The work of a solopreneur is never done. There is always something to do in your business and it’s hard to shut things down and walk away.

It’s awesome that you’re busy with client work but is your own business suffering in the background? I’ve been there and it’s not a fun hole to crawl out of. Not to mention, it is definitely not a setup for scalability.

It’s a hot “trend” to simplify business because people are finally realizing that hustling yourself into the ground is not sustainable. Creating a simple business with proper systems in place is going to get you a lot further ahead while avoiding burnout.

Don’t Overcomplicate Your Systems

SOPs, processes, operations, templates … it’s easy to get caught up thinking it’s some complicated thing. It definitely can get complex as time goes on and your business grows but when you are starting to put systems into place, you want to keep it simple.

If it’s too complicated, you won’t stick to it. So pick a place to store all of your systems and processes (like Google Drive, Clickup, etc.) and make sure it’s all in one place. Keep your SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) documents simple and easy-to-read.

It doesn’t have to be a polished, corporate-style SOP. I’ve seen some pretty extreme SOP documents. It can be thorough without being difficult to read and follow.

Do Inventory on Your Subscriptions

Are you paying for subscriptions that you don’t need or use? It’s good practice to routinely go through your subs and see where you can make cuts or merge multiple subs into one system.

If you are relying on multiple systems to run your business, it’s a lot harder to get a good workflow down between them all. Whenever you can, plug yourself into a system that can handle multiple tasks. Take your client onboarding, for example. At a minimum, you have your scheduler, contracts, invoicing, and email system. You may have more.

I love Dubsado to streamline onboarding. It makes it so much easier to have everything in one system. And it isn’t as complicated as you think.

Automate Whatever You Can

Any time you have repetitive tasks, you can figure out a way to automate it. Your inbox management, social media posts, client experience are just a few tasks you can automate and cut back on manual labor.

Don’t let the initial setup time keep you from doing it. You will love having parts of your business run without you having to hover over it. It’s like hiring an expert and then micromanaging them anyway. No, you have the resources so back off and let them do their thing.

My tip is to set aside some time each week to automate one process in your business. Once it’s done, it’s done (aside from tweaks that you’ll make as you go).

Make Your Marketing Work for You

Instead of creating content for every single platform, create your long-form content (blog, video, podcast) and repurpose it into social media captions, graphics, LinkedIn articles, pin graphics, email newsletters, and more.

Do you get more done when you plan and batch your content? If so, make sure you have a batch day each month to get your content done. Even if batching doesn’t work best for you, you can make your own system.

Your content on each platform shouldn’t be exactly the same (just say no to copy/paste repurposing) but it doesn’t have to be completely different, either. And then automate your scheduling so you don’t have to manually post.

Use Templates

Why reinvent the wheel every time you go to post on social media, create a proposal, pin on Pinterest, or send a response to a similar question you answered last week? Template that shit.

For client experience templates, Dubsado already has that option built in. You can create your own or choose from their library of templates for a starting point. If you wanna get fancy, you can purchase additional templates.

Social media and pin graphics can be easily templated in Canva (or save even more time and purchase customizable templates). All you have to do is swap out some colors, fonts, and text and voila!

Template your frequent Q&As by having a FAQ section on your site and/or having canned email templates that you can choose and personalize before sending. Super savvy.

Think about your business and what else you can template in it.

Check Your Boundaries

One of the easiest ways to complicate your business is not having boundaries in place. Without boundaries, you are basically inviting clients (and friends & family if we’re being thorough here) to bug you all the time.

Decide what your business hours are, how you plan to communicate with clients, what your turnaround time is for communication AND project completion. What about your policies for the number of revisions or payment terms? The list goes on and on.

This is all information that should be in your contract but I would highly recommend putting it together in a nice onboarding doc for your clients. It’s easier to read and refer back to than having to go through the entire contract.

You Don’t Have to Hire (yet)

I know this probably seems counterintuitive because hiring can help simplify your business a lot. However, it is really easy to get caught up in the confusion of who to hire and when.

Everyone has an opinion.

A website designer is going to tell you all the reasons why you shouldn’t DIY your website. A social media manager is going to tell you all the reasons why you should hire someone to do it for you. A VA is going to tell you why it’s worth it to hire ASAP.

They’re not wrong but hiring is not always as easy as it seems.

At some point, you’re probably going to want to hire someone to help with … whatever it is you need help with. But determining who to hire and when can be tricky. If you don’t have the mental space (or finances) for it yet, it’s ok to put it on the backburner.

Best Not to Overthink it

I’m a chronic overthinker and perfectionist. It’s taken me years to learn to just let shit go and not overthink it or try to perfect it (it’s still a work in progress but it’s much better than it used to be).

As you start simplifying parts of your business, you will find more and more things to simplify. It’s fun and kind of addicting. Once those processes are down, you will be amazed at how much time you have back.