Work The System: Synopsis
“Work the System” by Sam Carpenter declares that improving your business’ systems is the key to being able to pull yourself out of the day-to-day operations of your business and ultimately be able to work less and make more.
The Work the Systems Method is ultimately about life efficiency and is based on 8 simple principles. Getting your life in order will, in turn, get your business in order. You’ve heard this said countless times, however, this system will give you the tools to actually do it, and do it well.
The program is designed to help you see how your life is made up of different systems. These different systems surround you and are part of your daily life, and unless you take this shift in perspective they will go on unmanaged and produce random results.
Neither your business, nor your life should be random results as random results are often bad and will not let you accomplish your goals.
Through the program you will learn to see your life in a whole different way. This new perspective is a new vantage point where you can see things you previously could not. Only then will you be able to identify the systems and tweak those that need to be tweaked in order to take your business and your life to the next level.
Once you get it, this can be applied to both your business and your personal life, as both go hand-in-hand with your success. I am one that believes you cannot be truly successful in business and a failure in your personal life. That doesn’t mean you can’t have challenges.
Personally, I have been divorced twice and have a life that most would kill for. I’m not going to tell you that I just fell into this life by chance, I succeeded intentionally. Once I had my personal life figured out, business became easy. I also learned that things spilled over. The man who cheats on his wife will cheat in business. That is true 98% of the time. It’s actually more like 100%, but there might be that rare person that can separate…or just too ugly to have an affair.
The bottom line is, I look for personal integrity in people I do business with. If they are lacking, I move on regardless of how good the deal seems to be.
Since I have adopted this filter, I have made very few mistakes in whom I have dealt with personally or through business. There are countless that I have avoided and my financial health, as well as my emotional health thank myself for those decisions.
Work the System Academy Summary
While reviewing this summary there are templates available for downloading with each section of this summary. The templates are located in the Seo Revolution Membership site and can be accessed under the heading “Downloads” and then click on “Work the System”. Let’s begin with the Orientation.
Orientation
Get out of your head first and foremost any thoughts of “the universe owes me success” or anything like that. The whole concept of “The Secret” is utter BS and a false dichotomy that was set up for residual income for the authors. And, of course, it got so out of hand one is in prison because people died following his advice, which totally sucks.
Here is what works. Hard work.
Of course, there is more to it than that, but you get the picture. Nothing is a substitute for hard work and this system will put the best use of your hard work for the maximum payout, both for your career and your personal life.
The bottom line is if you want to live a certain lifestyle, you have to build it. It’s just not going to be given to you.
What do you need? You need to have plenty of money and plenty of time. Stop being in survival mode, this is key to freedom in business and your personal life. My grandfather had great advice for me growing up. He said that your house is the only thing you should be in debt for. Pay cash for everything else. Don’t have the cash for that new car you want? Buy a used one. Live far below your means. Stash cash away. Invest in yourself. In a person’s life there are a minimum of 8 incredible opportunities that come along that can be financial windfalls. Most do not take advantage because they don’t have the cash. Never let the lack of cash be the reason you fail to capitalize on an opportunity.
“Freedom” from stress and the ability to “Do What You Want” is a byproduct of working your systems. It is not easy at first, but it will depend on you to resolve it. So let’s get started.
Getting Started
The aim of this program will be helping you get what you want:
1. More Money
2. Working fewer hours.
3. Gaining more control of your live.
This is what nearly every business owner wants, and what every business owner’s significant other wants! More money, fewer hours working, more hours enjoying life, and more control.
It is always about the control.
All of these aspects are accomplished by getting to a vantage point that is called the “Systems Mindset.”
This program is designed for business owners that have staff and also those who don’t.
If you have staff, there are 4 types of people:
1. You
2. Your replacement
3. Management
4. Staff
If you have no staff, remember your goal is to eventually have staff. Why? In order to meet your goals, earn more, work less, have more control, you need to have staff to do the work to meet the goals you envision. You must document the processes of your company, so you have a blueprint so to speak of what needs to be done. This way, when you bring on staff, it will all be clear what their responsibilities are and how to perform their job.
