Business Processes For Book Publishers - Case Study

And it's only when I started actually doing it that I saw the benefits quite quickly. Yeah, I saw the benefits of each and how they could improve each service and customer service really quite quickly. And it's that boost that goes, oh, it works. Okay, I get it now. I get what it's for.

Hello, it's David from Systemology and today we are shining a spotlight on businesses and I've got Maddie Glenn from Softwood Self Publishing and she's going to tell us a little bit about her journ journey to business systemization. So firstly, Matty, just like to welcome you and if you could maybe introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the work that you guys do at Softwood.

Yeah, hi. Yeah, so I'm Maddie Glenn. So I run Softwood. We essentially help authors through the publishing journey. So we provide all the services required to publish your book. So that could be editing, design, print, formatting, distribution, you name it, we offer it essentially.

Yes. Yeah. I know firsthand how much work goes into publishing a book. And I think a lot of first time authors especially don't appreciate how much work goes in before the book is launched and then how much work is required after the book is launched.

Yeah, yeah. I mean it's, it's, there's so many different elements required to publish a book. So many different departments essentially and different skill sets required to publish a book. So I suppose what we do is bring it all together for you and manage it. Yeah, and then we help with marketing and distribution afterwards. Once you've actually printed the thing, I.

Could imagine the process lends itself very well to be systemized and documented because there's a series of things that needs to be done. So I can almost instantly see how a systems approach would kind of improve what you're doing. Can you tell us a little bit about how you came across Systemology?

So it's actually while I was networking, I was just. There was a friend of mine there and somehow we got onto the topic. I think I was really up against it at the time. I was kind of struggling and really stressed and I was just saying to him, how do you manage it? And he went, oh, haven't you read this book? And he just sent me the link to Amazon and said, you've got to read this book. I'm reading it for the second time. You've got to read it. It. So I thought, okay, let's give it a go. And I, I read your book and I mean, I was hooked. And it made complete sense to me and especially because, as you say, my business is very. It's. There's so many different elements. It's all about project management. And Systemology has helped me work out how to sort of manage a project right from the beginning all the way through, especially because all of our. All of our clients are bespoke. All of the books we do, you know, we don't really offer packages in that way. It's very bespoke, so it can get complicated. And Systems has helped us with project management hugely.

I think that sounds interesting because a lot of people, they think, and it's a little bit of a misconception, my business is bespoke, and therefore it can't be systemized yet. It kind of sounded like you flipped that on its head there.

Yeah. I think there was one line in your book that said there was something like, yeah, you can. You can systemize and write things down and how they work, but don't make it too structured or too stiff. You know, allow it to be flexible, allow it to change. So our systems aren't. Aren't necessarily very structured in that way. They're. They allow for things to be bespoke. I mean, when I say bespoke, a client gets to make their own decisions a lot of the time, and we give them lots of different options, but still within those options, we have systems. If they choose this path, we have a system for that path, you know, so it allows us to stay bespoke. Yeah.

Oh, very good. And before reading the book, would you have, like, if someone had asked, are you a systems person? Like, what? Do you see yourself as a systems person?

I think so. We had heard of it. The idea that we've been. We've called them processes.

Yep.

And somebody had told me to write down all of your processes, but they didn't really explain any further. And I kind of thought, I don't really understand what a process is. And doesn't that sound really boring, just sitting there and writing down your processes? And I just thought, what's the purpose of it? What? Why? And. And as soon as I read your book, I went, right, systems. That's a much easier way to think about it. And I completely see the purpose. Why? And reading your book, I went, oh, yeah, it's all in my head. Of course I'm a systems person. It's all there. It's just not on paper. So I think in a way, I always was a systems person. I just didn't really understand what that meant or what the purpose was.

Yes. And when you've Introduced it to the team. I know you work with a range of freelancers and then you've got some full time employees as well. How did you approach that as far as we're making some changes or how did you introduce some of the systems you were documenting? Take us through a little bit of that process.

