In E-Myth, Michael Gerber “If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business — you have a job.”
Today, I’m going to show you how to stop being your business’s bottleneck—by mapping out core functions, building SOPs, and using delegation and automation to reclaim your time.
Most founders start a business to gain freedom. But if everything runs through you, you’re not free—you’re trapped.
That’s why most entrepreneurs are more stressed, earn less, and feel more overwhelmed than they did in their jobs.
You know how to operate your business…
But you’ve never been taught how to design a business that runs without you.
You chase more sales, more productivity hacks, more hustle.
But never fix the root issue: the business needs you too much.
You don’t scale by doing more. You scale by doing less—on purpose.
In 2020, I shut down my first business even though it was working—for students.
But not for me.
I rebuilt it from scratch with a different philosophy:
Two years later, it was running on 5 hours a week.
My income was 6X.
Not because I worked harder.
Because I stopped doing it all myself.
Freedom doesn’t come from success.
It comes from systems.
Delegation isn’t just about hiring help—it’s about redesigning your role entirely.
Automation isn’t about tools—it’s about not having to think about a task again.
Here’s the simple playbook:
Let’s walk through each.
Your business is not the product or service you sell; it's the system that sells and fulfills your product or service for a profit.
So before you delegate or automate, you need to see your business as a collection of systems and map them out.
Start with these three main categories:
Then define the sub-functions within each.
I call these my “core functions”.
They're the minimally viable functions of your company - if you don't have it, your business doesn't work.
If your business doesn't need it to make a profit, then it's not a core function.
Here’s what mine looks like for FreedUp:
For each of the core functions, I like to create a document that outlines how it works (for examples and videos in my Notion template here).
Once your functions are mapped out, break them down into repeatable tasks.
Example: “Assistant Recruiting” is a core function. One task within that is “Post a job listing.”
That task gets its own SOP.
Don’t overthink it. Record a Loom, jot down the steps, or drop screenshots into a doc.
The goal is simple: make it easy to hand off.
More tips and tricks on easily building SOPs in my Notion template here.
Either the SOP already exists and you assign it to someone else, or your employee builds the SOP for you.
This should be frictionless as long as:
Your SOPs are living documents. They should be updated as they’re used.
But once the work is documented, it can easily be passed on to others.
This makes delegation easy.
If a task is repetitive and rule-based, it’s a candidate for automation.
Here, your SOP acts as a guide. Look through the steps and detemine which need to be manual, and which can by automated.
Use tools like Zapier, Make & Lindy.
Every task you remove frees up time, lowers stress, and gives your team leverage.
Removing yourself from the day-to-day isn’t a one-time project.
It’s a system you build brick by brick:
If your business still depends on you, it’s not a business—it’s a bottleneck.
Start small. Pick one function this week. Document it. Hand it off.
I built a free Notion template to help you get started, complete with tutorial videos.
It includes real examples, plug-and-play formats, and the exact structure I use.
→ Grab the Notion System Template