How to be the Online Business Manager in Your Own Business

You started your business for freedom.
To work on your own terms, serve clients you love, and build something that actually lights you up.

But somewhere along the way, that freedom started to feel a lot like… busyness.
Every client question still lands on your plate.
Every decision still needs your approval.
And if you stop working, even for a few days, everything stalls.

Here’s the truth: if your business still depends entirely on you, you don’t own a business, you have a job.

In this episode of “The OBM Show”, Sarah Noked shares her five-step framework to help you stabilize, systematize, and prepare your business for scalable growth.

This is about learning how to be the Online Business Manager of your own business so you can start building the foundations you’ll need to eventually hire one… and yes, finally step fully into your role as CEO.

Here’s what we cover:

 • The task audit that reveals where your time (and energy) really go
 • How to automate and delegate recurring tasks without overwhelm
 • Why documenting your systems with simple SOPs changes everything
 • The power of centralizing your tech stack for real team efficiency
 • The mindset shift that helps you let go and lead like a true CEO

Whether you’re still doing everything yourself or getting ready to grow your team, this episode gives you the roadmap to build a business that runs smoothly, strategically, and sustainably.

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Thanks for tuning in to The OBM Show - your go-to podcast for Online Business Managers and entrepreneurs who want to scale strategically and sustainably.

If this episode resonated with you, be sure to follow the show and leave a review. It helps more aspiring and established Online Business Managers find this content and grow their businesses with confidence.

✨ Ready to take the next step?

Grab your free OBM Starter Kit → obmschool.com/starter
Explore more tools and trainings → obmschool.com/resources
Learn about becoming a CPD-certified Accredited Online Business Manager → obmaccreditation.com

🧭 Not sure where to start?
Find out your OBM Archetype and get personalized next steps → obmschool.com/quiz

📺 Prefer to watch?
Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and hit the bell icon to get notified when we drop a new video → youtube.com/@SarahNokedOBM

Until next time, keep building the business behind the business.

Episode Transcript

SarahNoked (00:00):
If your business depends entirely on you, you
don't own a business, you have ajob.
You've created that job foryourself.
And if you are, in fact, thevisionary founder that I know
you are, that job is probablykeeping you very stuck.
Welcome to the OBM Show, thepodcast that pulls back the
curtain on what it really takesto thrive as an online business

(00:22):
manager and help businessesscale without burning out.
I'm your host, Sarah Noked,agency owner of OBM mentor and
founder of OBM School.
I've been working in the backend of online businesses since
2009, building systems, managingremote teams, and mentoring
OBMs who make businesses runlike clockwork.

(00:45):
Now, I've seen what works, whatdoesn't, and the messy middle
that no one talks about.
Here, we get real about thetools, strategies, and stories
that drive sustainable success,plus the tech mishaps growing
pains and lessons learned alongthe way.
If you're ready to stopspinning your wheels, step into

(01:07):
your leadership role and seewhat actually happens behind the
scenes of thriving businesses,you're in the right place.
Let's get started.
Now people ask me all the time,Sarah, how do I get my business
ready to hire an onlinebusiness manager?
And the truth is, is that themost successful partnerships

(01:29):
between an ops manager, anonline business manager, an
integrator, whatever thatmanaging partner is, the most
successful partnerships happenwhen the business itself is
ready.
And that readiness is whatwe're here to talk about today.
In today's podcast, I want toshare with you my five-step

(01:50):
framework that's going to helpyou stabilize, systematize, and
prepare your business forscaling growth.
So this is all about showingyou how to be the online
business manager of your ownbusiness so you can start to
build the foundations that youneed to eventually hire one and
yes, finally step into your roleas CEO.

(02:11):
But before we dive in, let'sget clear on what an OBM really
is, right?
They aren't just high-levelassistant or an extra pair of
hands.
I want you to think of yourselfas the architect of your
business.
You create the blueprint, youhave the vision and the OBM is
your general contractor, right?
They take your vision and theymanage the crew, the timeline

(02:33):
and the material and all theresources to make sure your
vision gets built correctly andon time.
They are the integrators whotranslate your big picture
strategy into a concrete planthat the team can execute.
So to get your businessbusiness ready for that kind of
partner, you need to startthinking like an OBM, and that
starts with my five-stepprocess.

