I built a system of Virtual Systems Architects out of a necessity to get things done in as little time and effort as possible. And that resulted in my building a business around that system of VSAs.
In as little as 5 minutes a day, anyone can build business processes with the help of a VSA. It is super easy! But I did not achieve this growing and thriving business overnight.
I got my business to where it is today because I have been closely applying three key principles. So, listen to this episode and find out what these three principles are and it might just help propel your business to the next level.
Overview & Episode Content
- Dean Soto Walks through Gates of Entrepreneurship
- Running a Business The Easy Way
- Your Main Business Activity has to be Done Online
- Find an Easy Recurring Income as the Main Source of Revenue
- Utilize as Many Tools or Strategies to Help Make Your Tasks Easy to Do
Dean Soto Walks through the Gates of Entrepreneurship
If you follow this podcast, then you know that I was in corporate before having this entrepreneurial lifestyle that I enjoy today. I was an IT consultant when my wife wanted to stay at home and care for the kids full-time. So, I went and figured out a way to make that possible for us.
I ended up taking a course by Ramit Sethi called “Earn 1K”. And it was awesome. That course propelled me to the next phase of my journey — which was full-on entrepreneurship.
Then, I found myself sitting on a small desk in my home office — which had too much extra space, by the way. And I was working on my computer to post my ad online. Back then, this was a side-hustle while maintaining my full-time work.
The ad was IT related and I ended up getting two clients. Dealing with the first client was a silly experience. I remember an old lady who was trying to find the “Any” key. Some programs would prompt the user to press any key to proceed. So, I told her to press a random button. And that was it!
The second client was much more interesting. She was a stay-at-home mom who had a computer that stopped working. I had to take her computer home because when I went over to her house to try and fix it on the spot, I simply did not have the tools.
Although it was just a $50 job, it took me more than 8 hours to get it fixed. My customer was so happy to have it fixed that she paid me $120 instead. It was nice but I could not keep doing that.
“There has to be a better and easier way to do business,” I thought.
Running a Business the Easy Way
Now, although I had one happy customer, I thought to myself that I cannot keep doing this thing where I had to go through so much effort for $50 and on top of that, maintain the full-time job that I have, as well.
So, that's when I started really moving things to a path where things must become as easy to do as humanly possible. And business is no exception.
I continued on with building a business. And in no time, I started utilizing WordPress and teaching people how to start building websites. I started moving my business in a direction where I can help people do stuff online — erasing the need for me to be physically present with them in order to be of help.
Developing that kind system early on allowed me to work from anywhere. Also, it allowed me to hire people who can do the work for me.
My goal the whole time was to make my business as simple as possible. I needed to reach a point where I no longer do most of the minutiae of tasks that a lot of business owners do. And this is the key advantage I had on my competitors.
Your Main Business Activity has to be Done Online
Here are three key principles that I apply in any business that I personally create or am involved in. Now, this is not to toot my own horn. I am sharing these key principles in the hopes of helping you grow and scale your business.
The first principle is to do your main business activities online.
Now, these activities could be consulting calls through Zoom. It could even be doing normal phone calls or remotely connecting to someone’s computer. Whatever that main business activity may be, it has to be done online.
Okay, I know that not every business can do this. I am speaking directly to those husbands who want to be able to maintain their full-time jobs but also to do other things on the side. I am mainly speaking to those types of people who want to start their business as a side-hustle.
Remember, it has to be done online. That way, you are able to work from anywhere at any point in time.
For example, I want to be able to go on vacation and if something ever comes up, I can handle it. Or if it is in the morning on the West Coast for me but my customer is on the East Coast, then I can do things early in the morning to benefit my customer.
I do not want to be working all the time. The best-case scenario is to have the freedom to work at any time and anywhere.
Find an Easy Recurring Income as the Main Source of Revenue
The second principle is to set your business to have at least one recurring income as its main source of revenue.
So, one of my services is operations and systems consulting. I go in and spend as little time as possible to look at the operations of businesses. And then, I fix their systems so they are able to make a lot more money.
Once these businesses have unlocked the barriers that prevent them from earning more, they are able to pay me more. And it is great to get that influx of cash.
However, once that deal is done, then it is done. The fact is, it is not a good place to be if you are constantly looking for new business and clients.
Your business has to have recurring income. With ProSulum.com, for example, I have my VSAs. Now, this network of VSAs is my recurring income. They constantly give value to my customers, but at the same time, customers can also hire me directly to do consulting for their business.
There is nothing wrong with having an influx of sales from each transaction. But the time and effort dedicated to searching for new clients just to maintain a steady stream of revenue are wasted when you could have that on autopilot if only you develop a recurring income.
It is a hard business to be always returning back to zero. The fact is, that type of business model becomes very hard to sell later on.
Utilize as Many Tools or Strategies to Help Make Your Tasks Easy to Do
The final key principle is utilizing as many tools or strategies that help you do less. And it might sound obvious at first but business owners can easily miss this when focused on the minutiae of tasks involved in running the business.
Early on, I started working with subcontractors. I paid them through online cheques and digital banking. Everything was great until January the following year when I needed to send 1099s to all of them. And it sucked for me because of the amount of time it required to do.
After I consulted with my CPA, I found a way to get around sending 1099. You can pay via PayPal or some other electronic means. That means that I don’t have to send 1099s if I pay my subcontractors electronically. But be sure to consult with your CPA as well for this.
The fact is, it saved me a ton of time and heartache every January. And that is just the tip of the iceberg! I use ASANA — a project management system that I use to track projects for free. I use Slack for communications — also free. Also, I use Whatsapp for communications as well, which is also free.
These things allow you to move and do things quicker than your competitors. It allows you to scale without using things like email because emails get lost. I just had a client who did not notice that they got an important email.
Always try to find the easy way out. And this is not about being lazy. This is about doing things the most effective way possible in as little time and effort so you can focus on more important things.
The goal is to do more with as little time and effort as possible.
Conclusion
That is why our VSA customers can build processes in 5 minutes. They can literally turn on their video, shoot their process, send it over to the VSA, document it, and then the customer never has to do it again. It is that simple and easy.
And this came about because I wanted the easy way of doing things for me! So, those are the three principles I apply that have propelled me to this thriving and growing business that I get to enjoy today.
Resources and Links
This is Dean Soto, your host, and founder of FreedomInFiveMinutes.com. Thanks for listening to this episode and I will catch you in the next Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast Episode.