In this episode, I’m talking to Steph Blake of Simple Business Suite on how you can simplify your business systems. Check out Steph’s Free Simplify Your Business Blueprint here on how to simplify your business systems!

Becky: Hey, welcome to the Becky Beach Show! I’m Becky and today’s guest is Steph Blake. She’s a business consultant and tech expert. Thanks so much for being here today, Steph.

Steph Blake: Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m excited for this.

Becky: I’ve been following you for quite some time. I’ve been in many of your events and I’m just so excited to hear about automating your business with systems today.

Steph Blake: Yeah, I know we’ve kind of been like at arm’s length behind email, so it’s always fun to kind of like meet each other face to face and have these conversations.

Becky: Oh, yeah. So, so tell me, how can someone get started with automating their business?

Steph Blake: Yeah, so that’s a, that’s a big topic. That’s a big question. Um, [00:01:00] so really the big thing that I always say is before you start automating, we wanna make sure that.

There are other, other elements in place first, right? So we really need to make sure that you have a really solid offer in place. Right? So the more simple and streamline your offer is right. From there, we wanna make sure that we have that offer, and then we wanna make sure that we set these systems and processes up, right?

Because once we have those in place, then we can look at this system that we’ve set up, right? This process that we’ve set up, and from there we can say, okay, this part of the system can be automated. This part of the system can be delegated to a team member, right? But. It really starts with having a solid understanding of your business and what you’re selling and.

Funnily enough, a lot of people don’t have that, right. They don’t feel really confident in the thing that they’re selling. So once we have that set up, then we want to make sure that we, like I said, have that process in place and then we can start to set up those automations with different tools. So, um, I mean, one thing, if you don’t mind me sharing about it, is the difference between [00:02:00] systems and tools, because a lot of people get those confused.

Becky: Oh, sure. Yeah, go ahead. I bet though everybody would love to hear more about that.

Steph Blake: Yeah. Yeah. So I hear a lot of people say, well, I have a system. I have clickup. Clickup is a tool, right? Yeah. Really the difference is that the system is like, it’s a process, right? It’s a step-by-step overview of how you complete some kind of task, right?

Mm-hmm. Whereas the tool is going to help you implement that system, right? So for example, let’s just say like, I don’t know, client onboarding, right? That’s a very simple, uh, very simple example to use. When you have a new client sign on to work with you, you’re going to have a step-by-step process of things that get done, right?

Mm-hmm. Like, you’ll send them an email saying, Hey, I’m so glad that we’re working together. You’ll probably send them a contract. A payment link, right? So that is a system that you’re setting up. And then from there we will use tools like a project management tool, like a contract tool, right? To um, help implement those different steps in that system.

So I think it’s really important for people to understand that because you can’t set up [00:03:00] systems, you can’t set up automations without having that very basic understanding of the difference between the two. Does that all make sense?

Becky: Oh, yes, yes, definitely. Yeah. A lot, lot of people are confused about the two, like having a system in place.

Like, like would you, um, would you have, I guess, SOPs be more of a system? ’cause it’s like creating like the videos or like some PDFs for if people you’re onboarding. Would that be more of a system then?

Steph Blake: Yeah, yeah. So SOPs, that just stands for standard, um, standard operating procedures. Mm-hmm. So that is just essentially outlining the different tasks.

Your business. So those are, I mean, they’re necessary, especially if you have team members, right? For our newer business owners, they’re still really important to have to help you stay on track with the tasks that you’re doing, right? Because, I mean, I don’t know about you, but there have been so many times where I thought I knew how to do something.

Like I’ve done it a million times, I’m in the process of going through it, and then my kids start screaming and I have to run out of my office and go help them. Yeah. So I come back and I say, wait, did I do that part already? So. Essentially what that does is it’s just systematizing it [00:04:00] for you. It’s making it really easy for you to have just a list of things that need to get done in whatever format makes sense for you, Uhhuh, whether it’s a checklist, videos, whatever.

