Automating your business processes is one of the best strategies in running a business today.
It helps focus your attention on growing your business by freeing up valuable time spent on redundant processes and smaller less-important tasks.
In one of my last videos, we talked about how important it is to manage your time as a marketer.
We discussed a lot of strategies on how you can save a lot of time, and one of those is to automate your social media posts.
But aside from automating when your content should be posted, there are actually a lot of business tasks that can be automated too.
Sounds Great! But…
The caveat here is that automating most of these processes can be expensive.
This is because automation requires integrating certain applications or software, all of which can be very expensive.
The Good News
The software may be expensive, but with so many emerging technologies, you can find one or two that offer free plans or at least lower fees.
While free accounts do mean limited functionality, they can still be so unbelievably helpful, especially when your business is just starting or when you’re adapting to a larger number of clients and don’t have as much free time.
It’s true that you have to spend money to make money, and if spending money, in this case, means signing up with some kind of SAAS (service as a software) company, it can still cost you a lot less than hiring an employee.
So, don’t shy away from paid software or applications but DO your shopping.
Browse these products, weigh the features, think about whether or not you’ll use all of them, and figure out what’s within budget and what’s not.
And if funds are tight, the first thing you should do is look for free alternatives.
Don’t just go looking at the best software first.
It’s like shopping for a pair of shoes that you know you can’t afford.
You will just tempt and disappoint yourself.
Instead, excite yourself with what’s available to you free of charge.
Lists Are My Favourite
Now, in choosing what processes to automate, I think one of the most important things is knowing what you NEED.
I think the best first step is to create a list of two columns:
1. What do I need for my business needs?
2. What do I need for my personal needs?
From that point on, it’s a lot easier to know where exactly to put your focus.
If you feel excited but equally overwhelmed by all of this, break it down for yourself.
For instance, maybe you’re ready to automate your scheduling with a website like calendly, but you have no desire to even think about tax withholding.
Cool, no problem.
Go to your calendar.
And make a note that in a week or so from today, that you’ll handle the tax withholding automation with Catch or another provider.
You have tons of options, but you don’t have to rush and do it all at once.
OR
You could do it all at once, but only if you can be productive, not if you’re the ADHD type where you want to do 10 things but can’t quite get around to all of them.
I think you see what I’m trying to say here.
Make lists. Schedule these things if needed and figure out what’s the most important thing right now.
And while you’re at it, make sure to watch this week’s episode to find out how to automate your calendar, lead generation, taxes and more!
