Using automation in your home & business

Automation is basically reducing human intervention in processes… and it can be used in so many different ways. It perhaps sounds complex, but I've found it to be easy enough to implement (& I'm no tech genius!), and importantly so useful when it comes to my small businesses.

By using automation, it frees up my time to do other things - in my home life, automation gives me time back to be more present with my kids, or I can choose to take time for myself. In my business, automation allows me to put my focus on the activities that add value knowing that these other tasks are taken care of.

Just as a point here, I think there is a time and place for automation… and what I love about my businesses is the human connection. I'm not keen to start implementing chat bots for instance… when you receive an email reply from me… it's actually me you're interacting with!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of the ways that I use automation in my home life and business.

One of my examples that I shared in one of my email newsletters had been around having my milk on order from a local dairy, and that it gets delivered in glass bottles to my door twice a week. I am yet to run out of milk since setting this up!

I also have similar systems in place for my dishwasher tablets (smol), and pet food (Lily's Kitchen).

When it comes to my business processes, I use Canva to create and schedule my Instagram grid posts and I also use the website Zapier (which can link between so many different websites and apps) to create ‘zaps’ that essentially automate some of my reposting for me. For instance, my Instagram grid post gets automatically shared into my Facebook group, Sarah Stewart Life Coaching.

I also use Zapier to connect my email system (Flodesk) with my account in Ecologi… and for every newsletter subscriber I plant a tree. The same goes for any purchases that go through my website (SquareSpace) - Zapier links it with Ecologi and a tree gets planted! It's so clever!

Have you considered setting up any systems like these in your home or business? Would love to get your thoughts.