100. What Does A Systems Strategist Do? And How Do I Know If I Need to Hire A Systems Strategist?

Celebrate with us as we mark the 100th episode of the Mom CEO Suite Podcast!

In this episode, I break down exactly what a Systems Strategist does. And I explain how a Systems Strategist differs from an Online Business Manager and a Virtual Assistant.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed or found yourself drowning in repetitive tasks, this episode will help you identify whether hiring a System Strategist could bring clarity and ease to your business operations.

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Transcript
Felicia Pugh

Welcome to episode 100 of the Mom CEO Suite podcast.

Felicia Pugh

What does a system strategist do and how to know if I need one?

Felicia Pugh

Now, before I get into what we're talking about in this episode, I am pausing and taking a moment to celebrate because this is the 100th episode of the podcast and I am so excited.

Felicia Pugh

This podcast has been one of my favorite things over the past year or so and I typically am slow to celebrate things happening in my business.

Felicia Pugh

And so today I am pausing, I'm taking a moment and celebrating the fact that we have made it to 100 episodes of the Mom CEO Suite podcast.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, I'm so excited.

Felicia Pugh

Thank you all so much for listening and staying tuned in this far through the journey.

Felicia Pugh

So if you want to celebrate with me, I want to ask you a favor.

Felicia Pugh

If you want to celebrate our 100th episode episode.

Felicia Pugh

You've been listening to the podcast.

Felicia Pugh

You love the episodes.

Felicia Pugh

Do me a favor, head over to Apple itunes and leave a review.

Felicia Pugh

Leave a five star review and I'm going to start reading the reviews and the episodes.

Felicia Pugh

So that will be super helpful just to continue to help me to get the word out about the podcast.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, so happy 100th episode to the Mom CEO Sweet Podcast.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, what are we talking about in this episode?

Felicia Pugh

I am explaining exactly what a system strategist does just in case people don't know.

Felicia Pugh

A lot of times in the online space, words and terms phrases are just thrown out there.

Felicia Pugh

And so I'm really just breaking down what a system strategist does.

Felicia Pugh

I also get into the difference between a system strategist, an online business manager, and a va.

Felicia Pugh

I also give you some characteristics of a good system strategist.

Felicia Pugh

I also let you know some signs that you might need to hire a system strategist and then I get into some benefits that come along with hiring a system strategist.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, so this is going to be a really good episode.

Felicia Pugh

I had lots of fun talking about it, of course, so stay tuned and enjoy the episode.

Felicia Pugh

Hey, friend.

Felicia Pugh

Welcome to the Mom CEO Suite podcast where faith, family and business come together.

Felicia Pugh

I'm your host, Felicia Pugh, Christian wife, mom of two and life and business system strategist for mom entrepreneurs with over 10 years of experience working behind the scenes of businesses and ministries and as a work from home mompreneur.

Felicia Pugh

I'm here to share my personal journey and practical strategies to help you design systems that bring peace to your work and home life.

Felicia Pugh

While many strive for balance, I believe it's harmony, an integrated flow that works for you that truly sustains.

Felicia Pugh

Together, we'll explore how to grow your service based business in a way that is sustainable and keeps your family at the heart of it all.

Felicia Pugh

Plus, hear real life stories and expertise from other mompreneurs who are walking the same path.

Felicia Pugh

Motherhood gets hard, entrepreneurship gets hard.

Felicia Pugh

But together we can do hard things.

Felicia Pugh

Welcome to the suite.

Felicia Pugh

Hey friend.

Felicia Pugh

Welcome to the episode.

Felicia Pugh

Thank you so much for being here.

Felicia Pugh

So over the past few weeks, past couple of months, I have been doing a lot of work related to my messaging, related to my branding, and just doing more selling.

Felicia Pugh

Specifically the signature offer that I have right now, the Harmony System, Sprint.

Felicia Pugh

And as I'm honing in on the messaging and selling more, it's really forcing me to think through different questions that my dream clients would be asking and different objections that they might have.

Felicia Pugh

And so as I am going through all of this messaging, branding and selling, it dawned on me that some people might not actually know what a system strategist does.

Felicia Pugh

And so I have been branding myself as a life in business system strategist for mompreneurs.

