This is the best part: at this stage in creating systems in our business, we get to actually start saving ourselves time!

How to identify efficiencies within each of your systems: Automate, Delegate, Batch

Our next step is to take out the list we created that documents each individual step we take every time we work on a specific task or project.

This list should be pretty close to complete, which means you’ve actually double checked it against you performing the steps. They’re in order, and you feel confident that this list is a good representation of the things you do when completing this task or project.

Identifying efficiencies

Now, we’re going to identify efficiencies, which means we’re going to give each individual step of our process a category: automate, delegate or batch.

We’re also going to trash any steps that aren’t necessary.

Side note: If you happened to choose a task or project that is a 1-time thing, then it’s likely we’ll want to apply the SCRUM method versus one of our 3 categories.

Let’s look at an example…

Say the task or project you’ve written out the steps for is your social media for Facebook.

The steps you’ve written out might look something like this:

1. Determine when (the frequency) I want to post on Facebook

2. Curate content

3. Create the actual post

4. Find an image (or create one)

5. Schedule the post

6. Engage with my followers

Every time you go to post on Facebook, you’re going through these steps, and you’ve also confirmed this by having this list next to you the last time you posted on Facebook.

Categorize each step

Now, we get categorize each of the steps.

1. Determine when (the frequency)

This is a step that you should not be doing every single time you post on Facebook.

Instead, determine a consistent frequency right now so you never have to think about it again.

This is your Facebook strategy, so ultimately you get to decide; let’s say you’re going to choose to post on Facebook for your business 2 times per day, 7 days a week.

Perfect! Now, let’s TRASH that step – you never have to think about it or “do it” again.

2. Curate content

The next two steps on your list involve coming up with the content you’re going to post, and since you know you’re going to post 2 times per day, let’s assume that 1 post will be a curated post (someone else’s content), and 1 post will be your own content.

Curating content could probably be broken down into even smaller steps, because there is a process that goes into you finding content you know your followers can benefit from.

You might frequent certain blogs, or you might check out some of the posts from your favorite Facebook groups and these become your curated content.

This could very well become a step you DELEGATE if you have a virtual team member or someone who helps with your social media. All you would have to do is train this person on where you go to source content, and then you never have to do it yourself again.

The other option would be to BATCH this step.

If you frequent certain blogs or groups for curated content, then make a list of those blogs or groups. I recommend using something like Workflowy, which is an online note-taking system that is great for keeping lists.

Batching this steps would mean that, for example, 1 time per week you’re going to spend 20 minutes visiting all the blogs and groups you frequent, and you’re going to find 10 posts that you want to share over the next 2 weeks.

What I love to do is keep a running list of the content I want to share in my Workflowy; I have a heading that literally says “content I want to share“.

Every time I come across a post or piece of content I want to share, I copy the URL and I paste it under that heading so that I never run out of great content to share.

So now, instead of spending 5 minutes every single day going and finding a post you want to share, you’re spending just 20 minutes 1 time per week (or even less) and rounding up content you can use for the next 2 weeks straight!

And this means you’re building up an actual content bank that you can refer back to if you’re ever in need of another piece of content.

Click here for a user case from Workflowy – it will show you just how powerful it truly is.

3. Create the actual post

The same scenario applies for creating your posts; this is something you could DELEGATE to someone else on your team, or it could be something you BATCH so you’re creating several posts at the same time instead of 2 posts every single day.

By batching the creation, you’re allowing yourself time to get into the flow. Once you’ve started writing 1-2 sentences about a post or podcast episode, you’re going to get into a rhythm. Use that momentum!

Remember: creating a system is creating something we’re going to use every single time.

So if you’re going to batch this step, then you should be doing it the same way every single time.

That might be 1 time per week you’re creating 14 posts at the same time, or it might be you creating a video for your virtual team member 1 time who is then going to take care of it for you. But don’t do it 1 time per week, and then the next week decide that you’re going to do 5 per day for 3 days.

A system means you’re doing it the exact same way, every single time.

4. Find an image (or create one)

Again, same scenario applies: you could either DELEGATE or BATCH this part of the process.

Once you’ve opened up PicMonkey, Canva, and/or Photoshop, and you’re already in the headspace of creating images for your posts, why not create a batch of them for the week ahead?

5. Schedule the post

This step could either be categorized under AUTOMATE or DELEGATE depending on your situation.

Either way, it’s something that should be scheduled out in advance in order to save time. So really, this step could be leveraging all 3: you delegate it to someone who will automate it through a scheduler and batch 2 week’s worth of content at the same time! ;)

Joking aside (but I’m not really joking), there are several online tools that will help you automate the scheduling of your social media.

Hootsuite, Buffer, and MeetEdgar are the 3 I hear about the most, and we use Hootsuite and Meet Edgar ourselves here at EOFire.

So this step you can either delegate to someone else, or you can batch the scheduling so that 1 time per week, you’re scheduling out the 2 posts per day for the next 1-2 weeks so that it’s automatically going out each day for you.

6. Engage with my followers

This is something you’re probably not going to want to delegate, and you can’t automate it, so you’re going to BATCH it.

Instead of jumping into Facebook at 9am when you get to your computer, at 12pm when you’re eating lunch, at 3pm when you’re bored, and at 6pm when you’re cooking dinner, schedule a specific time when you’re going to do your Facebook engagement.

Schedule 20 minutes at ONE time during the day, and batch your Facebook engagement.

YOU are in charge of your own time, so use it wisely. If you have a group that you want to be active in, then make sure at least 5 of your 20 minutes is spent in that group.

If you have a Facebook page that you want to check on, make sure at least 5 of your 20 minutes is spent on that page.

You can use an online timer like e.gg.timer to make sure you’re staying on track. When the buzzer goes off, you’re out!

This means that you’ve just taken care of your Facebook engagement with 20 minutes, 1 time per day, instead of an undetermined amount of time 4 times a day.

 

Create it, and stick to it!

Sounds like it might be kind of tough to stay out of Facebook throughout the day, right?

Creating (and more importantly, sticking to) systems isn’t easy – that’s why so many business owners continue to waste time, not generate as much revenue as they could be, and recreate the wheel every time they do mundane tasks that could be easily automated, delegated or batched in their business.

Create the system and stick to it; I can assure you if you do these 2 things, it WILL work in your favor.

 

Up next

See? Determining efficiencies is amazing – it’s where we get to actually start showing ourselves the time and frustration we’ll be saving once our system is documented and implemented.

Speaking of documentation, that’s what we’re going to cover next.