(02:55):
So let's get into step one.
The very first thing that wehave our online business
managers do when they startworking with a new client, and
this is exactly what we teachinside of OBM School, is to
start with a task audit.
So that, my friends, is exactlywhere you need to start.
Now, I want you to payattention to everything that

(03:15):
recurs in your business, becauseanything that occurs is fair
game for delegation.
This could be checking yourclient care inbox, scheduling
emails, or your entire YouTubeproduction process, for example.
So make a list or even justwrite it on a scrap piece of
paper.
It doesn't have to be pretty.
But then I want you to identifytwo things.

(03:37):
One, which of these tasks arethe most time consuming?
These are the things that youwant to get off your plate ASAP.
And the second thing I want youto identify is which tasks
drive the biggest results.
And these are often the thingsthat only you can do in your
business.
It could be things like salescalls, creating content.
I mean, eventually you mightwant to get these things off

(03:59):
your plate.
We are just getting clear onwhat is happening in your
business at this point.
Our agency also matches clientswith accredited OBMs.
And our last match withBrianna, she runs a thriving
digital marketing agency forlandscapers.
So She was drowning and actingas the bottleneck in her

(04:21):
business.
And her OBM's first step was todo this audit to create a map
of the chaos, essentially, andrevealed that the three biggest
drains on her business were themanual sales process, no central
hub for her contractors, and nolead capture system.
So this audit was her light atthe end of the tunnel, and it's

(04:44):
really your first step toclarity.
Now, the second step was to dothis audit Second step, after
you've kind of put together yourrecurring task list and you're
more clear on the operationalthings that happen in your
business, the next thing is toautomate, okay?
So once you have your roadmap,you can move on to the
automation step.

(05:04):
And I want you to think beyondjust scheduling links and tasks.
This is really about creatingintake forms that automate
things like starting a projectin the project management system
or follow-up emails thatnurture leads while you're doing
other things.
The goal is to let technologyhandle the low value repetitive
work.
And a great way to brainstormis to take your list of

(05:27):
recurring tasks and yes, feed itdirectly into an AI tool like
ChatGPT or Gemini and give itthe prompt, here are 10
recurring tasks in my business.
How could I automate ordelegate them?
And then remember, automationdoesn't just mean technology.
It can also mean delegating toa person.
The goal is to simply get itoff your plate and as the

(05:48):
founder, as a visionary, so youcan focus on other things.
So this week, I want you toidentify three, I'm giving you
homework, three recurring tasksthat you could either automate
with tech or delegate to avirtual assistant, okay?
Because that's right, we've gotour OBM hat on today.
Now, my next step is todocument with standard operating

(06:11):
procedures.
And this, my friends, is trulywhere the magic really starts.
You need to get the knowledgeof how your business runs out of
your head and onto a digitalpiece of paper.
Now, a great standard operatingprocedure is not a 30-page
novel.
It's a simple checklistcombined with a short
screen-recorded video from atool like Loom or Zoom.

(06:32):
Any screencast platform willwork.
The dual format caters todifferent learning styles and
makes your process incrediblyeasy to follow.
So I want you to start byrecording yourself with a
screencast tool.
Do these recurring tasks thatyou do, whether you're answering
client care emails or you'rescheduling social media, just

(06:55):
hit record.
You can even use AI to take thevideo transcript and my
beautiful SOP template I'm goingto share with you in a second
to help you format it into adocumented SOP.
Now, when you do this, youcreate your business playbook.
This is critical because ifthere's one thing I've learned,
it's that high team turnoverusually isn't just about pay.

(07:19):
It's because the team membersdon't have enough information to
do their jobs well.
Documented SOPs and clearinstructions and key performance
indicators and all of that goodstuff is where it's at.
And that's why I want to sharewith you my beautiful standard
operating procedure kit.

(07:39):
You can download it atobmschool.com forward slash SOP.
We're also going to leave thesenotes in the show notes, these
links for you guys.
Okay, so let's move on to thenext step, step number four,
which is centralizing your techstack.
Now, you really need to turnchaos into clarity by
centralizing your operationsinto a single command center.

