E105: Sharpen Up on Operations and SOPs with Alyson Caffrey
We’re excited to announce that SEOMonitor has partnered with UGURUS as a sponsor of our show.
Unlimited WordPress tasks for digital agencies at a fixed monthly cost with UnlimitedWP, get 25% your first month with code “das2020” (sponsored).
Alyson founded Operations Agency to serve entrepreneurs in the Digital Marketing space when they hit multi-six figures and want to get to seven without the headache. She’s responsible for streamlining back-end operations for a multitude of brands, launching digital and in-person products and managing growing teams.
Episode highlights:
- How Alyson found her calling filling the needs of agencies. Hint—she knew there had to be a better way!
- How Alyson made her skills “military proof”.
- Get a primer on making and using SOPs for your business.
- How to identify whether or not you need an SOP in a specific process.
- Where to start when working on operations and SOPs.
- The four phases Alyson swears by to help you sharpen up an onboarding process.
- Find out what percent of your business needs to be documented before you’re a “business owner”, vs. just-starting-out entrepreneur.
- Learn common pitfalls that come with building processes.
- Trello? Basecamp? Get advice on picking and using the right tools.
- Best advice ever received: Finish something when you start it.
- Habit that contributes to success: Drink lots of water.
- Recommended book: The Motivational Myth by Jeff Haden
- Recommended tool: Trello
Links:
- Website address WITH GIFT www.operationsagency.com/guru
- Trello
- Alyson on Facebook
- The Motivational Myth by Jeff Haden
Quotes:
- “You turn from an entrepreneur to a business owner when you implement operations.”
- “They duct tape this thing together to give their client, and it doesn’t feel good, it’s almost embarrassing.”
- “Wait a second! But did you get their log-ins?”
- “That’s where I find scope creep happening, if things change hands too many times.”
- “A process is only going to be as effective as it is clear.”
- “You made me feel bad about tools.”
Takeaways:
- Evaluate your written operations procedures. Think about onboarding, to start. Do you follow Alyson’s four phases?
- Focus on creating operating procedures for the part of your company that makes you money.