Let’s be real: SOPs don’t sound sexy. They sound like something a corporate middle manager would bring up in a meeting that could’ve been an email. But if you’re running a small online business — and especially if you’re the one wearing all the hats — SOPs are your secret weapon.

They’re what help you get out of your own head, hand off tasks confidently, and finally stop reinventing the wheel every time you onboard a client or publish a blog post.

Let’s break down what SOPs are, why they matter, where to keep them, and when it’s time to actually create them.

What is an SOP?

SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedure, which is just a fancy way of saying, “Here’s exactly how I do this thing.”

It’s a repeatable step-by-step outline for any task you do more than once in your business. Think of it like your business’s instruction manual — except written by you, for you (and eventually, for your team).

A good SOP keeps things consistent, saves you time, and gives your brain a break from decision fatigue.

Examples of SOPs might include:

• How you onboard a new website design client
• Your blog writing and publishing process
• How you prep for a client offboarding
• How you create and customize proposals
• Monthly maintenance tasks you do for client websites
• How to export design files for a branding client

Why you actually need SOPs (even if things feel “fine” right now or it’s just you)

If you’re still managing everything yourself or don’t yet have a team, SOPs might feel like overkill. But they’re not just for big teams or agencies scaling to the moon. They’re for you — the solopreneur looking into outsourcing here and there or to help prep for hiring a contractor for ongoing support down the road.

Here’s why SOPs are worth your time:

• They save your brainpower. You don’t have to remember the exact steps every time you do a task. Especially if it’s been a while since you’ve done it.
• They make delegation easier. When you’re ready to outsource, you’ll have clear instructions ready to go. Even if you never want a big team, SOPs keep things smooth as you outsource or hire contractors to your team.
• They reduce errors. Less “wait, did I send that?” and more “yep, that’s done.”

When should you write an SOP?

The short answer? As soon as you notice you’re doing the same thing more than once.

The slightly longer answer:

• When you’re onboarding or offboarding clients
• When you’re hiring a VA or contractor (like a Studio Manager 😉)
• When a task takes way too long because you forgot how you did it last time
• When you’ve overhauled your process or added new things to it

You don’t have to create SOP’s for everything all at once. Just start with the repeatable stuff that causes the most friction.

Where should you keep your SOPs?

There’s no one “right” way to store SOPs, but here are the top two I recommend:

• Asana (or whatever project management tool you use): Create a project just for internal operations and create a new task for each SOP, adding the information and any links for it to the task. You can then link that SOP task within the projects that have that task.
• Google Docs or Notion: Easy to write, format, and share. Notion can be good if you want a clean dashboard and don’t mind starting from scratch; Google Docs is great if you need something quick and scrappy but easy to use and update.

The key is: make it easy to find. If you have to dig around for 10 minutes to locate your SOP, it defeats the purpose.

For myself and my clients, I do a combo of Asana and Google Docs. Typically, I’ll make an SOP Library project in Asana where we’ll store all of the SOPs. From there, I create a section for each service, big process, etc. and then create a single task which will house the SOP. 

Depending on how my clients like to see their SOPs, I’ll set them up in one of two ways:

01/ Full SOP directly in Asana

To keep things simple, we’ll make a single Asana task that outlines the entire SOP process, includes Loom walkthroughs and any other details needed directly in there. This makes it easy to update and cuts out using another platform to store info. Like the example below:

02/ Full SOP in Google Docs with short overview in Asana

For this one, we’ll still make the Asana task, but instead of putting the whole SOP inside it, we’ll simply add a link to a Google Doc that stores the SOP. In the Asana task we may add a link to the Loom walkthrough or a few quick details but the master walkthrough of the task would be stored in Google Docs. This option is great if you need to have a more robust SOP or just want to keep Asana a bit cleaner.

How to actually create an SOP (without overthinking it)

Okay, so you’re sold on the idea of SOPs. Cool. But how do you actually make one that isn’t just a chaotic brain dump or a 17-page doc no one will ever read?

Here’s the thing: your SOP doesn’t need to be perfect — it just needs to be clear and repeatable. This isn’t about impressing anyone with formatting. It’s about future-you (or your team/contractors) knowing exactly what to do without having to Slack you for clarification.

There are tools out there (even ChatGPT) that can help you track and record your SOPs, like Tango, Process Street, or Scribe. But I like to go simple, if not a little old-school.

Here’s how I like to approach creating SOPs for myself and my clients:

Open a Google Doc (or Asana task), and as you go through the steps of what you’re doing, write it down in simple terms. No full sentences, more like bullet points with clarification as needed.

• Find client project in HoneyBook
• Create file > proposal, select relevant proposal
• Click through each page and confirm copy & scope is correct, customize as needed
• Click share, from templates, choose email 05a. Proposal and customize as needed and send

If you need to, you can give more details on what kind of things you might need to customize in the proposal or nuances about the proposal etc., you can add more. Otherwise you can keep it simple.

You can also add in links to support articles from the platform itself rather than writing your own instructions (juuuust in case they ever update how to do it you don’t also have to update your SOPs).

And that’s it — no corporate templates, no overcomplication. Just a clear, repeatable process you can actually use (and hand off when you’re ready). Start with one, keep it messy if you need to, and refine it as you go. Progress over perfection, always.

SOPs don’t have to be fancy — just functional.

An SOP can be a checklist, a bullet-point list, a screen recording, or a combo of all three. Don’t overcomplicate it. The goal is clarity, not perfection.

Start with one SOP this week. Pick a process that’s currently living in your head—and get it out.

Future you (and any future team members) will thank you.