8 Business Systems That Save Me 40+ Hours a Week (Steal These!)

Okay, real talk — your business doesn’t need more offers. It doesn’t need more launches. It doesn’t even need more time. Ya heard me.

What you actually need? Better. Freakin’. Systems.

People say “systems” aren’t sexy. But listen!

When you realize that SYSTEMS = Save Your Self Time, Energy, Money & Stress, suddenly systems start looking way hotter.

Today, I’m breaking down the 8 fail-proof systems I literally could not run my business without.

Without these, I’d need like 100 team members and a real-life AI clone of myself, or I’d literally just move to Italy and hide in a vineyard somewhere lol. 

These systems have helped me grow my business sustainably.

And the best part is that they’re not complicated, they’re not boring, AND they work even if you’re a one-person show.

Btw you don’t have to build your business alone, I’m here to help! If you love behind-the-scenes breakdowns like this, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter – because I drop a brand-new post every single week to help you build a business you love without burning out.

Alright, system #1:

1. YouTube Metrics & Testing

Once upon a time, my YouTube strategy was basically upload and pray to the YouTube Gods.

Don’t get me wrong, my team and I did a ton of research BEFORE selecting our title and thumbnail – of course, we researched keywords and trends and did our best to create what we thought our audience would enjoy AND the algorithm would push out there.

But we were still sort of just guessing based on what we THOUGHT looked good at the moment.

Sometimes it worked, but most of the time we were leaving money (and views) on the table.

So we started rigorously looking at our YouTube metrics because what you measure, you can improve, and this is one of the things I love about YouTube, their platform insights are amazing.

So, instead of throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks, we instead created a testing system that gives us valuable lessons and helps us make data-backed decisions for future content.

It goes like this:

First, we use TubeBuddy to test two titles and two thumbnails for every single video we upload.

This tool then automatically swaps out the losing thumbnail as soon as the data is statistically significant.

But here’s the juicy part. After the first 24 hours, we stalk every video’s analytics like hawks.

We want to know – how is the overall performance compared to usual? And how is the click-through rate looking? 

If the click-through is high, but the overall performance is low, that tells us that the thumbnail is strong and the title is weak.

If the overall performance is high, but the click-through rate is low, that tells us the title or topic is strong, but the thumbnail needs work.

If both are looking good – that tells us we’re on the right track with both our title, topic and thumbnail.

We look at these stats in the first 24 hours and make updates, changes and tweaks accordingly. 

We’ve seen a significant boost in overall channel performance ever since implementing this testing system. 

We aren’t just guessing anymore. We’re learning, tracking and making data-back decisions from there.

I’ll say it again, what you measure you can improve! And this doesn’t just go for YouTube metrics – you should be analyzing your own email, conversion and social media metrics to takeaway valuable insights.

2. Gamified Memberships

Alright, let’s talk about memberships, and more specifically, RETENTION.

The biggest problem most people face when it comes to memberships is that their members typically join with TONS of excitement and “I can do this!” energy.

But then, once they get inside, they quickly become overwhelmed by too many resources.

They aren’t sure what to do first or next or why, so they just kind of don’t do anything at all. 

They take NO ACTION. And then, what do they do? They cancel their membership.

Not because it wasn’t valuable, but because it feels like too much.

That happened inside my SPARK Membership too, until we built the SPARK Roadmap.

This is a gamified, step-by-step path that guides my members as they build their dream business from home, with action steps to take at each level.

The steps are fixed, but the timeline is fluid. They unlock ONE level at a time as they progress through the growth milestones. No overwhelm. No “where do I start?” panic.

Our members get EXACTLY what they need to focus on RIGHT NOW to see growth and results in their business.

And once they complete their milestone for their current level, the next level is unlocked and they even win a special badge to celebrate – and it’s all automated. Ohhhhh, still think systems aren’t sexy?

Then, my Sparkies also get weekly coaching calls with me and my team where we share new strategies, offer support and keep them accountable.

BTW – SPARK is my membership for freelancers and digital marketers who want to build a consistent and predictable service-based business from home.

