A Business Owner’s Guide

Transform Your Business With Systems

It’s no secret: Systems are
the key to business success.
T
hink about your ideal business, one that runs like a fine-tuned machine, that gives you time to
spend with your family, take a vacation, pursue a hobby and the money to build a comfortable
life. Imagine customers lined up around the block to work with you—and a team you can trust
to take care of them the way you would. In other words, imagine a business that just works the way you
want it to without you having to do the work. That’s what we’re all after, right?

In the past 40 years, we’ve worked with business owners to help them create these kinds of businesses.
And we’ve learned there’s only one way to get there: by developing systems that ensure your business
runs the way you want it to, whether you’re there or not.

But when it comes to systematizing your entire business, where do you begin? How do you even know
what systems your business needs? The good news is, no matter how unique your business may
seem, every business needs more or less the same types of systems. So, knowing that, we created a
Program that walks you through the process—system by system—for developing the kind of business
you’re dreaming of. When you do it this way—when you build every system your business needs with
intention—you’ll create a business that:

• Has consistent, predictable cash flow

• Continually draws the right leads
• Always attracts great employees
• Gives you more freedom to have a life outside of work

So let’s take a look at each of the systems and strategies you and your business need—and the very
important order in which you should develop them.

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“As a small business owner, you’re very
much about just getting it done every
day. You’re not thinking, ‘How do I set this
up so I’m not right back here tomorrow?’
And that’s really what systems and
processes do.”
C U R T R I C H A R D S O N , OT T E R B OX
SEE HOW CURT DID IT
The three stages of
developing your business
Businesses, like their owners, are supposed to grow. We describe the stages of a child’s growth as
infancy, adolescence and maturity; likewise, you can look at business growth in these three stages. But
unlike children, the stages of a business’ development have little to do with age and everything to do
the level of systematization in the business.

No matter how successful your business is on paper, you’ll probably find—like most business owners—
that you need to start in Stage One. That’s because, if you haven’t spent time thoughtfully and
strategically designing the systems in your business to produce the results you want, growth can only
happen by chance. And to get more of the results you want from your business—and more freedom
to decide how and in what ways you want to be involved in its day-to-day—you need to grow your
business with intention. The “three stages of growth” model helps do that, guiding you through each
stage so you can reorient to being intentional with your systems development.

STAGE ONE: STAGE TWO: STAGE THREE:

GETTING YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER GROWING YOUR BUSINESS FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

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H U STO
I N ETSRSA N
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G UUIRD EB:UTSRI N
A NE S SF OWRIM
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S YUSRT EBMU S :I NAEBSUS SWI NI TEHS SS YOSWT NE M
E RS’ S G U I D E 4
The Seven Essential Systems
So we’ve returned to the initial question: What systems do you need to develop in your business? Well,
as we see it, there are seven of them—The Seven Essential Systems—and they’re made up of four
business disciplines and three business activities.

If you look carefully at your business, you’ll notice there’s a set of business disciplines that focus on
the internal operations of your business—the performance and development of the business itself.
These are Leadership, Marketing (as a strategy), Finance and Management. There’s also a set of
business activities that focus on the external operations—the ways in which you and your business
directly interact with and serve customers. These are Customer Fulfillment, Lead Conversion and
Lead Generation. The four business disciplines provide the knowledge, information and structural
foundation that inform the three business activities, so they can deliver a seamless and consistent
customer experience.

Business
Disciplines

Business
Activities

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“We’ve thought about every piece and
we’ve created systems around every piece
and given it attention—the attention
that it needs, the managers that it needs,
the people that it needs to really survive
and thrive.”
K O L BY M O S E R , A R I A S T U D I O S
S E E H O W K O L BY D I D I T
Transform your business
by developing your Seven
Essential Systems.
In reality, each of these essential systems is already operating in your business.

• You’re already a leader, whether or not you’re a great one

• You already make decisions about how to market your product or service
• You already manage your money and your people
• You already generate leads, convert leads and deliver your service to your customers—
whether or not you’ve given much thought to each of these systems.

But remember, the key to building a business that produces the results you want—with or without you
there—is to design each of these systems with intention rather than by accident, as so many business
owners do.

In our Program, we help you get these essential systems working like well-oiled machines by breaking
them down into individual, step-by-step processes across the three different stages of business
growth, covering every aspect of your business from front to back. Each process is a system or strategy
designed to solve a distinct problem in your business—so you and your business can grow, and you
can be confident in the results.

So, here are all the systems and strategies you need to develop in your business—and the essential
order in which you need to develop them.

