how to automate your business workflows, emails + more

Note: You should know there are affiliate links below. If you choose to use them, Emily Kim Photography may receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting your favorite bay area brand photographer!

As a service-based business owner, you’re likely intimately familiar with the desire to do more in less time. Maybe you’re trying to keep up with the competition, maybe you’re striving to reach a financial milestone — either way, it’s not always easy to know where to start.

Here are five game-changing automation tools from a software engineer turned brand photographer to help you automate your business like a pro! 👇

email automation with Flodesk

Affiliate link: Try Flodesk for 50% OFF!

If you’re looking for a way to automate your business, email marketing is a great place to start and Flodesk is a fantastic option to help you do it. 

With Flodesk, you can create engaging, on-brand email newsletters and sign-up forms with ZERO coding knowledge. 

Plus, this women-owned email marketing platform makes it easy to segment your list so you can send targeted emails to specific groups of people. This is key to seeing success with your automated email campaigns.

Using its automation features, you can send welcome emails to new subscribers, triggered emails based on subscriber activity, and even automated sequences that promote your products or services.

Flodesk is best for business owners who want an affordable, easy-to-use email marketing platform to grow their email list and increase sales without spending hours every week focused on email.

automate your client management with 17Hats

Affiliate link: Get 50% OFF your first year with 17Hats!

Struggling to keep track of your clients and projects? 17Hats can help. 

With this client management software, you can automate your entire workflow from lead capture to invoicing.

17Hats offers a variety of features that make it easy to stay organized, including a central contact database, project templates, and automatic task scheduling. Plus, their built-in CRM tool ensures that you never miss an opportunity to add to existing projects. 

17Hats is an essential tool for automating your workflow and increasing efficiency for businesses that rely on client work to generate revenue.

I’ve been using it since 2018, and it has helped me complete 300+ projects in a professional and streamlined manner.

track your miles automatically with MileIQ

If you’re anything like me, the thought of carrying around a notebook to track miles seems silly in 2022. Maybe that’s my computer science background speaking or maybe it’s my status as a millennial, but I just knew there was a better way. 

That’s when I found MileIQ. 

With MileIQ, you can automatically track your miles and expenses without manually logging each trip.

Its mobile app makes it easy to track your miles while on the go. Simply start the app when you start driving, and MileIQ will automatically track your route and calculate your mileage. 

If your service-based business requires regular travel, MileIQ is a must-have tool for automating your mileage tracking and expenses. I’m telling you. It makes tax season fast and easy!

automate your Pinterest management with Tailwind

Affiliate link: Get started with $15 OFF!

If you’re looking for a way to automate your Pinterest marketing, Tailwind is the perfect solution. With Tailwind, you can schedule pins, create boards, and join Communities — all from one platform.

Plus, their SmartLoop feature makes it easy to automatically repin your best content so you can continue to generate traffic and leads from Pinterest without lifting a finger.

If you want to use Pinterest to market your business, Tailwind is the best tool for automating your pins and boards.

reduce scheduling communication with Calendly

“Nope, I’m not available that day either. How does Monday sound?” 

Sound familiar? 

If you’re tired of playing phone tag with potential clients, Calendly is the solution. 

Most CRMs also provide an automated scheduler, but often those are limited to scheduling for clients or potential clients. Calendly makes it easy to schedule online and in-person meetings, coffee dates, and more with clients, colleagues, and business besties. 

With Calendly, you can integrate your calendar, reminders, and confirmation emails to automate your scheduling process. This allows others to book appointments with you online, which has helped Emily Kim Photography stay organized and avoid double booking. 

If you want to streamline your scheduling process and reduce the number of emails back and forth and back and forth again, Calendly is the perfect tool for you.

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These are only a few of many automation tools available to service-based business owners. By implementing these automation tools in your business, you’ll save time, increase efficiency, and provide a clear client experience.

Where to Start

Even with these automation tools, it can be overwhelming to implement all these changes at once. But don’t worry — you don’t have to do everything at once. 

Pick one or two areas of your business you want to automate and start there.

Not sure which automation tool is right for you? Start by asking yourself these questions:

• What tasks do I do daily that I could automate?
• What tasks do I dread doing?
• How much time could I save if I didn’t have to do X task?
• What is my end goal with automation?

Once you’ve identified the areas of your business that would benefit from automation, it’ll be much easier to choose the right tool for the job. 

And if you’d like help, I’m happy to assist you in choosing and implementing the right automation tools for your business!

As a photographer, I use all these tools to automate my business. And I’ve been told it makes sense that I’m obsessed with automation tools considering my background in software engineering. 

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If you’re interested in working with a systems and automation architect, my brand-new automation offer may be for you!

Officially launching on August 31, 2022, Align Through Automation VIP Day is designed to help creative business owners streamline their workflows, systems, and processes fast. 

Schedule a consultation call with me (using Calendly) to discuss your business goals and find out how a VIP Day can help!