Doors are currently closed and only open twice a year, which may or may not be happening soon *wink *wink

If that’s something you’re interested in learning more about, I’ll drop the link to join the waitlist here. 

3. 1-1 DM Strategy 

While a lot of the systems I’m talking about today ARE automated and we love them for that.

Sometimes REAL human connection is the system we all need more than anything.

And when it comes to DMs, comments, and emails, it’s 1:1 conversations all the way. 

I believe that keeping your communications with your audience REAL and HUMAN is one of the top things you can do to build trust in today’s overly automated, cold & HIGHLY SKEPTICAL marketplace. 

But I’m also not unrealistic.

I definitely DON’T have 12 hours a day to spend typing out individual responses to everyone – and neither do you. 

So here’s what we do: 

My support team screens everything – all emails, all DMs, all comments – across every platform. 

If it’s something they know I’d want to personally reply to, they’ll flag it for me or move it to my “Primary” inbox and I usually try to respond in 1-2 days. 

Otherwise, my support team will respond to these messages themselves, as themselves and will honestly share that it is NOT ME on the other end.

Because whether you’re using AI or a team member to respond to messages. Honesty is a non-negotiable in my book, as is being a kind and compassionate person.

We get messages all the time from people who are literally SHOCKED, and mostly GRATEFUL that a real human took the time to respond to them.

We even used this 1:1 method to close high-ticket sales when we opened applications to my $10,000 REIGN mastermind. 

This is a perfect example of a DM that my support team would flag as needing to be responded to by me. Usually I’ll shoot off a few voice memos like this:

So not all systems need fancy software or automations.

Sometimes a great system is just a repeatable process. This conversation led to a $10,000 sale on the spot.

4. Email List Management

Your email list is probably a hot ass mess. No offense. Before I implemented this system, mine was too. 

Inactive subscribers tanking your email performance.

Promotional emails going to everyone on your list – even people who couldn’t care less – shooting unsubscribes going through the roof.

Suddenly landing in the promotions tab and watching your opens, clicks and sales plummet.

So here’s the system my team and I implemented to fix it:

Every 3-6 months, my team does a list scrub – where inactive subscribers get removed from my list. Yup, it hurts a little. Ok, a lot.

But this alone gives our emails an instant deliverability boost to the people who ACTUALLY want to hear from us and open and read my amazing emails lol.

We also started RIGOROUSLY segmenting our list (and this is still a work in progress).

But we make sure to tag new subscribers based on what freebie, training, or quiz they signed up for.

Then, instead of blasting the whole list every time we promote something.

I quite often only promote to people who’ve already raised their hand for that specific offer OR a related offer that would put them into the same “interest” segment. 

For example:

When we very occasionally open doors to SPARK, the only people who get our entire promotional campaign are those people in the “SPARK interest” segment, which includes people on the waitlist (click below) or people who have expressed interest in our Spark-related content.

Of course, we’ll still send a few promo emails to my WHOLE LIST, but we no longer bombard my entire list with every single promotion email, every single time we promote something.

We also ALWAYS include a campaign opt-out option at the bottom of all promotional emails, so they can stay on my list without getting any more promo emails of THAT particular offer. 

So btw – don’t ever unsubscribe! If you don’t want my promo emails, just pause that particular campaign. Easy peasy!

The result of all of this is higher opens, higher conversions, and fewer unsubscribes. See? I told you systems are LIFE. 

If you want me to do a full post breaking down how I tag, segment, and automate my list, comment below and let me know!

We just discussed sending out emails. But what about emails coming IN to my inbox? Yup, you better believe I have a system in place for:

5. Inbox Organization 

This was probably the very first system I ever set up in my business years ago and it has been a MASSIVE time-saver in my business! 

If you’ve ever logged into your email to be greeted with hundreds or maybe even THOUSANDS of unread emails that instantly spiked your cortisol levels, you NEED this system in your life.

Btw, I find your either a “I can’t stand unread emails in my inbox” kinda person or a “omg, my inbox is where emails go to die” kinda person. Which one are you? Comment below and let me know.

