Systemize Your Success

Hosted by Dr Steve Day

Business Education

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291

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-GB

About the show

Reclaim your time, reduce stress, and create more impact. For years, Dr. Steve Day was a slave to his businesses - working insane hours and living in constant stress and overwhelm. After suffering through burnout and depression, he realised that success doesn’t come from doing more; it comes from aligning your work with your ideal life and systemising the things that matter. That shift changed everything. By focusing on key systems, he transformed his business and lifestyle - emigrating to Sweden and living with more presence, purpose and impact. In Systemize Your Success, he shares the strategies that helped him step out of the grind so that you can do the same. This podcast is for small business owners who want to honour their authentic selves, create more space and freedom, and leverage their strengths for meaningful impact. You'll learn how to streamline operations, outsource effectively, manage a remote team, and set up systems that free you to focus on building a business you feel proud to talk about. If you’re ready to build a successful business and have the freedom to enjoy it- hit subscribe, and let's make it happen.

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August 19, 202640 min

The Time Blocking Method That Protects Your Week From the Unexpected | Ep 291

🎙 In this episode, I share how I went from constantly firefighting crises in my business to designing a default diary that bakes in time blocks for buffer, deep work, and real time off. So I can handle the unexpected without dropping the ball for clients or my family. I walk through the five steps I now use with clients: honestly defining your true weekly capacity, building a default diary that includes life as well as work, setting clear expectations with team and clients, iterating the plan each week, and finally creating protected freedom days that become your capacity for both deep work and emergencies. You’ll hear how this approach has reduced stress, stopped deadline panics, and actually increased the quality of service and income, even though I now work far fewer booked days. If you’re tired of every crisis blowing up your week and you want a business that can absorb the unexpected, this one’s for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Design for Reality, Not Fantasy Weeks: Stop pretending you have 40 perfect hours to work with. In reality, nobody does, as life and responsibilities always get in the way. Define your true capacity based on how life actually shows up, then build from there. 💡 Use Default Diary Blocks Instead of To‑Do Lists: Fill your calendar with recurring time blocks for deep work. Dedicated blocks for clients, admin, family, and self‑care so you always know what fits and what doesn’t. 💡 Lead with Boundaries: Set clear expectations with staff and clients about when you’re available so you can serve them better without being constantly on call. 💡 Be Honest About How Long Things Really Take: Scheduling only an hour for a 50-minute run will not work. You will need time to change, stretch, shower and eat.  💡 Create Freedom First, Then Income: Block freedom and deep‑workdays in advance, then redesign pricing, offers, and systems so your business funds, instead of fighting, that lifestyle. BEST MOMENTS 08:32 - 💬 “If you haven't built slack into your day and into your week, then anything that's thrown at you causes huge amounts of stress, which actually can lead to more procrastination.”  09:03 - 💬 “What I mean by capacity is what you actually have time to achieve on a weekly basis.” 13:46 - 💬 “The default diary is, yes, about work, but it's also about diarising everything in your life.” 22:05 - 💬 “If you clearly set expectations… people accept it.” 32:53 - 💬 “Overcome the guilt of not working.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Managing stress and work-life balance 09:00 Defining your capacity 20:03 Setting realistic expectations 28:43 Creating time for leisure and the unexpected VALUABLE RESOURCES Join our private, focused, and supportive community designed for freedom-driven entrepreneurs at https://join.sys.academy/  LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed the way he ran his businesses, switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

August 12, 202624 min

The Daily Habit Behind Effective Delegation That Finally Frees Your Time | Ep 290