Your Replacement will be that individual who will allow you to work fewer hours, and who needs to be trained to the point that you are certain you have transferred all the information from your head to his/hers.
This person will have your ultimate trust, as they will be essentially running your company while you enjoy life. That doesn’t mean that you are “hands off,” instead you might work just 4-6 hours per day instead of the 12-16 you are right now.
Think about it. Instead of doing countless things, you focus on new systems, new relationships, and expanding your business while Your Replacement takes care of all the headaches. You know just having that would grow your business exponentially.
Share information from this course with your key staff members so you all work towards the same goal. That is key. You must always be on the same page with the same goal in sight, or your goals can become derailed.
You need to have control in order to achieve freedom. Stop thinking that if you follow your passion, money will just appear.
Remember that in order to succeed with this program, you need to change the way you see things. You must match your actions with your beliefs! This methodology is based on that. Don’t theorize, just do it!
To start gaining control of your business, you need to establish a solid framework. Isolate and document systems of your business in order to gain control. Begin with these three principles.
Principles:
1. The simplest solution is invariably the correct solution.
2. 99.9% of everything works just fine.
3. Systems Mindset. Change of perspective. See the world in a different way.
Keep in mind there are two aspects of human existence. The mechanical one and the emotional one. This course deals with the mechanical. The emotional will come later. Here are five more principles you should adhere to.
1. Fix the mechanical and the emotional will follow along.
2. Your new vantage point is outside and slightly elevated.
3. You want as much control as you can get.
4. 3 steps forward and 1 step back. (learn to deal with the small steps back)
5. Tweak, don’t replace. You don’t have to turn your life upside down, just tweak.
The next step is to review the Progress Checker Template and fill it out completely. (Progress checker in template section: fill it out in the correct dates) Now take the time to fill the “before” column. It’s based on a 0 to 10 scale, where 10 always shows the best possible “grade”.
Task: Setting your goals. It is important that you take some time to fill these out in the “Do it now Sheet” and keep them as your goals.
Once filled in, fill out the first two questions of the “Do it Now” sheet: How many hours a week do you want to work, and what your target personal monthly income is.
Move on to the next two questions in the “Do it Now”sheet.
Important: It is essential to complete these exercises. Writing things down is key in succeeding with this program.
Now, we will discuss the element of Control and Holism.
Control and Holism
Control and Holism is based on two basic concepts:
– Control: Something everyone wants in their life. Get as much control as you can within your circle of influence.
– Holism: Interconnecting mechanism that is working very well together. (all pieces are working fine). To repair something, you need to take a non-holistic approach; take it apart to fix the individual pieces.
This is about gaining control and moving towards a more mechanical view without losing spontaneity.
You want to remove the chaos and “fire fighting” aspect of your life in order to have more free time to do what you like.
There is a lot of work to be done, but the process itself is very simple. Trust the process and it will soon start to make sense.
“Firefighting” is also referred to as Drama. Usually it is mainly women that allow Drama to negatively affect their lives, but men have allowed it to seep into their lives over the last few years. The culprit? Facebook.
Here is some advice my grandfather gave me that you need to grasp onto right now. First, stop posting personal things on Facebook. You are creating your own drama. Second, hire a therapist. I don’t care if you don’t think you need one. This isn’t for your head, this is for your “bitch fest.” No longer will you be discussing your relationship, partner, employee issues with your family and/or friends. You only discuss them with your therapist. You aren’t paying them for their advice, you are paying them to listen to you, allow you to dump it out of your system so your personal life stays personal and does not interfere with other parts of your life.
Do you have any idea how discussing personal things with family and friends is derailing you, your business, and your goals? It isn’t healthy and sharing relationship issues on Facebook is probably one of the stupidest things you can do. Get a therapist now, there are plenty online that can do the sessions via Skype so you stay productive.
