As micro-SaaS founders, you’re caught up doing almost everything in the business by yourself. While this is beneficial in some ways, it could also have drawbacks. 

Here’s why. 

First, it could lead to burnout. Second, when you hire employees, they may not be able to accomplish your tasks with your level of efficiency. Third, most micro-SaaS founders dream of selling their business one day, and having your business solely reliant on you is one way to ensure that day never comes. So how do you fix these? By writing standard operating procedures (SOPs).

In this guide, I’ll show you how and why you need to write an SOP to scale operations and fast-track your business exit.

READ: 8 Signs You’re Ready to Sell Your Business

What Is A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)?

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of detailed instructions that document a step-by-step process for accomplishing tasks in your startup. The keywords are “detailed” and “step by step”. SOPs explain, in simple terms, what an employee (or anyone reading the material) needs to do and how to do it in such a way that they’ll achieve similar results to what you would achieve if you were doing the task.

The primary purpose of SOPs is to standardize business operations and educate users on how to accomplish tasks without direct oversight. By following your instructions, they’ll be able to work with your tools and maintain quality all round. You can have multiple standard operating procedures for different aspects and tasks in the business: customer success, marketing, sales, engineering, etc.

READ: How to Buy A YouTube Channel

Why Do You Need an SOP for Your Micro-SaaS Startup?

Many micro-SaaS founders believe that only big businesses with larger operations need SOPs. Wrong. 

If you’ve ever felt that no one can take on your tasks. You need an SOP. If you intend to exit your startup someday, you need an SOP. If you want to scale or free up your time by hiring employees or freelancers, you need an SOP.

Here are a few ways SOPs can help you;

• Standardize training for employees or the new owner.
• Spend less time training.
• Leave little room for mistakes.
• Free up your time and increase productivity.
• Scale the business.
• Streamline business processes and maintain consistency.
• Ensure quality assurance.

How to Write An Effective Standard Operating Procedure

SOPs are written as easy-to-understand practical guides to ensure consistency in task delivery. For this reason, there’s no conventional rule for creating one. However, various SOP formats exist as you’ll see shortly. Regardless of the format you choose, you need to consider the following when writing your SOP.

Step 1: Set clear objectives

There’s no limit to the number of SOPs you can create, so it’s important to begin by defining what you want to achieve with the one you’re writing. This is so you’re laser-focused on solving a problem and inputting only the relevant steps needed to accomplish the task. 

For example, if you’re writing an SOP for preventing emails from ending up in the spam folder, defining the purpose of the document early on will ensure you don’t mix it up with content related to writing email copy.

Step 2: Pick a format

The format you choose depends on the kind of content you want to create, the details required, and its complexity. For example, a flowchart may be more appropriate for documenting a workflow, but on another occasion, a checklist may be more impactful.

Here are a few SOP formats you can use;

• Document files: The most common way of writing standard operating procedures is by creating Word, Google, or Notion docs; it’s similar to writing technical documentation and is mostly used for creating instructional content, such as how-to guides. A mix of text and images (screenshots, infographics, where applicable) will make it more effective.
• Flowcharts: This format is used when a diagram showing the process will be more effective than textual content, especially when the operation is technical.
• Checklists: Checklists are great for showing important actions that need to be considered to complete a task. For example, how to launch a product feature, how to publish a blog post, etc.

Step 3: Gather data

The goal of an SOP is to ensure that anyone can do someone else’s task. If you run your business alone, you probably have all the information you need to write the SOP. However, if you have freelancers or employees working for you, you may want to get information from them regarding how they perform their tasks.

Step 4: Write the SOP

After gathering all the data you need to write the SOP, it’s time to create the document. Here’s a model framework/template for writing effective SOPs.

