Dragging My Feet, But Making It Work

If you’ve been in my sphere of influence for a while, you know I’ve been focused on thought leadership, content creation, and updating my website copy (which is a never-ending task). Basically, the things in my wheelhouse.

But my systems were seriously lacking. As in all manual, all the time.

I’ve been dragging my feet in setting up systems and professionalizing my business backend. The usual stoppers: time, money, confidence. Now, 3.5 years into business, I’ve slowly been incorporating more—and better—tools, like MailerLite*, Dubsado*, and Quickbooks.

And it’s been an uphill battle. Even with the right tools and strategists to guide me, getting my systems in check has taken me way more brain power and time than I anticipated.

The Challenges

First of all, I have to know what I need and want before I can find or create the right solutions. Ugh.

Secondly, the setup takes time and generally opens a whole can of worms of follow-up tasks and questions. (Which is why support periods are so nice when working with tech-based service providers.)

If you’re in the same boat of making your business more streamlined and automated, it’s important to remember WHY you wanted to do this in the first place. Maybe it’s to look and feel more professional to clients. Maybe it’s to be able to spend less time working, or more time doing the work you actually like. Maybe it’s to free up brain space to become more creative or avoid burnout. Maybe it’s to build out a team so they can take over.

Writing funnels and canned emails, setting up workflows and triggers, and figuring out new tech can be a headache. But if you’re wanting to build something bigger than yourself and what your brain can do on its own, it’s probably worth the time, effort, and money.

Let me know where you are in your business journey and what parts of your business need a tune-up. (If your tech stack is already stellar and it’s your marketing and messaging that need some shaping up, that’s where I can step in!)

Toward purpose and progress,

Ashlee

 

This is an excerpt from Toward Purpose & Progress, my newsletter where I share business tips, good news, shoutouts to Founder Friends, and other juicy snippets. Subscribe here for more rants, reflections, and resources.

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