Um, and then from there, once we have that for ourselves, that’s when we can start to share that with team members and other people that we bring on. And then the automation piece comes in with those different steps in that system.

Becky: Oh yeah, I love that. Yeah, I have some full-time VAs and they use that and it was really helpful to bring them on, on board real easily.

And I’ve had people leave and then I, I just, you know, educate the new ones that come on with that. It’s very helpful. So what, what would you, you say is a, a really great tool then, you know, for business systems?

Steph Blake: Yeah, I mean, I, there’s, okay, so it really depends on the type of business that we’re talking about, right?

Because there’s, there’s so many different types of businesses. So gimme an example of like, of uh, who are, who are the main people listening to this right now? And I can kind of break it down.

Becky: Oh, sure. Yeah. Digital products, sellers.

Steph Blake: Yeah. Okay. That’s what I thought as I thought. So I’m gonna be a little bit biased here because I have my own [00:05:00] tool that I think is incredible for, um, any type of online business owner, which is called the Simple Business Suite, because it really integrates all of the different pieces of your business together.

So if we look at this from the perspective of a digital product seller, we need a lot of different things we’ll need. Um, a website likely, or an e-commerce shop somewhere that you can make these, uh, these resources available to people to buy. Okay. Um, so that’s one part. We also need, um, different workflows that are set up.

So when somebody buys something, we wanna send them, send it to them, right? So let’s say they buy your, uh, your course, right? We wanna make sure that we have a way to deliver that course to them. Say, Hey, here’s your course. Okay, same in the same vein. We need to make sure that we have a place to host that course.

Right? So, um, some kind of. Tool that will allow you to do that. Spoiler alert, all of these are inside the simple business, right? Oh, cool. Yeah. We wanna make sure that we have a place, so that tool is allowing us to keep all of the resources for that program in one place. For them to access. And then we also need to [00:06:00] make sure we’re collecting payments, right?

So we need payment processors, right? So when people, especially people who are getting started in business, what I see a lot of them doing is they’re just trying to piece together a lot of different tools. And I did this myself. I’m sure you probably did this at one point too. And I had like 20 different tools that I was using to power my business.

I had like a calendar tool, I had a contract tool, I had, um. A website, right? I, I had all of these different tools that I was trying to piece together and it just became very chaotic and very overwhelming. So whenever we’re talking about simplifying systems, the more that we can condense into as few tools as possible, the better.

Right? So like, that’s literally why I created the Simple Business Way. I created it for myself.

Becky: Oh, very cool.

Steph Blake: I didn’t. I was tired of using all of these different tools, things breaking and also spending a lot of money. Right.

Becky: Yeah. Spending,

Steph Blake: spending a lot of money on all these different platforms when it’s not necessary to do that.

Becky: Yeah. I, I spend like a lot of [00:07:00] money too, and that, that would be cool to have something all in one. So I’m spending money on Leadpages, like my website, you know, I, I’ve like, uh, I had to buy a Thrive Cart. I have to, you know, buy all this stuff, you know, and it’s just in the Shopify, gotta pay for Shopify store.

Steph Blake: Yeah. Exactly. And that, I mean, I did the exact same thing, right? And eventually, like, especially as your business grows, um, like there’s so many tools that just kind of pile on top of one another. Like, like you’ve noticed, right? It’s like, okay, now we need this tool. Now we need this tool. And then as our business grows, we’ll probably have to, um, increase the amount that we use, right?

So we’ll have to upgrade to the different tiers, right? So instead of just staying on the free tier, maybe we have to upgrade to like the next tier and then the next tier. And then, and then as. You know, it just gets so expensive. So expensive to use all of these different tools, not to mention all of the different technical pieces in the backend, right?

Yeah. To make sure that everything’s working and everything’s talking to each other. Mm-hmm. When I created the suite, I made sure that we had, it was just like flat rate pricing. It’s like you get [00:08:00] everything you need in one place. I’m not gonna charge you more of your business Rose. I think that’s ridiculous.