I am very much the former. I LOVE a clean inbox and created my own variation of the Inbox Zero system.

Where every single email is either immediately deleted.

OR getting marked as needs response, pending, read only.

OR it’s moved into a “later folder”, like receipts or my famous inspo folder. 

My VA goes into my inbox every day and does this for before I get online.

That way, when I log in, all I have to do is check out the priority tags and spend 5 minutes reading or responding to emails then I’m DONE. 

It’s life-changing, I’m telling you. And even if you don’t have a VA, doing this yourself every morning is easy and make sure you don’t miss a single thing.

Alright, this next one is a newer system my team and I recently implemented. But honestly, I can’t believe we ever survived without it.

6. “Hot Hooks” Meetings

Every month, my team and I have what we call a “Hot Hooks” meeting.

And the goal is soooo simple. 

For one hour – everyone shows up for a totally unfiltered, there’s-no-such-thing-as-a-stupid-idea Brainstorming session.

We brainstorm hooks and angles for anything and everything that we have coming down the pipeline. 

Whether that’s an upcoming promotion.

A YouTube video.

A new lead magnet.

A program.

Ad.

Or literally ANYTHING ELSE.

Instead of one or two people trying to carry the creative load, the whole team dumps their ideas.

We walk away with dozens (sometimes hundreds) of hooks and angles. 

Even the ones we don’t go with for “the main hook” still usually get recycled into future content.

Maybe it’s a subject line for an upcoming email, social post, a YouTube video or ad! 

We cook up SO MANY juicy ideas during this meeting that we baked into our marketing process and created a SYSTEM to implement the ideas.

Remember 80% of good marketing is the hook, so create time and a system to get this right!!

Alright, just two more systems left and I’m telling you.

These two systems ALONE completely transformed my marketing department.

7. Promo Dashboard 

It goes without saying that launches and promotions can be logistical nightmares for most business owners.

There are so many moving parts to keep track of.

Like different emails being sent out to different segments – sometimes 5 or 10 of them!

Specialized tracking links and pages, like sales pages, hub pages, and thank you pages. 

Offers that have to close by a certain time.

Bonuses that have to disappear.

Pages that need updated content.

New videos.

Check out links, discount codes – AH!

IT’S A LOT to keep track of. 

And without a great system in place, mistakes are bound to happen.

We set up something called a Promo Dashboard for every single promotion we run.

This is a single Notion page that my WHOLE TEAM has access to, where we store all of the promotion info.

I’m talking the campaign context, goals, pages, segments, tags, ads, tracking links, FAQs, & our multi-segment email playbook.

This is HUGE when it comes to organizing launches and promotions.

Instead of feeling chaotic and stressful, launch week CAN feel easy-breezy. Well, EASIER and BREEZIER, it’s still always a bit crazy. 

Alright, and lastly, this is the NEWEST system we put into place.

8. Visual Funnel Audit

If you read my post on the MASSIVE MISTAKE we found in our marketing funnel, then you already know what I’m about to say.

We just started using this tool called Miro to visually map out our funnel.

Every freebie, every offer, every upsell.

All mapped out like a giant marketing family tree. It makes it super easy to spot any gaps in your funnel.

The first time we did this we found a massive hole in our funnel that was likely costing us thousands of dollars every month. Big yikes. 

So this visual auditing system is now baked into our PROCESS to do this every 6 months to a year. 

If you haven’t read that post yet and want a more detailed explanation of HOW we used Miro to audit our funnel, I’ll link that post for you right here. 

And that’s it — the 8 systems I couldn’t run my business without.

Pick ONE to start with this week. Trust me, even one small system can change the game for you.

And if you want the exact roadmap I give my SPARK members to systematize, simplify, and scale their own service-based businesses from home as one-person show.

Hop on the SPARK waitlist.

Don’t forget to subscribe for more actually-actionable business tips like this. 

I’ll see you next week with a brand new post. 

And if you want to learn more about how we visually audited our marketing funnel, stick around for the next post from me. 

Until then, I’m Alex. Ciao for now.

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