🎙 In this episode, I share the mindset shift and daily habit that helped a long-term client stop being the bottleneck in her business and finally use the team she’d been paying for years. I unpack how overwhelm, vague delegation, and “it’s quicker if I do it myself” thinking quietly cap your capacity, profits, and quality of life. You’ll learn how to carve out a daily delegation block, pick the right kind of work to hand off, and brief tasks using my DIDACT framework so your team (or AI) can execute without you hovering. If you’re an entrepreneur or leader who’s constantly overwhelmed despite having people around you, this episode shows you how to turn that under-used support into real time, freedom, and better results. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Stop Being the Bottleneck: Until you admit that you’re the blocker and deliberately move work off your plate, no amount of hustle will fix overwhelm. Delegation is an essential skill. 💡 Win Back Time with a Daily Delegation Block: Ring‑fence time each morning to decide what to hand off and to review completed work before you dive into emails and firefighting.   💡 Delegate Important, Not Urgent Work: Keep urgent, critical tasks for now and offload the “important but not urgent” pieces so they never turn into last‑minute crises.   💡 Treat Mistakes as Design Flaws, Not People Flaws: First‑time errors are feedback on your process. Be realistic; most people are not going to get everything right, first time. Initially, you will need to review and give feedback. BEST MOMENTS 03:46 - 💬 “It had nothing to do with the people that she was hiring. It was the fact that she wasn't actually delegating the work out in a standardised way, in a structured way.”  08:17 - 💬 “Whatever you're giving somebody, if the instructions are no good, their ability to do it right is going to be diminished.” 10:19 - 💬 “Just share a part of a task with somebody that would help move that forward.” 12:34 - 💬 “You have to create the time to create freedom.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Struggles with delegation and feedback 05:19 Challenges of ineffective delegation 08:51 Addressing workload and delegation 13:26 Effective delegation tips using DIDACT 17:47 Taking the leap to delegate 18:56 Delegating tasks effectively VALUABLE RESOURCES Get free access to our DIDACT Framework for quickly capturing the HOW of tasks and delegating them effectively at https://sys.academy/guides LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses - switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

August 6, 202625 min

Why Chasing Revenue Targets Left Me Empty - Until I Aligned My Values | Ep 289

🎙 In this episode, I share how finally hitting a lifelong revenue target left me feeling more lost and disconnected than ever and how that low point forced me to completely rewrite my definition of success. I walk you through the moment I realised I’d been chasing the wrong goals, why tying your self‑worth to shifting revenue milestones quietly erodes your joy, and how I landed on three new metrics that now drive every decision I make: presence, purpose, and peace. You’ll hear the story of living next to ski slopes for years without using them, how blocking out ski Fridays became a radical act of freedom, and why leaders so often use free time to do even more work and how to break that exhausting cycle. I explain how I’ve reframed systems, outsourcing and AI, not as tools to squeeze out more productivity, but as ways to create time, energy, and emotional bandwidth. Enabling me and my team to enjoy the lives we’re building. I share a simple future‑self visualisation exercise you can use to realign your goals today so you can live with more presence, purpose, and peace. If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner or leader who’s hit the numbers but still feels something’s missing, this episode is for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Redefine Success Beyond Revenue: Hitting financial goals alone can leave founders feeling empty. That doesn´t happen when you build definitions of success around presence, purpose, and peace.   💡 Create Freedom Before You “Earn” It: Stop deferring joy to some future milestone; constrain your calendar now, make room for the things you really want in your life.   💡 Design Work Around Life, Not Vice Versa: Systems, outsourcing and AI should first create time and energy to enjoy the things in life that are important to you. Don´t use them to simply create more time to grind. 💡 The Ripple Effect Is Real: When leaders live more intentionally, their teams, families and clients benefit from a calmer, more purposeful version of them.    BEST MOMENTS 01:00 - 💬 “That helped me reframe what success means, and by doing so, start feeling successful in the moment, start actually enjoying life.”  08:36 - 💬 “They would spend all their time doing new business development stuff because they hadn't actually broken out of the self-worth being linked directly to the success of their business; that is a fundamental shift that I had to make.” 10:00 - 💬 “To live with freedom, you have to create from freedom.” 13:24 - 💬 “I then went into my diary and cleared out every single Friday for the entire ski season.”  TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Redefining success and happiness  04:02 Finding presence, purpose, and peace   06:27 Freedom now, not later   09:09 Breaking the link between self-worth and business success 12:11 Future vision and personal goals  17:54 Living with intention and balance 19:50 The future‑self exercise & next steps  VALUABLE RESOURCES Join our private, focused, and supportive community designed for freedom-driven entrepreneurs at https://join.sys.academy/  LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses - switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

July 30, 202624 min

The Content Production System That's Kept My Podcast Weekly for Five Years | Ep 288

