WHAT CAN I ACTUALLY AUTOMATE?
Tick the jobs you still do by hand, tell me how often and how long they take, and I will hand back the hours, the money, the build order and the ones you should leave well alone.
- Hours a week and money a year, per job, from your own figures
- The first three builds, wired to the tools you already pay for
- The list of jobs that should stay human, and why
It runs in your browser. No email, no account, and nothing stored unless you ask me to send it to you.
WHAT IS ACTUALLY BEHIND IT.
You tick the jobs, it does the arithmetic
Times a week, minutes each, across a year, at what an hour of that time costs you. Every figure is prefilled with a typical number so you can move fast, and every one of them is editable.
Nothing recovers all of the time
An automation you never look at does not exist. The result counts most of the time back on the jobs that run on their own and about half on the ones where a person still decides. Anybody quoting you the full number is selling something.
Volume decides what is worth building
The same job at six a month and at six hundred a month are not the same decision. Jobs that do not pay back at your volume are listed separately, with the volume that changes each one.
It names the tools you already pay for
The build steps come back written around your CRM, your calendar and your accounting tool, because advice that says connect your systems is advice for nobody.
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK FIRST.
What parts of a small business are worth automating first?
The first reply to an enquiry, almost always. It takes an afternoon, it works at 2am, and it is the one automation whose value goes up the busier you get. After that it is whatever you do the same way more than once a week: quotes, chasing, onboarding, invoices and reminders.
What should never be automated?
Anything where the judgement is the product. Deciding whether a lead is worth your time, writing the words in a newsletter, telling somebody bad news. Those get the admin taken off them so the judgement is all that is left, and they should keep a person's name on them.
Do I need Zapier, Make or n8n?
You need one of them, and which one barely matters at the start. If you already pay for one, use it. If you do not, n8n is free to run yourself and does not charge per task, which matters the moment a workflow gets busy. The tool assumes whichever one your answers say you already have.
How long does this stuff take to build?
Most of the jobs in the list are half a day to two days each, and the result puts a build size against every one. What people underestimate is the looking after: budget about an hour a month for every five things you switch on, and expect one of them to need a rethink a year in.
The other free one
Do I need a website?
Answer eleven questions about how you sell today and I will tell you straight: build one, fix the one you have, or spend the money somewhere it will do more. Built by a company that sells websites, which is exactly why it is allowed to say no.
Run it, 3 minutes