So I think half of this year has been challenging for us in the terms of we've had a lot of clients, a proper influx, a wave of clients and trying to bring on new staff and manage that while managing the clients. It was chaos. It was really difficult to handle. And only in the last three months I started using Monday.com and that's all because I thought, okay, we need to properly systemize the management of all these different freelancers and all these different clients and have it all in one place. So, yeah, so I had a team meeting which was on Zoom because we're all around the country and said, okay, we're going to start working Monday.com, working on Monday.com. and I'd done some research into it and played around with it for a few weeks and I said, this is what's going to happen. These are our new systems. And I asked them for feedback, saying, can you, can you tell me what things do you really struggle with? And they were all about systems. They were all, this one takes forever or I don't really understand what to do here, or I feel like we're making this up every time we do it. And from there we really highlighted pain points and went, okay, well, they're the systems that either exist but don't work very well or don't exist at all. And just through using Monday and having everyone on one board in that way has helped us introduce systems to everybody. And they're all really open. Everyone seems really open as soon as I say, okay, let's try and fix this. Do you have any ideas how we can fix this? And everyone's really open and helpful. I'm the one who writes all the lists and actually makes it into loom videos and whatever. But they're really helpful for their feedback.

Yeah, yeah. I think getting the team on board just is a great way. People tend to support what it is that they help to create. So being involved in that process definitely will get that buy in. Have you had a chance, Is there anyone naturally, that started to stand out in the team that might be able to help support you in the creation of the systems? I know at the start especially, you know, as you're getting going, it's easy for the Business owner too. There's also a chance that it can consume quite a lot of time. So I'm just curious to know if you've thought a little about that.

I think that's my biggest challenge.

Yeah.

Trying to find somebody else who could do it because I'm the only one really who has fingers in every single pie. I, I know all the departments and I know how it all works. And at the moment we don't really have somebody on that same level. I'm training up somebody who's actually my husband. He, he mostly works in marketing, but we're looking at taking one as a director's role. But still, I'm, I'm the kind of one who knows how it all works. So I have asked a few other people doing, you know, in different departments to, to come up with lists for how they do things and then I kind of make it into a system that makes sense. So I have asked a few people to do that, but honestly it's, it's fallen on me. I mean, yeah, that's my challenge, but I also really like doing it. I'm the one in the team that finds that fun. So, yeah, definitely.

One thing that I've found because a lot of business owners, when they start the process, actually really enjoy it. And oftentimes I talk about it in the book when you first get started getting, finding the team members that already know how to do the things and capturing what they're currently doing and making that version number one. And then once you reach minimum viable systems, you've got a good number of systems and it touches all aspects of the business. Oftentimes that creates enough space for the business owner to work on the systems. Because then like initially when you're caught up in the day to day, you just don't have the space and the time to do it. But once you've got that space, for some business owners, it makes perfect sense to be the system architect. Especially if they enjoy it because they can then craft it the way that they would like it to be.

Yeah, exactly. That. That's what's happened to us. I mean, in the last few months we kind of had a brainwave. I was looking at who does what in each department. Now, bearing in mind there's not that many of us, so we often are doing various things across various departments. You know, if there's seven different departments, there's only two or three of us doing things. But I'm still trying to split it up about who's doing what in each department and we Realized that my husband and I, who's sort of a fellow director, that we were both doing departments that we didn't like doing. So I'm not so into the sales side of things. I've done that for six years now, and I want to move on from sales. But I love doing the finances and he hates doing the finances and he's brilliant with sales. He's got the gift of the gap. So we thought, what are we doing here? Why are we both doing finances and sales? How does that make any sense? So we, we had a talk and we worked out new systems for, okay, how can he send me information to manage the finances of his specific clients? And how can I make sure that he gets all the sales clients? And ever since then, it seems like we should have the same amount of work because we've just divided it up. But actually we're better at those bits of work, we're faster at it. So I've had far more time to be able to just write systems and work things out and talk to my staff and work out how they're doing with everything.

Definitely. When you start to think of your business as a system and then you think about the subsystems, the marketing system, finance system, hr, operations, and you think of each of those as distinct subsystems. And then there are obviously a lot of processes and documented how to's that sit under neath that. I think just going through that exercise helps you to start to think about, well, who's going to be doing what and who's going to wear what hat. And that ultimately creates a level of responsibility as well. Like the finance is now falling with you. Well, that's your responsibility where your husband's doing the sales, and now you can start to lean on each other's strengths. So I feel even when you're a small team, setting that structure up right helps you in the short term and also the long term. Because then as you start to grow you, then it's more clear to you, ah, this is a role, or we need to recruit someone to handle this now, because you're clear this is what the role is and these are some of the critical systems for that particular role.

