Welcome back to the Online Profits Prescription. I hope your summer has been going well.

It has been more than two months since my first edition of this newsletter in late May, but I intend to get back into a more regular content publishing practice starting this month. 

The primary reason for this gap is that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, writing, and reorganizing my business behind the scenes this summer. I’m going to be sharing more of those insights here today and in the weeks to come.

Doctor’s Notes

My goal has always been to simplify online business for experienced professionals and to help them turn their expertise into a successful online business. That goal hasn’t changed. 

What HAS changed is my overall conceptual framework for helping people do that. 

My focus is no longer just “build your online business using Kajabi.” 

I still recommend Kajabi as a tool for building your online business systems, but I have recognized that the focus on Build is incomplete. 

Build is just one phase of the Design-Build-Operate business lifecycle, and I haven’t been giving enough attention and support for the other two major phases – Design and Operate. 

Building Systems without a Blueprint

This may sound familiar to you. When I was starting out to build an online business, I was often encouraged to build pieces of the online business puzzle. Build a website. Start a funnel. Create a course. Pick an email system. Post on social media. 

Many of us start building the pieces of the puzzle before we've designed the business (the blueprint) which shows how those pieces are supposed to fit together.

In my work with clients, I have always worked with them to clarify their high-level strategies and business designs before building the systems. This was a holdover systems engineering practice from my corporate career.

In 30+ years of leading engineering software development teams, we always created specifications and architectural designs before building the systems. 

We then developed the systems in a series of “sprints” and version releases, so we could get early user feedback to guide the development of the system.

So I was applying a principle of design first, then build, but the design activity has always been integrated in an ad hoc manner into the build process at a high level.

What was missing from what I’ve been doing?

A deeper dive into supporting the Design phase in more detail, and adding support for ongoing Operations and Continuous Improvement.

I've been adding these missing pieces into a new conceptual frameworkI’ve been working on: The Online Business Success Operating System™  

• Design it first. 
• Build it in focused sprints.
• Operate it.
• Improve it intentionally.

I'll be sharing more details about this in future editions of Online Profits Prescription. 

For today’s edition, let’s talk about one of the overarching system design principles I learned about in my corporate career – Streamlining Your Systems.

Online Profits Insight

Streamline Your Systems to Simplify Your Online Business

In the beginning, you didn't set out to build a complicated business. It happened one tool at a time, each one solving a problem in the moment.

As your online business grows, it's remarkably easy to accumulate separate tools optimized for separate functions.

• A website platform.
• An email system.
• A landing page builder.
• A shopping cart.
• A course platform.
• A scheduling system.
• A community platform.

Each new system may solve an individual problem, but collectively they can create a much bigger one: complexity.

You didn't mean to do it, but you ended up with what I call a spaghetti system. Everything technically works, but it's tangled, inefficient, and difficult to manage. Before long, you're spending more time managing software than serving clients.

That's why my recommended practice for selecting technology is to use integrated systems to minimize the separate tools you need to learn, connect, and maintain. As you likely know already, I recommend using Kajabi as one of the best integrated online business platforms available.

You can avoid the mistake that most of us have made - accumulating too many multiple tools - if you design your overall system first and then build it gradually over time in focused project sprints using an integrated platform.

Read the full Insight article here... 

Kajabi Korner

One reason I use Kajabi in my own business — and with the clients I work with — is its integrated approach to supporting the five core activities of online business – content, marketing, sales, delivery, and community.

That doesn't mean Kajabi can do everything. There may be additional specialized tools that make sense to add to your business. The objective is to make those choices intentionally, rather than gradually accumulating a collection of disconnected systems.

The key is to start with selecting a tool that supports your business design and customer journey. 

Sprint to Success!

Here's something practical you can do this week in about 15 minutes.

Make a quick list of every technology platform you're currently paying for or regularly using to operate your online business.

Next to each one, write down what you’re using it for and how much it costs on a monthly basis.

Then ask yourself two questions about each tool:

1. Am I actively using it, and do I still need it?
2. Can another system I’m already using provide the same capability?

You don't necessarily need to change anything right now.

For now, just identify the complexity and any overlapping capabilities. That's often the first step toward simplifying it.

Community Updates

I’m working on a new Expert Online Business Guide that introduces the Online Business Success Operating System™. It should be ready later this month. It will include video training and an online business self-assessment so you can assess where you are in designing, building, and operating your online business.

I’m also working on a new 5-day Online Business Success Design Workshop that I’m targeting for September 21-25. If you'd like to be among the first to hear when registration opens, just reply and let me know.

What are you currently working on? I would love to hear more about that.

If you haven’t yet joined the Online Experts Alliance, please consider signing up. This is free private community for experienced professionals interested in building profitable online businesses.

It’s a starting up community focused on creating meaningful online businesses with more clarity, structure, and support while learning alongside others pursuing a similar journey. The community will not only offer topical content postings, but starting next month, I'm planning to include a weekly Online Business Roundtable live meeting that will be focused on online business topics of interest to you.

If you know other experienced professionals who may benefit from this newsletter or our community, feel free to forward this newsletter to them.

Thank you for being here.

I’m excited to continue building this community together.

To your online success!