Management

By SDB

In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented a machine that allowed the rapid reproduction of pages. It was called the printing press.

A single printing press could produce 3,600 pages per workday.

Hand copying a page could only produce about 6.

In this article we discuss the awesome power of automation, and why this mindset is absolutely essential for the success of your business.

Automation

Automation is the process of creating tools and systems that augment (usually dramatically) a person’s productivity.

Automating Your Business

As noted by the productivity increase experienced by Gutenberg, automation can do wonders to a business. Because of this, one of the most important mental filters you can and should apply to every step of your business is “How can I automate this?”

Usually the biggest opportunity for your business’s growth will be in areas you haven’t thought to automate yet.

Here are a few business life cycles. If you are familiar with them, think if there is an opportunity for you to automate your system:

Customer Life Cycle:
Capture Leads > Nurture Leads > Sell Product > Nurture Customer > Up Sell

Product Development Life Cycle:
Market Research > Product Ideation > Product Refinement > Final Product

And don’t forget any of the processes you use for your marketing, supply chain, operations, or any other business life cycle.

An equally important question you should be asking is this: “Has someone else automated this already?” It’s another way of saying: don’t reinvent the wheel. Automating a process can potentially be time consuming and expensive, and you can save yourself that time and expense by simply checking.

Balancing the Cost Ratio of Automation

There are occasions when it is not cost effective to automate a process. This is when you don’t expect to repeat a process more than a few times.

If this is the case, then don’t automate. Otherwise, find out if a tool already exists, or create your own.

Stay Tuned…

Automation is one of Start Doing Business’s 3 Keys to Success. A lot of our upcoming articles will discuss specific ways you can automate your business.

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