This email is Part 2 of a short series covering everything you need to do after buying your first business.
You can read the first part here:
So, you’ve survived week 1.
Your employees haven’t left, and financials are stable.
Now, the real work begins.
Days 30-90 are about understanding how your business actually runs… and making it better.
Most new owners skip this phase and jump straight into “fixing” things.
Big mistake.
Today, I’ll show you what to focus on during this critical 60-day window.
Your first priority? Map every single process
Before you change anything, you need to document how information flows through the company.
This takes about a month of focused effort.
You’ll want to sit in on every meeting, shadow every department, and see how they communicate with each other.
Then, trace the entire customer journey:
- How does a client first contact the business?
- What happens when they book a service?
- How does the work get scheduled and completed?
- What’s the follow-up process?
Write all of this down.
You’ll quickly see which processes work and which ones are broken.
Study the customer experience in detail
As the owner, you need to understand exactly what your customers go through.
Put yourself in their shoes:
- Is the payment process easy or confusing?
- Can they pay with multiple methods, or just checks?
- Does scheduling require three phone calls, or can they book online?
Every point of friction costs you money.
My student Melissa discovered her pool cleaning company only accepted checks, and had nothing set up to accept digital payments or credit cards!
Just by switching to multiple payment options, she dramatically reduced customer complaints and improved cash flow.
Modernize your operational systems
Most small businesses you’ll buy are running on pen, paper, and Excel spreadsheets from 2003.
You get to come in and modernize them.
The best places to start include implementing:
- Digital invoicing systems
- Digital scheduling software
- A real CRM (customer relationship management) system
- An actual functional website
Going digital does three things:
First, it makes tracking infinitely easier.
Second, it frees your team from being chained to a physical office.
Third, it lets you scale without drowning in paperwork.
Melissa’s pool company had a waitlist of 53 potential clients… documented on paper notes scattered around the office.
Once she digitized everything, she could actually follow up with those leads and convert them into paying customers.
Create employee manuals for every role
Most small businesses don’t have written documentation of how to do each job.
Instead, it’s all tribal knowledge passed down through “let me show you how we do it here.”
You’re going to change that.
For every role in your company, create:
- A clear definition of what the role does
- All responsibilities and how they fit into the larger company
- Step-by-step instructions for completing each task
- Video training showing exactly how to do the work
When a new employee starts, they should be able to click into their folder and find everything they need.
This eliminates the “I wasn't trained on that” excuse and creates consistent standards across your team.
The reality of days 30-90 post-acquisition
You should be focused on documenting, organizing, and building the foundation for everything that comes next.
But this unglamorous work is what separates businesses that scale from businesses that stagnate.
Get your systems dialed in now, and growth becomes infinitely easier later.
On Thursday, I’ll show you how to build and develop your team to hit ambitious KPIs and create a high-performance culture.
In the meantime…
I occasionally come across valuable deals and investment opportunities and share them with subscribers.
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Onward,
— Ben Kelly