Yeah, but also, if you're looking at taking on a new service, for example, going to grow the business with a new service, you have to think to yourself, okay, is there anyone in these departments who has the time to manage that service? Or do I need to take on a new role? Where would they fit in the whole department head, you know, where would they fit in and what kind of role am I looking for? And actually it helps you work out who you're looking for. So it helps with the recruitment process. And, you know, otherwise you could be looking for something quite vague which people don't always apply for, or people apply for the slightly wrong things. They're not quite sure what it is. But if you have a real clear department structure, you can employ the right person in the right place with the right skills.

Yes.

But also it's, it's. I think it really changed my mindset from small business to big business.

Yeah.

And I think I felt very much like I was just floating along and trying to get on with the craziness of a lot of clients. And now I'm thinking, okay, what happens when we do have CEOs and directors and board meetings and department heads and all those kinds of hierarchy in that way? How do we structure that? Well, let's start now. And yeah, the department head and the director and CEO are all the same person, but let's start now so that we can fill in those roles later. And it's really clear who does what.

I love that you're kind of setting yourself up for success as you started down the process. Have you had any wins along the way that oftentimes some of those early wins kind of really motivate you to stick with it because it's. While the benefits are worth it, it is also hard work and it doesn't happen magically and you will have to work and there will be challenges. So I always like to find out if, if you had some early wins.

Yeah. There's a very specific, specific example here is actually of a service that we were giving too much to the client, which is not what you'd expect. So we offer marketing to our clients and at the end of each month we were giving them in depth KPI data about how their social media platforms were going. And that took two or three weeks sometimes to actually develop. You know, thinking 50 clients, you know, to develop in depth KPIs and strategies and everything every month. And it became a real headache for the people in that department. It was really, really difficult. And we weren't actually being paid any extra for it. We just included in part of the service. So it got to the point where everyone was complaining about that that first week of the month. And we thought, how many clients actually care about that? Do clients actually care about this in depth KPI report? Go talk to them. And we said, just sort of on email, put your hand up if you'd like to continue with these reports. And we got no response. So instead we've now restructured it and decided if you want an in depth report, you just pay a small amount extra and we'll take the time and do that. If you don't, we'll give you a one liner each month or just say this is the sort of main thing that's gone really well this month. And wow, has that transformed that department.

Yes.

Suddenly they have one to two weeks extra per month. You know, where they're not dealing with KPI data and they're, they're actually doing the work and they're much happier and the customer service has improved and all the clients are still perfectly happy. They don't feel there's anything missing because I think they saw a lot of numbers in this KPI report and ignored them. Yeah. And I went, yeah, yeah, sounds good. And, and so we think actually we were doing too much and let's dial back a bit and it's made life so much easier.

I know that sort of touches on the optimized phase and the idea of really once you get the core systems in place and you think about having a dashboard in place and you really just start to listen what's going on in the business. And then whenever there's a challenge or an issue that's cropping up, you then note it down. And then when you go through it, you look for, well, what's the root cause here and how can we adjust the system? So it kind of sounds like you've identified that, hey, we're using all of this time on these reports. And then you've said, well, let's have a look at the root cause here. And okay, well now we're analyzing and questioning, do we even need to do it? And then you make an adjustment to the system and it's those micro improvements that when stacked upon each other really deliver huge compound benefits further down the line. And sometimes this, they can be small, sometimes they can be larger and you see it straight away. But the biggest impact happens further down the line when all of these micro changes get applied.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I find that if there's been a mistake made or there's an issue with a service or customer service or whatever, there are two reasons why it could have been made. And it's either the member of staff who made a mistake has ignored the system and so you can talk to them and train them through the system again, or the system didn't work in the first place. It was confusing, it wasn't clear enough. It wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't working. And so you can either then train up your client, your member of staff, and try and try and make them understand the system, or you can say, okay, how would you like us to fix the system? And it's so important, I think, for the higher ups, if you want to say, the directors or CEOs, to listen to those on the shop floor essentially and say, why isn't our system working? You tell me and I'll see what I can do to fix it. Because they're the ones who have to do the day to day. They're the ones who have to actually act out the system. You've written in a piece of paper, you know.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I think that's. That really helps me identify why a mistake might have been made.

Yes. If we were to go back in time, is there anything that you could say to yourself when you started this journey that might have helped you? Like, is there anything that. Yeah. You wish you knew now that you're a little bit further along with regards to systems? I don't know if anything stands out for you.

Perhaps that they're more exciting than I thought they would be. Right at the beginning, I thought, wow, literally I'm going to spend my whole day writing down lists. And I think that's why I procrastinated on it, you know, and it's only when I started actually doing it that I saw the benefits quite quickly. Yeah, I saw the benefits of each and how they can improve each service and customer service really quite quickly. And it's that boost that goes, oh, it works. Okay, I get it now. I get what it's for. So I think, I think I would have started this earlier.

