Systems Are the Answer

There are two ways of doing a task. One is to decide you are going to do something then jump in and start doing. The other is to decide you are going to do something and lay out a plan for systematically reaching your goal.

Both have the possibility of getting you where you want to go.
But only one way of doing things raises the probability of reaching your goal.

How do we right-brained artists go about the task of doing left-brained chores like systematizing our businesses?

There are three answers to that question:

1. Stop (right now!) thinking of yourself as little ol’ me, the faux finisher who’s out to make a buck and create beautiful walls. Change your mind. Change your thinking. You are the President and CEO of (your company name here). You are a business person. You are in charge of a profitable company. You are not to be trifled (I always wanted to use that word in a sentence) with!
2. Make an appointment with yourself to work on your business. It is a mandatory staff (even if you are the only staff) meeting that you cannot miss without getting into hot water with your boss (even if you are the boss). It is a two hour once-a-week meeting for which you cannot be late, leave early or be absent. From 8:30 – 10:30 on Wednesday mornings (or whenever you set your meetings), you are unavailable for phone calls, emails, personal visits or whining kids (they really do this in the corporate world, you know).
3. Break “jobs” down into edible chunks (instead of biting off more than you can chew!). Let’s look at the tasks from the previous chapter: Vision and mission statements. Nobody says, “Today I’m going to sit down and write the mission and vision statements for my business.” It is just too daunting a task. A Vision and Mission statement written in one sitting is probably not a great one.

Here’s a system for writing your mission statement:

Write “I am in business to:” at the top of a sheet of paper. Now start listing the reasons. Don’t think about it, don’t analyze it, don’t criticize it; just write it. Fill the page with reasons why you are in business. Personal reasons (to get filthy, stinking rich), Professional Reasons (life’s too short to hate your job), Customer Care Reasons (I love it when my clients are left breathless by my work). Keep going. Keep writing. You can do it.

Now leave the task until your next meeting.

While your conscious mind is doing other things, your subconscious mind is chewing on your mission statement.

At your next meeting, combine like thoughts from your last exercise. For instance, if you wrote “I love creating beautiful walls” and “to satisfy my clients’ desire for beautiful spaces” and “to bring peace and harmony to the world by painting beautiful faux finishes”, you can combine them into something like “to create beautiful spaces for my clients while satisfying my desire to craft gorgeous faux finishes.” Continue editing by striking the thoughts that aren’t really in line with your goals for your business, combining like thoughts and deleting outright lies until you have chopped your original full page of reasons down to about a quarter of a page.

Leave the task until your next meeting.

At your next meeting (if possible, invite a friend with great editing skills) complete your editing. Be brutal. If it’s not true, don’t say it. If you are not going to bring peace and harmony to the world with your beautiful faux finishing, don’t say that you are. Your mission statement must reflect who you really are. Stating that your mission is something that you are not willing or able to do or be is a waste of paper, ink and time. It will not reflect the true values and ethics that are your business practices.

Your mission statement should be complete. However, leave the task until your next meeting and give it one more go. You may find that you like what you’ve written. However, you may find that the perfect mission statement comes magically pouring out of your pen. It could happen.

Great job!

Now repeat for your vision statement, your target market, your marketing/advertising plan, etc., etc., etc. (Sorry, this is the work that never ends. That’s why they have those meetings EVERY week in the corporate world).