Season 1 / Episode 1 S1E01

What a Business Actually Is: People, Processes, Resources and Systems

Every product depends on people, processes, resources and systems working together. This first lesson builds a simple way of seeing your business: four connected elements and three core flows (winning work, delivering work and getting paid), with a fictional home bakery and a five-person agency as worked examples. Exercise: map your business on one page and circle the connection that causes the most trouble.

Episode overview

Ask someone what their business is and they'll tell you what they sell. But every product depends on people, processes, resources and systems working together. In this first lesson we build a simple way of seeing your business: four connected elements and three core flows (winning work, delivering work and getting paid), with a fictional home bakery and a five-person agency as worked examples.

What you will learn

  • See a business as interconnected people, processes, resources and systems that together turn inputs into value for customers.

Your exercise

Put it into practice

Draw a one-page map of your people, processes, resources and systems, and circle the connection that causes the most trouble.

Download the free Business Systems Mapping Worksheet (PDF)PDF, 302 KB. Free, no sign-up.

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