February 25, 2025 • 15 mins
Are you ready to take your productivity to the next level while avoiding the pitfalls that come with neglecting essential business systems? In this episode, we unpack the hidden costs of not implementing structured processes in your business. Many entrepreneurs experience burnout and frustration when they attempt to juggle numerous tasks without a reliable framework. If you relate to feeling overwhelmed or stuck in a cycle of busyness, then this episode is for you.
We discuss how not having systems can lead to missed opportunities and limit your growth—both personally and professionally. You’ll gain insights into how organized frameworks can help streamline your operations, making space for new opportunities, creativity, and fulfillment. This podcast episode encourages listeners to rethink their approach to productivity and demonstrates how simple adjustments can lead to profound changes in your entrepreneurial journey.
Join us for an enlightening discussion packed with actionable tips and relatable stories that can help you unlock the effortless productivity you've dreamed of. Don’t forget to check out our masterclass, “Scaling Without Sacrifice,” to learn more about aligning your systems with your goals. Subscribe, share, and leave a review to show your support!
Coaches, healers, and creatives—how much money are you leaving on the table?
Coach OS is the world’s leading all-in-one software that automates your business, scales your income, and replaces all your other software for a fraction of the cost!
Grab your free trial now, at https://coachossoftware.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Annie Veblen-McCarty and I'm gonna
teach you how to be effortlesslyproductive.
I've been an entrepreneur forover 20 years and I got sick and
tired of experts preaching whatbusiness and life should look
like and what I should be doingas a leader and to turn a profit
, only to find myself wastingtime, burned out, feeling
(00:22):
inauthentic and still not makingany money.
On this show, we are ditchingthe shoulds.
I'm giving you permission to dobusiness differently.
As a certified master coach, Ibelieve that everything you need
to have success and build thelife and business of your dreams
is already living on the inside.
(00:43):
I'm going to empower you tolean into what you do best, help
you see your path forwardclearly and give you the
strategy and action steps alongthe way to become effortlessly
productive.
Let's dive in.
On today's episode, we are goingto be talking about the hidden
costs of not using businesssystems.
(01:06):
So if you didn't catch my lastepisode, make sure that you go
back and you listen to that ifyou are wanting to understand
why business systems and scalingmethods have not worked for you
in the past.
If you are a creative,spiritual entrepreneur, a healer
, a coach I hear so oftenbusiness systems just don't work
(01:31):
for me Scaling my business.
It just feels so inauthentic itdoesn't work.
I've tried it before.
I had no results.
So my last episode really divesinto why.
That is why these traditionalscaling methods don't work for
entrepreneurs like us.
Today, we are going to beshifting our focus a little bit
(01:51):
and we are going to be talkingabout the hidden costs of not
using our business systems, ofnot setting that stuff up.
Like I shared at the beginningof last episode.
We're going to have a littlebrief recap.
So when we are talking aboutbusiness systems, these are
things that we put in place tomake our business run more
efficiently maybe organizing,maybe when you are launching
(02:15):
your programs.
If you do not have a businesssystem, every single time you go
to launch a program, it's likerecreating the wheel.
Right, you are having toremember what were all the
things that I did last time thatworked so well and you're
having to pull that all out ofyour memory.
And then you're having to gorecreate all of that bit by bit,
piece by piece, because youdon't have the systems in place.
(02:38):
An example of a business systemin this case may be that you
have a launch plan that is laidout, week by week, of the exact
things that need to get done inorder to make that launch a
success social media posts andthe email marketing and the
stories that you shared.
And then setting up automations, maybe things that you're
(03:01):
delegating and outsourcing.
Maybe you don't do your owngraphics and that is something
you have to outsource.
We have to remember tooutsource that.
We have to reach out to ourgraphic designer and have them
create those graphics.
Maybe we have some automatedsystems, like people are able to
register for our program online.
(03:21):
Maybe we're doing a workshop ora masterclass to help promote
that paid program.
So we are launching that in theprocess of this bigger launch.
