One of the biggest myths in entrepreneurship is that the more involved you are in every part of your business, the more successful it will be. Lies, I tell you!
Hustle culture glorifies being “in the weeds.” But I’m gonna lay it down: if your business can’t run without you, then you don’t own a business. You’ve built yourself a very demanding job.
The path to freedom doesn’t come from working harder. It comes from designing a business that runs itself. This week, I want to give you one tool to start making that shift, and it’s something I call the mini-SOP.
What the heck is a mini-SOP?
A mini-SOP (standard operating procedure) is a small, streamlined way to document and delegate a task. It’s not a 30-page ops manual gathering dust on a shelf. It’s quick, usable, and repeatable. It’s something your team will actually use and improve.
Think of it this way: your business is filled with tasks you do automatically, without thinking. Answering a weekly email. Publishing a blog. Posting to social media. Running payroll. What if someone else could do one of those for you, exactly the way you do it?
You don’t need to hire a systems consultant or build a complex workflow tool to get started. You just need your phone and three to five steps.
Here’s what to do.
Your 10-minute assignment
Pick one simple, recurring task that you do every week. Make sure it’s something that doesn’t require deep strategy; just clear execution.
Now, record a quick video (2–5 minutes) showing exactly how you do it.
- Open your screen recording tool or phone camera.
- Talk through the steps as if you’re teaching a team member.
- Keep it simple. Think: “Open this tool → Click this tab → Paste the content → Hit publish.”
That’s it. You just made your first mini-SOP.
Now, hand it off.
Let your team member take it and run with it. Don’t hover. Don’t perfect. Let it be imperfect, but out of your head. Only revisit or improve it once the task runs without you.
This is how businesses scale. Not with massive reinvention, but with small systems executed consistently.
And, it builds undeniable empowerment in your employees.
Not that: Don’t build a big manual
Let me be super clear here: don’t write an operations manual. Don’t create a big doc full of bullet points no one will read.
We’ve all been there. We build an SOP library with the best of intentions, only to find it becomes an unused digital graveyard.
Mini-SOPs are different. They’re living tools, not static documents. They’re built to be used and improved in real time. Start small. Stay practical. Build while in motion.
Why this works
When you remove tasks from your plate and pass them to your team, you’re doing more than saving time. You’re building a self-sustaining machine. And it starts with one task.
Want to see this concept in action? Here’s how it ties directly into my core systems:
- Clockwork: In Chapter 4 (pages 71–77), we talk about the Queen Bee Role—the essential activity that keeps your business thriving. Mini-SOPs help protect that role by moving everything else off your plate.
- Fix This Next: Chapter 5 (pages 89–95) is all about removing bottlenecks. Guess who the biggest bottleneck usually is? Yep—you. By documenting and delegating tasks, you free up space and speed up growth.
- Profit First: Systems aren’t just about time—they’re about money too. Chapter 9 (pages 165–171) shows you how to create consistent cash flow through systematization. The more predictable your processes, the more stable your profits.
A mini-SOP may feel small. But that one small handoff is a big move toward true business freedom.
A real-life example
A business owner I worked with had a bottleneck around posting her weekly newsletter. Every Thursday morning, she’d panic to get it written, designed, formatted, and sent. It took two hours and a lot of mental space.
We identified it as the first mini-SOP opportunity.
She made a screen recording of her process, narrated it once, and handed it to her assistant. Within one week, the task was off her plate. Within three weeks, her assistant had improved the process, added templates, and scheduled it out two months in advance.
Boom. Freedom.
This is what’s possible when you document in motion and delegate with trust.
Final thought – Build once, run forever
The best systems in business are the ones that keep working without your constant input. That’s the beauty of a mini-SOP. You build it once, and it runs forever with someone else at the wheel.
One step. One task. One video.
Then another.
And another.
Pretty soon, your business is running because of you, not entirely on you.
As Michael Gerber famously said in The E-Myth Revisited:
“Systems run the business. People run the systems.”
Start your first mini-SOP today. Let it be simple. Let it be imperfect. But let it be done.
You’ve got this.
– Mike
For more insight, check out the resources here:
The Money Habit: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9781774586433
Get Different: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9780593330630
Fix This Next: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9780593084410
Profit First: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9780735214149
Pumpkin Plan: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9781591844884
All In: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9780593544501
Clockwork: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9780593538173
Money Bunnies: https://bookshop.org/a/4474/9780578929989
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Mike Michalowicz is the author of Get Different, Profit First, Clockwork, All In, Surge, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, The Pumpkin Plan, and The Money Habit. He’s on a mission to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty and help business owners build wildly successful, radically fulfilling companies.