If you want to be successful, you must stop creating drama and sabotaging your own success.
Remember: Contrary to what self help books tell you (fix the emotional, and the rest will follow), here you are straightening out the mechanical part, and the rest (emotional) will follow. That is the key difference with this system.
You need to forget the negative connotation the word “control” has acquired. It is a POSITIVE attribute. You don’t need to become a control freak; this is more about examining different aspects of your life and business, and making them work just the way you want them to in order to achieve the results you want.
Keep in mind there are two aspects to human existence:
1. Emotional,
2. Mechanical
Self help books will often tell you: “Go with the flow.” That is “crazy talk.” You open yourself to random results that don’t have your best interests in mind. Control your life and get the results you want.
One of my mantras is “Today I will succeed intentionally.”
Random results are usually bad ones, so why would you want to avoid making the changes in the machinery of your business and your life that will allow you to get the results you want?
You have a tight circle of influence that you rely on and that you trust in, but at the same time you want that circle to grow. You know that it must grow for your personal life and business to grow. How do you do it? Again, the first step is getting the mechanical part straightened out. The emotional part will follow.
Are you getting the process down yet?
It’s critical that you get this to improve your life:
1. See your systems
2. Pluck them out
3. Fix them!
Next we want to look at Cash Flow.
Important task: Study the Cash Flow diagram (NEED THE CASH FLOW DIAGRAM) to complete the task in the “Do it Now” sheet.
Overview of the Work The System Method:
1. Separation, dissection, repair (examine individual processes and how they work)
2. Documentation (Taking the organic into mechanical. Write down the steps for each process)
3. Ongoing maintenance.
Red or Green?
Generally speaking, there are two types of people: Those who choose to run towards things (Green) or those who choose to run away from things (Red).
You want to be the Green person, but you want to get control and have the machinery of your life propel you along while making the right decisions, so you go after the right things at the right time.
Task: Examine yourself and write down on the Do it Now sheet which mode you are in: Red or Green.
Always keep in mind the goals you set for yourself. It is always better to motivate yourself through results. Change the mechanics and observe results; that is always better than just motivation. Let’s face it, no one can be motivated. Either you want to do something, or you do not.
You have mentioned 8 principles of the Work the Systems Method. Review them and internalize them so they become part of your daily life.
In addition to the 8 principles that you have already seen, you need to add two more:
1. One can’t measure the bad things that never happened. This is often where self sabotage comes from. The worry about “what if” and the negativity that follows. Rare is the person who dreams of “what if everything goes exactly to plan.”
2. There is only one minority and that’s the minority of one. Don’t categorize yourself in a group. Run every aspect of your life as an individual.
Keep in mind: You are going to get to know yourself better than you have ever known yourself before. You will become a machine that produces results in order to have more time to enjoy the human/emotional side of life.
Intro to the Mind-Shift
You need to know the definition of a system: It’s an enclosed entity with a myriad of spinning wheels, all contributing to a singular purpose: accomplishing a goal.
The world is a collection of separate systems. 99.9% of these work just fine, so you only need to work on that 0.01%!
The Universe is composed of linear systems, and each one tracks time. Systems execute over time (one thing happens, then the next thing, happens etc.) Every single aspect of your life is the consequence of a series of events (a system).
Most people make the mistake of dealing with the random results of their own unmanaged systems. This is a colossal error!!
Important: You need to establish goals and then create and adjust the machinery to turn them into reality. Adjusting these machines to achieve the wanted results is what you call System Improvement.
The Work the Systems method is about life efficiency; getting the machinery geared up towards the goals you want, and then spend your time adjusting and maintaining that machine, so it works the way you want it to. (Work the System)
The focus here is working on the machinery, and then letting the machinery do the work.
You want to get to the real definition of a business: Where the money comes in, and you don’t have to show up (if you have to show up, you have a job, not a business).
Back to the definition of system, you find that there are many recurring systems, therefore making a one time adjustment to them will mean benefits every time they execute! No more shuffling around bad results!
