When some of your best friends are also business owners, your conversations over wine often turn into mini mastermind sessions. It was in one such convo with one of my business besties where she told me something that just hit me in the gut. “You know, it’s easy to run my business AS IS all on my own. It’s all in my head – how I bring in new clients, how I process invoices, how I deliver weekly course materials – and that makes it really easy to do it all myself. I mean, unless I get hit by a bus or something, I’m pretty good, right?”

Right. Yes. If you want to run your business just as it is, you’re good. As the saying goes, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

But you don’t read Megan’s blog to keep things as is. You’re here to grow. You have big things you’re creating and you’re stoked about what’s on those post-it notes. And growing often means a few growing pains (just ask your kids). But it doesn’t have to be so hard. And you don’t have to go it alone. You can bring a team into your mix – people who can help you do those tasks that you simply need to get off of your plate. But you better be ready for them. Hiring a team means spending money – and you want to spend as little as possible on training and maximize the time that they are working on your biz.

Since we are constantly inundated with articles like My Top 10 Productivity Tools and The 25 Business Management Tips You Can’t Live Without and 7 Lessons I Wish I Learned In School, I’ve decided to keep it really simple for you: I have just ONE online tool that’s going to make it easier for you to get your day to day out of your head and into someone else’s hands.

Ready? It’s free. It’s a Process Map. And I have a Google Doc template right here for you.

Process Maps are KEY to honing in on how you operate the day-to-day of your business. So, I have a challenge for you – take this doc (or build your own), save a copy (please save it as a copy before you do anything if you choose to use it) and make just one process map for just one task you do each week or month. Not sure where to start? Here’s some top Process Maps:

Newsletter/Blog Posts
Client Intake Process
Curating Social Media Content
Starting a New Project
Follow Up With Prospects

Or outline a process that isn’t on this list! Are there online tools and programs to make this even more streamlined? Yep. My two favorite are Sweet Process (turning your process map into an interactive and re-usable list) and Asana (another free system that allows you to save templates of your process maps and also get more in depth with project management.

And, we are diving deeper into all of the systems in your business when we kick off Systems Finishing School next week. If this Process Map assignment gets you a little bit excited about what’s possible as you simplify your business for 2015, I’d love to have you in the very first class of Systems Finishing School. We have just a few spots left – you can apply right here!

Val Geisler is the CEO of aspire&grow, a boutique consulting and support firm that works with solopreneurs and corporate clients alike to help them boost their bottom line with systems and technology. With more than 12 years of experience, she has worked with multi-national companies to non-profits to brides to make big goals happen. Join her for Systems Finishing School to get your systems in place for more impact and joy in your business.