5 Business Systems Every Entrepreneur Need

In this episode of the Profit Producers Podcast, host DeKesha C. Williams breaks down why many established entrepreneurs struggle with inconsistent revenue, revealing that the real issue isn’t pricing, content, or confidence—but the lack of structured, repeatable systems. Drawing from her extensive background in operations, she defines what a true system is and walks through the five essential systems every business needs: lead generation, nurture and email marketing, client enrollment, delivery and fulfillment, and money and metrics. Using real examples from her own business, including her LinkedIn outreach and client enrollment strategies, DeKesha shows how documenting and delegating processes creates predictable growth and scalable revenue, while challenging listeners to evaluate whether they have consistent ways to generate leads, nurture prospects, convert clients, and track performance—emphasizing that most businesses don’t have a strategy problem, they have a systems problem, and encouraging them to identify their gaps and take action toward building systems that support consistent $10K–$30K months and beyond.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Profit Producers Podcast, where we don't just talk business, we discuss the journey of being an entrepreneur. We're here to bring you strategy, tactics, and tools that you can use to succeed in business. Now here's your host, your virtual COO, Dakisha Williams.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Welcome back, everybody. It is Dakisha Williams, your webinar queen. I am excited about today's episode. And I'm super excited that you're here because you're going to have to sit down for this particular episode. All right. So you guys know when you come into my space, I like to I like to educate first and foremost. All right. So if you're driving, stay focused. If you are in the gym, slow down on the treadmill for a second. Because what I'm about to share is either going to confirm something that you've already been feeling or completely shift how you see your business. So let's start this episode off with one question. And I need you to honest answer it honestly. Not the answer that you give people when you're meeting them at networking events, the real answer. So listen, do you have a consistent way to enroll clients in your business? Not sometimes, not doing a launch, but consistently every single month. If you feel a lump in your throat, that's your answer. So listen, I'm not saying this to make you feel bad. I'm just I'm creating this so that you have awareness about what it is that you need to implement in your business in the next 30, 60, or 90 days. So people don't understand that I have been in operation since I was 16 years old. I was an assistant manager at Paramount's King's Dominion in Virginia, in Doddswell, Virginia, at the age of 16. I moved on to a leadership, um, executive leadership course or program with what was then called Hex. Lord, I'm I'm I'm dating myself, y'all. Truth be told, I have managed multi-million dollar businesses since before. I mean, I basically when I got my driver's license, all right? But I'm also a certified online business manager. Um, something that I did back in 2017. Um, because as you exit corporate America, move you take your experiences and your knowledge from corporate America. And I thought that I wanted to be an OBM. Yeah, no. But that doesn't negate the skills that I have. And so the number one thing that I see holding established entrepreneurs back is people can have a real expertise. They can have absolute amazing offers and be really intentional and genuine about wanting to serve their audience. But they struggle with the consistency in the revenue, the consistency with the leads, the consistency in sales conversion. And it's not pricing, it's not content, and it's not their constant, their confidence. It's really the absence of the real systems. And the reason why I'm doing this episode is because I hear people say systems all the time. Systems and processes, systems and processes. You gotta have systems and processes in your business. But what the hell does that really mean? Like, can we be real for a second? Like, what does that really mean? So I'm gonna walk you through the top five business systems that every b uh every business owner needs to have, not on a sticky note, but you need to have them in your business. And if you need someone to help you build them out, you can go to www.youroutsourcingclub.com.com. www.youroutsourcingclub.com. Yes, that is a plug. But oh seriously. Okay, so let's get into it. So uh system, before I give you the five, let's talk about what the system is. And when you hear like coaches and consultants saying, you know, do you have systems in your business? Nobody ever explains like what that is. So a system is a documented, repeatable process that delivers a consistent result. Let me say that again. A system is a documented, repeatable process that produces a consistent result with or without you in the room. All right. So if you can have if you can write it down, hand it off, and then they can execute it and get the same results you will get, then that's a system. So let me talk to you as to what comes to mind right now. Since October 2025, we have been very intentional about creating connections on LinkedIn. I have built my business over the last 15 years using Facebook and ads to really run my business. However, since October um 2025, I've been doing LinkedIn outreach, which I'm gonna be honest with you. I was like, I can't stand DMs. Uh, never been big on outreach, truth be told, but I have met some absolutely amazing women, leaders, and entrepreneurs that I've connected with. I've had some amazing conversations. At this point, we have connected with over 1,900 uh individuals on LinkedIn. We've sent out 1,900 connections. We've had over 822 conversations since October. And recently we've close at least two clients into two different programs. One client was at least 10, 10K. Actually, I take that back. Three clients. Yeah, we have three, we have we close three clients and more to come. But anyway, the reason why I think about that is because when I first started doing the outreach, I was reaching