Not All Systems Are Created Equal
Or minute of connecting dots
One of the most valuable skills I’ve gained throughout my entrepreneurial journey is the ability to look at a business from a distance — to zoom out and see the big picture.
Maybe it’s thanks to my technical background: I was trained to design complex engineering and software systems, and taught how code works down to the microprocessor level.
This "zoom-out" mindset turned out to be priceless.
Over the years, I’ve worked with coaches, lawyers, sales experts — you name it.
And every time, I ran into the same issue: each of them saw only their narrow field, rarely connecting it to the rest of the business.
Take lawyers, for example — they’d ask for a detailed brief to draft a contract.
But to write a good contract, you need more than legal knowledge. You need to understand the product, delivery steps, and client interactions. Without seeing those connections, you end up with something either half-baked or risky.
And I couldn’t give a perfect brief — because I didn’t fully grasp the legal side.
So I’d say, “Give me some options — I’ll analyze and choose.”
Sales ≠ Everything
Recently, I watched a deep-dive from Alex Hormozi where he dissected the sales issues of a specific business.
It was great. Super insightful.
But I had that same thought again — this is just one of many challenges a founder faces.
Most founders obsess over sales.
Yes, sales matter. But they’re just the beginning, not the finish line.
Especially in uncertain times — retaining clients is arguably more important than getting new ones.
And if your internal processes are chaos, no fancy landing page is going to save you.
Been there. I spent forever tweaking copy, buttons, layouts.
But the landing page wasn’t the real problem.
It was the process of actually serving the clients we already had.
The founder’s job is to find the bottleneck and redesign the process — not fiddle with buttons.
Glad I figured that out before it was too late.
Systems Thinking
The book Competitive Advantage by Michael Porter was a real eye-opener for me.
That’s where he introduced the value chain model, and suddenly everything clicked: every business activity is connected to the others.
After that, I completely changed my approach and started building systems for every part of the business.
Not just sales, but also:
- hiring
- financial planning
- customer support
- project management
- resource management
Not All Systems Are Equal
Some processes matter more than others.
Here’s how I break down business systems today:
Core Systems
These keep the business running day-to-day:
- invoicing
- customer support
- contractor sourcing
- billing and payments
- logistics and scheduling
- product or service delivery
If one of these breaks, the business stops.
Support Systems
These make the business run better and more efficiently:
- analytics
- reporting
- company culture
- templates and SOPs
- hiring and onboarding
- internal knowledge base
Founder Systems
These are built around the founder personally:
- delegation
- prioritization
- time management
- personal planning and decision-making rituals
Each system matters, depending on where your business is in its growth.
At the beginning, flexibility is enough.
Later, formal structure becomes necessary.
What matters isn’t what these systems are called.
It’s what they solve, and how they’re connected.
A business is simpler than a human body, but works on the same principle:
Everything is connected.
Change one part, and the whole system reacts.
Summary
You have to learn to see your business from the outside.
When you’re stuck inside the day-to-day, you miss the bigger picture.
You put out fires — but never fix what’s causing them.
And the longer you stay stuck inside, the harder it gets to step out.
Doing everything yourself becomes your default mode.
The only way out?
Build a system.
One that works without you.
One that gives you your freedom back.
One that makes your business truly resilient.
Disclaimer.
Every business has its nuances, and every founder has their unique context and resources. Whether or not my advice applies depends on your situation, experience, and needs. But one thing is universal—use your brain.
Think about how to apply the advice in your context before acting.
Your way.
Every founder has their own way of getting through hard days.
Her journal reminds me (and maybe you) that it’s okay to struggle — and still move forward.
Sometimes, the weak link… is you.
Admitting it takes courage.
Changing it takes strength.
Own your flaws.
Own your mistakes.
Not as a sentence, but as fuel.
That's where the power lies.
That's where change begins.
And that’s where your freedom lives.
From the journal of Nyx Thorne.
- Eugene
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Hi, I’m Eugene.
Over the past 20+ years, I’ve grown an international agency from one-person freelance to a multimillion-dollar business. I’ve led teams, scaled systems, burned out, rebuilt, and learned (the hard way) what it really takes to run a business that doesn’t consume your life.
I help them make sense of complexity, design simple systems, and create the kind of business they actually want to run.
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