Systems and Automation. Saving time and making deadlines.

The other day I took a long drive with my son.  I think we were in the car for a total of four hours, so during that time, we had plenty of opportunities to chat.  We talked about all sorts of things, but partway through the conversation he said to me, “People ask me all the time how you get so much done.  I tell them that you’re productive and you don’t sleep.”

I thought his answer was entertaining, but there is a more complete answer to this question about productivity.  The truth is, I’m utilizing systems and automation to help me get things accomplished.  The process I follow and the tools I utilize save me a lot of time.

The benefit of systems

Recently, I was speaking to a woman who is relatively new at establishing her online platform.  Her current approach to creating content is to work in spurts.  When she gets inspired, she will create several things at once.  She may write three blog posts in a day or create other forms of content in batches.  For some people, that’s not a bad approach.  I know lots of people who do that, so I’m not critical of doing things that way, but I personally utilize a system that feels more sustainable because it isn’t dependent on how I feel and it has become part of my weekly routine.

If you don’t have a system in place just yet, let me make an initial suggestion that isn’t difficult to implement.  Start by blocking off the same time each week to create one piece of written content.  Don’t change the day or the time, and don’t worry about any of the other pieces of content you might also want to create.  Just block off one hour at the same time each week as your writing hour.

Then do something additional and make yourself accountable to someone else.  Ideally, it would be someone who is also creating one piece of written content.  Make yourself accountable to them by sending them a copy of what you’ve written even before it’s edited.  Let them read what you wrote and offer their feedback.  When they submit their writing to you, offer your feedback as well.  Don’t be harsh or critical.  Don’t discourage one another.  The point isn’t that you write the perfect blog post every single time.  The greater goal of this exercise is to develop a consistent pattern of carving out the same time every week to write for 60 minutes.

Once you make this a consistent part of your week, you’ll have something to work with when you develop your system because everything else is going to be built off of that written content.  

My personal system looks like this:

Tuesday

9:00 AM - Write blog post

10:00 AM - Use Canva to create cover art for blog post

10:10 AM - Send email reminder to my membership community

7:45 - 9:30 PM - Teach and discuss the concepts of the blog post to membership community via Zoom.

9:45 PM - Download the audio and video recordings from Zoom

9:50 PM - Edit the audio with Audacity then upload it to Kajabi as a podcast episode

9:55 PM - Edit the video with Quicktime.  Upload the 90 minute version to Kajabi for members-only access.  Upload the 20 minute version to YouTube.

10:00 PM - Upload the blog post to Kajabi and use Grammerly to edit it.

10:05 PM - Use the first three paragraphs of the blog post to create an email newsletter with Kajabi.  Schedule it to arrive in subscribers’ inboxes the following day at 10:00 AM.

My system is all mapped out, and at this point, it feels automatic to me.  I do a few things in the morning and a few additional things in the evening.  I use posting and scheduling tools that are built into Kajabi to deliver content to my members and my general audience.  I have been following this pattern for years, and it helps me consistently serve thousands of people weekly, reach new people regularly, and make my business gradually more valuable over time.

Let me make a few suggestions if you’re interested in implementing a similar approach to your online platform.

1.  Mark off a specific day as your content creation day.  You don’t have to create new content every single day of the week.  That’s not realistic for most people.  Just do your best to create one new piece of content each week that can be used multiple ways, and stick to a specific day for creating that piece of content.

2.  Utilize the margins of the day when you’re building your system.  The odds are that you have a variety of responsibilities in your daily life.  You’re juggling your family, your career, your studies, and your side projects.  Using the margins of the day (morning and late evening) can be an approach that helps you get things accomplished without taking you away from your other obligations.  While the rest of the world watches TV or wastes time on their phone, you can build your platform.

3.  Don’t be afraid to make a financial investment in the right tools.  This is a stumbling block for many people when they’re initially getting things underway, but don’t let it be a stumbling block for you.  One of two things will happen from your investment.  You’ll either make your business better or you’ll learn something new.  You’ll build a user-friendly platform that you enjoy creating and your audience enjoys utilizing, or you’ll learn what not to do and what not to use in the future.  The right tools make a big difference when you’re building a system and automating tasks.

4.  Incorporate accountability into everything you do.  Knowing that I have to share what I have created in front of actual people keeps me motivated to keep creating content and delivering it on time.  Without the accountability of my membership community and online audience, I’m not certain I would meet my deadlines with the same consistency.

Systems and automation are valuable in so many ways.  I hope this peek into my system and the ways I’m using tools like Kajabi to automate some of my tasks helps give you a few new ideas.

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© John Stange, 2024