Ep 22 - How to automate your business to take back your time

Episode Show Notes

Hi there, and welcome to this week's episode of the Beyond the Clinic podcast! I’m Sarah Almond Bushell, and today I’m thrilled to be sharing with you some powerful insights that will help you take your business to the next level. In this episode, I break down the six key parts of your business that you can automate to achieve consistent monthly revenue. Automation isn’t just about saving time—it’s about gaining freedom, something I’m passionate about after 20 years in the NHS!

This episode dives into the six essential automations that will allow your business to grow and thrive consistently. From visibility and lead generation to the sales process, onboarding, and offboarding, I explain how automating these elements can create a streamlined, efficient system. I share personal stories of how automation has transformed my own businesses, creating passive income streams that work even while I’m on holiday! If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the feast-and-famine cycle in freelance work, this episode is your go-to guide on how to break that pattern and secure consistent revenue

1. Automation is Freedom: Once you set it up, automation will run without constant input, freeing you up to focus on growing your business—or taking a well-earned break!
2. Sales Funnels Simplified: A basic funnel consists of visibility, nurturing your leads, and converting them into customers. It’s easier than you think!
3. Consistency is Key: Growth happens when you automate and maintain consistency across all aspects of your business.
4. Email Lists are Gold: Your email list is your most valuable asset. Automating lead generation and nurturing relationships with a welcome email sequence will keep your audience engaged.
5. Onboarding and Offboarding Matter: These processes ensure a smooth client journey, build trust, and encourage referrals.
6. Passive Income is Possible: With automated systems, you can generate revenue even when you’re not actively working, like when I earned money from an old weaning course while on holiday!

Take a moment to assess your business. Are there areas where you could use automation to make things run more smoothly? Start with one of the six automations I’ve covered and get it set up today. If you need guidance, book a free discovery call with me at sarahalmondbushell.com to get started. 

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Episode transcription:

Beyond the Clinic EP22

[00:00:00] Sarah Almond Bushell: Welcome along. In this episode, I'm going to share with you how you can automate six key parts of your business, which is actually the secret to consistent monthly revenue. And if you choose to do them all, You would never experience that feast and famine cycle that so many of my colleagues talk about in freelance dietetics, where you have money coming in one month and then nothing for the next.

[00:00:27] Sarah Almond Bushell: So these automations, these also buy you freedom because when they're up and running. They just don't require any of you, so you can go off and do other things, which is exactly what I did in The Children's Nutritionist that allowed me the time to start my dietitians in business company. Automation is the foundation for passive income, but before we dive in, I know that there's scepticism around the phrase I don't particularly like it myself because this type of work is not 100 percent passive.

[00:01:04] Sarah Almond Bushell: It does require a lot of work to set up and tweak and look at the results and make changes. But what I want you to know is that once it's all done, Up and running, you can 100 percent make money while you sleep, while you are off doing other things, while you are on holiday, for example. Last week, we were in Croatia for a fortnight and yes, I did take my laptop with me, but I'm very proud of myself because I didn't open it until day 13 and that was only because it was the last day of the month and I wanted to see how much money I'd earned on autopilot.

[00:01:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: Through automations whilst being away. So before you can truly appreciate the power of automation in your business, you need to know how a funnel works. And so I'm going to give you a very brief overview of a very simple sales funnel. So funnels, I think, sometimes make business sound complicated or a bit scary, but they're not.

[00:02:09] Sarah Almond Bushell: And in fact, business is much, much easier when you have a funnel in place. So a funnel, it's just marketing speak for the journey that someone goes on from when they very first find out about you to becoming a customer. So another way to think of it is just a series of steps. But with this funnel or customer journey.

[00:02:35] Sarah Almond Bushell: You get to decide what their steps are going to be. And actually, without a sales funnel, you are just winging it in your business and hoping for the best. And I don't want that for you. So the basic funnel is the same for each and every business that exists. Sure, you can make your funnel more complicated with extra bells and whistles and adding extra steps here and there.