Um, because I wouldn’t want that, right? Oh, yes. So, yeah. Yeah.

Becky: Yeah. So tell us more about you, like, like how did you start your business and, and like, do you have any kids?

Steph Blake: I do. I have two kids, so I’ll kind of give you the, the, the general overview. So I, um, had a, I was on like a very traditional trajectory, uh, growing up.

Went to high school, college, got my degree. I graduated in, uh, 2010. From college. So that was like right in the middle of the, the recession if, if you remember. Oh, yes. I was just glad to get a job at that point. So I was working at an engineering company designing instruction manuals, which was as boring as it sounds.

Becky: Oh yeah, it does sound boring.

Steph Blake: Yeah, I, my background was actually in graphic design. Oh. So, yeah, so that’s what I did. And I was like, okay, great. I have a job. So I stayed at that company for Uhhuh about four years. Then I moved to Chicago. And worked at a digital marketing agency. [00:09:00] Started at the bottom, worked my way up to, um, the C-suite level in three years.

And then around that time I was just very newly married. And I was like, you know what? I’m tired of like helping these other people grow their businesses. Like I wanna do this for myself, but I don’t know what to do. Because, yeah, my parents weren’t entrepreneurial. Like my dad worked in retail. My mom worked at the same company for 40 years, but I knew I wanted to do something else.

So that’s when I, um. Was targeted with a Facebook ad that says like, how to use your corporate skills to create a business. So obviously I was hooked, right? Yeah. Um, and yeah, so I started, the first year I had eight different businesses and made $53 total because I had no idea what I was doing. And, um, it wasn’t until about.

Three years into my journey that I got pregnant with my first son and reached this breaking point. ’cause at that point I was working anywhere between 80 to a hundred hours a week. Mm-hmm. And I was gonna end up in the hospital if I didn’t slow down. Yeah, that was the point where I made it a priority to figure [00:10:00] out how to not only simplify my business, but how to run it in 20 hours per week or less.

So, that’s what I did. I ended up leaving my job, um, going full-time in my business literally two weeks after I had him. And, um, yeah. Since then I’ve been helping people, um, simplify their businesses. So that was almost six years ago, and then two years ago. Um, I retired my husband from his job and then, or no, that was almost three years ago at this point.

And then, um, I had my second child two years ago, so it’s been a whirlwind. Oh, been a lot happening. Yeah. Yeah. So I have a little bit of everything happening in my life.

Becky: Yeah. I kind of have a similar story. I majored in graphic design too, and I worked at, at different companies and got into web developments ’cause I couldn’t find a job doing graphic design.

It’s hard. So I, I come from more of a tech background, like it, I used to work in it like 25 years, like American Airlines. I worked at Verizon. I’ve designed mobile apps. You know, so it’s kind of the, kinda a similar [00:11:00] backstory. And, and you’re right. You know, working for other people isn’t the way to go. Like, I’ve gotten so much, so much stress and it’s harmed by mental health, working for these other people and getting all the pressure, especially the office politics alone.

Oh my gosh. Just so much more freeing, just working for yourself.

Steph Blake: Yeah, I completely agree with that. Now with that said, it’s also very hard

Becky: Oh yeah. To work for

Steph Blake: yourself. I mean, that is like a whole ball game in and of itself. I always say that entrepreneurship is the best self-development tool that you can ever have.

’cause it teaches you so much about yourself.

Becky: Yes.

Steph Blake: Yeah. And I mean, truthfully, it’s not for everybody. Either, um, I’ll be the first person to admit it. There’s a reason why I don’t even know what the stat is now. Like, maybe like 5% of the population Uhhuh has a successful business because it’s really hard.

It’s really hard. But, um, it can also be really simple if you’re strategic about it.

Becky: Oh, yes, you’ve proven that. So, so tell us more about this simple, the business suite.