out to 20 women entrepreneurs every single day. And then I would send, you know, introduction messages, follow-up messages, and then at some point we would get we would get on a call and we would have a conversation, see if we could collaborate, see if it made sense to work together. And that was that was the process. Okay, so then I hired a team member, I documented what I did, and then I handed it over. So now I no longer have to do it. Do I step in sometimes to, you know, send little voice notes or videos? Absolutely. So that's what I mean about implementing a process and then handing it over to allow someone else to do it. That's a system that has now become a lead generation system for us. So that takes me right into system number one, and that's your lead generation system. So the first system is the lead generation. This is how strangers find you into your world, and then they raise their hand to learn more. And so I want to be super clear about what a lead generation system is not. So it's not posting on Instagram, it's not posting on LinkedIn. Those are great because that's content marketing, right? Those are activities. A lead generation system is the documented repeatable process that converts those activities into actual leads in a database. So the lead generation system is in inclusive of four parts. Listen, you have your traffic source, a lead magnet, an opt-in page, and a tool that captures every single content that you manually that without you manually doing anything. So when we are having these conversations on LinkedIn, when they book a call, they go into our leader CRM system. Now, um, there is also a book a call link that is on my uh profile page. So I did an article, sidebar. I did an article about Pinky Cole um a couple of weeks ago. That article right now has about 8,900 impressions. I'm trying to get to 10, y'all. It will eventually. But this is one of the top performing posts on LinkedIn. This is considered the traffic source. But what it did was it made people go to my profile page. And I believe at the time of this podcast episode, we had, I had over like 39 people. Might have been more. Um, I'm gonna tell you, yes, 80, it's 8,900 impressions. I had over 59 people go directly to my profile. This is why they say your profile is important. I'm gonna tell y'all, I'm gonna be real transparent. Before we started doing outreach, I was not worried about my LinkedIn profile because I was not showing up on here. I gained 16 followers, um, but I also booked three appointments. So, of course, when they come in, they book an appointment, there's a sequence of emails that go out. So, this is a process that can be duplicated. And how I put together that article is a whole nother process. Anyway, so you got the traffic source, the lead magnet, an opt-in page, and a tool that captures every single contact without me manually having to do it. So some of these appointments just were showing up on my calendar. Now, I'll give you a secret tip. I have a special LinkedIn calendar so that I know that these leads are coming from LinkedIn. And I have a special one so that I know what leads are coming in from Facebook. So I'm very intentional about making sure I track where they're coming from. All right. So without this system, your growth is is based on you getting out here and I don't know, doing TikTok videos. And nothing's wrong with that. All right. And so, you know, if you don't do the videos, are you getting leans, right? And I don't do, I don't do a lot of videos anymore. But yeah, so we do more outreach, not a lot of dancing videos or personality-dependent, you know, content. So if you took away, let's just say, if you took away posts, like your social media posts, would you have a way to generate leads? Do you have another way to generate leads? So I have multiple. But anyway, all right, I digress. So, and the last thing with the um lead generation, if you I want you to ask yourself, if you disappear for two weeks, would new leads still be coming into your business? If the answer is no, this needs to be a priority. So I feel like that was a lesson that I learned. And I need to do a whole podcast segment on the lessons that I learned in 2025. It was one of our best years in regards to revenue growth, but um we also identify leaks in our systems. Systems, okay? So, system number two, so I'll come back to that. System number two, nurture and email marketing. All right. So now that you have the lead, they opt in, they are in your ecosystem now. What? And this is where oftentimes we drop the ball because we collect the leads, we get leads, but then we don't do anything with them. And so then you wonder why, you know, you are you're not getting any sales, you're not getting any conversations. It's because you didn't guide people to help them understand what happens next. So your nurturing process should be a journey, it should be a client journey that tells, tell them exactly what they should be doing next. So it should turn a co-lead into a warm contact and then into a ready, willing, and able buyer through consistent communication. So think about this. What happens to someone the moment they enter into your ecosystem? A lot of times when I'm doing training, I say, let's let's look at this as your house and you've got a gate around it. So when somebody comes into your gate, what happens 90 days after that time period? Can you answer that question right now without even thinking about it? And I love for you. I'm gonna put my Instagram handle, because before you even listen to anything else, only if you're not driving, um, I want you to send me a DM and let me know. Oh my God, Takisha, I don't have a 90-day journey after someone gets on my list. Like, that's literally what I want you to say. So if not, leads are leaking out of your business every single day. And I mean, that's yeah, that's all I got to say. So your nurture system should include number one, a welcome email and then your ongoing email marketing. Like, I really think that you should have a specific nurture sequence based on how they entered into your ecosystem. So we have a lead gen that is on the majority of my social media platforms. It's www.createconsistentleads.com. It's a quick 20-something minute video and there's emails that come