Felicia Pugh

And so today I'm really going to get into answering that question of what does a system strategist do and how do I know if I need to hire one?

Felicia Pugh

And I'm really passionate about talking about this specifically for mompreneurs, because as I talk about this when I tell my story, but I was an entrepreneur before I started my business and I just thought that, you know, after I had my daughter that I would just kind of be able to continue on in my entrepreneurial journey.

Felicia Pugh

As I was, I didn't really know what to expect.

Felicia Pugh

I knew things were going to change.

Felicia Pugh

I just didn't know how much they were going to change.

Felicia Pugh

And I just had no idea how challenging the duality of motherhood and entrepreneurship was going to be.

Felicia Pugh

Now, I already knew the importance of systems.

Felicia Pugh

Like I have been.

Felicia Pugh

You know, I'm a systems thinker.

Felicia Pugh

My background is in admin.

Felicia Pugh

I'm very organized.

Felicia Pugh

And that shifted into system strategy over the years.

Felicia Pugh

So I always knew the importance of having systems.

Felicia Pugh

But it wasn't until I had my daughter that it really became like a necessity for me to be able to even just kind of exist at this intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship.

Felicia Pugh

And so that's why I'm really passionate about helping moms in business create and implement not only business systems, but systems for their home and for their life as well.

Felicia Pugh

Because it really allows you to be present in both areas of your life without having to sacrifice One for the other, more specifically, without having to sacrifice your family time for the sake of the business.

Felicia Pugh

Because I think a lot of us, most of us want to be present moms for our children.

Felicia Pugh

And so that's why I'm really passionate about talking about it.

Felicia Pugh

So I'm excited to get into this today.

Felicia Pugh

And so actually, before I get into that, you know, it's not a thing, at least for me in my journey.

Felicia Pugh

I didn't just wake up one day and say, oh, hey, I want to be a system strategist.

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

I had no idea that this was even a thing.

Felicia Pugh

So like I mentioned before, my background really was in being behind the scenes of businesses, being behind the scenes in ministries, and being that right hand person to the visionary and being the person who was creating these processes, making the vision come to life by creating the step by step for how that was going to happen.

Felicia Pugh

You know, at the time, I did not know that what I was doing was system strategy.

Felicia Pugh

I just, you know, was doing what I knew how to innately do.

Felicia Pugh

You know, I was just keeping things organized.

Felicia Pugh

And then I was introduced to the online space where I found out like, oh, this is actually a thing that people need and that people pay for.

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

And so I kind of started shifting from the admin space more into the system strategy, systems consulting, operations consulting, all those things.

Felicia Pugh

Right?

Felicia Pugh

So it wasn't a thing where it was like, oh, I want to be a system strategist when I grow up.

Felicia Pugh

I just always have been naturally gifted in this.

Felicia Pugh

And once I was introduced to the online space, you know, I pivoted a few times, many times, and this is where I have landed.

Felicia Pugh

So what does a system strategist do?

Felicia Pugh

A system strategist is really someone who focuses in, on the process of.

Felicia Pugh

I'm going to, in this episode, I'm going to speak mainly about business systems.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

So they focus in on the process of businesses, okay?

Felicia Pugh

So analyzing existing processes, designing new processes, implementing new processes, optimizing processes.

Felicia Pugh

And then in some cases it could be training, you know, employees, or it could just be the business owner training in these new processes that have been created.

Felicia Pugh

And the goal is really to create more efficient business processes.

Felicia Pugh

We want to increase productivity, we want to eliminate inefficiencies.

Felicia Pugh

And efficiency really relates to.

Felicia Pugh

I know I've mentioned this before, but efficiency relates to having little to no waste.

Felicia Pugh

So if there is a process in the business that is wasteful in terms of time, or if there's lots of delays in the process, you know, we want to get rid of that we want to get rid of things like bottlenecks or things that are stopping or slowing up the process.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

So that's what a system strategist really does.

Felicia Pugh

A system strategist is focused on the processes of the business.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

Now one of the things that happens in the online space is that terms and roles, and sometimes they get misused or we are calling one thing when it really should be called something else.

Felicia Pugh

And so a lot of times I see this interchanging use of the terms system strategist, OBM and VA or these roles are used interchangeably, but they all are different and they serve different purposes.