Task: Do it Now sheet: How do you perceive the world?
Now, let’s discuss the first part of the Mind-Shift.
The Mind-Shift Part 1
You need to be able to see the world in a whole different way. You “have to get it!” You need to see the separate systems to be able to fix them one at a time.
The real power of the System Method is in the implementation. The mindset shift is not about being more positive or pretending things are different from what they are. It is about looking at the world in a different way, much like seeing it with x-ray vision. (pay attention to the details) Getting it is not easy at first, but you must be patient and the results will come. You will be better at decision making, acquire emotional stability, and have a more positive attitude and self-confidence.
It is important that your staff gets it!
Something you must remember is that normally things are correct the way they are. You only have to tweak! Be creative when tweaking the primary system (business, your marriage, your car, etc.).
The idea is not wanting to make a huge change and constructing a grand design instead you want to tweak existing systems.
You want to be obsessed with tweaking, and there needs to be repetition in this process. (It’s about relentless system improvements)
Keep in mind, Every result in life has a system that executed before that result arrived.
Control over your systems, and your life will improve.
The machinery of your life creates the results whether you see it or not, so it’s just crazy to let that machinery operate on its own, you need to get in there and manipulate it to get the results you want! This is where we move into the second part of the Mind Shift.
The Mind-Shift Part 2
You need to look at your life from a new vantage point, so you can see the systems that surround you right now. Once you are able to see your world from this outside and slightly elevated perspective you will be able to see those systems and only then you will be able to start the tweaking process.
It’s not about turning your life upside down, rather it’s about incrementally making it more efficient until it is exactly what you want it to be.
It does take time, but at the end, you will not be shuffling around random bad results and wasting your time. The time you spend tweaking is much less than dealing with the bad results, and your stress is far less.
The concept of getting it is adopting a mindset where you stop looking at the world as an amorphous collection of components that produce random results but instead see it as a set of clearly separate defined systems. Each of these can be tweaked individually to produce the results you want. You can apply this to every aspect that surrounds your life. You are not only talking about your business (cars, books, other human beings, the dishwasher, etc.); each linear system that surrounds you is meant to produce a specific result.
When you are able to see this, you have gone one level deeper than 99% of the rest of the people. Only then will you be able to start the tweaking process.
Important: Tweaking is the opposite of neglecting!
At first it might be difficult for you to identify the systems that surround you. To make it easier, concentrate on physical systems that have some kind of motion involved (car, toaster, copier, etc.). Every system that matters is an enclosed entity with a purpose.
Task: List 10 separate systems in your life. (Do it Now Sheet)/write down what “getting it” means to you.
Now, let’s talk about Prime Time.
Prime Time
There are two types of Prime Time in your life: Biological and Mechanical.
Biological is the time in which you are feeling more energetic hence the time in which you want to focus on the most important/productive tasks.
Mechanical is the time when you need to focus on the correct tasks.
You don’t want your life to be a constant struggle against your body’s natural biological rhythm. On the contrary, you want to take advantage of that time when you are feeling the most energetic.
It’s important to identify your own personal pattern. You are all different systems, and have different times in which you can be more productive. Find out when you’re the most energetic, and do what needs to be done then.
On the other hand, you also need to identify your mechanical prime-time. That is the time you need to spend building your business (talking to staff, clients etc.).
You need to develop the habit of doing what needs to be done whether you like it or not. Through the systems mindset, you know that you are never going to be able to feel well 100% of the time. Those times in which you don’t feel completely well about what you have to do can be reduced by making sure you have tweaked the system so that it will produce the results you want.
One thing to remember is that you want to combine your biological prime-time with your mechanical prime-time.
Task: Spend a week paying attention to when your prime-time is. (Do it Now sheet)
Next we are going to touch on language.
The Language Part 1
An important part of understanding the Work the Systems Method is familiarizing with the language and the special connotation each word and phrase has.
This is basically a glossary you are able to see in the Quick Guide template provided in the download section of SEO Revolution.