behind that video, but it drives them to have a conversation with me. So a lot of times, if I am speaking on someone's platform and they say, Hey, do you have a free, uh, free gift that you want to give to the audience? I will say yes. If you're interested in generating consistent leads in your business, do me a favor. I got a short training that I want you to watch. Is www.createconsistentleads.com. And then they go through a journey, okay? And so we use a CRM. We use the speaker CRM. Uh, we'll put the link in the comments or the call notes. But we use a the speaker CRM system in order to keep our leads organized and how we nurture them as well. Um, so leads don't go because leads don't go cold because of timing. They go cold because nobody followed up. So your nurture system makes makes sure that that never happens. All right, so number three, this is my favorite. And it's the one that I care about the most because this is the system that determines directly whether you create consistent revenue in your business or you have revenue roller coaster months. So it's your client enrollment system. Your client enrollment system isn't a conversion event. So most people know me as the webinar queen. But one of the things that I realized over the last several years of working with different entrepreneurs at different levels is sometimes a webinar is not going to be used based on the offer that you have. So sometimes it's going to be a virtual workshop or a masterclass or an in-person event. And so that's why I call them a conversion event. But it's still documented, repeatable methodology that it takes on someone to interest it to IM. That's one of the things that we implemented in 2025. 2018, I was doing webinars. 2025, we were doing workshops, right? In 2020, 2018, that's how I became known as the webinar queen because I consistently use webinars to enroll clients for over over 14 years. But like I said, it could be a challenge, it could be a summit, it could be an application process. The vehicle matters less than the fact that it's built, documented, and repeatable. 2025, we did the exact same workshop nine times and enrolled more clients into our mastern program than we ever had since 2018. So here's what I want you to uh to really sit with, right? There's been times where I received payment notifications while I'm sitting at a concert with my aunt. Not at my desk, not in my office, but literally sitting at a concert. Now, mind you, I was broke, busted, and disgusted when I got to the concert with my auntie and couldn't afford a glass of wine. But baby, when I'm notification, the payment receipts start going off. I said, Auntie, you want some wine. Okay? Y'all don't be laughing at me because these isn't this is my life story. These are serious situations. But I tell you that so that I can tell you that I understand where you come from. All right, so system number four, delivery and fulfillment. A lot of times this is where we as entrepreneurs drop the ball. So somebody say, Yes, I am interested in your product. They pay, they're in. What happens next? So just recently we had someone enroll into our sell your signature offer accelerator, which is a two-day intensive where we help you build out your entire client enrollment system. So what happens? They actually went to the order form, put in their deposit to get started. They immediately got an email and access to the membership area to get them ready for the two days that we're going to spend together. And I believe today they should have also received their pre-work number one. So if you're like, oh my gosh, I don't have all of that set up, or I have to send the contract manually. Now, don't get me wrong, our contracts do go out automatically, especially if they pay um in full. If they make a payment plan or they have a special payment plan, we do have to make some adjustments before we send that out. But most of the time, contracts are sent manually. The link to book is in the onboarding process. I am not onboarding each person one by one every single time. They get an email with all of the onboarding processes in that particular email and a text message as well. So this is your onboarding system, your fulfillment system. If these pieces are not automated, this is something we need to focus on. All right. Your delivery system covers everything from the moment that the client actually says yes to the moment that you fulfill it on your side and that they receive the completed service. So contract payments, welcome emails, onboarding calls, access, what and communication is critical here in the delivery phase. You can never communicate too much because they're gonna always be looking for, well, what do I do next? How do I get access to what's next? All right. This system right here protects your referrals, your reputation, and freaking chargebacks or refunds. All right. If quality declines when you get like super busy, the delivery system exact is where your gap is. So if you can't onboard 50 people at one time, that's where you got a gap. And remember, I said last year that we identified some gaps. It wasn't here. Well, technically it was the delivery because it was the delivery and the client enrollment because we had to, we had turnover and we actually had to hire three new people. And so I had to build an onboarding process for new hires because I already had the enrollment process. So there's my transparency. You know, we're not perfect, but we definitely learned a lot. Like I said, this is kind of why I'm I'm very passionate about making sure that you guys have the right systems. And this is another one. So that's your delivery system. So this last one, I think this is more important than the hiring onboarding systems that we had to build. It's the money and the metrics, right? So this is the last one. And this might be the one that makes a lot of us uncomfortable because it requires you to look at your numbers. And you guys know me, you know I love numbers. You cannot scale if you don't understand what's happening in your business. And so there's been times where we've had um, I guess it's called attrition, where we have had a churn, but we were not fulfilling the spaces as fast as the churn was happening. And if you're not measuring your numbers, you