As much as we like to think we can do everything… sometimes we don’t have to.
Work work work!
If you are like me, work is both my passion and my pain, as I get bogged down in the little nitty gritty things that need doing, like accounting (ugh). But lately I’ve been on a mission. A mission to free up as much of my time as possible so that I can spend MORE time smashing out awesome work for my fabulous clients (read: YOU).
One amazing thing I’ve done lately is hire a VA to do a few of the admin tasks! This has really freed up precious hours for me, plus now I have someone who understands the craziness of my job! Double win! She even takes my mild ramblings, crafts amazing articles and even makes it sound like my tone of voice…
The other awesome things I’ve been looking into and testing out in the last year is automation. Thank the internet gods there are so many smart cookies out there making incredible programs to make all our lives easier!
Here are a few of my favourites:
Zapier – (https://zapier.com/)
Zapier is the Genie in the lamp. You can just about get this little miracle to do anything! Basically it creates little bridges between your different platforms, including social media, email and other programs. My favorite use at the moment is the instagram to pinterest Zap. I just post to instagram and it automatically sends the content to my pinterest! ZAP! POW! BLAMO! I have gotten clients who have found me via my Pinterest, even though I barely spend any time on there building the amount of content I have on there, it’s all generated for me.
Now this does WAY more than just post content to pinterest, that’s like saying McDonalds just does fries. My favourite part of Zapier is that all the different connecting apps and functions are displayed right there on the first page within the search functions. By picking a core app that you use and hitting search, you can find all the powers you have at your fingertips. I have found plenty of things I didn’t even know I could do, so go have a search for yourself!
IFTTT – (https://ifttt.com/discover)
In the same vein as Zapier, IFTTT works magic by getting all the internet kids to play together nicely, no matter whether they are apple, google, amazon, whatever! Anything I can’t find in zapier, I can generally find here. The main difference between these the ideal user. If you are just wanting super simple 2 step activations, go with IFTTT. For business, go with Zapier
Mailchimp – (https://mailchimp.com/)
Most of you would have heard of this one. Mailchimp has been around for a looooong time, but in the last couple of years its really found its groove. It’s so incredibly simple to create gorgeous looking, functional and fun emails to send out to your clients and leads, which you can organise WAY before you need them (stress reduction at its best). But more than just emails, it’s incredible intuitive workings help me to keep up with customer relations without a CRM, and it’s a great tool for the automation of delivering course content.
It can even help streamline simple processes like on boarding and client education. For example, when I get Enquiries that are new clients that have never worked with me or jobs that I think need a written brief, I add them to a list that sends them all they need to know about working with me, a link to my portfolio and terms and conditions, and then finishes off by sending them to a typeform (read about this one next) that prompts them to create their own brief piece by piece. This sets up expectations, gets all the information relevant to the brief out there and also looks super professional.
Typeform – (https://www.typeform.com/)
This little beauty is incredible for capturing rich data on your clients or potential clients. You can create surveys, enquiry forms, sign-up sheets and more with this stylish, easy to navigate tool. Some extra snazzy features are the ability to take payments, like a deposit or a print order, AND the integrations to feed data back into my email lists. Win. You can even combine it with tools like zapier or iftt to make it even more powerful!
This little beauty is incredible for capturing rich data on your clients or potential clients. You can create surveys, enquiry forms, sign-up sheets and more with this stylish, easy to navigate tool. Some extra snazzy features are the ability to take payments, like a deposit or a print order, AND the integrations to feed data back into my email lists. Win. You can even combine it with tools like zapier or iftt to make it even more powerful!
Bitly – http://bit.ly.com
Long web addresses are SOOOOO 2000-and-late. If you give a non-clickable link to something and it’s full of slashes and dashes, numbers and letters, you may as well be giving them a bike locker combination they have to remember from when they were at primary school. Only nerds remember long phrases like that, I should know, my boyfriend is said nerd. With bitly, you can set up url shortening, personalise them with relevance to either the content or your brand and even track the clicks and data like where the click came from and how many in a set timeframe.
Bonus – text replacement on your phone
So we all have things that we type all the time; emails, shipping addresses, maybe even a bit of a spiel on who we are and what we do. After a while of doing that over and over agin can become tedious and a waste of time. Why not make a key phrase in your phone under the settings>keyboard>text replacement for all of these things.
For example, when I type “generalenquiry” on my iPhone, this comes up “I’d definitely be able to help you. Graphic designer, lettering artist and design superwoman at your service. My email address is jaz@jasminedesigns.com.au if you would like to chat through. Also, My instagram is www.instagram.com/jhdesigns and My portfolio can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/JasmineDesignsPortfolio_2018”
By having these core phrases stored away for when you need them, you are saving precious time, potential keystroke errors and can even make the difference between getting the job or lead as you are ready to go at the click of a button. Boom baby!
These are just a couple of the incredible programs that are out there to help make your professional life easier. Dive in and get automating!