Ops girlies, let’s picture it: It’s week one of working with a dream new client, and you’re getting up close and familiar with the inside of their business. You ask for their launch SOP, expecting a single doc…and get back three different Google docs and two Loom videos. Okay, we’ll figure that out later.

You ask where their client requests come in. The response? “Slack, email, oh, and the occasional Instagram DM.” And the contract template? Yeah, they think that might be in Honeybook but they’re not sure. 

That’s not an unusual client…that’s most clients. 

When CEOs bring on ops support, their business is usually a mess. Which means if you want to stay essential as an OBM, your toolkit needs to be sharpened and ready to go from week one.

Today, I’m taking you through the 5 systems every modern OBM should know inside out, including what they are, what they do, and how to build them fast.

What Counts as a “System” & Why Your Clients Are Probably Missing At Least One

We know you know, but just to make sure we’re all on the same page… 

A system is a repeatable structure that handles a category of work without requiring the CEO to think about it or be physically present for it to run. It’s a combination of tools, processes, and ownership, wrapped into one effective package. 

Most online businesses already have the tools. They’ve got everyone signed up on Slack, have dabbled in ClickUp, and send out contracts through Honeybook. But when something still isn’t working, there’s a gap. That gap is the structure that turns those tools into systems….and that’s where you come in.

Your job as the OBM isn’t to add on more tools. It’s to take what’s already there and build the structure around it so the business actually runs without the CEO holding it together with sheer willpower and one too many energy drinks.

The 5 Systems Every OBM Should Have in Their Toolkit

After leading the ops for more than 75 CEOs, I can tell you that there are FIVE systems that are total non-negotiables, for both OBMs and your clients. The problem? Most people have one, maybe two set up. The rest live rent-free in their heads. 

Let’s break down each system, why each system matters, what to look for, and how to roll it out.

System #1: A Communication Systems

I know, I know: your clients already have communication systems…and that’s part of the problem. 

Instead of having one source of truth where every team member checks for messages and updates, comms are spread across multiple inboxes, a few random Slack threads, and whatever app the last contractor happened to invite the client into. 

It’s no wonder things fall through the cracks. 

Decisions get lost when conversations live in fragmented pieces across different apps. A real comms system means every team conversation has a home, every decision has a paper (or digital) trail, and the CEO isn’t asked the same question three different times. 

It’s the one spot everyone goes to communication. Simple, effective, and actually life-changing.

So what should you look for in a communications system?

• Channel-based organization. Everything is searchable by topic, not date. (Trust me, it’s much easier to find that conversation about podcast titles by searching that term instead of trying to remember the exact date.) 
• Async-first design. Or, in other words, everyone who is a part of the conversation doesn’t have to be present at that moment to know what’s going on. Think of it like Zoom versus email. If you step away from a Zoom call to top off your coffee, you’ll miss things. If you walk away from your email inbox for lunch, everything’s still waiting for you when you get back. 
• Integrations with other tools. Your communications system needs to fit right in with your project management tool, CRM, and calendar. Otherwise, it’s just making more work for you (and your client).

A few tools worth knowing:

• Slack is the default for most online businesses, including KDC. The ability to create channels, threads, and voice calls (called “huddles”) makes it a great choice. Plus, it has tons of integrations, meaning it can fit seamlessly into almost any business. 
• Voxer is another popular choice. Since it’s built around voice messages, it’s good for clients who talk faster than they type, or for OBMs who might want to add a higher-touch communication element to their services. 
• Microsoft Teams is popular with the corporate crowd, thanks to its ability to host individual chats, group threads, and video calls all in one place.

The secret to making a comms system work in a client’s business (or your own) is naming what it’s for. Audit every place that team conversations happen, narrow down the tools to one, maaaybe two at the most, and detail what each one does in their team hub.

System #2: An Internal Project Management System Just for the CEO

Most CEOs try to do their executive-level work in the same project management tool as the rest of the team. But when there’s a project that’s sensitive, they put it in their notes app or a random Google doc…and, perhaps unsurprisingly, those projects stall out or the sensitive deets get shared too early. 

That’s why it’s critical for CEOs to have a separate, executive-level dashboard for the high-stakes work that only they can do until they’re ready to roll it out.

While the exact needs of the CEO’s internal PM will vary depending on the business, I’ve found a few key things to be helpful for every CEO:

• Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and other financial metric dashboard so CEOs know the business’s exact financial picture at a glance. 
• High-level KPIs to easily keep tabs on the business without micromanaging. 
• Inbox management and call prep so CEOs (and their EA) are always ready at a moment’s notice. 
• Weekly planning and decision logs so both the CEOand their EA know what’s been decided, what’s up, and what’s coming. 
• A private space to develop sensitive offers and make crucial decisions.