don't know how to put a cap on the decline in revenue. All right. And so most entrepreneurs, and this was me too, that I've always known we did 15K last month. We did 20K last month. That's great, right? Most people know what they did last month or their last lunch, but they don't understand what's your MRR, what's your monthly recurring revenue? So if you didn't sell anyone else for the rest of the month, are you going to generate, what are you going to generate if you don't onboard anyone else? What's your cost per lead? What's your conversion rate? I know that we run anywhere between 26 and 30, 35%, depending on um warm leads, co-leads, right? Um, do you know if you can actually hire, afford to hire someone next quarter? That's something that we've been doing. I've been managing every single day. Let me say that again. Every single day, I have managed my payroll and managed the efficiency of my team to see at what point can we bring on someone else on this team where we do not have a gap in our level of customer service. All right. But you have to know your numbers in order to know when and that time is. So that is how businesses that look successful on the outside can quietly collapse on the inside if you don't know the numbers or the metrics in your business. Your money system is how invoices go out, how payments come in, and how cash flow gets tracked. Your metric system is the number that tells you whether your lead generation is actually working. So one of the things that I did at the end of 2025 was we did an analysis where we um prepare for 2026. And so one of the things that it based on the numbers, it told me it said you need to speak on more other people's platforms. Because what that does is when you're invited on someone's platform, they've already vetted you. So they're actually, they've now become a warm audience because you've been vetted by the person that invites you. So when you do that talk and they opt in, the chances of them actually investing in you are higher because they've been vetted. The other thing is partnerships. Why? Because of the same thing. The partner has actually vetted you. It actually told me to lay low on the ads, um, which was interesting. Even though we did, we did get clients from the ads, but we saw a higher return from being on other people's platforms. So what do you think I did in 2026? That became one of our focuses. Why? Because the metrics said so. And so now every month, I'm just telling y'all all everything. Every month, at the end of the month, I'm a football. I'm a so we throw a f a flag on the play every month. And it's a challenge flag, it's the red flag. And at the end of every month, we assess all the metrics so that we don't can keep continuing every single month doing things that don't work. All right now. All right. So listen, together, money plus metrics, they tell you one thing. Do you have a business or do you have a busy season? Ouch! All right, so um, now that you have those five lead generation, nurturing email, marketing, client enrollment, delivery, and fulfillment, money and metrics. Now I want you to do something for me as you're listening. I want you to go through each one and ask yourself honestly do I have this in place? Not do you have a tool for it or system for it. But do you have a consistent way to generate leads? Do you have the email set up in your system where they're going out consistently? Do you have a client enrollment system, a repeatable process every single month where you can get clients into your ecosystem? Is it documented? Can you delegate it? Can it be run without you? Most business owners may have one or two, and they're usually not the right to, especially to build to grow and scale your business. So it's not a failure, but I really wanted you to listen to this episode so that you can know what you need to be working on in your business. Um, there's so much noise in this online space, in this digital space, and a lot of coaching programs they teach you how to make your first 10 figures, what is it, 10K, how to make your first six figures, how to get to a million dollars. But a lot of times they we don't see, okay, well, what the hell do you do when you get this money? And this is why a lot of businesses crash because they get the money and they don't know how to how to utilize it effectively and where to put it in their business. They just think, oh, let me run more ads. Why? Because everybody's running ads. Oh, let me hire an OBM. Is your business really ready for OBM? Right? So you have to understand the metrics in your business so that you can make the right decisions when you are when you start making money. So that's why I felt like this episode was super important. Please leave a comment on wherever you are listening to one of your aha moments that you have taken away from this episode. Please follow me on the different different platforms as well. Share this podcast out. And if you're listening and you're saying Takisha, you know, I know I'm missing some of these, I just don't know which one to start. I want you to to invite you to have a conversation with me. You can go to www.calltekisha.com. That's www.calltekisha.com. It's just a conversation about where you are in business, what system needs to be to be built first, and then we can look at what you have and we'll figure out where your bottleneck is, right? Because truth of the matter is most of the times it's one or two things. One or two systems are missing that are keeping you from hitting consistently 10 to 30k months in your business. And I'm telling you, once you see 30k, you can't unsee it. All right. So I'm gonna put the link to grab a spot, let's chit chat. And then if you want to go deeper on all five of the systems that I've gone over, I did do a Substack article. So be more than excited for you to, you know, subscribe to Substack. If you haven't heard about Substack, Substack is, I don't know, Substack is where it's at. You can have deeper conversations on Substack, just like I can have here with you. I feel like I'm talking directly to you. So all right, that's what I have for you today. Remember, my name is Takeisha Williams, your webinar strategist. Be passionate, be purposeful, more importantly, be profitable. I see you guys next time.