Process vs Product
I talk about processes a lot - partly because I’m kind of a systems nerd and partly because I’ve been helping small businesses build systems that work for them. Truthfully, I’ve been spending a lot of time figuring out my own systems these days too.
I notice a lot of us tend to invest too much or too soon in our process before we focus on our product. To be clear, in this case I’m imagining that our product is the value we’re adding or the service we’re selling to our clients. And process is the stuff that helps us deliver it. Here are 3 places I’ve seen it matter lately:
A friend launched her new business this month. She wanted to jump straight to setting up payment processors and social media accounts. But often it’s so much more important for us to define who we are as a provider or company and clearly define what you offer. That work can feel more tedious and less shiny than making a new page for your new biz but the latter doesn’t matter a ton without the former.
I’m designing a new product. I noticed that my inclination was to jump to delivery platforms and figure out the nuts and bolts of service delivery. This will be important as I define how to price, plan for, and launch the product. But really I need to invest a LOT of time into fleshing out the product itself before I go out adding new platforms all willy-nilly.
I spoke to two different small business leaders this week who wanted to systematize all of their work. They provide high touch support services for other businesses. For them, it’s critical that they get clear on both what they offer and how they offer it. While I’m a systems girl through and through, I was concerned that they were going to systematize their entire product and that their secret sauce was going to get lost in the mix. It’s so important to leave room for nuance in our client work and protect what makes us valuable.
All in all I think that our systems (and the rest of our biz for that matter) work for us, instead of us working for them. This framing helps me avoid getting ahead of myself as an entrepreneur. Want to share a process you’re working through in your business? Join the next free strategy power hour.