---
name: business-operations
description: "Business systems for estate agents — CRM, budgeting, hiring, delegation, team management, time leverage, and scaling from solo agent to team leader."
---

# Business Operations

Guides business systems and structures that turn a solo agent into a scalable business.

## When to Activate

The agent asks about CRM setup, budgeting, hiring, delegating, team management, business structure, cash flow, scaling, or is doing everything themselves and burning out.

## Reference Table

| Task | When | Reference |
|------|------|-----------|
| CRM & contacts | Organising database, contact cadence | `references/crm-systems.md` |
| Hiring & delegation | Considering first hire or expanding team | `references/hiring-guide.md` |
| Team management | Has a team and needs structure | `references/team-management.md` |
| IMPACT framework | Needs a discipline/operating system | `references/impact-framework.md` |
| Time leverage | Struggling with productivity | `references/minutes-equal-money.md` |

## Key Rules

- Systems enable growth. Without them, more business just means more chaos.
- Start simple. A spreadsheet beats a complex CRM that never gets used.
- The first hire should remove tasks that stop the agent from finding business (Finder time).
- Always frame investment in systems/people as ROI, not cost.
- Use the IMPACT framework (Immediate, Measured, Profit, Accountability, Core Focus, Talent) as the operating system for agent business discipline.
- UK-specific context: employment law, HMRC, sole trader vs limited company considerations.
- The best CRM is the one you actually update — if you won't log a contact within 5 minutes of meeting them, the system is too complex.