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Stage One: Getting
Foundations of Your
Leadership System

Your House in Order •

•
•
Foundations of Your Leadership System
Managing Your Time
Self-Organization
In the first phase of developing systems in your business, the main purpose is to establish • Your Primary Aim
• Company Values
a viable business model with a solid foundation. When you get the right foundation in
• Brand Promise
place, you can formulate strategies to grow in a stable, manageable way. We start with • Strategic Objective
Leadership because we believe your business is a reflection of you. Without a clear picture • Key Strategic Indicators
of what you want your business to become and the life you want it to support, you’ll never • Key Frustrations Process

be able to build the business systems to deliver those results; your growth will be chaotic
and your business will only succeed by chance.

Foundations of Your Foundations of Your Foundations of Your

Marketing System Finance System Management System
• Foundations of Your Marketing System • Foundations of Your Finance System • Foundations of Your Management System
• Most Probable Customer • Financial Management That Supports Your • Identifying and Setting Standards
• Trading Area Strategic Objective • Organizational Strategy
• Customer Perceptions and Behavior • Accounting System • Position Agreements
• Positioning and Differentiating Your Business • Financial Documentation and Reports • Employee Development Meetings
• Image and Sensory Package • Budget Plan • Working Relationships That Work
• Marketing Strategy • Cash Management System • The Company Meeting
• Collections System • Systematizing Your Operations
• Business Control Systems • Operations Manual
• Key Financial Indicators • System Design and Documentation

Foundations of Your Foundations of Your Foundations of Your

Customer Fulfillment Lead Conversion System Lead Generation System
System
• Foundations of Your Lead Conversion System • Foundations of Your Lead Generation System
• Foundations of Your Customer Fulfillment • Lead Conversion Baseline • Lead Generation Baseline
System • Lead Conversion Process • Lead Generation Channels
• Product Strategy and Design • Effective Presentations for Lead Conversion • Lead Generation Messages
• Systems Evaluation • Lead Generation Process
• Customer Fulfillment Baseline
• Systems Innovation
• Production Subsystem
• Delivery Subsystem
• Customer Service Process

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Stage Two: Growing The Emerging EMyth
Leader

Your Business • The Emerging EMyth Leader: Growing as

a Leader
• Path to Self-Awareness
In growth, the rewards become greater—but so do the risks. The stresses and strains in • Strategic Purpose
• Strategic Planning
a business are different during the growth stage than they are in the foundational stage;
• Business Quantification
but successful, long-term growth depends both on a solid foundation of systems and a • Special Decision Techniques
commitment to continuously improve those systems to adapt to the business you want to
grow into.

EMyth Management Forward-Looking

Marketing for Growth
Momentum Finance
• EMyth Management Momentum • Forward-Looking Finance • Marketing for Growth
• Growing as a Manager • Frontline Finance • Growth Strategies and Your Evolving
• High-Performance Environment • Maximum Cash Marketing System
• Recruiting Process • Bottom-Line Pricing Grid • Market Segmentation
• Hiring Process • Financial Strategies to Set You on the • Market Research
• Project Management Right Path • Brand Building
• System Scorecards • External Sources of Funds • The Power of Psychonomics
• Financial Controller and Key Ratios

Customer Fulfillment: Lead Conversion: Lead Generation

Gearing Up for Growth Making “Yes” Easy for Growth
• Customer Fulfillment: Gearing Up • Lead Conversion: Making “Yes” Easy • Lead Generation for Growth
for Growth • Customer Reconversion • Producing Lead Generation Communications
• Quality Management • Lead Conversion Through Referrals • Lead Generation Through Public Relations
• Exceeding Customer Expectations • Customer Acquisition Process and Publicity
• Productivity Management • Social Media
• Capacity Planning • Business Integration

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Stage Three: Leadership in a Mature
Business

Freedom to Choose •
•
•
The Leadership Cycle
Strategic Management Team
Strategic Systemization
• The Remote Control Information System
A mature business has fully developed systems—it’s systems-dependent rather than • Succession Planning
people-dependent. It operates reliably, predictably and productively no matter who fills • Company Valuation
the roles on the organization chart. But most importantly, in a mature business, you’re • The Future and You

free to choose how involved or uninvolved you want to be in its day-to-day affairs.
Your business can operate smoothly with or without you.

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Next steps
Now that you know what systems and strategies you and your business need and the crucial order in
which you need to develop them, it’s time to start working on your business. But you shouldn’t do it
alone. Key to the EMyth Approach is the importance of having a guide—a personal mentor who can
help you start to think more like an Entrepreneur and less like the chief Technician of your business,
who can support you in defining your vision and help you see when you’ve lost sight of it; someone
who never forgets the results you’re after and knows how to help you achieve them.

So find someone you can trust, someone you know cares about your success and will hold you
accountable to doing the important work of developing the systems your business needs to thrive.

If you’re ready to talk to an EMyth Coach, your first session is on us.

Copyright © 2019 E-Myth Worldwide, Inc. All rights reserved. EMyth, the EMyth Logo, E-Myth, “Lift Your Business. Love Your Life.”, and the Seven
Essential Systems Logo are trademarks of E-Myth Worldwide, Inc. EMyth is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.