Confession.

McDonald’s Fries are better than In-n-Out. I don’t care how for 75 years, their potatoes are shipped right from the farm, individually cut in their stores, and then cooked in 100% sunflower oil. And I don’t care that they’ve never been frozen. I prefer double fried in lard straight from the freezer with a pound of salt dumped on it…just how I like it. Mmmmmm…  

In fact, did you know that I can go to any one of 120 countries in the world, walk into a McDonald’s, order my extra-large fries and it will taste exactly the same as the one I always get 5 minutes from my house in California? 

How is this possible? It’s not like they hire the top chefs from all over the world and do intense training along with rigorous quality assurance inspection to ensure every fry tastes the same wherever the extra-large fries are served. In fact, it was probably prepared by an unskilled, fresh new rookie during his/her first night shift on the job. So again, how is this possible?

Systems. 

Let’s recap our series and walk through how we can build a business according to E-Myth. 

• Don’t be a technician, be an entrepreneur – More Info
• Don’t work in your business, work on your business – More Info

Our third concept is this: Create systems that can be duplicated anywhere and followed and executed perfectly by anyone. 

This is what separates the true entrepreneurs from the technicians. It makes the difference between experiencing growth and freedom in your work instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the tasks that depend on you. Systems are the secret – here’s why:

Systems are automatic. Picture all the work you do translated into a series of checklists. Every single element is orchestrated to produce a result as one component of the overall system. There is no guess work in what everyone’s supposed to do – it’s a matter of checking every detail of this list, step by step, every time.

Systems are consistent. Like America’s favorite fries, systems produce identical results every single time, no matter who is doing it. It’s not based on the brilliance of your employees – once your system has been clearly defined, everyone’s job actually becomes extremely simple.

Systems don’t depend on you. Your most important work is done in advance – thinking through every detail, then creating the operations manual for others to follow. Once every element of your business is translated into a system, you’re free.

That’s the real challenge though – before you get to freedom, the biggest work of your life depends entirely on you: the creation of the system itself. It might seem daunting, and we’ll constantly be tempted to say, “it’s easier to just do this myself.” That all depends on what you mean by “easier.” Handing off a binder full of simple steps that anyone can do and letting the system work for you sure seems easy to me.

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