Stop Figuring Out the Same Task Every Single Time

I hate lunch. I don't hate eating lunch, but I hate the process of making lunch. Our babysitter just had to witness this where I go upstairs, and I'm hungry. I always get hungry at the same time. I go upstairs, I look in my cupboard, I look in the fridge, I look on my counter, I shrug my shoulders, and then I just do the same thing over and over again until I resign myself to the fact that I'm going to eat something that is going to be as fast as possible and that I am not satisfied with. And it would actually be a lot easier for me if I did some meal prep at the beginning of the week so that I'd actually have something ready to go each day. I wouldn't be going into the process of making lunch blind.

Now, maybe you're wondering why I'm talking about lunch, though you're probably not if you read the description for this. And the truth is that, again, like I said, if I had a plan, maybe an SOP, for lunchtime, it'd be a lot less frustrating.

And a lot of solopreneurs do this same exact thing with their systems and processes in their work. They sit down, they get ready to work. They shrug their shoulders, and they're wondering, what do I need to do? How do I start this? What are the steps to doing this? And everything takes extra time because it's not written down, so they have to figure it out every time. And that, my friends, is what we are going to talk about today.

Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Streamlined Solopreneur, the show that helps overwhelmed coaches, consultants, and service providers build systems so their business doesn't depend on them. Each week I give you one practical idea to help you beat overwhelm, get your time back, use AI conscientiously, and run your business without sacrificing your life or your health.

And today it's a big one because I'm going to tell you how you can easily create SOPs. And yes, conscientious AI use is involved here. But first, why do you need an SOP, or a standard operating procedure at all? Well, it doesn't necessarily mean you're delegating, right? Which is why I think a lot of people this is what they see with SOPs. Just having the steps, just knowing what you're going to do before you do it, saves a ton of time. So let's get into the actual mechanics of creating a standard operating procedure.

First thing to keep in mind is that this is probably a task that you've performed at least once. It's something that you need to repeat. So, publishing a podcast episode, sitting down to write an article, or invoicing a client. These are all things that you are likely doing, hopefully invoicing a client more than once, that have the same set of steps. And so that's the first thing.

When you sit down to create your SOP, you should pick a task that has a very clear start state. And a very clear end state, because this is repeatable and you want something that you're going to do every time.

One of the first things that I like to do when I'm working on tasks is I keep a yellow legal pad next to me. And I just write down the steps as I understand them. So, oh, when I record a sponsor proposal video, first, I think of the packages. I write them down. I add them to Canva. I add anything else they asked for. And then I turn on Tella, record the video, edit the video, add it into the proposal, right?

So this is, you want a clear start and end state, and you want to make sure that you're writing down as many steps as possible. But you might forget something, or you might do something that you know to do that you don't think needs to be stated. But when you do hand this off to an assistant or an intern, they're not going to know, which is why the second step is so crucial.
So what you want to do once you've written down the steps is record yourself performing the task. I like Tella because it makes editing and tightening things up really easy. It will create chapter markers for you, and it will create the transcript automatically for you.

So I use Tella for a lot of other things. If you don't use like any kind of video or screen recorder for anything else, I would say don't go off and buy one, just use what you've got built in. But if you're looking for one, Tella is great. I use it for sponsored videos, asynchronous coaching, just connecting with people because I like sending videos to show them that I actually took time. And Tella is a really great tool for this. So make sure that you are sharing your screen. You can have yourself in the corner or not. It doesn't matter. But what does matter is that you show yourself performing the task from start to finish, and that you are narrating everything you're doing and why.

And the reason that you want to narrate why you're doing something is because as you review this later, you may determine, oh, I don't actually have to do step 3 anymore, right? Maybe as you're going through this, or as you review this down the line, you think, oh, I actually, I have a tool that does this now. I don't have to do it. So you want to have the justification in there. You want to add as much context as possible.

And the reason that you are narrating everything and justifying and explaining, as well as recording, is because of that imperceptible thing that I mentioned earlier. You might do something that you don't say out loud, but it is a thing that needs to happen.

And so when you review the video, you can say, oh, I forgot this step, right? My VA will watch these videos. And she hears what I'm saying, but she also sees what I'm doing. So she has the full picture. And so she can write down the exact steps that are necessary. But you want to record yourself performing the task from start to finish. I always like to state the start state, right? I always like to say out loud where I'm starting, where the files are, or whatever, and the end state.

Now that I've done all of these things, this is what it should look like as much context as possible. Because the next step is to take the transcript and put it into Claude or your large language model of choice and say, this is a transcript from a video I recorded performing this task. I want to create a standard operating procedure from it with step-by-step instructions. Please generate it. And the large language model is really good at this because it's going to take the context. It's going to add a bunch of things. It's going to create the file. I recommend you review it, and then you can take it and put it into a handbook of sorts.

I have a handbook in Notion because that's what my VA and I both access. And I embed the Televideo. Televideos are also embeddable in Notion, which is cool. And then right under it, I have the steps. This process works so flawlessly because all you're asking, like all you're asking the large language model to do, is take the transcript and interpret the steps. And yes, you still need to read it and review it.

But what it's also done for me is ask clarifying questions, which is great. It'll be like, you said this, but this didn't happen. Or like you hedged here, right? Because I usually just talk through the whole thing. So what is the decision that needs to be made? Or you did this and then you realized that you didn't need to do that later. What is the decision that needs to be made? So really good.

Will, like, will a VA save you more time doing this? Yes. When I record videos, I send them off to my VA. She answers all of these questions based on the context of seeing the video. But if you don't have a VA or you're not ready to delegate, but you want to document these things, this is a great, great process for it. And like I said, this is not just for delegation. This is so that you have the steps you need, especially if it's not something you do very often; having the SOP is hugely helpful. So that's why you should have the SOP.

That's how you can create an SOP using a screen recorder, a microphone, and a large language model. And if you don't have an SOP, if you're wondering like, where should I even start? I, my business feels broken, and I don't know where to start. I've got a great resource for you over at streamlined.fm/quiz. You'll answer a couple of questions, and it will tell you what system you should start with and then send you a resource for how exactly to get started. That's over at streamlined.fm/quiz.

But that's it for this episode of The Streamlined Solopreneur. Thanks so much for listening. And until next time, I hope you find some space in your week.