It's a lot of moving pieces andso if we sit down every single
launch and we're like, oh mygosh, okay, I have to remember
all the things I did last time,I have to make sure I don't miss
(03:42):
anything.
Or maybe we're just kind ofwinging it and doing something
different every single time, andthen we have that question of
like, why did it work so welllast time and this time it
wasn't as big of a success?
Well, maybe we missed somepieces along the way.
So an example of a businesssystem could be that
organization of week one I dothese things.
(04:03):
Week two, I do these things.
Week three I do these things tohelp pace you out and make sure
that you're using the samesuccess path that worked so well
for you before, so that wouldbe an example.
We can also think about all ofthose automated processes, or
outsourced processes, as well asbusiness systems.
So maybe it is having thatsales page, maybe it is having
(04:27):
an opt-in form, maybe it ishaving an email sequence that's
automated to follow up.
What I have found, though, is somany creative spiritual
entrepreneurs, coaches, healers.
They shy away from businesssystems because they either have
not worked for them in the pastor it just feels inauthentic,
(04:48):
or maybe in their head, they'rethinking I'm just not tech savvy
.
I'm going to do an episodecoming up very soon about that,
so keep an eye out for that.
If that is you, it's alwayslike I'm just not tech savvy.
I don't understand how to setthis stuff up.
So we have a whole host ofreasons why we might not be
using these business systems.
(05:09):
Maybe it's just that things aremoving at such a fast pace in
your business and you're like Iliterally don't even have the
time to get this stuff set up.
I don't know where I'm going tofind the time or the energy to
even put this stuff in place,because things are just moving
and moving and moving.
You're literally.
It's like whack-a-mole, right.
(05:29):
You're moving from one thing toanother and what I have found
is that we can use these reasonsof why we are not setting up
our business systems, but theyactually have hidden costs.
They are actually costing ushuge amounts in our business.
The first thing that I find sooften, when people do not get
(05:51):
business system set up and againthese can be very small, up to
full complete systems as wellwhen people do not get these
systems and automations andprocesses set up in their
business, burnout is likelycoming right, because as our
business grows, we are managingmore clients or maybe our
(06:12):
business is not growing the waythat we want it to and we're
trying to talk to more and moreand more people and reach more
people and go viral and do reelsevery single day and all these
things are to-do list.
Grows and grows and grows, andwe're just stuck in this mode of
busy, busy, busy, moving,moving, moving Again that
whack-a-mole moving from onething to another, to another,
(06:34):
without having a time to breathe, to reflect, to restore and
renew ourselves, and we cansustain that for a while, right,
especially if you are somebodywho's a very high performer.
We can sustain that level ofactivity and energy output for
often a very long period of time.
(06:56):
But unfortunately, what I havefound happens in the end is I
was going to say nine times outof 10, I would say probably like
999,999 times out of a million.
What happens is we are headedfor burnout.
We get to the point where westart to have a story in our
(07:18):
head, or a belief in our head ofoh my gosh, like if my business
gets to this next level ofgrowth, I literally don't even
know how I'm gonna handle it.
We also start to envision ourfuture and it's like is this
what this is going to be likeforever and a lot of the time,
what we are doing at thebeginning of our business or in
(07:39):
a middle stage or a season ofreally hitting things hard and
growing, can use the word hustle, a hustle season.
I've used that word.
I don't particularly love theword hustle, but if you want to
think about it that way, ifwe're in a hustle season and we
are doing all this stuff andreally trying to explode our
(08:00):
business.
But we get stuck there becausewe're not using business systems
, we're not using theorganizational stuff, we're not
automating so that we can scaleour business with effortless
ease.
What happens is we start tothink, oh, oh, my gosh, this is
going to be my life forever andfor most of us, the vision we
(08:23):
have for our life especially asa creative, as a coach, as a
healer we don't want to be stuckin that season forever.
That's not what we want for ourlives.
I find most creatives andhealers that I talk to and
coaches, the life they imaginefor themselves is one of peace,
(08:44):
it's one of having space, it'sone of being able to lean into
their own spiritual practices,to have time to create, to have
time to learn new things anddevelop new skills and try a
different kind of creativity.
