⚙️ Business Systems

If it only works when you're there, you're the bottleneck. A "system" is just a checklist someone else can follow.

Quick win · 15 minutes · today

Tape up one checklist.

Write a 10-line opening checklist on a notecard — the things you do every morning without thinking. Tape it where staff can see it. That's your first system. Tomorrow it's the closing list. That's your second.

What actually works

Opening and closing checklists. The two that matter most. Ten lines each. Laminate them.
One inventory day. Same day every week. Count the 10 things you run out of. Reorder before you're out.
A cleaning card. Who, what, when. Customers notice clean before they notice anything else.
Write it once, stop repeating it. If you've explained it three times, it should be on a card.
Automate the boring. Appointment reminders, review requests, reorders — your POS or a free tool can send them while you sleep.
Let AI draft the SOP. Tell it the task; it writes the steps; you fix the details.

AI prompt

Write a simple opening checklist and a closing checklist for a [type of business] with [number] employees. Each should be 8–12 short lines a new hire could follow without asking me. Plain language, in the order you'd actually do them.

Templates — ready to use

Opening checklist (edit for your place)

OPENING — [Business] ☐ Lights, music, thermostat ☐ Unlock, sign to OPEN ☐ Register: count drawer $____ ☐ Restrooms clean & stocked ☐ Entrance / front area clean ☐ Prep / stock the first hour's needs ☐ Check today's schedule & specials ☐ Phone / online orders on ☐ Walk the floor once as a customer would ☐ Ready. Greet the first person by name if you can.

Closing checklist

CLOSING — [Business] ☐ Last customer out, sign to CLOSED ☐ Register: count, record $____, drop ☐ Wipe surfaces, sweep, trash out ☐ Restock for tomorrow's open ☐ Restrooms checked ☐ Note anything broken / low on the card by the register ☐ Lights, thermostat, lock, alarm ☐ Text the owner: "Closed, all good" (or what's not)

Weekly cleaning card

MON: floors deep + windows · TUE: fridges/storage · WED: restrooms deep THU: behind counter / equipment · FRI: entrance, signs, patio · Every day: surfaces + restroom check

Reorder note (by the register)

RUNNING LOW → write it here, don't just remember it: Item: ________ How much left: ____ Date: ____ Initials: ____

"How we do X" — SOP skeleton

HOW WE [TASK] AT [BUSINESS] When: ____ Who: ____ 1. ____ 2. ____ 3. ____ Done looks like: ____ If something's wrong: tell ____

Examples

Illustrative examples — not promises. Your results depend on your business.

Coffee shop: two laminated cards (open/close) meant the owner stopped getting 6am texts. Staff opened without her for the first time in three years.

Salon: turned on automatic appointment reminders in the booking app. No-shows dropped by a third — zero effort after the one-time setup.

Hardware store: a "running low" clipboard by the register ended the weekly "we're out of that" scramble. Reorders happened before the shelf went empty.

👥 Employees 💵 Money & Profits 🤖 AI Toolkit

Next step

Tape up the opening checklist today. Closing checklist tomorrow. Then let someone else open.

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