# Business operations consulting that gives your week a rhythm.

> Business operations consulting for small business: weekly priorities, meetings, projects, written processes and numbers, set up by Satsuma and run monthly.

Source: https://satsumahq.com/business-operations/

Business operations is the routine that runs a business week to week: the priorities, the meetings, the projects, written instructions for how work gets done, and the few numbers that show how you’re doing. Satsuma sets that routine up with you, and can run it for you month to month.

## Most small businesses run on the owner’s memory.

Ask who knows how a quote gets sent, or who chases an unpaid invoice, and the answer is a name. Often it is the owner, plus two or three people who have been there a long time. That works until one of them is out, or the business gets busier than one head can hold.

Business operations replaces that with a rhythm. Each week has priorities with names on them. Meetings end with notes and owners. Projects get chased until they’re done, and the way work gets done is written down. You still make every decision. The rhythm makes sure they get made on time and carried out.

## One week of the operating rhythm.

Which steps run on their own, and which ones stay with people.

From Monday’s numbers to the owner’s decisions.

1. Machines run it: **Numbers pulled**

   Last week’s sales, jobs and cash gathered from your tools.
2. Machines run it: **Report built**

   One page, ready before the Monday meeting.
3. People keep it: **Priorities set**

   The owner picks the week’s three, with our help.
4. Machines run it: **Tasks assigned**

   Each priority becomes a task with a name and a date.
5. Machines run it: **Reminders sent**

   Owners get a nudge before each due date.
6. People keep it: **Blockers raised**

   Anyone who is stuck says so, and it goes on one list.
7. People keep it: **Owner decides**

   The list of open calls goes to the owner. The owner makes them.

## Business operations services, in four parts.

Each part works on its own or with the others. The Review, a two-week fixed-fee look at your business, tells you which to start with.

- [Fractional operations: A part-time operations team that runs the weekly rhythm with you.](https://satsumahq.com/business-operations/fractional-operations/)
- [Process mapping and SOPs: How your work really happens, written as short step-by-step instructions.](https://satsumahq.com/business-operations/process-mapping-and-sops/)
- [Project management: Every job gets an owner, a due date and a status anyone can see.](https://satsumahq.com/business-operations/project-management/)
- [KPI dashboards: The handful of numbers that show how the business is doing, on one page.](https://satsumahq.com/business-operations/kpi-dashboards/)

## How it fits with the other two practices.

Satsuma has three practices. This one comes first because the others work better on top of it.

Digital operationsOnce the work is written down, the repeat parts can be handed to software: AI automation, AI services and cybersecurity. [See digital operations.](https://satsumahq.com/digital-operations/)Marketing operationsOnce the week has a rhythm, the customer database, follow-up and outreach can plug into it. [See marketing operations.](https://satsumahq.com/marketing-operations/)

## What this isn’t.

Plain answers to the things owners worry about most.

Someone making your decisionsWe set up the meetings, the lists and the reminders. You decide what gets done and who does it.A new tool for everyone to learnWe build inside the tools you already use. If you have none, we pick the simplest one with you.

## Questions about business operations.

### What are business operations services?

They are the work of keeping a business running week to week: setting priorities, running meetings, moving projects to done, writing down how work is done, and tracking the numbers. Satsuma sets these up and can run them for you.

### What does an operations consultant do?

An operations consultant looks at how your business actually runs, finds what depends on one person’s memory, and builds a routine to replace it. We do that as a team, and we stay to run it if you want.

### Is this operations consulting for small business owners?

Yes. It is built for owner-run businesses where the owner is still the person who knows how everything works and is tired of being the one who has to remember.

### Do you run it, or do we?

Either. Some owners take the routine and run it themselves. Others keep us on for Run, which is monthly. Every step is written down, so you can switch either way.

### What does it cost?

The Review is a fixed fee, quoted before we start. A Build is a set project, usually 4 to 10 weeks, priced before any work begins. Run is monthly.

## Keep reading.

- [The two-week Review: What happens first, and what you get at the end.](https://satsumahq.com/how-we-work/review/)
- [Digital operations scorecard: Ten questions, five minutes.](https://satsumahq.com/tools/digital-operations-scorecard/)
- [Fractional COO or a studio?: An honest comparison of what each one does.](https://satsumahq.com/compare/fractional-coo-vs-digital-operations-studio/)