• Title: The very first thing is the document’s title, so anyone reading it can be sure they’ve got the right document.
• Executive summary: This will outline the task’s challenge to give the user a better understanding of your purpose for creating the document. This section should be concise (about one to three sentences) but detail what the reader will learn, as well as the format of the SOP.
• Scope: This will cover what’s contained in the document and what isn’t. For example, if the document is about email list segmentation, highlight it, but also mention that it doesn’t talk about sending emails.
• Glossary:  While you’re familiar with the tools you use and all their associated terms and acronyms, someone using your SOP for the first time may not understand what they are. So it’s worth explaining the terms.
• Resources: In this section, list any tools you make use of. Also, link to other articles and/or files for further learning.
• Procedure: This is where you outline the main content and steps needed to complete the tasks within the SOP.

READ: 5 Smart Strategies to Boost Your Micro-SaaS Valuation in 90 Days

Step 5: Test the SOP

If you’ve got team members, employees, or freelancers (especially those who don’t usually perform that task), you can have them test the SOP to get their feedback. Depending on their feedback, you can review the document and improve upon it.

Step 6: Store and publish the document

Store the SOP in a centralized location that’s easily accessible to team members or your prospective buyer. The location could be Google Drive, Notion, or SharePoint, etc. Create a dedicated folder for all your SOPs. Then you can publish and grant access to stakeholders.

READ: How to Negotiate The Sale of Your Business

Mistakes to Avoid when Writing Standard Operating Procedures

These are some of the common mistakes to avoid and tips to help you write better and more impactful SOPs as a micro-SaaS founder.

Postponing it till later

Many micro-SaaS founders treat SOPs as an afterthought. This is the wrong approach. You want to create them as early as possible. This will make it easier for you to onboard employees in the business and reduce the time spent training them. 

More importantly, you want to be removed from the business as early as possible to increase its appeal when you’re ready to sell. 

Ignoring user feedback

Many founders become so busy that they have little to no time to update their SOPs. However, users (employees or freelancers) who work with the SOPs daily may spot inefficiencies in the document. 

You need to create a feedback loop to gather insights from users and iterate to meet business goals: you can set a quarterly or annual review schedule.

Cramming too much detail

In a bid to provide as much information as possible, you may fall into the trap of creating a bloated document. SOPs need to be straightforward, concise, and easy to understand so users can get the information they need as quickly as possible.

A couple of ways to avoid overloading the document with too much information are by using bullets, lists, images, and videos where applicable to make complex concepts easier to understand. Also, write multiple SOPs with each content focusing on one topic.

Making it complex

The only thing worse than cramming too much detail in your SOP is making it complicated. SOPs are meant to be easily understood. If someone can’t read the document and act on it with little to no assistance, the purpose of the document has been defeated.

Not making it easily accessible

Users shouldn’t jump through hoops to access the SOP’s directory. Store the document in a location that’s easily accessible. Whether you’re storing it in a Google Drive or Notion, ensure it’s in a dedicated folder and not cluttered with irrelevant docs.

Final thoughts 

If you plan on selling your business, the time may just be right to write your SOP. You can also list your startup on our marketplace: this guide will show you how to do so for free. There are lots of interested buyers who’d be delighted to learn about your business. You’ll get competitive offers, and you’re likely to sell your business very fast, as a lot of the businesses are sold within 30 days.

FAQs

What is an SOP?

An SOP, which stands for standard operating procedure, is a document that outlines the steps needed to complete work-related tasks. SOPs ensure business operations are standardized and easy to understand, leaving little to no room for errors, so tasks can be carried out at scale by team members or anyone using the document.

What are the components of an SOP?

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is made up of six components: title, executive summary, scope, glossary, resources, and procedure. These make stakeholders easily understand the content of the SOP.

Why is it important to write an SOP?

As a micro-SaaS founder, SOPs make it easier to educate employees and whoever acquires your startup on how to perform the business’s operations. SOPs help you;

• Spend less time training stakeholders.
• Leave little to no room for mistakes.
• Free up your time and increase productivity.
• Scale the business.
• Streamline business processes and maintain consistency.
• Ensure quality assurance.

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