SYSTEMology #author David Jenyns

SYSTEMology: Create time, reduce errors and scale your profits with proven business systems

Transform your owner-dependent business into a profitable, well-oiled machine that runs itself.

Most business owners think that they must be the ones to document their processes when systemising their operations. But systems devotee David Jenyns has found that they’re typically the worst people to be doing it - there is a better way!

SYSTEMology offers a structured framework designed to systemize your business efficiently, even for the busiest owners. Drawing on over 20 years of experience and real-life case studies, David Jenyns outlines a path to Complete Business Reliability.

In this book, you'll uncover:

Why most business owners struggle to systemize their operations
Where to start and which systems to prioritize
The secret to modeling your best team members for rapid system creation
Strategies to get even the most stubborn team members to follow your systems
How to integrate system improvement into your team's routine
The best way to unlock innovation and strategies to skyrocket your creativity
How to make improving systems a regular part of your team's routine
And much more!
It’s time to say hello to a more organized, repeatable and scalable business. Start reading or listening now.

To connect with David ...
https://www.davidjenyns.com/
https://www.davidjenyns.com/#books 
https://www.youtube.com/c/systemHUB 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

It's good afternoon. David Jeans, welcome to Yellow Shelf.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey Joe. Pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Ah, you and I have been trying to make this interview happen. Your book is available now. Systemology. I was just laughing with you about how it's definitely in the Yellow Shelf world. Your book, tell us all about it.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Yep. So it helps business owners get off the tools. A lot of business owners, they build a business, being the guy or the girl, they deliver the work, they wear all of the hats in the business, and then oftentimes they become trapped and chained to the business. If they're not working, the business isn't working. So it's an age-old problem, one that I really wanted to solve. I knew it was a problem, and the bit I always felt was missing was the how-to. Like, where is the system to systemize your business? And how can the business owner get out of the day-to-day operations? And that's really what systemology is about, and codifying how that's done.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

And David, tell us about writing a book, you, and tell us about you and your background and how you got to that uh, you know, space of writing and wanting to share this.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yeah, so I think the idea of systems came from my dad. He was a systems engineer, so maybe it was in my DNA. Um, I didn't appreciate it until much later in life, but all of the businesses that I've been involved in have had some level of systems and process in them. So I was in the stock market education space and we used to create trading systems. I owned a rock and roll clothing music store that we franchised, and we had to have a franchise manual. Um, I ran a digital agency where I forgot about systems and then I got trapped in it for 10 years before remembering about systems. And it was that last business, the digital agency, where um when I did finally get myself out, like I found out we were pregnant, and I thought, oh, I don't want to be the dad who's too busy working all the time, and you know, the wheat business doesn't work without him. So I thought, right, I've got to figure this out. Dipped back into systems and then um scratched my own itch. And then that's really I ended up taking a year off with the birth of our first son, and I lost the passion for the digital agency, and I thought, oh, there's something in this systems thing, it keeps popping up for me, and I'm gonna I'm gonna write a book on that. And that the book is really what um launched me. And it's strange, I had it's almost like the universe opened up for me and served up this opportunity. There's there's a guy who wrote a book called The E Myth, which is kind of like the original book on small business systems. Um, and I got an email from his wife, who's on the other side of the world, who didn't know me from a bar of soap, and she reached out and she said, Would you like to work on this project with Michael Gerber? Um, and I said yes, and that that ended up being the forward to my book. It's an important part of the story, and um, yeah, it was just it was just meant to be, I think.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Yeah, yeah. And David, you touched on it because you know, it like a like like many people, you know, I'd worked in organizations and there were systems and you had to kind of get your head around it, but it really wasn't until I had my own, like I created Yellow Shelf, and I needed to think, wow, if somebody walks in, there needs to be systems. I don't want to be stuck in this, I want to, you know, so it's it's sometimes it's only when you actually, yeah, you're faced with it, you need to kind of dive in. But um I was very familiar with systems in organizations that I was an employee.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yes, very common in larger businesses. Yeah, like a system. One of the ways I think about it is they're just good habits documented. And it's it's the way that you would like things to be and the way that things run. It might be a checklist, it could be a standard operating procedure, an SOP, a process. Like people have lots of different names for it, but it's just a step-by-step. Here's how we do something here. And in the past, a lot of small businesses never really found the time to get it done and couldn't get it done. And I mean, they they've got so many other priorities. Yeah, I actually feel um we are at a real important point, and it's a turning point for small business where with AI now this is accessible to everybody. You can create an SOP in the blink of an eye, and and it's essential and critical to build a business that works without you, and and now it's easy, like there's no excuse not to have great process.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah. And just touching on that, what's your what's your world like with AI? What are your thoughts around that?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

