5 Myths About Procedures and Automation

I bet you always do your best to do your work very accurately and in a timely manner. That is especially crucial with people who charge their clients by the hour. And what’s the best way of achieving that? Creating/improving the procedures while automating as many processes as possible. Yes, you already know that, right?

However, the reality is that many business owners are not taking their time to take care of that important part of their business for various reasons. Well, I’m here to say most of those “reasons” are actually myths.

1. Myth #1:

My business changes all the time. If I create a procedure now, I’ll probably need to change it in a month. That would simply be a waste of time! I hear you, businesses do change over time. However, once you have a procedure, you can simply modify it as your business goes through changes. Writing up a procedure for the first time probably would be the toughest part, but it’s all worth it. Having procedures that really work for you could be a big time-saver, not a time-waster.

2. Myth #2:

I can lose my personal touch if I start automating my work. Automating sounds such a lazy thing to do, and I don’t see why I need to do that. There are two big things that automation can do for you solopreneurs. It will save you time and minimize errors. Let’s say you sell some products on your website, and you take care of all the order processing and fulfillment as well. An order comes in, then you send out a confirmation email to your customer, enter the order in your book, update the inventory, pack and ship the product, make sure the customer is added to your list for your next promotion…

There are so many tasks associated with just one order, and that also means there are as many chances when an error can occur. Automating your procedure would greatly reduce that risk, and your customers would appreciate that. Then, you can spend your freed-up time on better things to show your personal touch, if you’d like! Thanks to the technology, there are so many tools out there that would help you automate many business processes.

3. Myth #3:

I don’t know how to write a procedure. You can make it as formal as you want it to be, but remember, you are writing a procedure for your business, not for your big boss. As long as you can follow it and use it to improve your business process, that’s good enough. To start, I would recommend just listing the steps of each task, including the timelines and responsible parties. If you are a visual person, use a simple flowchart. Writing current processes can also be a start point for a business automation.

 

4. Myth #4:

I remember what I need to do every day. There is no reason why I need to write procedures. They say that the 3 most dangerous words are “I know that.” Well, I’d like to add “I remember that.” to the list. It’s a human nature to make mistakes when you feel you are so used to do a task. Haven’t you made a mistake, and later wondered, “How could I have missed such a simple thing?” Wasn’t that a mistake that could have been simply avoided if you had had a simple checklist? Think about that.

5. Myth #5:

Automating business processes sounds so expensive! Just like writing procedures above, this is not a brain surgery. There are many no or low cost tools available that would help you automate. The services you are currently using just might already have some handy features you are not utilizing. If you have no idea where to start, just share your current procedures with somebody you know who is familiar with Internet Marketing. I know most people in Internet Marketing just love automation.

Mika Howard is a Virtual Assistant and the owner of MTH Virtual Assistance. She works with busy, high-achieving solopreneurs to rescue them from the administrative nightmare by providing them with much needed, dependable administrative and marketing support, allowing them to spend more time to grow their businesses. You can learn more about Mika and her business at http://www.mthvirtualassistance.com.