So when we start to realizethat this season that we are
(09:06):
stuck in is going to actuallycompound and really be the rest
of our business life, a lot ofthe time we don't want to do
that.
That's not the vision that weactually have for ourselves.
So we hit that burnout and alot of the time it's very sad.
I see people just flat out quit.
They vanish off the face of theearth and nobody hears from
(09:28):
them for maybe 10 plus years.
So that is one of the hiddencosts is that we can actually
hit this place of burnout orrealizing that that's not what
we want for the rest of ourlives, that our current state
does not match that futurevision, and we just quit.
We're just done Right.
So that is a huge hidden cost.
(09:50):
Another hidden cost is that wemiss opportunities.
Lost is that we missopportunities.
If we are so stuck in, likejust taking care of what is
right in front of our face, weare actually missing all the
opportunities around us to takeour business to the next level.
Maybe you love speaking and youwould love to speak on stage,
(10:12):
but right now you're like Idon't even know how I would do
that because I literally am justgoing through the paces every
single day.
I literally don't even know howI would go out and find
speaking opportunities.
I don't know how I would havethe time to speak for people on
stages.
I don't know how I would havethe time to travel.
Maybe public speaking is notyour thing and you're like that
sounds awful and terrifying andI don't want to do that, but
(10:35):
there are all these other things.
When we don't have thesesystems in place and when our
business is not able to scaleand grow in the background, it's
that being able to scale andgrow in the background that
allows us to be able to go outand pursue all these other
opportunities that are out thereand even just be able to
(10:56):
literally see thoseopportunities that are in front
of us.
That is another hidden cost.
Is all of these things that youare dreaming of, that we don't
have the time and energy even tohave a download?
That that is what we want inour life, much less actually
going out and seeking that.
(11:17):
The last hidden cost that we aregonna touch on today in this
episode is not having thebusiness systems in place and
the scaling systems in place.
That actually puts a ceiling onyour growth.
It puts a ceiling on your ownpersonal growth.
It puts a ceiling on yourbusiness growth.
It puts a ceiling on how manyclients you can serve.
(11:40):
It puts a ceiling on yourincome because, like I said, our
time and, even more so, ourenergy, those are the things
that are our most limitedresources, and so, if we are
doing everything manually, if wedon't have any organization, if
we don't have any system thatwe are following and any
(12:01):
approach that we are following,there's only so many clients
that we can work with, only somuch income that we can bring in
before we hit that cap, beforewe hit that ceiling.
The only way to remove thatceiling is to somehow be able to
take our limited energyresource and our limited time
(12:24):
resource and compound them tobasically take our energy and
our time and be using it on thethings that are going to grow
our business and push it forwardand have all those other tasks
in our business and even justthe organizational side of it as
well.
We need to have that happeningwithout our time and energy
(12:46):
expenditure, so that we can takeour time and energy and use it
for our creative pursuits, forserving people, for creating new
programs, for making thatimpact that we want to make.
So not having the businesssystem set up, having the
(13:07):
business system set up, nothaving the scaling system set up
, is actually putting a hugeceiling on your growth.
It means that you don't havethe time to go take a course or
a certification, to learn newskills, to grow yourself as a
person, to go on retreats inorder to refuel yourself.
You can see how this actuallykind of spirals back into the
burnout side of things.
Right, if we're not recharging,that's that limit on our
(13:30):
personal growth as well.
And then, obviously, if we arehaving to do every single thing
manually and pull it out of ourmemory every single day, there
really is a limit to how manypeople that we can help, how
many people we can impact aroundthe world.
Those are just a few of thehidden costs of not implementing
(13:52):
business systems and scalingsystems into your business.
So I hope that this shed maybe alittle bit of light on some
things that you were feeling,but maybe you weren't able to
really verbalize it.
Maybe you are feeling a littlebit stuck around some of these,
or you're like that's great, butlike business systems
(14:13):
organizing, that is not my jam.
