Where do I start?

It was great to welcome self-proclaimed automation junkie, craft beer lover, and all around great bloke, James Rose to the show. He shared tons of tips for getting started in business automation, and where you can go from there. The subject can be a bit overwhelming to some who are brand new to the automation nation. James’ suggestion for a fairly easy place to start, is simply eliminating the back-and-forth emails when trying to schedule a meeting. Set up some scheduling software like Calendly, Book Like A Boss, or TimeSync* and you will be officially automating! Those of you already using a scheduling app know first hand how time-saving this is!

Another type of automation that is fairly painless to get up and running is text expansion. An example of text expanding that you may not even realize you use, is when you type “OMW” on an iPhone and it translates that to “On my way!” I love this tip and I find it especially useful for things like email addresses and urls that we type multiple times a day. James uses the (cleverly named) Text Expander app which costs around $40 / year and is very feature rich. I discovered after this episode that my Setapp* subscription includes Rocket Typist. I installed it and was expanding my little heart out in about 10 minutes.

Useful tip from the Focus On Your Biz FB Group: Start your shortcut commands with a slash or other symbol to avoid mixups with existing keyboard shortcuts or words you may need to type. As an example, I use /fwp to expand https://focuswp.co. ?

What Should I Automate In My Business?

Here are the types of tasks you should consider automating, as listed in the episode:

1. Repetitive tasks, such as standard email responses.
2. Things you could easily forget, like checking in with clients a few weeks after a project is completed.
3. Multiple entry tasks. “Every time X happens, add it as a new row to my Google Sheet.”
4. Things that suck! (What do you wish a robot could do for you so you never have to do it again?)
5. Alert Management. Don’t let those emails cry wolf.

It’s An Investment

Obviously, setting up automations takes considerably longer than just doing the thing once, twice, or even 10 times. But when you get past that 10th instance of the task, you are saving time! View it as an investment that has an upfront cost, but will pay off in the end. So…what are you going to automate first?? Let us know in the comments or in the Facebook Group.

Hosts Present:

• Stephanie Hudson – FocusWP / FB / Focus On Your Biz
• Tammy Grant – Brand Elemental / FB / @yourblogplace
• Tim Strifler – Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler
• James Rose – JimmyRose.me / FB / @_jimmyrose

Resources Mentioned:

• Zapier
• If This Then That (IFTTT)
• Active Campaign
• Content Snare
• Grow Your Web Design Business by Content Snare (FB Group)
• WP Fusion
• Text Expander
• Zapier Mastery Course

* This is an affiliate link, but only because I really believe in this product!