(08:01):
This is both for you and foryour team.
And this means choosing oneproject management tool and one
cloud storage system and gettingyour entire team to use them.
Now, if you're not familiarwith this terminology, you can
head on over to obmschool.comJust to check out the project
management tools that I reallylike, whether you're using

(08:24):
ClickUp, Asana, Google Drive,Dropbox, or something else, just
pick one project managementtool and one cloud storage
system and stick with it.
They all have their pros andcons.
The thing that you want to lookfor with project management
tools is that it has an optionto set recurring tasks because

(08:44):
everything operationally in yourbusiness pretty much works on a
recurring basis, as you'veprobably noticed now from your
step one audit, okay?
Now, this was huge for myclient, Brianna.
Yes, the agency client who Ipaired with a fantastic
accredited online businessmanager.
When we centralized her entireteam into a new ClickUp

(09:08):
workspace, magic started tohappen.
We also documented her salesprocesses with reusable
templates, and we automated alead capture system.
In just 90 days, her businesswent from chaotic to organized,
and she could finally attend ahuge industry event without the
entire business resting on hershoulders, and it was

(09:29):
incredible.
Now, the next step is to adopta delegation mindset.
Yes, a podcast speaking tovisionary CEOs wouldn't be
complete without me bringing upmindset, right?
And this is actually funnyenough.
I mean, it's not very funny,but I can't think of anything
else to say, but it It really isa deal breaker.

(09:49):
And the final step is you haveto adopt the right mindset for
delegating.
Now, I had a discovery call nottoo long ago.
I think I've probably mentionedthis person on my podcast
because it really was not funny.
It's the furthest thing frombeing funny, but it was so
archetypal of a typicalvisionary entrepreneur who
believes that they are the onlyone in their business who can

(10:13):
manage things.
So I once had this discoverycall with the owner of a market
It was a Facebook ads agency,and his business was so
successful.
He had, I think, probably 10contractors on his team, and he
was the bottleneck because hewas the direct point of contact
for most of his clients.

(10:33):
And even though he hadcontractors that were also
talking to the client, it wasvery clear to me that he had a
hard problem delegating.
Now, on a side note, we didn'tend up working with this client
because this, to me, is a dealbreaker.
as I mentioned.
And he really didn't thinkanyone could do the work better
than he could.
And because of that, he wasn'tready to hire an OBM.

(10:56):
No matter how much revenue hisbusiness was making, no matter
how much it needed one, youcannot scale yourself.
You have to let go.
And we have a rule of thumbinside of our agency, and
especially with regard tostandard operating procedures.
80% done is enough.
SOPs are living, breathingdocuments And business is not

(11:19):
supposed to look organized andpretty on the back end, okay?
Yes, I said it.
I said the truth, right?
It's going to be a little bithaphazard, but it has to be
documented and it is constantlyin refinement and we are
constantly solving problems inthe business and things are
changing and it's in flux.
And having somebody manning thefort like an online business

(11:42):
manager, that's what's going toallow you to move on to that
visionary role that only you cando.
could do.
So why do all this work, right?
This is not just about gettingorganized.
This is about building afoundation for scalable
business, a valuable asset thatmaybe you're going to sell one
day.
And it's really also thedifference between a business

(12:03):
that is in constant reactionarymode and one that operates with
a calm, proactive strategy.
And this truly will be how youcan finally step out of that
role of doing all the things,the catch all and become the
visionary CEO you were alwaysmeant to be.
Now one of my clients, Amanda,said to me that the knowledge of

(12:25):
systems, structure, andstrategy was exactly what we
needed to grow our business.
It's one of the best thingsthat has ever happened for us.
Now today we've talked a lotabout documenting your systems
and I know that for mostfounders it feels like the most
daunting part.
So to help you break throughthat friction, I have put
together a standard operatingprocedure It is free.

(12:48):
It is an excellent resource andyou can download it now at
obmschool.com forward slash SOP.
And if you're ready to hire anonline business manager and you
have gone past thesefoundational steps and are
seriously considering hiring astrategic partner, you can learn
more about our accredited OBMmatchmaking services at

(13:12):
sarahnoket.com forward slashservices.
We're also going to leave thatin the show notes.
Thank you so much for listeningto today's episode.
I'm wishing you very happydelegating, my friends.
I can't wait to see you on theflip side, taking holidays,
enjoying your business, scalingand making the impact that you
were meant to be.

(13:33):
Until the next episode, I hopethat you are getting your task
audit in place.
Thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this, subscribe,share it with a friend and I
will see you in our nextepisode.