Task: Make sure you fully understand each definition.
The Language Part 2
Second part of the glossary overview.
Remember fully understanding these terms is one of the most important aspects of the Work the Systems Method.
Task: Make sure you fully understand each definition.
The Strategic Objective
The SO is the most important document for your business. It sets clarity and direction for your business. It establishes direction and values of your business.
You need to cover details (this is not a mission statement) but don’t make it longer than one page. Cover important aspects like: where your business is headed, who you are, what your business does, what you don’t want to do, and very precisely what your product is (does).
The SO should be constantly tweaked. You want it to be absolutely perfect.
The importance of the SO for your business is that it will set everything to go in the same direction (it focuses energy in one direction).
You need to refer to the Strategic Objective template and focus on every aspect that it must cover. Once you draft this one page document, make sure you receive feedback from the people that are part of your business. Remember this is what will guide the business on a single direction.
Task: Fill out your Strategic Objective template
General Operating Principles
Remember the SO provides the general direction for your business and the Business Procedures talk about the specific steps to get something done. However, when you talk about the GOP, you are talking about guidelines for decision making, in other words, whatever is not covered by the SO or the business procedures.
The operating principles bring congruency to what you do with what you believe. Keep in mind these will apply to both your business and your personal life (of course, the wording might change, but not what you believe: congruency is mandatory).
You need to come up with your own OP. There is no set number for the amount you need; it’s all up to what you believe.
As with the SO, you want to receive feedback from everyone that is part of your organization. Everyone has to move in the same direction!
It is important that you write these down. Committing your OP to paper will guarantee everyone is going in the same direction; it’s all about efficiency. Documentation is one of the common differences between a large organization and one that is constantly struggling.
Note: If having problems writing down your own OP, you can always refer to the template section where you will find an example of what this should be like (just remember you need to write your own based on what you believe).
Isolating your Systems
Before you can create your Working Procedures (WP) you need to identify (isolate) the systems in your business.
The first step to identify a system is to start where your problem might be. You need to start at the end, and work your way back to identify each step leading to that bad result.
You want to see positive results at the beginning to give yourself and your staff a motivational boost, so it is always good to start by a simple WP. When you do this a couple of times, you can later tackle the larger problematic systems.
It is important that the business owner is involved in the initial documentation process for the WP’s (making sure everyone is headed in the same direction) later this can be delegated to the managers.
Task: Use the Procedure Identification Guide with the WP Brainstorming Sheet and the Biggest 3 problems by Department sheet to start this process.
Working Procedures
Remember these are step-by-step procedures that describe in detail a system in order to get the result you want.
To create your working procedures, you need to follow the same pattern every single time, making sure you don’t leave any gaps. Ultimately, your goal is to establish procedures that anyone “off the street” can follow and accomplish the same goal you do.
You will need to constantly be updating your WPs. You want them to be perfect since the more perfect a subsystem is, the more perfect the primary system (business) will become.
Again, documentation is an important part of this. Writing things down will guarantee that everyone is able to know exactly what the WP is (Mechanical Efficiency!).
There are two types of systems in your business: Organic (Random/Not written down), and Mechanical (Unchanging/ written down). You want to manage every system to produce the results you want: Random is bad.
The first step is to document the way a system works now (feedback from your staff is key). Remember, most of the time the existing systems are working fine (99.9% of things are perfect) and they just need to be tweaked.
It is important to meet with the people involved in how a system works right now. You need to write down their input, and you decide what the best solution is.
Once you decide what the best possible procedure is, make sure everyone understands it (document it!).
Task: In the template section, look through the copywriting working procedure to get a better idea of what needs to be done.
You are a Project Engineer
Once you learn to see the world in a different way (systems and subsystems), you will become a project engineer. You will no longer be putting out fires and fixing problems (Random results) day after day but you will instead be applying the systems mindset (as a business owner, you are a project engineer, and so are your managers).
