SOP after you’ve been in business a while, because by that time you probably have many more procedures to document. However, the importance of doing so has been reinforced in some recent training sessions I’ve taken through the Canadian Virtual Assistant Network (CVAN). This week, I participated in a webinar on starting and operating a multiple VA practice conducted by Michelle Jamieson, CVAN founder and President of MJVA which opened my eyes to the fact that before you can successfully incorporate associates into your business, you need to have well-documented procedures to ensure that everyone on your team is on the same page. Last month, I participated in a teleclass on contingency plans presented by Yvonne Weld, the owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services and author of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business. Yvonne pointed out the importance of having everything documented so that someone could come in and look after things in the event that something happened to prevent you from being able to work on a temporary or permanent basis.
Working on my SOP has been added to my "must do" list - how about you?
