Automation sounds like factories and robots. In a small business it's something far more boring: no longer copying data from one place to another.
How to spot what to automate
You don't have to look far. If a task ticks two of these three, it's a candidate.
- 01You do it every week, always the same way.
- 02It consists of copying something out of one program and pasting it into another.
- 03If you forget it, somebody complains: a client, your accountant or you.
The usual suspects
- 01Form submissions arriving where you actually work, sorted, instead of as one more email.
- 02Appointment reminders the day before, so nobody stands you up.
- 03Moving orders into the spreadsheet or the invoicing software.
- 04Sending the same information to every new client without typing it out again.
What not to automate
Anything that changes every time or needs judgement. A quote that depends on seeing the job, a delicate reply to an unhappy client, a decision about an odd order. Automating that doesn't save time: it creates problems you then fix by hand, in a hurry.
Where to start
With the smallest, most repeated task, not the most impressive one. If it works, the next one suggests itself. And one tip: write down what you do each day for a week. Almost nobody can say from memory where their time actually goes.