The first step in automating your process is making sure you have a clear overview of each step.
This will help you avoid changing your process to work with a specific tool.
You probably have a process for marketing, sales, fulfillment, and customer engagement (how you interact with your community after working together), so if you need help outlining your process, and figuring out how to streamline steps, start here!
Technology to Help Automate Steps:
When used as intended, technology should automate manual steps and help you get time back in your day.
You certainly don't need to incorporate all of the following tools into your process, but it's worth considering if some could help save you time and provide a better experience to your team and clients!
Appointment Scheduling - Calendly, Microsoft Bookings, and Wix Bookings are all examples of booking tools that will save you from back and forth emails, or from needing to reach out to reschedule.
Project Management System (Service Businesses) - These are a great way to keep all conversations, files, to-do's and scheduling reminders all in one place. We use and recommend Basecamp because it's easy to manage, you can create projects from saved templates, and it's simplified for clients.
Social Scheduler - It's important to post valuable content consistently on social media. This being said, we get that posting every day is time consuming! Use a social scheduler like Hootsuite, SocialPilot or Wix's built-in social post scheduler to save you time and adhere to your desired posting schedule.
Email Marketing - Nowadays, most email platforms provide scheduling options so you can write your email blast or newsletter, and schedule it to go out in the future. This means you can take a day to knock out your emails and schedule them for the month.
Online Meetings - If even a part of your process can be brought online, you will be freeing up your time and reducing additional travel expenses. Consider what aspects of your process could be on Zoom, and how receiving a meeting recording after the call might actually provide more value to your client.
Wix Automations - Wix offers built-in and custom automations, which consist of two parts: The Trigger (the event that starts the automation), and the Action (the response which occurs after the automation is triggered).
Key Steps We Took to Achieve Work-Life Balance
The following steps are meant to help inspire you and consider what (if any) you could implement into your own business to have more freedom in your schedule.
Deciding what's feasible for you will depend on your industry, personality, and the kind of business you'd like to have!
Implemented a 4 day workweek
Meetings by appointment only & all meetings virtual
No checking emails over the weekend or after business hours
Set list of services we provide
Productizing our services based on the outcome
Set list of deliverables for each service
List of non-negotiables for the type of clients we'd like to work with
Questions to Consider:
What are some areas of your business you could start automating?
What tools are you excited to start using?
How much time do you think you could get back in your day by automating manual steps in your process?
Let us know your thoughts either at info@border7.com, or by posting a comment below!