Steph Blake: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, um, like I said, it’s an all-in-one [00:12:00] solution where we have everything in one place, right? So like, literally everything you need to manage your business is right there.

Mm-hmm. So, like I said, website landing pages, um, if you do need contracts, um, if you’re doing any, any type of work plan, contact, all that’s in there. Social media planner, um, automations, workflows, uh, uh, ai, we have a lot of AI tools in there. So it’s like literally everything you need in one place. So that.

Like I said, you can keep everything on the back end of your business. So simple. So simple. You don’t have to worry about connecting different tools. You don’t have to worry about paying more as your business continues to grow. And I, I’m, I call it the simple business suite. ’cause truly, I believe it is the most simple solution for anybody.

Whether they’re just getting started in their business and they wanna just kind of set things up from. The get go in one place, or if they have been in business for a while and they’ve reached the point like I did right, where I was like, oh my gosh, things are just everywhere. Everything’s a mess. I’m paying so much money.

Then it’s also really great ’cause you can transition all of your resources over and then you can scale your business [00:13:00] without paying more, worrying about those limits. We’ve had so many people moving from, from different platforms. Like, I don’t wanna name names, but like, uh, like larger course platforms that are continuing to raise their prices.

Right. Or, um, like, like e-commerce shop, like Shopify’s. But like the best one, like we’ve had a lot of people moving off of Shopify because they’re like, you know what, like I’m just, I’m just sick of paying for this extra tool. Like, I don’t, I don’t want it. Yeah. Although it’s great, I, I do think it’s the best platform for e-commerce.

Like really nothing comes close to it. ’cause that’s, that’s what they do, that’s what they’re great at. Um, but like, if, if you are not running like a multimillion dollar e-commerce specific business, I don’t think you need it. I mean, the suite has everything that you need and more in one place, especially for digital product, um, creators, right?

Like. There’s so many things that we need outside of Shopify. Like for example, like courses, memberships, community, right? Mm-hmm. Like for example, if you were using like a school community, right? We have all of that in there too. We have, it’s all in one place. So it’s just [00:14:00] really simplifying things, like I said, either when you’re getting started or as you’re growing.

Becky: Oh, that sounds cool. It’s cool ’cause I was using school and it’s like nine, nine a month and I just stopped doing it and I, I just went back to Facebook groups.

Steph Blake: Yeah, exactly. And we’ve, again, we’ve had so many people doing that right, because they, they were just tired of paying these extra costs. And with us, you get as many groups as you want for free.

Well, not for free. It’s all included in the price. And then we don’t have to worry about like, the different algorithm changes from Facebook because you, you own the group, right? Like you own the community. It’s all in one place and yeah, it’s. Yeah, I, I could say, I could talk about this all day.

Becky: Oh, oh, really?

We don’t have all day. But like, how does this support, like is it hard for people to use this?

Steph Blake: No. And, and again, that, that’s the whole simplification piece. So one thing that I, I did, I noticed that, um. I mean, I’ll just be very transparent and honest that that’s what I’m about. I noticed when I first created it, well first I created it for myself.

I didn’t intend on inviting other people to this. Mm-hmm. But then I started talking about it more. People were like, [00:15:00] oh my gosh, how? How can I sign up for this? Where can I sign up for this? So just truthfully, I didn’t have any processes set up for other people. People were just like, can I join this? And I said, sure.

And then once I realized was okay, we do need to create. Some, well, a few resources to help people make sure that they get set up really easily inside of their own accounts. So over time, I’ve created something called Sweet School, which is, uh, essentially like our academy. That gives a full step-by-step overview of what you need to do to get set up in your account literally right away.

So we have that, we have a bunch of, um, different bonus trainings and resources in there for our users. We also have a full knowledge base that has hundreds, maybe even thousands of articles at this point with every single feature. And whenever a new feature is released or something’s updated, it goes in there.

