Your business is growing fast. Awesome, right? Except now everything's on fire. Leads are slipping through cracks, your team's creating random workarounds, and you're running around with the digital equivalent of a garden hose trying to save it all.
Been there. Multiple times. Here's how to build systems when you barely have time to breathe:
Stop fixing what annoys you
That crappy email situation driving you nuts? Ignore it. Fix what's bleeding money instead.
I watched a founder spend a week perfecting their CRM while their sales team couldn't process leads fast enough. They were literally throwing away revenue while organizing data nobody looked at.
Track where actual dollars disappear for three days. That broken process gets fixed first. Everything else can wait.
Embrace ugly solutions that work
Your systems don't need to be sexy. They need to stop the bleeding.
One of my clients couldn't decide between project management tools while missing every deadline. We set up a basic Trello board in an afternoon. Not impressive, but it saved their biggest account the next week.
When everything's burning, an imperfect system today beats a perfect one tomorrow.
Make documentation that doesn't suck
Nobody's writing comprehensive manuals during a crisis. And nobody's reading them either.
Have your team record quick videos while solving problems. Create simple templates for repeated tasks. Build a knowledge base from real work, not theoretical processes.
A client's support team started recording 3-minute Loom videos of how they handled tough cases. New hires were solving complex problems in days instead of weeks.
Automate the soul-crushing stuff first
Don't try to automate your entire business. Start with the mind-numbing tasks your team hates:
- Lead routing
- Status updates to clients
- Basic data entry
- Follow-up messages
A small agency was manually sending 200+ client reports monthly. We built a simple template and basic automation. Their account managers immediately got back two days each month.
Protect system-building time like it's sacred
This is where most businesses fail. You need dedicated time to build systems, even when everything's burning.
Block 2-3 hours weekly. Tell everyone it's untouchable. Yes, there will always be emergencies. Ignore them during this time anyway.
The fires will still be there. But each week, you'll have better tools to fight them.
What's one process in your business that, if fixed today, would make everything else easier?