I am not tech savvy, I don'tknow how to do this.
That's okay.
Make sure that you keep tuninginto my episodes, because we are
going to be diving into some ofthis the next few weeks.
I also have a masterclasscalled Scaling Without Sacrifice
, if you are ready to dive inand learn actually how to do
(14:36):
some of these things, how to doit in a way that feels aligned
for you, that feels good for you.
That is, systems that you canmanage and tech that you can
learn.
Make sure you tune into that.
I cannot wait to catch you onthe next episode of Effortlessly
Productive.
I hope you have a beautifulrest of your day.
Hey, this is Annie Veblen-McCarty and I'm gonna
teach you how to be effortlesslyproductive.
I've been an entrepreneur forover 20 years and I got sick and
tired of experts preaching whatbusiness and life should look
like and what I should be doingas a leader and to turn a profit
, only to find myself wastingtime, burned out, feeling
(00:22):
inauthentic and still not makingany money.
On this show, we are ditchingthe shoulds.
I'm giving you permission to dobusiness differently.
As a certified master coach, Ibelieve that everything you need
to have success and build thelife and business of your dreams
is already living on the inside.
(00:43):
I'm going to empower you tolean into what you do best, help
you see your path forwardclearly and give you the
strategy and action steps alongthe way to become effortlessly
productive.
Let's dive in.
On today's episode, we are goingto be talking about the hidden
costs of not using businesssystems.
(01:06):
So if you didn't catch my lastepisode, make sure that you go
back and you listen to that ifyou are wanting to understand
why business systems and scalingmethods have not worked for you
in the past.
If you are a creative,spiritual entrepreneur, a healer
, a coach I hear so oftenbusiness systems just don't work
(01:31):
for me Scaling my business.
It just feels so inauthentic itdoesn't work.
I've tried it before.
I had no results.
So my last episode really divesinto why.
That is why these traditionalscaling methods don't work for
entrepreneurs like us.
Today, we are going to beshifting our focus a little bit
(01:51):
and we are going to be talkingabout the hidden costs of not
using our business systems, ofnot setting that stuff up.
Like I shared at the beginningof last episode.
We're going to have a littlebrief recap.
So when we are talking aboutbusiness systems, these are
things that we put in place tomake our business run more
efficiently maybe organizing,maybe when you are launching
(02:15):
your programs.
If you do not have a businesssystem, every single time you go
to launch a program, it's likerecreating the wheel.
Right, you are having toremember what were all the
things that I did last time thatworked so well and you're
having to pull that all out ofyour memory.
And then you're having to gorecreate all of that bit by bit,
piece by piece, because youdon't have the systems in place.
(02:38):
An example of a business systemin this case may be that you
have a launch plan that is laidout, week by week, of the exact
things that need to get done inorder to make that launch a
success social media posts andthe email marketing and the
stories that you shared.
And then setting up automations, maybe things that you're
(03:01):
delegating and outsourcing.
Maybe you don't do your owngraphics and that is something
you have to outsource.
We have to remember tooutsource that.
We have to reach out to ourgraphic designer and have them
create those graphics.
Maybe we have some automatedsystems, like people are able to
register for our program online.
(03:21):
Maybe we're doing a workshop ora masterclass to help promote
that paid program.
So we are launching that in theprocess of this bigger launch.
It's a lot of moving pieces andso if we sit down every single
launch and we're like, oh mygosh, okay, I have to remember
all the things I did last time,I have to make sure I don't miss
(03:42):
anything.
Or maybe we're just kind ofwinging it and doing something
different every single time, andthen we have that question of
like, why did it work so welllast time and this time it
wasn't as big of a success?
Well, maybe we missed somepieces along the way.
So an example of a businesssystem could be that
organization of week one I dothese things.
(04:03):
Week two, I do these things.
Week three I do these things tohelp pace you out and make sure
that you're using the samesuccess path that worked so well
for you before, so that wouldbe an example.