🎙 In this episode, I share the exact content production system that’s kept my podcast going out every single week for five years, despite pneumonia, sick kids, holidays, and my own ADHD and dyslexia. I walk you through how I stripped my role down to the parts only I can do, then used process mapping, a virtual assistant, AI, and simple project management to handle everything else. An approach that works for any kind of content you need to deliver to a schedule. You’ll hear how I built up a bank of episodes, moved to recording in batches, and mapped the whole thing into a clear pipeline so publishing happens whether or not I feel motivated. If you’re a business owner or leader who struggles with consistency but has no shortage of ideas, this will show you how to turn your creative chaos into a dependable content machine that runs without relying on your willpower. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Systems Beat Willpower: Consistency is not about being disciplined; it comes from a clear process that maps out what you need to do yourself, then delegates the rest of the tasks to the right people.  💡 Map Out Your Process First: Identify the tasks needed to produce each piece of content, then note down every step in order. 💡 Delegate Intelligently: Strip your role back to the things only you can do and delegate the other steps to assistants, AI, and automation.   💡 Lean on Content Banking and Batch Production: Record or write your content ahead of schedule and do it in batches. This improves the quality and makes you more efficient. 💡 Track Progress Through a Visible Pipeline: Use a project management tool like Asana to track each episode, post, or article from idea to promotion so nothing depends on memory. BEST MOMENTS 00:32 - 💬 “Consistency has nothing to do with willpower; it has nothing to do with grinding away or having grit to be able to force through and get things done and stress out about it.” 10:09 - 💬 “That's why when I'm on holiday, the podcast still goes out.” 14:22 - 💬 “Having this copywriting engine in place means that now I'm doing five minutes of work, if that, per episode when it comes to all of the social media stuff. Whereas it used to take me a couple of hours.” 15:32 - 💬 “The one skill to take away from this is to actually learn how to map out your process using a simple process map.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Maintaining content consistency 05:04 Streamlining Processes with AI and Automation 10:03 Content banking and batch production   13:30 Using AI for planning and promotion   16:58 Process Maps and Task Manager Pipelines VALUABLE RESOURCES Get free access to our DIDACT Framework for quickly capturing the HOW of tasks and delegating them effectively at https://sys.academy/guides LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

July 23, 202613 min

The AI Feedback Loop That Improves Your Email Open Rates Every Week | Ep 287

🎙 In this episode, I share how we’ve built a simple AI‑driven feedback loop that quietly improves our email open and click‑through rates every single week. Instead of dumping data into spreadsheets and planning to look at it later, we now use AI to analyse hundreds of emails, spot what actually works for our audience, and then feed those insights straight back into the tools that write our future subject lines. You’ll hear how we turned my VA’s hard‑won intuition into reusable guidelines, how we wired AI reports directly into our copywriting system, and why I still insist on human review before anything goes out. If you want AI to act more like a smart marketing manager and less like another to‑do list, this is for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Turn Dormant Data into Decisions: Don’t let your open‑rate spreadsheets gather dust; use AI to surface patterns and recommendations you can actually act on to improve how your emails perform.   💡 Make AI Your Subject Line Coach: Let AI compare hundreds of your own emails to reveal which structures, hooks, and topics your audience really clicks on. Tapping into this information to create better subjects is key for improving opening rates.   💡 Capture That Tribal Knowledge Using AI and Playbooks: Bottle the intuition of those people who consistently nail subject lines by feeding their know-how into your AI and shared playbooks. When you do, your whole team will easily and reliably produce great results.   💡 Close the Loop Weekly: Feed each week’s results back into your subject‑line data sheet so every send gets smarter. BEST MOMENTS 00:25 - 💬 “This is one of those rare occasions where AI actually worked and gave us a result without hours of frustration.”  04:15 - 💬 “What really matters is not, ‘Are your emails written to a very good standard?’ It’s, ‘Do people actually open the emails that you write?’”   05:56 - 💬 “The email subject is arguably as important, if not more important, than the body of the email.”   07:49 - 💬 “Every time we have either good or bad email, that information is passed to this data sheet, which is then using the source to create the new emails.”   TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Using AI for Business Insights  02:26 Using AI to Analyse Email Performance 07:42 Building a Self-Improving AI Feedback Loop 09:56 Why Humans Still Matter in an AI Workflow VALUABLE RESOURCES You can put what you have learned in this episode to work immediately and check out Claude. Download my recommended tools at https://sys.academy/tools⁠ and join our paid community at https://join.sys.academy LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

