Streamlining 101 (aka Automation’s Fraternal Twin)

A few posts back I went into detail about what automation is and how you can use it to your advantage as a 9-5 employee that also blogs on the side.  Automation saves you time because it steps in when you don’t have the time to step in yourself.  Of course EVERYTHING can’t be automated (boooo!!)...you still have to be involved in your blog processes at some point.  The best way to be involved and stay on track is to streamline your process then establishing workflows as a result.  Streamline things that you can’t automate so that you can use your time more efficiently on the things that you have to touch.  Then when you add Workflows into the mix, it turns into the productive trifecta! I consider Streamlining the fraternal twin of Automation because they are both cut from the same cloth (saving time), but they look a little different.

Streamlining is to improve the efficiency of a process, business or organization by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps, using modernizing techniques, or taking other approaches (credit).  This means to determine the best way to complete a task and stick to it if it’s giving you the results that you want.  If you’re constantly tweeting but aren’t seeing any traction from it, remove it from your process and put that extra time into something that works.  Once you have streamlined a process, you begin putting each piece together to create a workflow.  A Workflow is like a recipe.  You can have all of the ingredients, but without the instructions you won't have a meal.  Once you establish your workflow, you are on the road to consistency and we all know that consistency is one aspect that contributes to growth.

So how exactly can you streamline your blogging process?  Here are 6 things that you can do to get it together:

1 / Keep notes for brain dumping in Evernote

Notebooks, while cute and fun, are not as effective as a digital note system.  I used to be a huge advocate of writing in notebooks to keep all of my thoughts together, but the problems came when I was unable to find a particular note that I had written some time ago.  Flipping though pages and pages of notes to find one things is just not feasible.  While I still have a physical notebook, I rarely use it because my digital note taking system got my life all the way together!  I use Evernote for all of my ideas whether it’s blog posts, products, services, course ideas, email ideas, or even goals.  I love using a digital note taking system because I can easily organize all of my notes into notebooks AND I can do a keyword search if I’m trying to find a specific note.

So with this, brain dumping is now awesome.  Brain Dumping sounds like a huge mess (I mean, a dump is a place where a bunch of crap collects, right?), so bring some method to the madness by organizing the proverbial dump.  Group all of your ideas into categories and keep them nice and organized so that you can easily reference and find them in the future.

Pro Tip: If you still like to write notes or for some reason are unable to access your phone to add a note, you can always write them down then take a photo of it to upload to Evernote at a later time.  I do this as well and it’s just another way to keep all ideas organized.  Add a tag to the photo note so that you know what it’s about and can easily find it with a search.

2 / Create + follow Workflows in Trello

I’m late to the Trello train, but better late than never, eh? Trello is a web and Mobile App that you can use to create and organize workflows.  You can also create checklists, schedule due dates and invite people to join your boards (great for collaborating on a project!).  Before using it, I had a general blogging process, but I would still forget to do a few small things (like create new tweets for blog posts in advance, plan out Instagram stories content, etc.).  Now that I have created a workflow, there is no excuse why I would forget a step in my blogging process.  If you don’t currently have an official blogging workflow and have no clue what all you should be doing before, during and after a post is live, I have created a done-for-you Trello blogging workflow that you can use to get some clarity.  Click below for those gems!

If you know your workflow, there is no excuse for skipping steps.  This doesn't just go for bloggers. If you have a business, you should also be following a workflow.  It’s only going to make your life easier.  The other great thing about establishing a workflow is that if you ever get to the point where you are hiring help, they will be able to follow your workflows which makes training and process replication much easier.

3 / Add tasks and subtasks to an Editorial Calendar

Rather than just adding tasks to your calendar for the day that you want to have them complete by, you should really be scheduling all of the steps that it will take to complete those tasks.  This is so you know what you need to be working on to get a task done rather than just knowing when it’s due.  Don’t just schedule the end, schedule the process. In order to get the best grip on your time, you need to plan what you are going to do from beginning to end.  For example, you may want to post your blog post on 11/10, but when are you going to type it up?  When are you going to take and edit your photos?  Asana is the free calendar tool that I use to keep my tasks to do each day organized.  One of their best features is that you can schedule subtasks to accompany one main task, this way you can truly keep an accurate schedule. In the example below, the task with the large checkbox is the main task and the tasks under it with the smaller checkboxes are the subtasks.

Scheduling tasks and subtasks will help to streamline your process because you will know what you need to be working on each day.  Schedule each step of your workflow to stay on track.

