Process design is a hot topic in my book lately. I have been thinking a lot about this concept ever since I rediscovered the idea while listening to a recent podcast from one of my favorite “virtual mentors”. Renowned podcaster and virtual business superstar, Chris Ducker talks about the need to document as much of your day-to-day business processes as possible. For him, this means creating digital mind maps that outline each step of everything from blog post writing to email management.
His mantra – “treat your day like a computer program”. Each step in the process should be as efficient as possible. The more efficient the steps, the more effective the process. Sometimes, you can even eliminate the total number of steps to improve the program’s overall performance.
This ties in spectacularly with one of my favorite mottos that is adapted from the age-old sales maxim ABC (Always Be Closing). My twist is ABT, which stand for “Always Be Tweaking”. This means that you never settle for the same results over time. Even though I’m a big believer that habits and routines are incredibly effective, when consistently applied over time and truly believe they are a better route to achieving success than goal-setting, routines that add up to equal big success require constant updates and tweaking to maximize each input.
So, whether it be your social media marketing or your business processes in general, make sure to document your steps and always be looking for ways to improve each step. Always Be Tweaking.
Such great advice, Reade. Success is always given to those who tweak.