July 16, 202617 min

How I Use AI Reports to Reveal Hidden Business Bottlenecks | Ep 286

🎙 In this episode, I share how I’m using Claude to turn all kinds of messy business data - emails, spreadsheets, meeting notes, marketing stats, even staff timesheets into clear, practical reports that tell me exactly where my business is stuck and what to fix first. I’ll walk you through real examples: how I used AI to quickly understand the real impact of my work with a client to use during a sales call, how we built a live marketing dashboard that actually guides our campaigns, and how we analysed revenue, retention, SEO and team workload to uncover hidden bottlenecks and low‑value tasks. You’ll hear why the real game‑changer isn’t “clever prompts” but building clean, connected data that your AI can tap into on demand.  If you want to make better decisions, stop guessing where your time and money should go, and use AI as a practical ops and strategy tool in your business, this episode is for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Build Dashboards that Drive Action, Not Just Charts: Use AI to transform scattered marketing and operations data into simple, interactive dashboards that highlight trends, flag issues early, and suggest concrete next steps for you and your team. 💡 Let AI Call Out Your Blind Spots: When you combine website, sales, revenue, and client data, Claude hands you a blunt, prioritised view of where you must focus next.   💡 Use Claude to Audit How Your Team Spends Time: Feeding in timesheets, task boards, and meeting notes reveals recurring bottlenecks and low‑value work you can redesign or ditch.   💡 Build One Living Knowledge Base: Clean, centralised, non‑duplicated data is what makes every future Claude-generated report faster, smarter, and always current. Give the AI you decide to use read-only access to your raw data. BEST MOMENTS 01:07 - 💬 “Claude is starting to revolutionise the way that I coach, I sell, and I actually work in my business.”  07:30 - 💬 “What it produced was this incredibly detailed, incredibly insightful report of the current state of my business - my retention rates, my sales stats, all the stuff that should drive where I should focus on next was just laid in front of me in black and white.” 10:20 - 💬 “It also identified some tasks that it thought weren't particularly valuable for us. We can then look at those and decide whether or not we're going to ditch them or otherwise.” 10:46 - 💬 “Claude is only as good as the data you give it.” 13:00 - 💬 “Duplication is evil - you have to absolutely avoid this.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Using Claude for client reports 04:38 Improving marketing analysis using Claude 08:13 Identifying business efficiencies with AI 11:00 Creating a clean, up-to-date database for AI to use VALUABLE RESOURCES You can put what you have learned in this episode to work immediately and check out Claude. Download my recommended tools at https://sys.academy/tools⁠ and join our paid community at https://join.sys.academy LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

July 9, 202629 min

Turn Years of Audiobooks Into Real Business Value With One AI System | Ep 285

🎙 I like listening to business books while running or painting the fence, but I forget 90% of it, so can´t use it when I actually need it. But I’ve solved that problem. Today, I walk you through the simple, non‑technical AI framework I’ve built to turn years of audiobooks and other recordings into a structured, searchable learning library of summaries, frameworks, and quotes that I can access any time and plug straight into my business. You’ll hear how I’m using tools like Whisper, Libation, Claude Agent Skills, and slash commands, plus an AI business brain, to not only remember what I’ve learned but have AI actively apply those ideas to my business. Including podcast outlines, content creation, and future decision‑making. If you’ve ever thought, I know I’ve read or heard the solution to this somewhere, but I can’t remember where to find it so I can refresh my knowledge, this episode is for you.   KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 The Problem With Audiobook Learning: Audiobooks and courses only pay off when you can find and apply what you heard to review it months or years down the line. 💡 Turning Audiobooks Into a Searchable Learning Library: Use tools like Libation and Whisper to transcribe, file and organise your audiobooks into a structured learning library. One that any AI tool can interrogate and pull knowledge from in a way that does not break copyright. 💡 Bake in Quality Control: Not everything you have read is accurate. Use AI to identify and flag weak evidence, missing references, and spot possible transcription errors. It won’t spot everything, but it will improve the quality of the information. 💡 Borrow the Format of the Best Content You Have Read: Use AI tools to automatically structure podcasts, content and projects using the best frameworks you’ve ever consumed. You will work more efficiently, attract more customers, and have better relationships with them and your team.  BEST MOMENTS 02:15 - 💬 “Audiobooks are amazing at getting knowledge into your head… However, I only retain a fraction of it.”  04:56 - 💬 “AI can read text really quickly. It has to turn audio into text before it can use it. So we want to do that stage first before we apply it to any other AI tools that we're going to use.” 11:46 - 💬 “I'm terrible at remembering details like that. So, this is for me heaven.” 21:02 - 💬 “AI can iterate instantly; you can ask for it to improve, it will make that improvement on the spot, and you get to use it there, and then no time lost.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Learning implementation struggles 08:26 Organising and transcribing audio files 10:44 Claude Skills and creating a searchable library 21:45 Creating reusable frameworks VALUABLE RESOURCES Grab the full transcript for this episode, copy it, and paste it into your AI - it gives it everything it needs to be able to instantly build what I’m talking about here: https://systemizeyoursuccess.com Start implementing what you've learned in this episode and try out Claude - get the link at https://sys.academy/tools⁠ If you’d like my help, plus the skills, scripts and frameworks I’ve already built for all other business tasks, come and join our paid community at https://join.sys.academy LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