Felicia Pugh

And so I'm going to go through really quickly, just kind of high level, what the differences between those different roles are.

Felicia Pugh

So again, like I mentioned, the system strategist is looking at the process.

Felicia Pugh

And so when I talk process, just think about the business processes, I like to think of it in terms of marketing, sales, client experience, human resources, finances and operations.

Felicia Pugh

And so what is your process for onboarding a client?

Felicia Pugh

What is your process for fulfilling a client's project?

Felicia Pugh

What is your process for offboarding a client?

Felicia Pugh

What is your process for capturing leads?

Felicia Pugh

What is your process for nurturing leads?

Felicia Pugh

What is your process for marketing on social media?

Felicia Pugh

What is your process for referral?

Felicia Pugh

Marketing?

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

So it's just looking at all of these different processes and again analyzing, designing, implementing, optimizing and training in those different areas.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

A system strategist can also be the person that is going to actually document this.

Felicia Pugh

So once we've created this new process, we can document it as a standard operating procedure or an sop.

Felicia Pugh

And that's what we use to train the team or to train the business in the new process or system.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

And the focus again is really on increasing productivity and optimizing the workflow, right?

Felicia Pugh

Saving time, making it more efficient.

Felicia Pugh

So that's what the system strategist is doing.

Felicia Pugh

The obm, which stands for online business manager, this is a person who is really managing the day to day of the business.

Felicia Pugh

So they are in communication primarily with the business owner.

Felicia Pugh

And then if there is a team in place, if there's contractors in place, it's the OBM that's going to be managing and overseeing those people.

Felicia Pugh

They're also going to be managing and overseeing the projects, creating plans for the projects, making sure that the timelines are being met, just making sure that the tasks of the contractors and the employees that they are being completed, you know, monitoring different metrics for the business and just making sure that everything is Running smoothly.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, so the system strategist is more so focused on the processes, creating the processes, and they are more like one off projects, shorter term projects.

Felicia Pugh

The OBM is going to be a person that's working with you on an ongoing basis.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, so this is going to be more long term.

Felicia Pugh

Now I have seen it where a system strategist after a one off project will stay on with a client on a monthly basis on a retainer to continue to refine their processes.

Felicia Pugh

And I have also seen where an OBM has taken on the role, in addition to project management and day to day things, taken on the role of a system strategist and focused on creating and updating the processes and the workflows and the sops and all of those things.

Felicia Pugh

So none of this is like set in stone, but it's just to kind of give you an idea of the division of labor and a high level overview of these different terms that you might hear in the online space.

Felicia Pugh

And then the VA or a virtual assistant, this person is more of a doer.

Felicia Pugh

So they are not really creating any strategy.

Felicia Pugh

They are not overseeing other people.

Felicia Pugh

They are really handling the routine tasks, the administrative tasks, the repetitive tasks and any assignments that are given to them.

Felicia Pugh

They are more so the doer, okay?

Felicia Pugh

They are following the systems and the processes that have been created.

Felicia Pugh

They are not necessarily the person that is creating them.

Felicia Pugh

Now I have seen where people have hired VAs, quote unquote VAs, to create their systems and to do their SOPs and all of those things.

Felicia Pugh

And so that's why I said sometimes there is like this, this crossing of the functions which, you know, different things work for different people, but there are some differences in the responsibilities.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

And so the va, again, their timeframe of working it will depend on the business.

Felicia Pugh

So it could be ongoing or it could be project based, shorter term, depending on the needs of the business owner.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

So that's just kind of the differences between those.

Felicia Pugh

Again, the system strategist, I just want you to think, okay, this is the person that's going to come into my business as a consultant.

Felicia Pugh

They're going to look at the business processes that I have and they're going to help me to make them better, they're going to help me make them more efficient, they're going to help me get them optimized with automation, okay?

Felicia Pugh

So that now this VA that I hire or this OBM that I hire, they can manage it on an ongoing basis.

Felicia Pugh

Okay, so let me see.

Felicia Pugh

Also let me get into before I talk about how to know if you, you need to hire a system strategist.

Felicia Pugh

Let me just give you some key characteristics of a system strategist, right?

Felicia Pugh

So we are very detail oriented people.

Felicia Pugh

We're very analytical, but not only that, we can see the bigger picture, right?

