Automation is not about robots. It is about the copy-paste jobs, reminder emails and "can you send me that again" messages that take an hour here and an hour there. Owners often automate the wrong thing first: something fun rather than something that saves real time.
This prompt runs a short audit. It asks about your week, then ranks what to automate by time saved and how easy it is.
How to use it
- Paste the prompt and answer its questions honestly, including the boring stuff.
- Look at the top three. Most can be done with tools you already pay for: your CRM, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, your accounting software.
- Automate one at a time and check it works for two weeks before the next.
automation-audit.txt
Act as an operations consultant and help me find what to automate in my business. Interview me first: ask one question at a time (up to 10) about my business, team, tools, how leads come in, how jobs are booked, delivered and invoiced, and which tasks feel repetitive. Wait for each answer. Business: [name], [what we do], [team size] Tools we already use: [e.g. CRM, Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace, QuickBooks, scheduling app] After the interview, give me: 1. A table of the top 10 tasks to automate: task, hours saved per month (estimate and say how you estimated), difficulty (easy/medium/hard), the simplest tool to do it (prefer tools I already have), and the risk if it goes wrong. 2. My top 3 to start with and why. 3. For the #1 task, a step-by-step plan to set it up. 4. What NOT to automate (things that need a human touch). Be realistic; do not overstate savings.
The usual winners
- Lead follow-up: instant reply and reminders for every enquiry.
- Appointment reminders by text to cut no-shows.
- Review requests after every finished job.
- Invoice reminders on a schedule.
- Data entry between forms, CRM and accounting.