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- Please don't start from scratch.
Please don't start from scratch.
Simplify with systems and templates.
Nel from 0-1
January 12, 2025
Running your business can feel overwhelming.
You’re wearing all the hats managing operations, solving problems, and handling customers.
I get it, it’s a lot to juggle.
What if I told you the key to operational success isn’t doing more but creating systems to make everything easier?
You can stay consistent and efficient with simple strategies and the right mindset.
So let’s talk about it.
Pro-Tip: Familiarize yourself with automation and AI.
What’s the most chronically annoying task you face in your daily operations?
Got it?
Now imagine having a system or AI tool that handles it for you efficiently, consistently, and effectively.
That’s what you’re missing, and it’s killing your momentum.
Let’s fix that.
Automation is a game-changer for business owners.
Most don’t realize how simple changes in their mindset and actions can create monumental results.
For example, start by simply listing tasks that drain your time.
Emails you send repetitively.
Data entry you do manually.
Get notified when you receive a new lead.
I’ve been exploring the world of API and AI connections, leveraging tools like Zapier and Make.
It has transformed the way I operate my business.
This shift was so impactful for me that I decided to see if these new skills could benefit others.
That’s why I started TeachOne—a service that helps companies integrate better systems and workflows, so business owners can get more done with less stress.
When you embrace automation, you can focus on the work that moves your business forward.
Pro-Tip: Use templates to make life easy.
When I began my entrepreneurial journey.
I thought I had to do everything from scratch.
I know…
I would create presentations, from scratch.
Strategy documents, from scratch.
Ad creative, from scratch.
Imagine the hours poured over reinventing the wheel. When I could have just created a template.
Templates save you time and make your work consistent.
For example, here at TeachOne, we rely on:
Proposal Templates: Tools like Beautiful.ai to create visually appealing and professional proposal presentations that can be easily customized for any client.
Contract Templates: Rocket Lawyer helps us streamline legal agreements, making the process of onboarding new clients seamless and hassle-free.
Advertising Graphics: Canva allows us to quickly design polished marketing visuals.
This is a screenshot from my proposal template. This gives me the ability to just adjust the text
and figures depending on the client. Produced in beautiful.ai
Templates save time, ensure consistency, and make scaling your operations achievable.
Which allows you to execute faster.
Pro-Tip: Don’t try to do it all at once.
Systems are developed and refined.
They are not integrated perfectly from the beginning.
It will take time to understand if the system you’ve designed is performing in the way you envisioned.
The truth is, it probably won’t.
So instead of spending hours building something that will inevitably need to
be changed once you integrate it.
What is a smarter approach?
Here is where we can deploy something called “MVP thinking.”
Where we ask ourselves: How can I create something tangible that requires
the least amount of effort from me?
Instead of thinking about a system that covers your entire marketing strategy.
Think, how can I send an automated email?
Instead of designing a system for your entire data operations.
Just try figuring out how to migrate transaction data without doing it manually.
Don’t start with trying to make huge sweeping changes to what you are doing currently.
Make small changes that help you build momentum and put you on the path
of doing smooth efficient business consistently.
I thought I had to do it all from scratch when I started in 2018.
It wasn't until the end of 2024 that I truly understood the value of building quality systems to run your business.
As a business owner, you can’t do it all.
And trying to only leads to burnout.
But when you take a moment to pause and implement systems.
You can escape the chaos.
Operations don’t have to feel like an endless grind.
Creating systems that work for you and using templates, APIs, and AI tools to simplify your workflow free up time to focus on what matters most.
So, what’s one operational system you can create today?
Whether it’s automating presentation design, emails, or data entry.
Your effort now in establishing these processes will pay off in the long term.
Remember, the more you systematize and automate, the more time you free up to use in a way that is meaningful to you and your business.
That being said…