Small business owners wear too many hats. These five automations take less than a day to set up and will give you back more than 10 hours every single week.
The biggest competitive advantage small business owners can build today isn't a bigger team or a bigger budget — it's automation. Every repetitive task you eliminate frees up time to do the things that actually grow your business.
Win #1: Automate Appointment Booking (Save 3–5 hrs/week)
If you're still scheduling appointments manually — via phone calls or back-and-forth emails — you're wasting enormous amounts of time. An online booking system works 24/7, reduces no-shows with automatic reminders, and eliminates scheduling conflicts.
- Calendly is the easiest to set up for service businesses ($10/mo)
- Acuity Scheduling is better for salons, gyms, and appointment-heavy businesses
- Square Appointments is free for individual service providers
- All integrate with Google Calendar and can text automatic reminders
When you launch online booking, expect some customers to resist. Offer both options initially — online booking and phone — and gently encourage the digital option. Within 2 months, most customers will prefer it.
Win #2: Automate Lead Follow-Up (Save 2–3 hrs/week)
Research shows that 78% of sales go to the business that responds first. If you're manually following up with every lead, you're both slow and inconsistent. An automated follow-up sequence changes that.
- When someone fills out your contact form, trigger an instant email + text reply
- Send 3–5 follow-up emails over the next 2 weeks if they don't respond
- Use Zapier + Mailchimp (or ActiveCampaign) to build this in an afternoon
- Include useful information in each follow-up — don't just say 'following up'
Win #3: Automate Invoice and Payment Collection (Save 2 hrs/week)
Chasing payments is one of the most demoralizing parts of running a business. Automation removes the awkwardness and gets you paid faster.
- Use QuickBooks, FreshBooks, or Wave to send automatic payment reminders
- Require a deposit at booking using Stripe or Square
- Set up automatic recurring invoices for retainer clients
- Offer multiple payment methods — card, ACH, and payment plans
Win #4: Automate Your Review Requests (Save 1–2 hrs/week)
Getting reviews shouldn't depend on remembering to ask. Automate the request and you'll get 3–5x more reviews with zero ongoing effort.
- After a completed job, trigger an automatic text with your Google review link
- Use NiceJob or Birdeye to automate review requests across platforms
- Set a time delay (24–48 hours) so the request feels natural, not immediate
- Automatically route unhappy customers to a private feedback form instead
Win #5: Automate Your Social Media Posting (Save 2–3 hrs/week)
We covered this in our social media article, but it bears repeating: batch and schedule your social content for the whole week in one sitting. Buffer, Later, or Meta Business Suite make this simple and free.
Start with one automation, not five. Pick the one that addresses your biggest pain point, set it up fully, and use it for 30 days before adding the next one. Building automation habits takes time — don't overwhelm yourself.
What This Frees Up
Implemented together, these five automations realistically free up 10–15 hours per week for the average small business owner. That's time you can reinvest in serving customers better, developing new services, training your team, or simply having a life outside of work.
- Appointment automation: 3–5 hours saved per week
- Lead follow-up automation: 2–3 hours saved per week
- Invoice automation: 2 hours saved per week
- Review automation: 1–2 hours saved per week
- Social media batching: 2–3 hours saved per week