It has completely turned on its head the way my industry works. Um every part of it. I I felt it as soon as Chat GPT came out, and we used to have a part of our business where um we would record clients doing tasks, we'd transcribe those recordings, and then we would turn them into processes and send them back to the client. ChatGPT comes out, and literally a quarter of my business within 30 days disappeared. Um, and that for me sent almost like shockwaves me thinking things can just change like that. And it gave me an unhealthy sense of urgency around AI. Um, and I look back now, that was a blessing, not a curse, because um it really got me to question what are we doing here? How do we use this technology? How do we make the most of it? Um, and we are delivering probably 10 times the output uh with about a quarter of the size of the team because we've just got great humans using AI, and that's the secret weapon right now for small business.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Oh, I love that. Great humans using AI. That I'm not I'm not gonna steal it, but that you know, because a lot of people are really nervous still about this, and you know, a lot of people, you know, there's resistance, there's that fear-mongering. Um, but yeah, on some level it's here and we need to embrace it and let's do embrace it the best way we can.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah. Look, the genie is out of the bottle, and uh any company that is using AI well will outperform one that isn't 10x. Um so there's an opportunity here. The opportunity won't last forever. Um, but if you get on board at now, I think the risk is if you don't get on board now, and your competition does, as the years pass, that gap between you and them will widen. And at some point, um, there's gonna be a range of companies that end up being the next Kodak or Blockbuster. It's the companies that failed to innovate. And I think we're just gonna see it. Oftentimes it happens at a very big level that we hear about, like the Kodaks and the Blockbusters, um, because they're big and they're slow and you know, they don't adopt the change so well. Um, the fortunate thing is it it is so easy now and so within reach. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for small business.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah. Yeah. And getting back to systemology, uh, you know, this is fundamentally a book that explains systems and frameworks, and it's very simple and very usable. And that's why I really wanted to chat to you because, you know, your book uh was ahead of the curve. You're ahead of the curve again around AI. David, do you want to tell us? Are you gonna keep writing? Like, what was that journey like as an author? Did you enjoy that process? Is there more books in you?

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Uh I find it slow and painful writing a book. Uh it's not a pleasurable experience at all for me.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, yeah, great.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

But but I love once it's done on the other side. So um I have now written three books. My first book was authority content, Systemology was in the middle, and I just launched uh my sequel to Systemology. So the first book, Systemology, was written for the business owner. Yes, and then I wrote a new book for the team member who helps the business owner do this. And I call that person the systems champion, and the book is called Systems Champion.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Um I look, I probably have another book or two in me. Um, it seems to be about seven or eight years in between books. So yeah, maybe what am I now? I've just released this one, so probably next one, maybe another six or seven years.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Okay, well, look, he here's hoping I'm still around with my systems and you can come and chat to me. Um, no, it's it's been really good to share your book. Uh um, I feel like in some of the organizations I have worked in, yeah, maybe I was a systems champion and didn't even realize it. Uh David, it's been great to chat. Can we can we end this by saying if we're watching anywhere in the world, if we're curious about you, curious about the book, point us in the direction of either websites or socials, LinkedIn, where do we go to find out more about you?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Best place, get the book, head to Amazon. If you're listening to this, you probably like listening to stuff. So it's on Audible too, and I read the book, which I always love when the author reads the book. So start there. It's called Systemology. Systems Champion is the other one. Um, and then if you want a little bit of extra help, you just head to Systemology.com. Um, I'm it'll link to my LinkedIn and YouTube and stuff like that. But I'm I'm most active probably on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Okay, great. Well, I'll put some links in the show notes to make it easy for anyone watching or listening. David, it has been a delight to chat to you and chat about the book and the books and AI as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, it's an absolute pleasure. Thanks for reaching out and great to share.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Cheers.