What I Wish I’d Known Before Setting Up My Business Systems

What I Wish I’d Known Before Setting Up My Business Systems

If you’ve ever lost half a day trying to figure out which Google Doc had the thing, or why your client workflow somehow skipped a step again - then you’ll get why I’m writing this blog.

Because it didn’t have to be that hard.

But when I first started building systems in my business, I did what most of us do: I Googled what I thought I needed, downloaded a couple of pretty templates, tried to stick them together with duct tape and determination, and called it a day.

Which worked.

Until it didn’t.

Because once your business starts growing, those slapped-together systems start to crack. And you find yourself spending more time inside the system than doing the work it was meant to support.

So this week, I want to share a few things I wish I’d known before I started building my first business systems. It’s not about making it perfect - but it is about building it smarter.

1. You don’t need 50 systems. You need the right ones.

When I first discovered Airtable, I built a base for everything. Client onboarding, content planning, lead tracking, mood boards, meal prep...

It was a vibe.

But here’s the thing: a million disconnected databases don’t make your business run better. In fact, they can make it harder to see what matters most.

Your systems should make your life simpler - not become another thing to manage. That means choosing the essential ones: a way to track leads, deliver your offer, and stay on top of your marketing and admin.

(Everything else? Bonus. Not business-critical.)

2. Templates are a starting point, not a solution.

I’m not knocking templates. I sell them. I use them. I love them.

But I learned the hard way that slapping someone else’s Notion dashboard onto your business is like borrowing someone else’s to-do list.

It doesn’t really fit. It doesn’t reflect your goals, your clients, your delivery style, or your unique way of working.

Templates are there to save you time on setup - but you still need to customise them so they actually support how you work.

(Which is why my systems are designed to grow with you. Because the only thing worse than no system is one that constantly holds you back.)

 3. Automations are powerful, but they can’t fix a messy foundation.

I get it. Automation is sexy.

The idea that you can auto-magically move leads from your form to your spreadsheet to your email platform to your calendar? Delicious.

But if your backend is messy, automating it only spreads the chaos faster.

Before you automate anything, you need clarity. What’s the goal of this process? What steps actually need to happen? What order should they follow? And where does human input matter most?

Clean systems first. Automations second.

Always.

4. Your systems don’t have to look good. They just have to work.

I have spent more hours than I’d like to admit fiddling with Canva headers and colour-coded tags. (Aqua = admin, blush = batching, navy = newsletter, obviously.)

And it felt productive.

But no client ever said, "Wow, Emma, your ClickUp labels are stunning."

What they did notice was how seamless their onboarding felt. How easy it was to book a call. How quickly their questions got answered.

Pretty is fine. Functional is better.

5. You don’t have to set it all up at once.

This might be the biggest lesson of all.

When you’re overwhelmed, it’s tempting to think the answer is building the perfect system and getting it all done in a weekend. Like you can go to bed on Friday in chaos and wake up on Monday as Marie Kondo with a marketing plan.

But systems are meant to evolve.

Start small. Fix the thing that’s breaking. Choose one area that feels heavy, and make that easier.

Then move on to the next.

Your systems should support your success - not stifle it.

So if you’ve been stuck in the perfectionist loop, or knee-deep in colour-coding a process you haven’t even mapped yet, let this be your sign:

You don’t have to do it all.

You just have to start.

And if you want help setting up the essential systems every online business needs, you can check out Simple, Scalable Systems™ - designed to make the backend of your business feel blissfully boring (because that’s how you know it’s working).