July 1, 202630 min

10 Brand Guidelines Your Team or AI Need to Write Like You | Ep 284

🎙 In this episode, I walk you through the 10-part Brand Voice document I use to train both AI and humans to write like me, so I’m not constantly rewriting emails, posts, and promos that just don’t sound like me. I show you how I turned years of trial‑and‑error with copywriters, coaches, and AI into a clear set of rules, examples, and banned phrases that keep content human, conversational, and on‑brand. You’ll hear how I use content rules, my founder story, vision/values, ideal client briefs, and channel‑specific guidelines to create a single Brand Voice doc. A document that can be used with any AI or for human copywriters to get fast, high‑quality drafts that only need a very quick review before publishing. If you lead a team or use AI anywhere in your marketing, this is the backbone that will stop you from sounding generic, robotic, or like every other person who operates in your industry or niche. ⁠ KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Systemise Your On-Brand Content Creation: Every business can easily create a single, well‑built Brand Voice doc that enables AI and team members to draft any written text in your own unique voice, without you having to spend hours supervising. Someone just needs to quickly proofread it and maybe tweak it before publishing. 💡 Ban the Phrases You’d Never Say: Capture cringey, over‑polished lines and outlaw them so your writing sounds like a real conversation, not a corporate brochure. 💡 Let Your Region Show Through (Lightly): Subtle regional cadence and expressions can make your brand feel more human. But it has to be a tone, not a costume. Don't sound like a stand-up comic, doing a poor impression. BEST MOMENTS 01:40 - 💬 “ Humans like speaking to humans, and the minute they pick up that they are speaking to an AI… they lose trust.” 12:00 - 💬 “The read-it-aloud test is: Before any sentence ships, would Steve (I) actually say it aloud to a friend over a coffee? Is it the kind of line you'd only ever write down, never say? Then rewrite it.” 18:51 - 💬 “The long dash, and that is what AI always uses, and it's an absolute telltale sign something's being written by an AI.” 26:47 - 💬 “ It's probably the most powerful or useful standalone document out of all the ones that are in my brand kit.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Why most people can’t write in your voice 03:48 Your brand document ecosystem 10:57 The read‑it‑aloud test 18:47 Banned phrases, plain language & AI tells 23:00 Sentence structure and truthfully telling your story VALUABLE RESOURCES If you’d like to see my full Brand Voice document, head to https://sys.academy/guides and download it. You’ll also get an invite next time we run the live Copywriting Engine workshop, where we’ll build out the rest of your brand kit together. LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

