Turn Structure into Systems: Organize Your Business by Function (Special Edition Part 2)

🧭 BOSS Newsletter | Special Edition Part 2

Turn Structure Into Systems: Organize Your Business by Function (Special Edition Part 2)

You’ve set up your Company Operating Plan (COP) binder. You’ve downloaded the digital folder structure. You’ve even started auditing your software tools.

But here’s the real question:

Do you actually know what part of your business your daily tasks belong to?

Most small business owners do wear five different hats everyday. They shift from Sales to Finance to HR to Operations without even noticing — and without any system to follow or plan in place to automate the task.

In this second edition of building your Business Operating System (BOS), we’ll categorize how your business actually functions. You’ll start to think like a CEO instead of a task juggler.

This step is essential because it turns your digital folder structure and Company Operating Plan into a living system.

Instead of folders sitting empty, they’ll start filling with categorized tasks, ideas, and soon — Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s)

Let’s turn your business into an organized machine.

🌟 Purpose & Why It Matters

The goal of this step is simple: Connect your daily tasks and responsibilities to the core functions of your business.

Why this matters:

• 🧠 It helps you think in systems, not just actions

• 👥 It prepares you to delegate and scale

• 📄 It sets the stage for future SOP creation (the real power of your BOS)

• 🔁 It allows you to repeat, optimize, and eventually automate

BOS-002
Turning Structure Into Systems: Organize Your Business by Function

Category: Business Operating System
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 6 - 8 Hours to Complete

🛠 Tools & Files Needed

A quick list of what you need to complete the task:

✅ Your COP Binder and Digital Folder System from Part 1

✅ The “COP Sections List” (the categories/functions you’ve chosen to include)

✅ Notebook, spreadsheet, Digital Organizer (e.g. Notion), or whiteboard

⚙️ Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1: Download, Review, & Edit Your Company Operating Plan (COP) Section List

Download the 👉 Sample COP Section List.

Download the 👉Small Business Digital Folder List.

You’ll use your customized version of this list to anchor all your business tasks to specific BOS categories. These are the Core Functions of your business — and they should align with your digital folder system detailed in Part 1 of this series.

Some examples include:

• 📣 Marketing

• 🧲 Sales & CRM

• 🛠️ Fulfillment / Delivery

• 💼 Admin & HR

• 💰 Finance & Payments

• 🧠 Strategic Planning

• 📊 Analytics & KPIs

• ⚙️ Tools, Tech & Automations

• 📝 Legal / Insurance / Compliance

• 🤖 AI & Innovation (optional but growing fast)

🗂 Make sure your folders and binder sections match your customized list. Adjust or consolidate as needed.

Step 2: List All Your Weekly and Monthly Recurring Tasks

Use a spreadsheet, Notion, or Word Document to list everything you regularly do to keep the business running. Some examples might include:

• “Send invoices on Fridays”

• “Post to Social Media 3x a week”

• “Respond to leads from the website”

• “Run payroll”

• “Review project deadlines”

💡 Don’t worry about order — just list out every major task you take care of on a regular basis.

Step 3: Categorize Each Task by BOS Function

Now go back through your task list and tag each one with the corresponding COP category. For example:

• “Send invoices” → 💰 Finance & Payments

• “Post to Facebook” → 📣 Marketing

• “Run payroll” → 💼 Admin & HR

• “Respond to website leads” → 🧲 Sales & CRM

🎯 Goal: Every major task should now live under one of your COP binder categories.

Step 4: Move Task Notes, Files, and documents Into the Right Folders

Once your tasks are categorized:

1. Start collecting related files, notes, documents, etc.

2. Place them into their correct folders (both digital and/or physical binder).

3. Add notes or “to be documented” tags if they need a future Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

🧠 Now your BOS isn’t just structure — it has content that’s categorized, accessible, and ready to be documented.

Step 5: Highlight Priority Areas to Systemize

Now that your business is mapped into categories, ask yourself:

• Which of these areas take the most time?

• Which are most error-prone?

• Which would I love to delegate?

• Which could benefit from automation?

✅ Mark 2–3 categories as “High Impact” areas to systemize first. These will become the first BOS categories you focus on going forward.

Step 6: Capture the Actual Workflows You Perform

Start mapping what you actually do to accomplish each function — not just labeling tasks, but observing your real workflows. Here’s how:

• Pick one of your “High Impact” categories from Step 5.

• Open a new document or grab a notepad.

• For that function, write out what happens step by step — in reality, not how you wish it worked.

🔍 Capture:

• What triggers the process

• What tools are involved

• Who does each step (even if it’s you)

• What gets sent, shared, or updated

🧠 These will become your SOP’s. Right now, you’re just capturing the raw workflow.

Step 7: Identify Workflow Weak Spots or Friction

Intent: Reveal where time is being wasted or where things fall through the cracks.

Ask these questions about each process:

• Is there any rework (e.g., repeating data entry)?

• Do you manually do something that could be automated?

• Are clients or team members ever confused or delayed?

• Are there too many tools involved?

• Could you hand this off to someone else easily — or would it take hours to explain?

✅ Mark steps in red that are: Time-consuming, Repetitive, Confusing, Dependent on you.

🧭 These are your optimization targets — and will become automation or delegation opportunities.

Step 8: Align Each Workflow with a Tech Stack Tool

Intent: Match each function and its workflow with the right software — so you can start building a digital system that runs the BOS. See an example table you can use in the Resources & Downloads Section below.

The goal is to understand: Where tools are helping - Where they’re failing - And what system you wish you had. This sets you up for Part 3 of this series: building your Digital BOS Platform.

At this point, you’ve:

• Categorized your business by function

• Mapped your actual tasks and workflows

• Spotted inefficiencies

• Begun aligning tools with real processes

📦 Your BOS is no longer just folders. It’s now a working draft of how your company runs.

🤖 AI + Automation Boost

Let AI do the heavy lifting for you:

🧠 Use ChatGPT to Help:

• Categorize and organize tasks by business function

• Identify what tools could simplify each category

• Select what SOP’s should be documented first

• Determine what automations could save time

Tips & Resources

💡 Pro Tips

• Use color-coded labels or icons in your digital folders to identify categories quickly

• Set a recurring task to revisit this list monthly — it evolves with your business

• Remember: this is the preparation stage for process building. Be thorough, but not perfectionist.

🔗 Resources & Downloads

⬇️ Download: Company Operating Plan Topics & Tabs
⬇️ Download: Digital Folders for Small Business
⬇️ Download: Tech Tool Workflow Mapping Table

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