Felicia Pugh

So it's kind of a two part thing for us.

Felicia Pugh

Some people are only visionary and then some people are only detail oriented.

Felicia Pugh

But with system strategists, we can see the bigger picture.

Felicia Pugh

We can see the end goal, but then we can also see and we can figure out, you know, how to get there step by step, right?

Felicia Pugh

That is, that's what we're good at, okay?

Felicia Pugh

We're problem solvers.

Felicia Pugh

We're saying, how can we get to this end goal?

Felicia Pugh

And we are also structured thinkers, right?

Felicia Pugh

So we think in structure.

Felicia Pugh

And I know for me personally this can sometimes be a hindrance for me in my own business because if I don't have a structure around something, it's hard for me to take action around it, which is not always necessarily good because sometimes we just have to take imperfect action and sometimes we don't have the structure.

Felicia Pugh

But we are structured thinkers.

Felicia Pugh

And when I say structured, I don't want you to think inflexible because we're structured, but we're flexible because we understand that there is more than one way to get to the end goal.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

There's more than one way to get to the end goal.

Felicia Pugh

And that's kind of why a lot of the systems services that you might see is done for you and customized.

Felicia Pugh

Because every business is different, every business owner is different, every business has different goals.

Felicia Pugh

And so we are creating your systems and your processes based on what makes sense for your business, based on what makes sense for you as the business owner as well.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

So we're structured thinkers, but we're also very flexible.

Felicia Pugh

We're also tech savvy.

Felicia Pugh

We like to play around with tech and software probably a little bit too much.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

When we should be doing other things.

Felicia Pugh

But we're very tech savvy.

Felicia Pugh

And so when we are talking about hiring a system strategist, this person should be talking to you about optimizing.

Felicia Pugh

I mentioned this earlier, optimizing your processes.

Felicia Pugh

And the way that you do this or one of the ways that you do this is through automation.

Felicia Pugh

So if you're looking at a system strategist and they are not talking to you about optimizing your process, your workflow through automation, then you want to run, okay?

Felicia Pugh

Because automation is going to be one of the main ways to optimize your workflow to save time to reduce inefficiencies.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

But we like tech, and so it's okay that you don't.

Felicia Pugh

Or if you don't.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

Because we do.

Felicia Pugh

We do.

Felicia Pugh

We love it and we have fun in it.

Felicia Pugh

And what else?

Felicia Pugh

Yeah, those are the main things.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

So I hope that kind of gave you a good idea of what to look for when you are, you know, engaging with different people who you might be seeking to hire.

Felicia Pugh

Now, how do you know if you need a system strategist?

Felicia Pugh

Okay, here's a few things that you want to look at or a few things that you want to consider.

Felicia Pugh

If you are constantly feeling.

Felicia Pugh

And these are in no particular order, if you are constantly feeling overwhelmed with the work in your business, this might be a sign that you don't have those processes in place.

Felicia Pugh

And so you need someone to come in to help you make sense of all of the things that you are doing.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

And create that structure to take away the overwhelm.

Felicia Pugh

All right.

Felicia Pugh

If you don't have your processes documented, right?

Felicia Pugh

So you might have processes.

Felicia Pugh

Matter of fact, everybody has processes.

Felicia Pugh

Everybody has a process.

Felicia Pugh

Everybody has a system.

Felicia Pugh

It just might not be an efficient system.

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

Or it may be a system that's not documented.

Felicia Pugh

It's in your head.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

And so when something lives in your head versus on paper, well, first, number one, that makes it difficult to repeat it at the same standard each time.

Felicia Pugh

But then it also makes it difficult for you to be able to delegate that particular task to someone else.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

So if you don't have documented processes in your business, this could be a sign that you need to hire a system strategist because you need to get those processes out of your head.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

You need to get the processes out of your head so that you can.

Felicia Pugh

For each client, you can be operating at the same standard.

Felicia Pugh

That's for.

Felicia Pugh

If you're talking about client experience.

Felicia Pugh

But for your leads, for your project management, you need to be operating at the same standard so you can measure what's working and what's not working, right?

Felicia Pugh

So you can get to the point where you can.

