WTF is SDF???
We officially launched Cultivate Accounting, LLC in September 2022. That was only 5 months ago, and we are still a team of 2... But, for the past 2 days, I’ve been eyeball deep in documenting our systems for sales and marketing, making sure they are:
Simplified, Documented, Followed by All (otherwise known as)
SDF
This concept, taken from EOS worldwide, and Gino Wickman’s library of amazing books, is one of the most important things that small businesses can do to ensure the ability to scale.
In our previous businesses, we have fallen into the trap of working so hard IN the business to get it started, that we forgot we were supposed to work ON the business.
2-3 years in, we would finally come up for air, and realize that we were no closer to true freedom than we were when we were only dreaming up our businesses… Even though we had GROWN, added employees, outgrown spaces, and our Revenue had 6x’d….
We hadn’t taken the time to make it something we could step away from for any amount of time. The business needed the owners to run… all of our systems were in our head, and we were constantly putting out fires, herding cats, and running in circles to keep the machine purring.
Then, we simplified and documented all of the systems of our business. We had documents that explained the processes and procedures for each “department”- HR, Operations, Customer Service, Service Protocols, Sales and Marketing, Emergency Procedures… Any thing that needed to be done in the business had a document where anyone in the organization could reference and understand the how and the why.
We made our documented systems EVERYTHING in our company. When someone had a question, we didn’t give them the answer, we would say, “what does the Team Member Resource say?”. That was HUGE! It created a culture of team members looking for the answer before they asked the question…. And, it made our documentation impeccable, because if someone asked a question that wasn’t documented, but should be… We had an opportunity to fix it!
If you have a small business that you want to SCALE and be able to run without your direct input daily, I highly suggest you start today.
Define the different departments of your business
Define their roles and responsibilities
Document what someone would need to know to be able to perform well in that department.
It doesn’t have to be perfect in the beginning, the important thing is to get started. Block 1 hour per week to spend on this , and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can get a substantial resource manual created.
If you want to talk more about taking the steps necessary to get you closer to actual Freedom with your business, reach out today! We’re more than a typical dusty, old accountant. We are your profit strategists, professional bookkeepers, and small business best friends! We have the experience and true passion for small business to help you grow and scale, using your clean, accurate, and up to date financial data to help drive decisions and profits!