4 / Batch Processing

Batching (aka Batch Days) may be something that you have heard about around the internet a lot lately.  Well there’s good reason for that because it can save tons of time.  Batch Processing is when you dedicate a certain block of time to work on one task.  For example, when I schedule my tweets for the week, I sit down and dedicate 20 minutes to nothing but scheduling the twitter content.  Another example is that I stockpile photos for Instagram, so I dedicate a block of time over the weekend to only take various pictures to post on Instagram in the future (oh, you thought Instagram was instant? Nope, not so much anymore).  A few more examples of what you can batch is creating blog posts, planning out your IG feed for the week (I use the UNUM app for this), creating freebies, creating email marketing content, etc.  Rather than spending time doing these things randomly or at the last minute, work on a chunk at a time and be done with it for the week/month.

5 / Create templates

There are certain tasks that you do repetitively when it comes to your blog.  When it comes to design elements, this is something that you shouldn’t have to create from scratch every time.  You should make a template of your designs and use them over and over again.  Create 4 variations of a template layout so that you can keep it consistent across the web and social platforms.  For example, create templates for blog post graphics, IG stories graphic, social media graphics, etc.  If you currently have a design program on your computer, awesome!  Make the templates using that.  If you do not have your own program, I recommend using Canva. This is another web/mobile app in which you can create various types of graphics for free.

Pro Tip: I own design programs and use them to create my templates, but I still use Canva as a backup just in case I want to post something but cannot access my laptop.  Just create a Canva version of your templates so that you can access them on the go.

 

6 / Create a FAQ page rather than answering the same questions constantly

You know those questions that people always tend to ask you on your blog comments, Instagram, wherever?  Rather than giving the same spiel to everyone, why not create an FAQ or similar page answering all of the questions?  This way, you can direct the inquirers to your website which in turn means more traffic added to your numbers!

You may be thinking, “I have no questions from readers/followers”.  This may be true, but your NICHE has general questions that people tend to ask.  Let’s use a food blogger for example.  Maybe they don’t get questions in their blog comments, but they know that people want to know the best knife set to purchase on a budget, or how to sautée vegetables properly.  Frequently asked questions that people want to know related to your niche can also appear on your FAQ page.  No clue what the popular questions are?  Use Google Trends to get some ideas.  Creating a FAQ page will save you time because your response to their questions going forward will be something like “Hi! Please check out my FAQ page for a detailed response to your question” rather than cutting into your time to reply to emails using the same general response.  Typing emails can take a while especially when you’re trying to be helpful and provide specific details.

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I hope some of these ideas resonated with you!  Saving time is something that I love to teach individuals how to do.  Now go ahead and start saving some time!

Automation 101 (aka the Secret Sauce of Productivity)

You know something that people who are really killing it in the blog world have that the average blogger doesn’t?  Assistants.  Like, real life people on their payroll.  It’s nice to have the money to be able to have people on a payroll...BUT...all that you may know about a payroll is that you are on someone else's.  Well you know what?  You don’t have to have a payroll to have an assistant, boo!  Trust me.  I have an assistant that has been getting the job DONE on time and at high levels for free.  They’ve stepped in when I was working and didn't have the ability to tweet or promote my blog posts on Pinterest or simply find new content to blog about.  Would you like an introduction?  My assistant is on my calendar under the name BAE (Blogging Assistant Extraordinaire), and is a robot.  Yep, my assistant is AUTOMATION.  If you don’t already, you should insert a robot into your blogging process.  I’m not talking about one of those annoying bots that likes Instagram photos and follows accounts with the intention to unfollow in a few days (I actually hate those bots and don’t encourage anyone to use them...I know it’s tempting but don’t do it).  I’m talking about a robot that can do things on your behalf when you already have too much on your plate.  My blog is geared towards people that have a day job and are trying to build their blog/business at the same time.  If this is you, you already know that free time sounds like a joke.  That’s why it’s CRUCIAL to use automation in your day to day strategy.  Today I will be discussing automation and why you need to get it in your life...like right now!

Let’s be real here, extra money to pay an assistant is probably not available yet because...well, bills, kids, Sallie Mae, being underpaid at your 9-5, etc.  I always say that until you have that extra money coming in, automation is your assistant.

So what exactly is automation?

My Dictionary app says that automation is "the technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention to a minimum".  Great, well in my terms, automation is something getting done without you having to remember to do it (set it and forget it) or for those times when you literally can’t even.  You basically create a task that will run at a scheduled time and it will do what you want without you having to be there to babysit.

