EP 9: How Do I Document My Business Without Overcomplicating It?
A Simple SOP for Your Small Business Doesn't Need Binders or Expensive Consultants
A couple years ago I paid a systems company thousands of dollars to come into my business and organize everything, every SOP, every process, every random video and file we'd accumulated over the years.
When they finally handed it back and presented what they'd built, I was devastated.
My eight year old could have done a better job.
Why Does Documenting a Business Go Wrong So Often?
I think most owners hear "documentation" and immediately picture hundreds of SOPs, or months at a computer trying to write down everything everyone in the company does.
That's exactly the trap I fell into at Primavera.
Years ago we went all in on documentation, and ended up with these huge three ring binders, screenshot by screenshot, click this button, here's the screenshot, click this, here's another one, for every single process in our CRM.
My team spent several hundred hours building it.
We were proud of it.
Then a few months later we switched CRMs from Jobber to MaidCentral, and the entire binder became worthless overnight.
Every screenshot was wrong.
Every button had moved.
Did Going Digital Fix It?
Not really.
I figured paper was the problem, so we moved everything to Google Drive, Dropbox, Loom, Google Docs.
Technically we had SOPs.
But if an employee had a question, they didn't go looking for the documentation, they came looking for me, or my sister, or whoever had been doing the job the longest.
There wasn't one place where the team knew "this is where I go."
That's what eventually led me to hire a systems company for thousands of dollars.
I handed them everything, every video, every document, every process, and asked them to organize it and keep it that way.
What Happened When the Systems Company Handed It Back?
I stared at my screen and realized it was basically the same mess we already had, just rearranged into more folders with a few more links to click through.
I was so frustrated I didn't even say anything on the call, I just hung up in shock.
That's when it actually hit me:
The problem was never that we didn't have enough documentation. We had plenty. The problem was that we'd made documentation way too complicated.
So What Does a Simple SOP for a Small Business Actually Look Like?
Most of us hear "SOP" and picture something that has to look official: step one, step two, step three, screenshots, checklists, a logo at the top.
Sometimes you need that.
Most of the time your team just needs to know how to do the thing.
If you can record a three minute video showing someone exactly how you do something, you don't need to write a document explaining it too.
Stop asking "how do I create the perfect SOP" and start asking:
"What's the simplest way I can get this out of my head and into my business?"
Where Do You Even Start If Everything Feels Undocumented?
You don't start with 500 things.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
Start with one SOP, and the easiest way to find it is to ask what question your team keeps asking you.
What's the thing generating the constant phone calls, texts, Slack messages, or someone walking into your office?
Maybe it's:
- Handling a customer complaint
- Quoting a weird job
- What to do when a cleaner calls in sick
- A payroll question
Only you know what it is for your company.
The next time that question comes up, record yourself answering it live.
No scheduled two hour block, no polish, just hit record, explain what you're doing while you're doing it, add a couple of bullet points on what matters, and you're done.
That's an SOP.
Why Doesn't Documenting It Once Actually Solve the Problem?
Because once it's documented, you have to stop answering the question yourself.
I still catch myself doing this.
Someone asks something you already know the answer to, and it's faster to just tell them.
But every time you do that, you're training your team to keep coming back to you instead of checking what's already documented.
If someone asks a question you've already recorded the answer to, the response has to become:
"Did you check Sophie?"
Or whatever system you use.
Otherwise you did all that work getting it out of your head, and you're still teaching everyone it's easier to just ask you.
Does This Need to Be a Big Company-Wide Initiative?
No, and I'd actually argue that's another mistake owners make.
Declaring "we're documenting everything this quarter" rarely survives contact with a busy season, someone quitting, or life happening.
Instead, make documentation part of how you operate.
Answer the same question twice, document it.
Train someone on something, record it.
Someone finds a better way to do a task, update the process.
Make it a daily habit, and little by little you end up with a business that actually has this stuff in it, not because you locked yourself in a room for six months, but because you built the habit.
What Should You Do This Week?
Think of the one question your team asks you all the time.
The next time you answer it, record yourself doing it.
Five minutes, no polish.
Put it somewhere they can find it.
Then the next time they ask, don't answer it, send them to where it lives.
How Can Sophie Help Organize Your SOPs?
If your Google Docs, Dropbox folders, Loom videos, and random SOPs feel like a mess, that's exactly why we built Sophie.
Sophie was born the day that systems company turned in the mess they'd created for me, and it's helped my company run without me.
My ops manager went on maternity leave, and her replacement had to ask me all of six questions the entire time she was gone, because everything was already documented inside Sophie.
If you want a simple way to create and organize your SOPs, check out sophiehq.com.
Resources & Links
Visit: https://bit.ly/JhonLeBaron
Download the free resource: https://bit.ly/Jhons5Reasons
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Tags: SOPs, Standard Operating Procedures, Business Systems, Business Processes, Documentation, Small Business, Business Operations, Team Management, Delegation, Automation, Scaling a Business, Business Growth