Felicia Pugh

Where you can scale or figure out how to scale, but you can do that if you don't have that process documented and you're not repeating it in the same manner over and over to be able to spot inefficiencies or room for improvement.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

If you are finding yourself spending a lot of time on repetitive tasks, this could be a sign that you need to hire a system strategist specifically for the optimization of your processes.

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

Because there's probably many things that can be automated in your business.

Felicia Pugh

You might be spending a lot of time doing manual things, or again, if it's repetitive, it can probably be handled by tech in some capacity.

Felicia Pugh

And so you might need to hire a system strategist to help you figure out what those things are that you can automate and then also set up that, those specific automations for you.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

So those are a few ways.

Felicia Pugh

I think those were three different ways.

Felicia Pugh

But you know, if you're just feeling like in your business things are a little bit chaotic on the back end, if things are falling through the cracks, right.

Felicia Pugh

If you're missing deadlines, if you're doing a lot of manual work, if things are not documented, if a lot of things are living in your, in your head as the business owner, if you, for, for the different processes that you, in your business, if they're being done differently every time, that's a sure sign that you need to hire a system strategist so you can get some standardization in place.

Felicia Pugh

But if you've noticed that some of those things are relatable to you, then you probably need to hire a system strategist.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

And again, like I said, we come in as a consultant, we look at your existing processes.

Felicia Pugh

You know, we, we look at what your goals are.

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

We just don't come in and say a good system strategist is not going to come in and say you need to do this without understanding what your goals are.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

So if you are finding that okay, yes, Felicia, I need to hire a system strategist.

Felicia Pugh

Definitely.

Felicia Pugh

Feel free to connect with me through the Harmony System Sprint.

Felicia Pugh

This is a one week intensive where I come in and do exactly what I've been talking about this whole episode.

Felicia Pugh

And I'll help you design and optimize your processes, remove inefficiencies.

Felicia Pugh

And when you do this right, when you hire a system strategist, what is going to be the benefit to you is that you will have streamlined operations so you're able to do more in less time.

Felicia Pugh

You're saving time, okay?

Felicia Pugh

The quality of your work is going to improve because there is a standard.

Felicia Pugh

Things are not falling through the cracks.

Felicia Pugh

If automation is handling things, then the quality of the work that each client is getting or receiving or each lead is going to be the same.

Felicia Pugh

It's going to be standard, it's going to be at that high level.

Felicia Pugh

Okay.

Felicia Pugh

And they're not going to be subject to, you know, you as the business owner having a bad day and, you know, not communicating well on one particular day or forgetting to send a particular link.

Felicia Pugh

Right.

Felicia Pugh

The benefit to you in hiring a system strategist, and this is key, is that you will have peace of mind that things are working in your business, okay?

Felicia Pugh

Even without you having to do the work.

Felicia Pugh

I say a lot, let automation be your assistant, okay?

Felicia Pugh

And automation comes in after we have, you know, analyzed and designed your processes.

Felicia Pugh

Once we do that, we can optimize it with automation.

Felicia Pugh

And this literally can operate as an assistant to you, okay?

Felicia Pugh

And so you have peace of mind, knowing that your business tasks are getting done and you're able to step away from the business.

Felicia Pugh

You're able to be that present mom, so you're not having to be chained to your laptop.

Felicia Pugh

You can go to the soccer games or you can homeschool your kids without doing it in a way where you are stressed out about the business or sacrificing these precious moments with your kids.

Felicia Pugh

You can be present for all of the milestones, okay?

Felicia Pugh

And that is really the larger goal that we want to get to.

Felicia Pugh

Systems really set you up for a life of freedom, okay?

Felicia Pugh

They really do.

Felicia Pugh

And so, again, after listening to this episode, if you are interested in getting more information about how I could serve you as a system strategist, then go ahead, click the link in the show description to check out the information about the Harmony System, Sprint, or if you just have a question that's not related to that particular service, feel free to shoot me a message over on Instagram and I'll be happy to answer your questions and talk about your specific scenario.

Felicia Pugh

Okay?

Felicia Pugh

So I hope that this was helpful and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.

Felicia Pugh

Thank you for listening to the Mom CEO Suite podcast.

Felicia Pugh

If you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a favor?

Felicia Pugh

Leave a review on itunes and share with other moms in business like you.

Felicia Pugh

Help us spread our message and empower others who are at this intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship.

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