June 24, 202626 min

The Planning System That Stops AI From Adding to Your Workload | Ep 283

🎙 In this episode, I share why blindly jumping into AI, automation, or any new tech can actually increase your workload instead of reducing it, and how to avoid that trap. I walk you through the simple planning systems we use in my business: creating a clear business case and project vision, building a Personal Systemisation Plan to decide what to get off your plate first, and using effective delegation, documentation, and process mapping so AI (and humans) actually do what you want. You’ll hear how phase‑based project planning and testing work with real people before automating helps us ship useful improvements faster, avoid feature creep, and make sure AI really does give us more time back. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Don’t Let AI Create Extra Work: Without a clear strategy, plan and documenting progress, AI projects become shiny distractions that burn time and add to your workload instead of removing it. 💡 Systemise Before You Tech‑ify: Use a Personal Systemisation Plan to capture what you do, prioritise high‑impact, low‑complexity tasks, and choose whether a human, automation, or AI is really the best next step. Before handing it over, be sure you have captured the process accurately. 💡 Delegate Like a Pro (to Humans and AI): Clear instructions, deliverables, and boundaries, backed up by solid documentation, are what make both team members and AI reliably perform the way you intend. 💡 Avoid AI‑Driven Feature Creep - Work In Phases: Break AI and systems projects into small stages that each deliver real value, get them “over the line” and in use, then iterate. This avoids half‑finished monster projects that consume time but never pay you back. BEST MOMENTS 03:01 - 💬 “AI can actually solve huge amounts of problems, but not without putting a huge amount of effort in upfront.” 04:18 - 💬 “The documentation of the system is as important as the planning of the system - both must happen before you build it.” 16:22 - 💬 “We need to be really, really defined in the way we ask the AI to do something, just like you do with a human, just like you do before you plan an automation.” 17:17 - 💬 “If you don't map out what your automations are doing or what your AI is doing, people won't know when stuff is done by or whose responsibility it is.” 23:19 - 💬 “It's about actually having a systemized approach to reviewing what it is you're going to be working on next and making sure you follow that system.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Challenges in Implementing AI 07:30 Creating a Personal Systemisation Plan 10:01 Improving the assistant handover process 14:01 Avoiding AI memory overload 17:58 Importance of process mapping 19:09 Business growth through project planning 22:58 Planning and prioritising projects VALUABLE RESOURCES Get free access to our DIDACT Framework for quickly capturing the HOW of tasks and delegating them effectively at https://sys.academy/guides LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

June 17, 202641 min

One CRM Replaced My Tech Stack and Centralised Every Client Message | Ep 282

🎙 In this episode, I share how one CRM - GoHighLevel - ended up replacing a whole stack of disconnected tools in my business. What started as a hunt for a simple way to centralise text and WhatsApp messages so my team could handle client comms without relying on what was on my phone (WA/SMS) turned into a complete overhaul of our calendars, checkouts, e‑signatures, automations and more. I walk you through how we consolidated tools like ActiveCampaign, Calendly, DocuSign, ThriveCart and a chunk of our Zapier automations into a single platform. You’ll hear about the pitfalls of juggling multiple apps, why owning your CRM account (not going through a reseller) is so critical, and how to plan a safe migration if you’re already on another system. If you want fewer subscriptions, cleaner client data and a team that can manage comms without you, this one’s for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Centralise Client Comms or Lose Out on Profit: If messages live across your phone, WhatsApp, email, and DMs, you will definitely miss things, and you can’t reliably delegate to your team. 💡 One CRM, Many Tools Replaced: Moving to GoHighLevel replaced separate tools for email, calendars, checkouts, e‑signatures, and a chunk of Zapier. As a result, it cut costs, reduced complexity, automated sharing of information internally and sped everything up. 💡 Design for Team Access: Building everything around your phone or inbox is a big mistake; it stops your team from running your comms for you. 💡 Own Your CRM, Avoid Fragile Deals: Lifetime offers from resellers are tempting, but you risk a lack of support, price hikes, and potentially losing access to your data if their business disappears. 💡 Treat Migration as a Strategic Reset: Use any CRM move to clean up your business data and processes. Cleanse lists, rethink segmentation, and rebuild automations properly, rather than copying past mistakes into your new comms system. BEST MOMENTS 02:02 - 💬 “ I wanted a single place of reference that when I look at a particular client... I could see everything that was said to them by anyone in my team.” 10:02 - 💬 “ (GoHighLevel) allowed me to simplify all of my apps across calendars, across my checkouts, across my communications, all into one place.” 35:38 - 💬 “ Moving from one CRM to another isn’t a small undertaking. You need to plan; you need to make sure that you're segmenting your audience properly.” TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW 00:00 Intro: Centralising client communication 03:42 What you can integrate in GoHighLevel 15:51 Custom objects and AI integration 27:52 Choosing the right CRM Software VALUABLE RESOURCES If you’re serious about simplifying your tech stack and centralising your client communications, don’t just take my word for it—go and play with the tool yourself. Check out GoHighLevel and get a 14-day free trial at ⁠https://sys.academy/tools⁠ LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/ Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/systems_and_outsourcing/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42 ABOUT THE HOST Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed how he ran his businesses—switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor, with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/