Yes.

Yeah. And I think I would have looked at department heads earlier. Yeah, yeah. I think I should have paid a bit more attention to that earlier on instead of, you know, I have a habit of not delegating, so I've been really learning how to delegate and that's really helped me. So I think in the last year there's been a big transformation, but last year I wasn't delegating properly. There was a lot of stress and sort of keeping your head above water. So I think if I'd started this earlier, it would have helped a lot in this year. Yeah.

And one last question, if I may. I can see just in the corner there you've got a copy of Systemology. I can see it in the back corner there. I'm wondering when you have a look through it is there like any big aha moments or anything that you got from the book where you thought I didn't think of it that way. Or wow, that was great to hear. Or yeah. Anything that really stood out for you?

Hard to say. I mean, probably this page. I mean, I've cornered almost every other page of the book, but on this page I've written. I don't know if you can see, but I've written notes everywhere in pencil. But I've. I've written notes all over it going, oh, I understand how I can use this for my business. I. I'm trying to remember which part is. I think it's about. Oh, yeah, it's about project management.

Oh, there you go. Yeah.

And how to make it, how to break it down into tasks.

Yeah.

And make it really clear. Okay, you do this and then you do this and then you do this.

I definitely think rolling out some form of project management software or task management software. So that way it's very clear who is doing what by when. And when you pair that then with a system and I think you touched upon it earlier, then it becomes really easy to manage the team member because either the team member did or didn't follow the system or there was something wrong with the system and either way you kind of then know the next steps to fix it. Either you start work on the system or you say to the team member, well, we have a process and you have to follow the process. That's what we do here. So I think, yeah, that just. That alone, I think will have a tremendous impact.

So got a really good example of it from McDonald's the other day. I went through the drive thru just to get some pudding and I had three, my three stepsons with me who are teenagers and we asked for some McFlurries. So we got three different flavors of McFlurries and by the time we got to the window to collect them, they'd given us the wrong flavors. So who made the mistake here? Was it that they couldn't be bothered and they'd given us the wrong flurries, or was it that they were all in the same packaging that said Twix on them? So it looked like they were all Twix McFlurries and they picked up the wrong packaging. It was just not clear enough to them which McFlurry to pick up? And. And I thought they delivered it to us thinking, oh, they're all, they're all Twixes when they shouldn't have been all Twixes do so I mean, and I thought that there is a perfect moment going, that wasn't their fault, that was just the system. The actual packaging made the system confusing and that's what made the mistake.

I love it.

And I just thought that's really interesting for somebody like McDonald's who are really strong with their systems. I mean, almost, you know, robotic, even they can, can confuse them.

Yes. Yeah, I love that. And once you start looking for it, you can't not see it. When you're now walking into businesses and working with different providers, you can spot a really great system and you can spot it also when it breaks down as well.

But also it's helped me see other people's systems and use them for myself.

Yes.

Yeah. Like when somebody I've had struggles with, I'm the editor, I'm an editor for books, but I want to bring on editors and make my clients use those editors, not me. And they're quite loyal to me. So I've been going, how do I push them onto my other other editing stuff? And then I joined an accountant and I thought I was working with a director and instantly I was given to one of the sort of department heads that wasn't the director and it was absolutely fine. And I thought, wow, that was a really good delegation system. I need to use that, I need to replicate that. And I just went, I saw that system and I'm going to use it.

That is the best. Yeah, I definitely borrowing from other industries. Oftentimes systems, whether it's lead generation or operational or sales, they can be working in one industry and they can just be transplanted into other businesses because all businesses need to generate leads, they need to close that business. Really the biggest difference always is in the operations, but even in the operations you can still make learnings around it. You know, maybe this business is selling widgets and this one is fixing widgets, so maybe it seems different but you know, onboarding and handover and all of those sorts of things, I think they're directly transferable.

Yeah.

So. Oh, good, good. Well, yeah, we'll wrap it up there. I'm going to point everybody to Softwood Self Publishing. I'll include a link. So you're based in the uk, but I know you work with clients all around. So if someone's for a process driven self publishing company, your company is the one to chat with. And I just wanted to say thank you for. Yeah, giving a little bit of inspiration for some business owners also starting out on the journey.

Yeah, well, thanks for the opportunity to bring me on Yeah.