have just read E-Myth and decided to implement a business system in Notion and share it with you. The system provides a clear layout for your organization and many different ways to easily weave it into your project management system in Notion or other platforms.
The main parts of the system:
1. Vision
2. Management
3. Execution
It's simple but a good foundation for a start. I'll slowly build it up as I learn from my new businesses. Make sure to keep an eye on it in the future.
You can find the business/project system template [here](https://maray.notion.site/Business-System-Model-WIP-83c87e1439484bba9e407f92022af5e7).
Those who already use the [Growth System in Notion](https://gum.co/notion-self-growth) can have a look at the updated templates.
Let's get started.
##| The main structure of the system
What are the main components of a business? Michael divides them into responsibility spheres and defines 3 parts: innovation, quantification, and orchestration. To my understanding, these terms, if we simplify, refer to three things.
The first is **the vision** where you prove your idea, define the course of action, create a vision and seek new opportunities.
The second is **the management** of your actions to follow the course defined in the previous section.
The third is **the execution** of your plan as well as defining the technical aspects for everyone responsible to follow.
These are the main parts that are the foundation of the system. The secondary and tertiary subsystems stem from the core parts and contain all the necessary parts to run the business without your control.
Many parts of a system are easy to automate through instructions and templates. By doing so you eliminate errors and inconsistency. On the other hand, the system must always evolve to address the fast-developing world. The development takes place through scheduled feedback from inside and outside.
Your experience and knowledge have to be a part of the system. For instance, once a project is done you could analyze the process, outline what went well and what was wrong and improve or alternate the workflow to encompass the very valuable experience and lessons you learned.
**Constant feedback** and development **mean** **growth**. And growth means success because learning from your failures makes sure you won't make the same mistakes again and hence increases the chances of success every time you learn and develop.
## Business System in Notion
In my system, business is a project that serves a certain goal that I set. The projects have its own goals, outcomes, actions, habits and so on. If you are interested you can read [how I structure my growth/operating system in Notion](https://www.maray.ai/posts/notion-life-operating-system-overview).
Vision → **Projects** → Goal outcome
The project's workspace is good place to outline the main pillars: set a strategy, manage and execute your plans.
### Create a strategy
The strategy section is mainly about your grand vision and the main steps you are going to take to move your business forward.
**Responsibilities**
- Create a strategy
- Future vision
**Subsystems**
- Company's identity
- Concept
- Near/long-term strategy
### Plan your actions
The planning section is all about setting up goals, outcomes, and actions to drive growth. Do not invest a lot of time in this because no matter how hard you try to predict the outcome, it will be different.
It's a good idea to divide the actions into small steps so that you can successfully execute. Otherwise, the challenging difficulty will be demotivating and you'll end up procrastinating.
Sort your tasks by importance to make sure your focus is in the right place.
**Responsibilities**
- Create order and structure
- Plan
**Subsystems**
- Roles and areas of responsibility
- Operating manual
- Hiring manual
- Accounting
### Execute
Ray Dalio's principles to form a culture at Bridgwater to improve the set principles. “Their goal is to create idea meritocracy where the best idea wins.” says Adam Grant in his outstanding book Originals.
If you create a set of principles in either core sphere of your business, newcomers would, first of all, learn from it but also they can challenge the established principles.
**Responsibilities**
- Create workflows and framworks
- Solve technical problems
**Subsystems**
- Design system
- Operating manual
## The biggest mistake small businesses make
The most important lesson from the books is that small businesses focus most of their time on execution, lesson planning, and rarely on strategy. That's why a typical small business improves the technical part but doesn't grow and expand.
Michael Gerber says the misunderstanding of the importance of these components in a business is the reason why most small businesses fail.
The reason why the main structure is divided into 3 parts is that although they work in one system, they often compete with each other. Therefore it's extremely hard to be the entrepreneur, the technician, and the manager all at once.
It's essential to have all three parts evolving and alive. Find teammates that can take care of each responsibility with the highest quality.
## How a system can help to grow your business
Let's say I am good at something, I figured out how to produce high-quality architectural designs and even found my first client. I decide to leave my regular job and open my own company. At the end of the day, why would I work for someone if I could do the same for myself and also reap all the benefits, right?
Then I quit and successfully deliver a project. I meet a few obstacles but the reward is enough to assure me to get going. At that point, I just think that I know how a business works, but in reality - I do not. I studied architectural design and I became good *only* at it.
According to Gerber, I am a technician who knows all the technical aspects of the product I offer but I fail in management and vision. I am so much in the execution part that I do not even have time to think about how to delegate or how to grow the business.
Without a proper strategy and management, most small businesses either don't invest in the other 2 core components or pay little to no attention to it.
The execution or technical framework is not enough to grow a business unless you want to stay small and keep the craft quality. It's even hard to call it a business because, in the beginning, **you work for your business**. The "business" is you. To make the execution right, you have to find a way to replace yourself without sacrificing the quality.
Operation manuals, design systems, and instructions are good ways to automate. These frameworks let you document your workflow, teach newcomers and also improve and build up your company's expertise.
Instead of containing the most important knowledge of your business in your or people's memories, that are not very suitable for long-term storage, you put in the system that's always there for everyone else to learn and follow.
That way you build **a culture that lasts**.
People always come and go. You have to make sure the expertise stays in the company and doesn't leave with the people.
In the same way building a second brain benefits you and your life by saving essential information as you consume, your company can also benefit from such a system.
Imagine keeping a history of your projects with a summary and takeaways. New people could learn from it and understand the company better. Instead of training new colleagues can easily go through the guides and save time and energy.
Furthermore, they could add something new to the established workflows which is, again, extremely valuable for everyone.
## Final thoughts
The more I learn about systems the more I convince myself how important they are for productivity, essence, and growth.
Grab the template [here](https://maray.notion.site/Business-System-Model-WIP-83c87e1439484bba9e407f92022af5e7) if you haven't done so yet and let me know if you have any suggestions on how it can be improved and elaborated.
