If You Stop Working, Does Your Business Stop?

I’m recovering from a cataract operation and it forces a real-world test of what happens when you cannot work. We dig into why structure, strategy, and simple systems keep your leads, sales, and customer journey moving even when you have to stop. 
• recovering from surgery and being unable to work or even use a laptop 
• why a business built in your head stalls fast 
• strategy and structure as the foundation before any marketing strategy 
• systems that let the business operate without you 
• protecting leads, sales, and the customer journey with automation and support 
Have a look at your business and ask yourself what would happen if you were unable to work for a certain amount of time? 

Transcript

Cataract Recovery And A Late Drop

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey everyone, it's Victoria here. Welcome back to another episode of a business built strategy. Now, this ep is a little late this week. Reason being is that I'm actually in recovery from a cataract op about six days ago. And my cataract op was a little more in-depth and a little bit more complicated. So the recovery is going to be a little bit longer than I thought. So I'm actually recording this from my sofa because I am not allowed to be doing anything, which I can't even tell you. I am literally the worst patient. I mean, I really, really am. And I'm very impatient as well. It's, you know, you don't realise I'm not, I'm not allowed to, I didn't realise this, you see. I'm not allowed to even bend down to get milk out of the fridge because it's pressure on the eyes. I mean, I've only had it in one eye. I'm not allowed to put washing on or oh, I'm not allowed to do anything. I can't go outside because it's too bright. Um, so I literally am stuck on my sofa and I can't even work because looking at my laptop, even if I turn the light down, is actually too bright. So here we are. I mean, I don't know how I'm going to upload this app. I really have no clue, but I'm sure I'll I'll I'll be able to do it somehow. So I thought it was really apt that I spoke to you about what happens when sometimes you do come to a standstill, like myself, and actually you can't work and you can't do anything. Now, for me, it is a little different because I am right at the beginning of coming back with a brand new business and a brand new brand. So taking that into consideration, it is a little easier for me because my business at the moment is out there. Now, take my business, which I had for around 12 to 13 years, which was my events business. If this had happened then, and I would say, I don't know, maybe in the first even year, two years of my business, unless I had the systems in place, then my business would have stopped. And this is key. A lot of businesses aren't built around structure. A lot of businesses don't even have a strategy. Quite a few people, and I have heard this a lot, don't even have a strategy, but then they go into their marketing strategy, which you you just can't do because how can you write a marketing strategy based on what if you haven't got a strategy? So I'm gonna be covering um I'm gonna be covering that in future apps because it is so important that your business is built from the beginning and built with structure. It's paramount and for so many reasons. There isn't just one reason, you know, there isn't just the reason that um maybe you know you might be in my position where at the moment I I can't do anything for a few weeks. So with structure, it will be so much more easier for your business to carry on if you have to stop. Now, if you don't have the structure, you don't have your strategy in place, then you have to stop work for whatever reason. You will find that your business will stall because effectively what you've done is you've built your business in your head and it all revolves around what you do. So if you stop, your business stops. There's no two ways about it, and you don't get no leads. Your customers, goodness knows, what happens to them because you've had to stop. Sales, you you probably are not going to get any sales because you've had to stop working, and over I mean, that's just a few things, there's a lot more, but overall, everything just winds down probably very quickly and stops until you are back on your feet. Now, like myself, when I had my events company, there wasn't actually a time really where I had to stop. So I was I was lucky. But if I had to stop, if there had been a situation where I was like, you know what, I actually can't work, then systems, the systems that I had implemented would be in place. I would have still been getting leads, I would have still been booking customers, I would still have a business, it would be working without me. And that is how you want your business to work if you stop. Everything has to keep working with the systems that you implement. Even down to emails, you don't like say with me, I can't reply to an email at the moment because I can't see the print. I I can't see it. So you would need a system in place to automatically reply to those emails with the information that that customer needs. You know, we could go on and on and on, but the crux of it is you need systems in your business so that your business can operate without you. It is crucial. So obviously, I said I'm coming back with my new business, my new brand, and at the moment, I'm right at the beginning and I'm putting together my strategy and looking at the systems that I will need for my business to operate without me. Because there might be another time that I think, right, okay, well, at the moment, I can't work for whatever reason. So I need to know that my customers are looked after, that the customer journey doesn't suffer. That I'm still getting leads in, we're still getting sales in. This is all crucial to your business, and definitely is something that I'm going to be talking about on future podcasts because it is so important, and a lot of people miss this. I think that it's very easy to build a business in your head and not implement the systems because you have the system in your head, and and you're very much like, well, you know, I know how to do this, I can do it. But what happens when you can't do it? You have no business. You literally have no business because a business that isn't generating leads, isn't generating sales is no business. And it doesn't necessarily mean all the work that you've put in has is has gone to nothing. But I mean it would be awful, wouldn't it? You know, you've put your heart and soul into the business, but you haven't built the structure, you haven't built the strategy strategy, you haven't implemented systems, and you've worked so, so hard, but you have to go off, you can't work for a certain amount of time, all of that hard work just stops. So it's definitely something that I am going to be talking about in the future. And I'm looking at now implementing something into my offers so that we can look at systems that you need in your business because it is paramount, it is so important. And you know what? It's not difficult either. It isn't difficult. These could be the most simple systems in your business, yet they are so crucial and so important. So I'm going to set you a challenge today. Have a look at your business and ask yourself what would happen if you were unable to work for a certain amount of time? What would happen? Now, if you can answer that in the way of, oh, I'm absolutely fine. I have systems, I have maybe a VA, I have staff that will pick up the Slack, then I would say that you're absolutely fine. But if you're then sitting there and you're saying, on the other hand, well, actually, I I've got nothing set up. I've put my heart and soul into my business, but actually all the systems are in my head because I just do them. Do yourself a favour and map out what systems you need for your business to carry on working when you can't. Okay, everyone, I'll be back next week. Sorry about the late ep this week. And I look forward to talking to you all next Monday and have a fantastic week. Take care, everyone.