"I run everything in spreadsheets and it works fine."
Honestly?
I believe you.
I've met businesses running on spreadsheets that are smoother than companies spending thousands a month on fancy software.
I've also seen businesses with six different "best in class" apps that couldn't find a customer if their life depended on it.
The tool isn't usually the problem.
People often ask me what the "best" business system is.
I hate that question.
Not because I don't have opinions (I have plenty), but because there isn't one.
There isn't a perfect CRM.
There isn't a perfect project management platform.
There isn't a perfect accounting package.
And there certainly isn't a perfect business system.
If someone tells you they've found one, either they're trying to sell it to you... or they haven't been using it long enough.
Every System Sucks...
...just in different ways.
That's not me being cynical.
That's just reality.
Every piece of software is a collection of compromises.
Some are brilliant at automation but terrible at reporting.
Some are beautiful to use but missing obvious features.
Some can do absolutely everything... once you've sacrificed three weekends and a small portion of your sanity learning them.
The trick isn't finding the perfect system.
The trick is finding the system whose imperfections annoy you the least.
That's a very different goal.
Spreadsheets Aren't the Villain
People love to pick on spreadsheets.
I don't.
Spreadsheets are amazing.
Google Sheets and Excel have probably generated more business value than almost any other software ever written.
If you're running a simple business with a handful of customers and everything lives in one spreadsheet...
Fantastic.
Keep doing it.
The problem starts when your spreadsheet quietly evolves into:
- your CRM
- your project manager
- your quoting system
- your job tracker
- your reporting dashboard
- your customer database
- your calendar
- your memory
At that point your spreadsheet isn't really a spreadsheet anymore.
It's an employee.
And employees tend to get grumpy when they're asked to do eight different jobs.
Software Can Make Things Worse
Here's something people don't hear often enough.
Buying software can absolutely make your business less efficient.
I've seen it happen more times than I can count.
A business buys an expensive platform because someone promised it would "streamline operations."
Six months later everyone's doing twice as much clicking.
Information exists in three different places.
Nobody knows which one is correct.
People are creating workarounds for the workarounds.
Congratulations.
You've successfully upgraded from spreadsheet chaos to software chaos.
The Scary Part?
Most businesses have no idea whether their systems are actually good.
Think about it.
How do you know?
Not how you feel.
How do you actually know?
Because here's the thing...
Humans are terrible at measuring efficiency.
We're brilliant at adapting.
If something takes an extra five minutes every day, after a month it just feels normal.
If your staff have to check four different places before answering a customer question, eventually they stop noticing.
If everybody spends Friday afternoon fixing little mistakes that shouldn't exist...
Well...
That's just Friday.
Until someone from outside your business watches what's happening and asks,
"...why are you doing that?"
Feelings Aren't Metrics
One thing I've become increasingly convinced of is this:
Most business owners don't actually know how efficient their business is.
Not because they're bad business owners.
Because it's incredibly difficult to see your own blind spots.
Unless you're measuring things, you're mostly guessing.
Time tracking is a great example.
I know...
Some people hear "time tracking" and immediately picture someone standing behind them with a stopwatch.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about understanding reality.
How long does onboarding actually take?
How much time disappears into admin?
Which jobs consistently take twice as long as expected?
Where does everyone's day actually go?
Sometimes the answers are surprising.
Sometimes they're mildly horrifying.
But they're useful.
Ask Your Staff
Here's a radical idea.
Ask the people doing the work.
Seriously.
They know.
Your team usually knows exactly which processes are clunky.
They know which forms nobody reads.
They know which information gets entered three times.
They know which reports exist purely because somebody asked for them in 2018 and nobody has had the courage to delete them.
If you really want to improve your systems, stop guessing and start asking.
Pick Your Battles
One of the biggest mistakes I see is businesses chasing perfection.
Don't.
It's exhausting.
Every business system is held together with a little bit of logic and a surprising amount of duct tape.
Mine included.
Could I improve my systems?
Absolutely.
Do I know exactly how?
Mostly.
Am I going to spend three days saving myself five minutes a month?
Definitely not.
Sometimes the smartest decision is leaving something slightly inefficient because fixing it simply isn't worth the effort.
Everything has a cost.
Your time has a cost.
Complexity has a cost.
Learning new software has a cost.
Changing habits has a cost.
The goal isn't perfection.
The goal is getting the biggest return for the least pain.
Think of it as a bang-for-buck calculation.
If a two-hour improvement saves you ten hours every month, that's probably worth doing.
If a twenty-hour improvement saves you thirty seconds a week...
Maybe go outside instead.
The Best System Is Usually the One People Actually Use
This is probably the biggest lesson I've learned over the years.
The fanciest system isn't the winner.
The one with the longest feature list isn't the winner.
The system with the prettiest marketing certainly isn't the winner.
The winner is the system your team actually uses consistently.
Because a mediocre system that's used properly will almost always outperform an amazing system that everyone quietly avoids.
So... Is Your System Messy?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
If it's helping people get work done with minimal frustration, you're probably doing okay.
If people are constantly searching for information, entering the same data twice, relying on one person who "just knows how everything works", or spending half their day wrestling with software instead of serving customers...
There's probably some low-hanging fruit worth tackling.
Just don't fall into the trap of thinking there's a perfect solution waiting around the corner.
There isn't.
There never will be.
Business systems are a bit like gardening.
You're never actually finished.
You just keep pulling weeds, planting better ideas, and trying not to trip over the hose.
And honestly?
That's probably how it's supposed to be.
About Us
Kia Ora,
I'm Patrick and I am the founder of BotSquad. I am super passionate (some would say obsessed) about Monday.com and the benefits it can provide businesses in almost any industry.
I work with a handful of other Monday.com experts to provide Small Business owners with the resources they need to master Monday.com and use it to take their business to the next level.
And because I'm a Small Business Owner myself, I get it. I know that many of you are cash-poor as well as time-poor. For this reason, I have created a number of free resources and tools to help even the most cash-strapped startup improve their Monday.com game.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to get in touch with me below.
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