From your new vantage point (out and slightly elevated), you will be focused 100% on the system you are working on at a single time. Do not multitask; concentrate on the system you are creating or tweaking, and do it properly.
Don’t think there will not be problems; you will find them, but welcome them as indicators of areas where you can make improvements.
As a project engineer, you need to remember that regular scheduled maintenance for all your systems (business and personal); this is key to staying in control and giving you freedom.
Next we move onto Staff and Communications.
Staff and Communications
Work the Systems Method helps you improve relations with your staff. They are key to the success of your business.
It all comes down to keeping it simple and treating them well: reward them generously, let them make decisions, and don’t keep secrets. You will avoid poor communication, and be clear about desired results through documentation.
If you take care of your people, the results will come along.
Always keep within the systems mindset, and become a system improvement specialist.
Note: Review in the Quick Guide the 9 keys to Staff and Communications. Internalize these to the point that it becomes your system, and it will make your staff feel serene and productive. Look over the other important tips mentioned here, and use these as points to improve communication with your staff.
Be a leader, but be willing to listen to feedback. Your staff wants to earn as much as possible, and to bond, feel appreciated and protected at the same time.
Communication is the transfer of information, and you always want it to be two-way. More communication is better communication.
Again, documentation is important for any business that is going to be successful. This is why an employee handbook is mandatory. Refer to the template section and you will find an example. It is time consuming at first, but in the long run, it will save you time and avoid random results.
Task: Start the process of creating your employee handbook. Refer to the Do it Now Sheet to find tips on how to get this process done.
Now, let’s talk about Task Management.
Task Management
Task management refers to the way you handle “stuff” (activities which occur in a business on a day to day basis but which can’t be fit into any specific working procedure). These are not recurring systems (those that contain 1,2,3 steps).
As you implement the Work the Systems method, you will find yourself with more free time, so instead of putting off the “stuff”, here you find a framework that will help you take care of it, and stop accumulating those tasks at the bottom of the priority list.
Whether you choose to use technology or simple pen and paper to do this, the key when handling these tasks here is to keep it simple and keep it “point of sale” (try to do is as they come up).
Establish a procedure to handle “stuff” but always remember to keep it simple. A good way to do this is by asking yourself “can I________?” (Delegate it, Automate it or Dump it).
Good Enough. Errors of omission. POS
You need to understand that you need to demand more than a “good enough” in your business, but don’t get too caught up in trying to achieve total perfection. When doing this, you will end up spending too much time and most likely it will be overkill.
You do need “perfect-perfect” on your Strategic Objective and Operating Principles, however, working procedures should be 98% perfect.Most times, this is good enough. The only way you can see the difference is once you have identified the systems in your life.
Errors of omission are the cause for many bad results. Do not procrastinate. Work on this relentlessly!
Finally, we will discuss personal systems.
Personal Systems
The Work the Systems principles can be applied to your personal life. Of course, these are not going to be as regimented as your business, but they are needed. When you think about it, it is strange how you make plans for your business but not for your personal life.
You need Personal Strategic Objectives (Life Plan) and Personal Operating Principles (guidelines for how you conduct yourself).
You want to consider creating Personal Working Procedures but only for certain complex processes (recurring) and not for every single one. Doing it for every single one would be overkilling.
As with your business, documentation is important. You might want to keep your documentation private or perhaps share it with your spouse. Whatever you decide, documentation is important.
Task: Pay attention to the tips and pointers provided in the Quick Guide before filling out the Do it Now exercise and the Template provided. You may also want to see the example.
Make it so: Freeform wrap-up with Sam
Remember you need to go down to the basement where the machinery is, and make the necessary tweaks to produce the results you want upstairs.
There will be some heavy lifting at first, but when you get the results you want at the end, it will all be worth it. Stop shuffling the bad results!
You are in a mechanical world, so you need to get it straightened out first. After you do this, the emotional will follow.
Remember the world is a collection of systems; it is mandatory that you see them around you to be able to tweak them, and finally get the results you want.