Streamline and Automate Your Business with an Organization Chart

by Jay (Jason Van Orden)

In this video you’ll learn how to use an E-Myth-style organization chart as a tool to streamline and automate your business. This is a critical tool that we use as the foundation for turning our businesses into a system that can run without us. Remember that the goal of an entrepreneur is to work ON the business and not IN it. You don’t want to just create another job. You’ll also see how to tie this into your Getting Things Done system. You’ll find additional links and resources after the “read more” link.

Here are the resources mentioned in this video:

MindManager – The mindmapping software that we use
Freemind – A free mindmapping software that is also excellent
Example Organization Chart (Freemind) – This is an example chart that you can view and edit with Freemind
Example Organization Chart (MindManager) – This is the example chart I used in the video that you can view with the free MindManager viewer
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
Mindmeister – The online collaborative mindmapping software that we use for our GTD system

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13 Comments For This Post

Miles Says:

I have just started on the IBM course and even though we are only at module one, the stage of looking at how to structure the business, I just feel so much more confident that this time I am going to get the businesses going and going properly.

But first I am going to finish the E-Myth revisited. For years I assumed E stood for electronic but it doesn’t. E is for Entrepreneur. Aftre the first 85 pages I feel all banks should recommend that people read this book before they lend them money.

Yes I want to rush in and start earning money but I see so much value in this approach.

Jay (Jason Van Orden) Says:

@Miles,

I’m excited to hear your confidence is high. Ride that wave. Nothing is in your way that you can’t handle.

I thought the ‘e’ in E-Myth stood for ‘electronic ‘ or ‘internet’, too. I guess they should have titled it better.

It’s worth setting things things up the right way. Yes, you want to act fast and maintain momentum, but putting systems in place starting now is the right thing to do.

Sterling Says:

@Miles,

You might want to make sure to stay up with the course enough to get your questions for each week in on time. We want to get all your questions answered for each module!

Julian Says:

Definitely an interesting way or organization…just out of curiosity, have you guys read ‘The 4-Hour Work Week’? If not it’s got a bunch of great tips about automating your business so that it generates cash all on its own. Just thought i’d recommend it as it seems to be in line with a lot of the topics you focus on in your podcast.

Jay (Jason Van Orden) Says:

@Julian,

We have read the FHWW. If you look in the podcast archives, we have an interview with Tim Ferris. Much of what we do incorporates elements of E-Myth, FHWW and Getting Things Done.

Kevin Says:

Jay,

I was wondering if you are still using the program that record’s how long you spend on a given project on your computer? If so, How’s it working? Would love to know the name of the program, if it works.

Kevin

Mark Says:

Hey guys – sorry to bug you with a newbie/techie question, BUT:

I’m setting up my WP.org blog, and I’m confused about how to capture emails the way you guys have.

I’ve successfully set up my RSS and Email Subscribe options via Feedburner.
But I don’t think this gives me access to people’s email addresses, correct? I need to capture email addresses some other way, by offering a “Sign Up for my Newsletter” or something, right?

All these subscribing options have me confused!

Can you tell me what you use for your email capture / fields/ widget on your homepage? I remember you mentioning Aweber. This is different from the Feedburner RSS/Email subscribe, yes?

Thank you!
Mark

Jay (Jason Van Orden) Says:

@Mark,

For email list management we use:

http://www.GetMyEmailTool.com

@Kevin,

I don’t use the time software right now. It served it’s purpose well for what I needed at the time. I wanted to get a hold on how much time I was spending on certain things. The program I used was for Mac. It can be found here:

http://www.officetime.net

Mark Says:

Thanks Jay – very kind of you to respond. The link you gave sends me to Aweber, so I assume that’s the one! Cool.

Hope you’re enjoying B.A.

Marc Krejci Says:

@Kevin

There’s a great product I’ve been using for the past week that tracks how much time I spend using any given program and what websites I visit to help understand my productivity (or lack there of). It’s called RescueTime (www.rescuetime.com). I have no affiliation other than that as a satisfied user. There’s a download for both mac and pc. Just install and forget about it. You can go back later and tag related items and install a nice little widget on your iGoogle/Netvibes page to watch your progress.

Julie Reagan Says:

Hey guys. Love the new site. It looks very attractive and inviting. I’ve been listening to your podcast where you asked for people to check the site out, check links, etc and give feedback. I just wanted to mention one blip … on the videos (I was watching the mindmapping video), the full-screen function doesn’t work. This might be a problem on my end, but nevertheless wanted to bring it to your attention. Again, love the website, love the podcast. Thanks for all you do.

Julie