We can also think about all ofthose automated processes, or
outsourced processes, as well asbusiness systems.
So maybe it is having thatsales page, maybe it is having
(04:27):
an opt-in form, maybe it ishaving an email sequence that's
automated to follow up.
What I have found, though, is somany creative spiritual
entrepreneurs, coaches, healers.
They shy away from businesssystems because they either have
not worked for them in the pastor it just feels inauthentic,
(04:48):
or maybe in their head, they'rethinking I'm just not tech savvy
.
I'm going to do an episodecoming up very soon about that,
so keep an eye out for that.
If that is you, it's alwayslike I'm just not tech savvy.
I don't understand how to setthis stuff up.
So we have a whole host ofreasons why we might not be
using these business systems.
(05:09):
Maybe it's just that things aremoving at such a fast pace in
your business and you're like Iliterally don't even have the
time to get this stuff set up.
I don't know where I'm going tofind the time or the energy to
even put this stuff in place,because things are just moving
and moving and moving.
You're literally.
It's like whack-a-mole, right.
(05:29):
You're moving from one thing toanother and what I have found
is that we can use these reasonsof why we are not setting up
our business systems, but theyactually have hidden costs.
They are actually costing ushuge amounts in our business.
The first thing that I find sooften, when people do not get
(05:51):
business system set up and againthese can be very small, up to
full complete systems as wellwhen people do not get these
systems and automations andprocesses set up in their
business, burnout is likelycoming right, because as our
business grows, we are managingmore clients or maybe our
(06:12):
business is not growing the waythat we want it to and we're
trying to talk to more and moreand more people and reach more
people and go viral and do reelsevery single day and all these
things are to-do list.
Grows and grows and grows, andwe're just stuck in this mode of
busy, busy, busy, moving,moving, moving Again that
whack-a-mole moving from onething to another, to another,
(06:34):
without having a time to breathe, to reflect, to restore and
renew ourselves, and we cansustain that for a while, right,
especially if you are somebodywho's a very high performer.
We can sustain that level ofactivity and energy output for
often a very long period of time.
(06:56):
But unfortunately, what I havefound happens in the end is I
was going to say nine times outof 10, I would say probably like
999,999 times out of a million.
What happens is we are headedfor burnout.
We get to the point where westart to have a story in our
(07:18):
head, or a belief in our head ofoh my gosh, like if my business
gets to this next level ofgrowth, I literally don't even
know how I'm gonna handle it.
We also start to envision ourfuture and it's like is this
what this is going to be likeforever and a lot of the time,
what we are doing at thebeginning of our business or in
(07:39):
a middle stage or a season ofreally hitting things hard and
growing, can use the word hustle, a hustle season.
I've used that word.
I don't particularly love theword hustle, but if you want to
think about it that way, ifwe're in a hustle season and we
are doing all this stuff andreally trying to explode our
(08:00):
business.
But we get stuck there becausewe're not using business systems
, we're not using theorganizational stuff, we're not
automating so that we can scaleour business with effortless
ease.
What happens is we start tothink, oh, oh, my gosh, this is
going to be my life forever andfor most of us, the vision we
(08:23):
have for our life especially asa creative, as a coach, as a
healer we don't want to be stuckin that season forever.
That's not what we want for ourlives.
I find most creatives andhealers that I talk to and
coaches, the life they imaginefor themselves is one of peace,
(08:44):
it's one of having space, it'sone of being able to lean into
their own spiritual practices,to have time to create, to have
time to learn new things anddevelop new skills and try a
different kind of creativity.
So when we start to realizethat this season that we are
(09:06):
stuck in is going to actuallycompound and really be the rest
of our business life, a lot ofthe time we don't want to do
that.
That's not the vision that weactually have for ourselves.
So we hit that burnout and alot of the time it's very sad.
I see people just flat out quit.
They vanish off the face of theearth and nobody hears from
(09:28):
them for maybe 10 plus years.
So that is one of the hiddencosts is that we can actually
hit this place of burnout orrealizing that that's not what
we want for the rest of ourlives, that our current state
does not match that futurevision, and we just quit.
