If your business requires highly skilled people, it’s going to be impossible to scale. Such people are at a premium in the marketplace and quite often are the “problem solvers” in many businesses. If your business is dependent on yourself or any highly skilled A-player, you may have the golden handcuffs, limiting your potential for growth and freedom.

You need to create the very best systems for which good team members can be leveraged to produce extraordinary results. The question you need to keep asking yourself is how you can provide your customers with the service they want systematically rather than having it attached to whoever is personally attending to them that day. To put it another way, how can you shift your business to where your results are systems-dependent rather than people-dependent?

You want to build your business on systems, not people you rent. You own systems. You can duplicate, clone, speed up, or slow down systems. Systems are predictable; people are not. That is not to say that people are unimportant. They are the ones that bring the systems to life. People make it possible for things that are designed to work to produce the intended results.

And just to confirm, a checklist is not a process. An employee handbook is not a system. And short “Loom” videos are not processes or systems. These can leave a lot of room for assumption and interpretation. If there is room for assumption or interpretation in a process, then your team is going to try and fill that void by making it up as they go along. The result is that in many organizations, people do their jobs however they want, resulting in massive inconsistencies and inefficiencies being embedded into the team.

It has been said that great companies are not built by extraordinary people but by ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And for ordinary people to do extraordinary things, a system is absolutely necessary in order to compensate for the disparity and natural variation between skills that people have, the experiences they've encountered, and the skills your business needs. In this context, the systems become the tools your people use.

The typical owner of a business prefers highly skilled individuals because they believe it makes the owner’s job easier. You hire a few A-players, a few experts, and you can simply leave the work to them—right? Unfortunately, no. Besides the inconsistencies in finding and hiring these people, the predictability of their bandwidth as A-players depends on how much slack they need to carry from other less-ideal members on the team. The result is that as the business stumbles forward and grows, this kind of thinking makes the business dependent on the team’s energy, whims, moods, and memory.

Imagine betting on someone else’s memory when it comes to the likelihood that you’ll reach your goals and business dreams. If they’re in the right mood, the job gets done. If they’re not, it doesn’t. The same goes for the owner. Emails get answered as fast as you can type them. New customers get signed up when you go out to make money. Corrections only get made when you spot the problems yourself. This is why many business owners are constantly searching for the answer to how to motivate the team. To put them in the right mood to do good work.

It is literally impossible to produce a consistent result in a business that depends on extraordinary people. And no well-rested, happy, cash-heavy business owner tries to. Because every extraordinary owner knows that when you intentionally design your systems and processes to be operated by anyone—even Grandma—then you have a money-making machine that can generate predictable results for your customers—regardless of who is at the helm that day.

Scaling your business on systems means creating processes that remove the room for assumption and interpretation. A solid system should solve problems before your team encounters them, ensuring that tasks are done right the first time, every time. This approach frees you from the endless cycle of micromanagement and allows you to focus on strategic growth.

Imagine a scenario where every team member, regardless of their skill level, can produce the same high-quality output. This is achievable by breaking down complex tasks into simple, actionable steps that anyone can follow. Visuals, detailed instructions, and step-by-step videos can transform an ordinary team into a powerhouse of productivity.

When systems are in place, the pressure on A-players is significantly reduced. They no longer have to carry the weight of the business on their shoulders, allowing them to focus on what they do best without burning out. This not only improves their job satisfaction but also increases their longevity with your company.

By shifting your focus from hiring exceptional talent to building exceptional systems, you create a resilient business model that can adapt and thrive in any environment. Your business becomes less about the individual and more about the collective power of a well-oiled machine. This transition allows for sustainable growth and ensures that your business can scale without the chaos and unpredictability that comes from relying too heavily on A-players.

In conclusion, the secret to scaling your business lies in the systems and processes you build. These systems should be designed to be operated by anyone, ensuring consistency and reliability in your business operations. By doing so, you free yourself and your team from the constraints of dependence on individual talent, paving the way for a more scalable, sustainable, and successful business.