I’ll be honest: in my experience, this sort of executive-level decision management tool had to be built from scratch…so I made it for myself. The CEO Command Center template is a plug-and-play, EA-ready system that makes being the CEO easy again. 

Having this space to focus on the work that grows their business separate from the work that runs it is a total game changer for the CEOs I’ve supported. It’s also one of the fastest ways to prove your value as their OBM: the second they can see the executive layer of their business at a glance, they stop questioning where the mental load is going.

System #3: A Client Management Project System

This is the system that separates the ops girlies who scale from those who drown. 

If clients are sending you task requests through Slack, your email inbox, and the one-off Instagram DM, something is bound to fall though. And in a market where AI is making fast turnarounds standard, a polished intake-to-delivery flow is what makes a CEO retain you for years to come.

The right client management project system… 

• Captures every client request through a single intake form
• Auto-tags new tasks so nothing slips through the cracks 
• Shows clients real-time status (to do, in progress, done), so they know what’s up with each task without asking 
• Lives in a tool clients don’t have to learn 
• Scales from one to 12 clients without breaking

There are a few different products that offer a client-facing template (like Wrike) and others where you can build your own (like Notion). But my favorite by far is the Client Portal template.  This is the exact client portal I built for the agency and still use to this day. 

Built in the ClickUp framework (the most powerful PM tool out there), the Client Portal template is the dedicated, client-facing portal where every project, task, and request from clients live in one place, visible to the client, and organized into the ultimate to-do list for you.

System #4: An SOP System

SOPs are how the business stops living in the CEO’s head. They’re what make hiring and scaling possible, and your job actually doable. But getting them done? That’s a different story. 

Most CEOs avoid building them because the process is overwhelming. And they don’t want their OBMs to do it because it could take up to 10+ hours per SOP. 

A system that lets processes get built fast without requiring the CEO to be on call 24/7 removes the biggest bottleneck in your clients’ businesses. And it opens up one of the highest-ROI services an OBM can offer: building the operations infrastructure the business runs on.

Your SOP system needs:

• A prompter or interview-based starter so nobody’s staring at a blank page
• A consistent template so every SOP looks and reads the same
• A library or hub so the SOPS live in one single place, not 12 different Google docs
• Built-in scalability so it grows with the client’s business

Our SOP Generator does all this and more. The three-part system (a custom GPT that interview the source and writes the full SOP in about 20 minutes, a proven template, and an organized SOP library) is designed to build SOPs in a quarter of the time.

It’s the secret to systemizing the business (and offering SOP packages) and staying essential without burning yourself out.

Speaking of Staying Essential…

The five systems I’m breaking down today are the foundation. But the OBMs and VAs experts who stay essential through AI, market shifts, and the next economic curve are the ones who keep sharpening their edge.

That’s exactly why I built How to Stay Essential in an AI-Obsessed World, a FREE 5-day live challenge coming soon for VAs, OBMs, and ops girlies who want to keep their skills and services at the cutting edge.

Every day of the challenge, you’ll get a mini lesson and an action item delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kate is going live with the group Monday and Friday for Q&A, hot seats, and real-time feedback.

If you read this post and nodded, stay tuned for how to save your seat for the challenge.

System #5: A CRM & Payment System

The CRM and payment system is the thread that connects a sale to a paying, onboarded client who feels cared for. Without it, contracts live in Google Docs, invoices are stuck in messy spreadsheets, and follow-ups live on your CEO’s never-ending to-do list.

In other words, things slip, sales close slower, and your clients feel it…but you feel it more.

A solid CRM and payment system needs:

• Contract templates with e-signature options 
• Invoice and payment processing in one simple flow
• Onboarding automation that fires the second a payment lands. 
• A client dashboard so you can clearly see who’s where in the pipeline.
• Integrations with a scheduler and email platform.

There are tons of CRMs and payment systems out there, so it’s worth trialing a few to see what works for you. Honeybook and Dubsado are both popular options that KDC has implemented. Honeybook is better for simpler setups, while Dubsado is ideal for those who want their workflows fully wired.

Keep in mind that the CRM is often the messiest area in a new client’s business. Take the first 30 days to audit it, then clean up any active workflows and automate onboarding. The right CRM and payment system is a fast-win deliverable that buys you instant credibility and saves the CEO real hours every single week. 

The good news? You don’t have to build all five systems from scratch, for yourself or your clients. 

The hardest part of any backend system is the structure. You know the feeling…staring at a blank ClickUp board, wondering how to organize it.

That’s exactly why I did the hard part for you. In the KDC Template Shop, you’ll find the exact systems and templates the KDC agency runs on day in and day out. Each one is plug-and-play so it’s ready to hit the ground running in your (or your clients’) business. 

Modern OBMs don’t just keep up. They walk into every client with a playbook…and the templates to deploy it.