10 Ways to Automate Your Business (So You Can Finally Take That Vacation)

We live in a world where we can easily be connected and working 24/7. Whether you are on a dream vacation with your family or on an airplane half way across the globe, the easy access to email and the internet has transformed what it means to run your own business. A recent study by Constant Contact revealed that 43% of small business owners do not take vacations and 56% feel as though they can literally never get away from their businesses. Check out 10 Ways to Automate Your Business.

Lucky for all of us entrepreneurs out there, the web is stocked with efficient and affordable solutions that are just waiting to give us the well deserved break that we need. With summer upon us, this is the ideal time to sit down with your team and learn to automate your social media and many other business processes so that you can go and enjoy the sunshine stress-free. Here are our digital experts top ten tips to automate your business so that you can enjoy your vacation this summer.

Assess Where You Can You Save Time.

Before you start spending your hard earned time and money on automation strategies, talk to your team and take stock of the places where you are spending unnecessary chunks of time doing something that could otherwise be automated. Review this list and choose the most relevant areas to automate, start small and grow your automation trust over time.

Automate your social media.

Hootsuite is the entrepreneurs dream social media management and automation tool. Simply devote some time before you leave entering future social media posts into the platform, and Hootsuite will complete all of your posting for you on your pre-selected dates. Your clients will not even notice you are away.

Automate your newsletters.

Before you head away for paradise this summer, spend a day curating the next few months (maybe even a full year) of e-mail marketing newsletter content, pre-schedule the send dates, and engage with your consumers without doing anything at all!

Mailchimp offers automation tools that target customers based on specific data and behaviour, and can optimize sending times based on that target audience. It even offers auto-responders to new subscribers to your website!

Automate your out-of-office.

This is the easiest, and most essential action to take before you go on vacation. Add a simple automated email reply such as “Thank you for contacting me. I will be out of the office from July 1st until July 15th, and will contact you promptly upon my return. For urgent inquiries, contact info@xyz.com”. Remember to add one extra day to your actual return date to buy yourself some time reviewing emails post-vacation.

Automate your payments.

E-commerce software such as Shopify – based right here in Ottawa – can save time and energy for entrepreneurs by supporting a customized online storefront. Imagine coming home to a digital store full of money?

Automate your conversations.

Tired of scouring through hundreds of emails each morning? Slack is a powerful and free communication platform that works like any simple chat program, providing an automated, real-time alternative to email.

Automate your project flows.

Don’t let your projects get lost in the emails and phone calls between you and your team. Software such as Asana is essential to highlighting, scheduling and completing projects. Everyone on your team can know the progress of every project at any given time.

Automate your blog posts.

For entrepreneurs using WordPress platforms, if you take the time to pre-write your creative content for blogs and upload it to your website, you can schedule the publication of the blog post on your website as well as your social media platforms. Your clients will be awestruck that you are still blogging for your business while on vacation.

Automate your customer service.

Perhaps the most frightening idea of them all is to turn to your website to take care of your clients very real, very human needs. While computers cannot replace the value of a good old fashioned conversation, there are many ways to reduce the need for those one-on-one interactions. Try adding a FAQ section to your business website or consider investing in a “help ticketing support desk software” such as Freshdesk.

Outsource everything.

The final option, for those reluctant to put their business in the hands of online software solutions, is to outsource your marketing, your newsletters, and even your web updates to a trustworthy digital marketing company like Skyfall Blue. You still get the human touch and the freedom to vacation peacefully.

Are you ready to automate your business like a pro and truly enjoy the summer vacation of your dreams? Entrepreneurs work hard and deserve a break too. If you are still stressed out about the security of your business over the summer months and travel commitments, contact our team of digital gurus at Skyfall Blue. We offer the most affordable, comprehensive, and quality social media packages.

From just $500 a month, we will tweet your worries away, all summer long. Learn about our services here and get in touch for a free consultation info@skyfallblue.com