And then we have, um, 24 7 support. As well via chat, uh, 24 7 tech support via chat and zoom. So everybody gets support whenever they need [00:16:00] it, regardless of where they’re at, regardless of the time of day they’re working. Um, and then I also, because you can tell that I’m really passionate about this, I love this.

I also, um, post weekly office hours with all of our users too, so then I can actually get on. Yeah. So I get on, um. Zoom and we troubleshoot, we talk about what’s going on. Like if they need help setting something up, I can literally go into their account for them and we can, um, get those pieces set up. And then we also have, um, a community.

So we have a private community as well for all of our users, so, yeah. Oh, that’s, how many

Becky: users? How many users do you have?

Steph Blake: Um, so we launched this, it hasn’t even been a year. Uh, I launched this I think in May of last year. So, uh, right now we’re at about a hundred users.

Becky: Oh, that’s, that’s great. So how, what’s the, the monthly price?

Steph Blake: Yeah. So at least right now, at the time of recording this, I don’t know if we’re gonna change it, but right now it’s 119 a month. Mm-hmm. Or we have, um, annual pricing where you get two months for free. Oh, okay. So I think that sounds

Becky: good.

Steph Blake: I don’t [00:17:00] remember what that brings it down to, but regardless, it’s so much more cost effective.

If you were trying to piece together all of those different platforms, right? Like your lead pages alone is worth the whole

Becky: price. Yeah, I know. It just, I’m just really upset. But only thing is I have so many things. You have over a hundred courses on that lead pages as I make all my, you know, all my opt-ins when I join summits and bundles, you know, all my funnels and everything are on there.

And so is it hard to move to, uh, to a new platform like, like yours?

Steph Blake: Yeah. So, um, I mean, it, it will take time and I’m not gonna sugarcoat it for you. It does take some time to, to begin the transfer process, but what I always recommend to people is to give yourself some space, like depending on how much that you do need to transition over, I say give yourself three to six months.

Mm-hmm. Um, and I want people to view this not as like time being spent, but an investment in their. In their future, right? Because yes, it does take time, and I’m speaking from my own experience with this as [00:18:00] well, because I had to transition a lot. I think I used to use, um, thrive Cart and Thrive Cart learn for all of my programs.

I had over 50 different programs in there. I had over 10,000 different students that we had to migrate over. So I’m speaking from experience with saying like, I, I’ve been there, but truly the long term. Benefits outweigh the couple months of making that transition. So, um, whenever people do wanna transition, I, I have, um, like a, a whole overview that gives advice and suggestions of how to do it.

And then of course, I’m always happy to, um, give personalized advice to people as well.

Becky: Oh yeah, that’s great. So tell me more about the support. Is it people based in the US or, or other countries? All over. Mm-hmm.

Steph Blake: And, um, so yeah, we have a full support team. Is that what you’re talking about? Our support team?

Becky: Oh yeah. A support team. Are they they based in other, other countries or are they based in the us?

Steph Blake: They’re, they’re, yeah, they’re based all around the world. So we have, um, okay. Yeah. So, and that, that’s how we are able to do the 24 7 support because people, oh yeah. We have from, [00:19:00] from all over, um. And all languages as well.

So they, uh, we use a really special technology, which is actually really cool, that whichever, um, language that you’re speaking in, you can type it out and then it will translate it on both ends. So when our support team responds back to you, it’ll automatically translate it back in the language that that person understands.

Um,

Becky: oh, that’s neat. Is that sometimes like an AI tool that you It is,

Steph Blake: yeah.

Becky: Yeah. Oh, do you mind me asking what it is?

Steph Blake: I actually don’t know the name of it offhand.

Becky: Oh. Oh, okay. I’ll maybe like later. I’ll, I’ll reach out. That sounds really useful.

Steph Blake: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, um, yeah, I don’t, I don’t remember. I, I’m sure if you Google it, there’s a lot of them out there now.