We're just done Right.
So that is a huge hidden cost.
(09:50):
Another hidden cost is that wemiss opportunities.
Lost is that we missopportunities.
If we are so stuck in, likejust taking care of what is
right in front of our face, weare actually missing all the
opportunities around us to takeour business to the next level.
Maybe you love speaking and youwould love to speak on stage,
(10:12):
but right now you're like Idon't even know how I would do
that because I literally am justgoing through the paces every
single day.
I literally don't even know howI would go out and find
speaking opportunities.
I don't know how I would havethe time to speak for people on
stages.
I don't know how I would havethe time to travel.
Maybe public speaking is notyour thing and you're like that
sounds awful and terrifying andI don't want to do that, but
(10:35):
there are all these other things.
When we don't have thesesystems in place and when our
business is not able to scaleand grow in the background, it's
that being able to scale andgrow in the background that
allows us to be able to go outand pursue all these other
opportunities that are out thereand even just be able to
(10:56):
literally see thoseopportunities that are in front
of us.
That is another hidden cost.
Is all of these things that youare dreaming of, that we don't
have the time and energy even tohave a download?
That that is what we want inour life, much less actually
going out and seeking that.
(11:17):
The last hidden cost that we aregonna touch on today in this
episode is not having thebusiness systems in place and
the scaling systems in place.
That actually puts a ceiling onyour growth.
It puts a ceiling on your ownpersonal growth.
It puts a ceiling on yourbusiness growth.
It puts a ceiling on how manyclients you can serve.
(11:40):
It puts a ceiling on yourincome because, like I said, our
time and, even more so, ourenergy, those are the things
that are our most limitedresources, and so, if we are
doing everything manually, if wedon't have any organization, if
we don't have any system thatwe are following and any
(12:01):
approach that we are following,there's only so many clients
that we can work with, only somuch income that we can bring in
before we hit that cap, beforewe hit that ceiling.
The only way to remove thatceiling is to somehow be able to
take our limited energyresource and our limited time
(12:24):
resource and compound them tobasically take our energy and
our time and be using it on thethings that are going to grow
our business and push it forwardand have all those other tasks
in our business and even justthe organizational side of it as
well.
We need to have that happeningwithout our time and energy
(12:46):
expenditure, so that we can takeour time and energy and use it
for our creative pursuits, forserving people, for creating new
programs, for making thatimpact that we want to make.
So not having the businesssystem set up, having the
(13:07):
business system set up, nothaving the scaling system set up
, is actually putting a hugeceiling on your growth.
It means that you don't havethe time to go take a course or
a certification, to learn newskills, to grow yourself as a
person, to go on retreats inorder to refuel yourself.
You can see how this actuallykind of spirals back into the
burnout side of things.
Right, if we're not recharging,that's that limit on our
(13:30):
personal growth as well.
And then, obviously, if we arehaving to do every single thing
manually and pull it out of ourmemory every single day, there
really is a limit to how manypeople that we can help, how
many people we can impact aroundthe world.
Those are just a few of thehidden costs of not implementing
(13:52):
business systems and scalingsystems into your business.
So I hope that this shed maybe alittle bit of light on some
things that you were feeling,but maybe you weren't able to
really verbalize it.
Maybe you are feeling a littlebit stuck around some of these,
or you're like that's great, butlike business systems
(14:13):
organizing, that is not my jam.
I am not tech savvy, I don'tknow how to do this.
That's okay.
Make sure that you keep tuninginto my episodes, because we are
going to be diving into some ofthis the next few weeks.
I also have a masterclasscalled Scaling Without Sacrifice
, if you are ready to dive inand learn actually how to do
(14:36):
some of these things, how to doit in a way that feels aligned
for you, that feels good for you.
That is, systems that you canmanage and tech that you can
learn.
Make sure you tune into that.
I cannot wait to catch you onthe next episode of Effortlessly
Productive.
I hope you have a beautifulrest of your day.
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The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!