I talk about automation...A LOT… on my blog and social media because people don’t realize just how important it is to use when you haven’t the means (read: coins) for a real assistant (virtual, in person, temporary via fiverr, whatever).  You can’t do it all alone, trust me.  BUT you can automate a big chunk.  You may be wondering why it’s so important?  Simply put...you actually will be able to have free time.  I know that sounds unrealistic, but I’m living proof.  I have been using automation in some form for around 5 years, but I’ve become more intentional with it over the last year and a half.  I have a day job.  I have a family.  I have a blog. I have a business.  I am able to knock out a large portion of tasks daily thanks to them being automated.  This in turn frees up time to be able to work on other things that I HAVE to touch such as brain dumping ideas, creating blog posts, sketching new product designs, taking and editing photos, etc.  I post to twitter 10 times a day Monday-Friday.  Do you think I would remember to post every 1.5 hours on my own?  Nope.  Not only would I forget, but if I did remember, who’s to say I wouldn’t be in the middle of a meeting at work or a training session or a huge project that requires all of my attention?  I can’t just stop what I’m doing to post a tweet or pin something to Pinterest.  This is why I just add all of my tweets for the week to a Google calendar and they post to twitter automatically around their scheduled time.  This is something that you can do for free by the way.  No limitations on the number of tweets you can schedule at a time (like on Buffer’s free account).

There are also those days where I need to compose a blog post but either A- don’t feel like typing or B- don’t know where to fit it in my day.  Guess what?  Your assistant can do this for you too.  I compose my blog posts initially in a Google Doc.  Fun feature? Voice dictation.  So yes, your assistant can also transcribe/type for you.  This is useful for those long car rides to/from work when you wish you could be doing something productive.  Talk to your assistant and let her type for you.  This also works well for emails that you want to send to your list.  Talk those out as well.  You’re already in the car for 30-60 minutes, so you might as well use the time doing something else other than cursing at other drivers on the road :)

Want to know a few more ways that you can use automation in your processes?

• Market research: if you can’t think of anything to post about on your blog, a great thing to do is search hashtags on twitter and see what people are confused or asking questions about. You can keep track of all tweets that match your search criteria in a Google spreadsheet (Google’s version of Microsoft Excel, free as well!). For example, maybe you are a hair blogger. Perhaps you could search for #hairproblems (literally just searched for this on twitter and saw a crap ton of posts with people tweeting about their hair problems) for ideas on what to post about. Instead of stalking twitter hashtags all day, your assistant can stalk for you and put the results right onto a nice spreadsheet that you can check at your leisure.

• Tag new customers in your email marketing platform when they purchase something from you: this is a great thing to do and can be hard to keep up with on your own. Let your assistant tag them and send them a satisfaction survey a few days later. You don’t even have to remember to do all of this, it can happen behind the scenes.

• Cross promotion: If you are a blogger, whenever you publish a new blog post, rather than going to all of these different social media platforms to shout about it from the rooftops, you can just create a task that will post the details and URL to your social media automatically. This is what I do and it contributes to my peace of mind.

So how do I use automation in my blogging process?  Along with the three things above, here are a few more ways:

• Email courses: course content is sent to subscribers automatically on a schedule

• Label and Filter my emails: Emails that I receive matching a specific criteria are labeled and moved to a different folder.  This helps to keep my inbox looking pretty.

• Pin my Instagram photos to a Pinterest board every time I post to Instagram

• PayPal transactions are automatically added to my accounting software

• Receive a text message whenever I receive a new sale.  I don't need to keep my email open all day as a result which cuts down on distractions.

• New Client Workflow: When I get a new client, they automatically receive a series of emails (aka onboarding) full of information regarding what they need to do at different phases of the project.  This eliminates me having to remember to send them a questionnaire and the link to my scheduling calendar because the details are outlined in the automated email.

Since BAE has been a key member of my team, I have been able to get a lot of things accomplished that would have taken loads of time and memory to do otherwise.

Here are a few of my posts that go into more detail on how to automate certain tasks:

The best shortcut keys to save you time

Two of my favorite automation programs to use

Three reasons why you should post your Instagram photos to Pinterest

How to use voice dictation for composing blog content

Every blog has a different focus and goal, so the ways to automate tasks are immeasurable.  I just wanted to open your eyes to the various possibilities so that you can think about adding automated tasks to your process.  I am a total geek for automation, so if you have any questions about it, I’m here to help!  Just leave your questions and comments below and I’d be happy to answer them.