Oh yeah. If you were to Google just like ai, um, chat tool for languages, there’s a whole list that will come up.

Becky: Oh, that, that’s really neat. Yeah. So are these, um, tech support employed by you or, or you use like, like something else for it or.

Steph Blake: Uh, yeah, so we have a combination of both. So I, we do [00:20:00] have internal support, so, um, we have an internal team that does help with some things.

And then some of it I do outsource to, um, to an agency that helps us just because, again, like managing 24 7 tech support, again, not something that I ever. Knew about not something that I ever understood the repercussions of. So that’s why I always like to partner with, um, other brands who do understand it and who do already have those processes set up.

Mm-hmm. So for the 24 7 support, we have partnered with another, um, another company for that to help us out.

Becky: Oh, that sounds sounds great. Yeah, this does sound very beneficial ’cause I’m just paying like so much. I’m sure people out there listening are also paying a lot of money for their different tools and, and like systems.

This sounds like a great option. Yeah. Like, like I’ll make sure to, to link. Uh, this tool a simple business suite, is that right? Yeah,

Steph Blake: yeah. I’ll link this tool

Becky: in the show notes@beatshow.com. Well, is there anything you’d like to share with this last minute, Steph?

Steph Blake: Yeah, I mean, in terms of just simplifying your systems, automating, my, [00:21:00] my big piece of advice is to guess what, keep things really simple because it’s really easy to overcomplicate.

Mm-hmm. Especially systems, it’s really easy to kind of overthink and add in unnecessary steps and unnecessary tools. Right. So that would really be my biggest piece of advice for everybody listening. So not only do we wanna make sure our businesses are really simple, but we wanna keep our marketing simple and also the backend systems in tech.

Um, really simple as well, because it’s. Even if we, um, we’re not at the place where we wanna be right now in our business, I’m, I’m a big proponent of like, long-term forward thinking. So we wanna think about how we’re setting up these systems, how we’re setting up these automations. Mm-hmm. With long-term growth in mind.

Right. So that’s six months, a year, three years down the line. Right. Because the work that we’re doing today is going to help us reach those results then.

Becky: Oh, oh, great. So tell us where we could find you, Steph.

Steph Blake: Absolutely. So, um, I know we’re gonna link to the Simple Business Suite below, but that’s, uh, simple biz suite.com.

My [00:22:00] website is the Blake Collective. Mm-hmm. So you can find everything there. So that’s where, um, you can find more about, um, the, uh, the support I give. So the, uh, business consulting, all of that is linked over there. Um, but yeah, that, that’s really the best place to find me.

Becky: Great. Well, of all those links and also an opportunity to join the Simple Business Suite in the show notes beckybeachshow.com.

And I’ll also have a freebie workbook there too you can check out, and then we’ll have, Steph has a freebie as well. Could you tell us more about your freebie?

Steph Blake: Yeah, absolutely. So it’s called the Simplify Your Business Blueprint, and it is a literal, complete step-by-step system to help you simplify your business.

So we’re talking everything from designing a business around your life all the way through, uh, marketing, offer creation, delegating, automating, uh, scaling your business. It really lays out all of those different pieces. And then, so that’s all in like one big spreadsheet for you. Mm-hmm. And then I also created a, um.

A [00:23:00] complimentary email course. So every day I’m emailing you sharing, um, real examples of how I have made mistakes with each of these different, um, areas of the process. And, um, sharing ways that people can overcome, like the biggest hurdles that I’ve seen come up. Because I think it’s, it’s one thing to just kind of, um, to download a free resource, but it’s another thing to implement.

So I wanted to make sure that I had that, uh, follow up course as well.

Becky: Oh, excellent. Again, we’ll have all that in the show notes, like make sure to go to Becky beat show.com. Well, thanks much for being here today, Steph. I really appreciate our time together.

Steph Blake: Yeah, thank you for having me. This was great.

Becky: Okay. Bye everybody. Bye.

Again, check out Simple Business Suite here!