The inquiry you need to copy into a spreadsheet. The project folders you create every time a client signs on. The follow-up that happens only because it pops into your head while you’re doing something else.
Those are worth a look.
People tend to count the minutes a task takes. But there’s also the attention it takes to keep checking whether it happened. A five-minute task can occupy a surprising amount of your day.
Pick something predictable
A good first automation has a clear starting point and an outcome you can check.
Someone submits an inquiry. Their details get saved, you receive a notification, and a follow-up task appears.
You still read the inquiry and decide how to respond. You just don’t have to move the same information around before you can do anything useful with it.
I’d start there before trying to automate an entire client relationship.
Make sure the process makes sense
If nobody agrees on when a project is ready to begin, automating project setup won’t settle the argument. It will create folders while everyone is still arguing.
First, decide what needs to be true before the next step happens. Who approves it? What information is required? Who handles anything that’s missing?
Sometimes answering those questions does more for the business than the automation itself.
Give yourself a way to catch mistakes
For your first project, choose something you can review easily. Creating an internal task is a more manageable starting point than automatically sending a proposal to a client.
Try an incomplete submission. Try the same submission twice. Find out what happens when a connection fails.
And make sure someone knows how to stop it. “It usually works” is an uncomfortable operating procedure.
Notice whether it actually helps
Once it’s running, pay attention to what changed.
Are you doing less copying? Chasing fewer updates? Can you stop carrying that task around in your head?
If you’ve replaced five minutes of work with ten minutes of checking the automation, there’s more work to do.
The first useful automation may be fairly boring. That’s fine. A reliable system quietly taking care of something you used to babysit is a pretty good result.
Pick one recurring annoyance. Follow it from start to finish. That’s where I’d begin.
Want to know where to start? Take the Systems Checkup for a structured look at your current setup.
Put this into practice
A Business Systems Audit can turn the friction you find into a prioritized plan for improvement.
Explore the Business Systems Audit →