Fewer human errors

Even the most meticulous person can make a mistake; after all, ‘to err is human’, especially if you are doing the same task over and over again.

However, the trouble with mistakes is that even a small one can have big consequences for small businesses. 

When you automate a process, human error is much less likely to happen as there’s little to no human involvement. As long as the automation is set up correctly, you can be confident it will run and do its job without further intervention.

Increased efficiency and productivity

Automating workflows gets things done quicker, so there is usually an immediate upside to business efficiency. In turn, you can be a lot more productive with your time and spend it on more valuable and profit-making activities.

You could even use the time saved to upskill or create more client-friendly offers and products. Of course, you can also spend the extra time saved with your loved ones or do your favorite pastime activity and enhance your well-being and work-life balance.

Compliance

Automating essential tasks means you can remain compliant with regulatory or other industry standards and rules in your specific sector or location.

Automating regulatory tasks so they get done when needed reduces risk and could even save your business from receiving an unwelcome fine, especially if you are in a highly regulated industry.

Another aspect is data protection compliance and how private information is stored and processed. Encrypted automation tools can help keep documents and information secure.

Cost reduction

Automation tools save you from the cost of doing something yourself, which will typically take longer and pull your focus away from other, more labor-intensive tasks. They also save you the cost of outsourcing the task to another person to perform. Automation tools often work out a lot cheaper than hiring someone. In fact, there are plenty of free and low-cost tools available.

Another way automation can save you money is by reducing the risk of your invoices not being paid on time. Invoicing software can speed up the payment process and send automatic reminders before or after the invoice is due, saving you the cost and hassle of getting paid late. 

With Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, online payments, recurring invoices, tracking expenses and billable tasks, you can set up first, second, third or endless reminders to help you get paid fast and on time.

Try it for free here.

Helps you stay competitive

In today’s technologically advanced age, automating processes is a necessity that few businesses can afford to ignore if they want to remain competitive. 

Most clients expect a degree of automation, especially in front-end customer processes and services where speed, precision, and efficiency count.

For example, a welcome email sequence can be triggered when a customer buys something from you or when you onboard a client. It would act as a great introduction to your brand and lay out what steps are required next and what they can expect from you.

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At the end of the day, technology is a tool, and the success you experience very much depends on how you use it within your business. Now may be a great time to review all the repetitive tasks you spend valuable time on to see which processes you might want to automate to free up time, streamline your business, and improve cash flow.

And remember, it’s not just dry processes you can automate, but fun things too, such as sending out client thank you notes, client meeting scheduling, and prompts to follow up on hot new leads-all imbued with your unique personal branding. 

Therefore, it makes sense to automate as many tedious admin tasks and business processes as possible, giving you more time to serve your clients and work on your business (as well as in it).

Here are 5 admin tasks to consider automating to save you time (and money).

Appointment/Meeting Setting

Nobody wants to play email ping-pong, where you are constantly going back and forth with potential clients, trying to figure out a mutually suitable time to meet. This takes up time and can lead to mistakes, especially if you and the client are in different time zones.

A link to your online calendar can save you (and your prospective client) a lot of hassle. You can add a link to your website, social media bios, or email address. Schedulers such as Calendly can also integrate with online meeting apps such as Zoom and Google Meet, making the process even more streamlined.

The benefits of an online scheduler are that clients can easily see when you are available and arrange a meeting at the click of a button. You can also block out times when you are unavailable or just open up one day a week for client calls.

Or you can simply send out an invite to meeting attendees from your Google calendar. Either way, the key is to automate it to make it as seamless as possible to get on a call or set up a meeting.

Social Media Scheduling

To generate a regular stream of leads and attract your ideal clients as a freelancer, for best results, you need to find a way to continuously market and promote your services.

Nowadays, one of the most common (and free) ways to do this is with a strong social media presence. Naturally, you are not going to have time to be on all the various social media platforms 24/7, and that’s where social media scheduling tools come in extremely handy.

Not only can they schedule your posts in advance, but you can create them all in the scheduler instead of switching between social media platforms. This puts all your social media content on auto-pilot, giving you more time to spend on your business.

Most schedulers can also provide helpful analytics so you can see how well your social media campaigns are doing.

There are plenty of apps and tools to choose from online. Examples include tools such as Hootsuite, Vista Social, Spout Social, Buffer and many more. Just search for one that meets your needs, budget and personal preference.

Onboarding New Clients

They say first impressions count.

So, having a seamless client-friendly onboarding process for new clients will make you look professional, trustworthy, and easy to do business with.

Good communication is vital when onboarding new clients. A slick, automated onboarding process will also save you time.

Onboarding processes can range from pre-discovery call questionnaires, pre-populating standard proposals, automatically connecting client details to your CRM or having a welcome email sequence in place going through your ways of working and requirements, and even follow-up emails to ensure you have all the documents (such as a written agreement) and requirements in place before you commence the client project.

It’s a good idea to go through your current onboarding process, see what is a repeatable action (i.e. something you go through with all your clients) and automate it as much as possible.

Task/Project Management

When working solo, getting tasks completed (and on time) is up to you. There’s no one internal who will give you a heads-up. So it makes sense to have some task reminder or project management system in place where you can add your to-do list and, for project management, even allow clients access.

Having everything in one place and a daily reminder will go a long way to making your business run smoothly. There are lots of apps online that offer some or all of these features.

Examples include but are not limited to, Trello, TikTik, Todoist, Asana, Basecamp and Monday.com.

You’ll likely need to track your time when working on some freelance projects.

Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, online payments, tracking expenses and billable tasks, has a task time tracking system in place that allows you to accurately record every second spent on each individual task and quickly transfer timed data to the relevant client invoice.

When you’re done with a task or series of tasks within a project, you can simply click and send your work time to an invoice with one click!

We’ve even got a nifty Google Chrome extension to help.

Quick, simple, and easy!

Invoicing Clients

Finally, when it comes to billing your clients, good invoice software with professionally designed and branded templates is a must-have for any freelancer or small business who wants to come across as professional and trustworthy.

Not only can it save you from having to cobble the invoices together yourself (which, unless you are a design pro, can be cumbersome), but it can also save you from making errors and help you get paid on time. With a range of payment gateways, you can send (and get your invoices paid) at the click of a button.

With Invoice Ninja’s recurring invoices and auto-billing option, you can save time by automatically billing long-term regular clients. Another excellent time-saving feature is the ability to track inventory levels, which automatically updates your product inventory and reminds you when it’s time to re-stock up.

View more time-saving automation features here.

Or try it for free at the link here.

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