Every month we run through a series of
questions to help you run your freelance business like a bigger business—“self-coaching” your way to better results and a better life.
Hey!
SOPs are a freelancer’s best friend…but too few of us make good use of them. That’s why this month, we’re taking a look at “standard operating procedures” and how to apply them to our freelance
businesses.
What is an SOP?
SOPs (standard operating procedures) are basically instructions for every repeatable process in your business. You can read more about them here.
They’re detailed in a way that minimizes guess work and variation. Check out this one from Zapier on onboarding a client. It’s in checklist form to make sure the client receives all the important documents, all legal documents get signed, and information gets entered into project management
software. (For example, I have a step in mine to move a client from a prospect email list to a client one in HubSpot.)
If you’ve ever gotten frustrated with a lack of continuity in your freelance business, you see why this is so valuable.
SOPs are often in checklist format because they’re exactly what’s going to save you from missing key steps that are critical for you,
your business, and your client…all while relieving you of the pressure and risk to keep it all in your head.
What matters most is that they’re …
- Simple and clear
- Consistent
- In line with the way you work
- Regularly updated when you run across issues or find reasons to change your processes.
Got questions on how SOPs work? Stop by the BlackFreelance Mastermind Discord.