- Career Insider
- Posts
- The automatic entrepreneur
The automatic entrepreneur
The biggest problem with entrepreneurship is the time it takes to run your business. But, what if you can run it...automatically?
Steve Adcock
August 22, 2024
Welcome to Career Insider. If you’re looking for small business resources, then you’ll love this email. It’s chalk-full of automation tools that take care of the annoying parts of running your own business so you can do more important things (like growing that bad boy).
Let’s dive in.
P.S. Don’t forget about our referral program. Check out your personal referral link at the bottom of this email. Share Career Insider and earn rewards.
SIDE HUSTLES
Your side hustle stack: Part 3
The biggest problem with entrepreneurship is the time it takes to run your business. But, what if you can run it…automatically?
We’re talking about the 5-step process to build your side hustle stack. Last week we covered the second part. Today, let’s dive into the third.
As a reminder, here’s what we’re doing:
→ Use the power of automation and outsourcing
Organization and how to manage your time effectively
How to avoid burnout by coupling persistence with patience
Today, let’s talk about how to automate your business.
How to Automate Your Small Business
Automating repetitive or menial tasks gives you more time to do what you do best: Grow your budding enterprise.
This separates happy business owners from overworked business owners.
Clearly, the type of business you’re building impacts how much of it can be automated. Let’s take a look at several examples of how this works.
Marketing, Sales and Growth
Email Marketing: Use platforms like Beehiiv or ConvertKit to automate welcome emails, newsletters, product announcements, and even abandoned cart reminders.
Social Media Scheduling: Tools like Buffer or Hootsuite allow you to schedule social media posts in advance, ensuring consistent online presence without constant manual effort.
Chatbots: Implement chatbots on your website or social media to answer frequently asked questions, qualify leads, or book appointments 24/7.
Warning: Email marketing can become very addictive (mostly in a good way). My favorite email marketing tool is ConvertKit.
Customer Support and Operations
Appointment Scheduling: Use tools like Calendly and SimplyBook.me to let clients book appointments directly, eliminating back-and-forth emails.
Invoicing & Payment Processing: Platforms like QuickBooks or FreshBooks automate invoice creation, sending reminders, and processing online payments.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM): A CRM like HubSpot and Zoho can automate contact management, track customer interactions, and streamline sales processes.
Building Social Proof
Social Listening Tools: Use tools like Mention or BuzzSumo to monitor brand mentions, track industry trends, and identify potential customers or collaborators.
Content Repurposing: Repurpose existing content (e.g., blog posts into social media updates, videos into podcasts) using tools like Canva or Adobe Express to maximize reach with less effort.
Phew, lots of resources. But if you’re just starting out, you probably don’t need all of them.
Which ones should you focus on?
Want an email newsletter to help build your brand? ConvertKit.
Want to make customer scheduling easy? Calendly.
Want to make online invoices straightforward? FreshBooks.
Boom, you’re on your way.
In next week’s email, we’ll move onto step 4: Time management.
CAREERS
Most promising career fields outlook
Looking for another job? The BLS published a list of the fastest-growing jobs in the country, and you might be surprised at what made the list.
We’ll let the cat out of the bag first thing.
The fastest growing job? Wind turbine service technicians.
Yeah, seriously. But we won’t all be right for that type of job. Luckily, other. more traditional jobs made the list too.
Like:
Nurse practitioners
Data scientists
Statisticians
Health service managers
Physician assistants
Many of these career fields pay over $100,000 a year, and some - like data scientists or statisticians, might even have remote work opportunities.
If you’re looking to make a change, focus on these fastest growing fields.
NEWS
Economists Are Scratching Their Heads
The US job market seems to be channeling its inner teenager – moody, unpredictable, and giving everyone around it a serious case of whiplash.
Just last week, the market was strutting around like it owned the place, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring nearly 700 points after positive jobless claims data.
Fast forward a few days, and it's all doom and gloom, with July's jobs report showing a measly 114,000 jobs added and unemployment ticking up to 4.3%.
Economists, never ones to be left out of a good existential crisis, are now engaged in a passionate debate about whether this signals a coming recession or just a temporary blip in an otherwise healthy economy.
The cause?
Some are pointing to the recent dip in consumer confidence (apparently, worrying about losing your job puts a damper on your shopping spree) as a sign that things are about to get worse.
Others, however, remain optimistic, highlighting the continued growth in sectors like healthcare and construction.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left wondering what in the name of avocado toast is going on.
Should we be updating our resumes and brushing up on our interview skills?
Or should we just stock up on ramen noodles and wait for the economic apocalypse to blow over?
Adding to the confusion is the fact that even though job growth has slowed, many Americans are feeling increasingly anxious about their job security. Maybe it's the constant barrage of news headlines about layoffs and economic uncertainty, or maybe it's just the general sense that the world is one TikTok trend away from imploding.
Whatever the reason, it seems like everyone's inner monologue is starting to sound a lot like a panicked squirrel trying to find a nut before winter.