[00:03:02] Sarah Almond Bushell: But the basic customer journey goes a bit like this. So step one, people find out about you for the first time, also known as visibility. Step two is they decide they want to learn a bit more, and so they become a lead. Then step three, they start to poke around a bit and consume your free content, like your blogs.

[00:03:25] Sarah Almond Bushell: They might listen to a podcast if you've got one. They might watch your videos, and they'll read your email newsletters that you send out. So this is the nurture piece and the connection piece. Then step four, they love you so much that when you present an offer in front of them, they'll consider it, or they might even just say yes and buy it.

[00:03:48] Sarah Almond Bushell: So this is the invitation and the sales step. And then step five, they might become a customer. And this is where they are onboarded into the experience of working with you. And step six, they have a really great. Customer experience, and this is when they're then off boarded and they will provide feedback for you.

[00:04:14] Sarah Almond Bushell: They will advocate for you. They'll provide social proof. So what is brilliant is you can automate all of these steps throughout your sales funnel or your customer journey. And when you do, you'll actually have a business that runs and sales that come in on autopilot. So I've got a little story that I want to share with you here.

[00:04:40] Sarah Almond Bushell: Back in 2018, I had a baby weaning course and as part of the funnel that led to the sale of this course, there were several lead magnets that, when downloaded, they triggered an email sequence where the offer of the course was made. Now, I don't promote this anymore. I pivoted into fussy eating in 2020, but you know what?

[00:05:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: Those lead magnets. They're still out there and now and again, sales come in, which is absolutely blooming amazing. I've done absolutely nothing for years, nearly five years to promote this course and it still makes me money. Last week when we were on holiday in Croatia, I wasn't working, but four sales for this course came in.

[00:05:29] Sarah Almond Bushell: Completely by random, which was a lovely surprise. And it's actually what made me decide to come home and create this episode all about automation, because I really want to share with you exactly how powerful it can be for you and your business. I am so passionate about all of this. After more than two decades of being overworked and underpaid in the NHS, it was this automation that brought me back my freedom.

[00:05:58] Sarah Almond Bushell: And the amazing thing is, All of this technology is available to us. It's not complicated to use and all you really need is an internet connection and a device. I honestly feel that at the moment we're kind of in the middle of this digital revolution. Where, we can jump on board with this and take massive advantage of what the digital world has to offer us.

[00:06:25] Sarah Almond Bushell: We can help anyone who needs our expertise from anywhere in the world at any price point. If they don't have enough money to book and pay for one to one consultations, we can still help people by selling them a cheaper 27 e book on the topic instead. So honestly, If you aren't taking advantage of the digital world and of automation, I feel that, number one, you're leaving easy money on the table, and number two, you aren't reaching and helping as many people with their health as you could do.

[00:07:01] Sarah Almond Bushell: And I come to this from a place of service, as I know you all do too. It's not about the money, it's all about the people. Who we can help. Okay, I digress. So here are the six things that you can and actually you should automate in your business. So automation number one is visibility. You need to get Your business in front of new people every single day.

[00:07:28] Sarah Almond Bushell: And the most obvious way to do this is via social media. Now, if you've been around for a while, you will know that I do not love social media, but what I do love is what it can do for my business. And so I am 100 percent going to be using automation so that I do not have to be on social media in real life.

[00:07:50] Sarah Almond Bushell: So to get the most out of social media for business, I know that I need to be posting consistently. And so this is where automation comes in for me. So I'll set aside a day or two days per month to batch create and schedule all of my social media posts. That way. I know I have a consistent posting schedule for the month ahead and I know it's actually going to happen.

[00:08:15] Sarah Almond Bushell: If I left it to take care of on the day, it just wouldn't happen. Other more interesting things would come along and I would be distracted. Now, not strictly automation, but to make life easier for yourself, absolutely repurpose your content. So upload blog posts that you might've written or previous social media posts that you might've written into AI tools like ChatGPT and get it to create social posts for you.

[00:08:46] Sarah Almond Bushell: Save yourself time, save yourself energy, and I never want you to be stuck staring at that blinking cursor again. Then, you know what? You can take this up a notch and you can automate by using paid advertising as well, like Facebook and Instagram ads. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about it here because I recorded an episode on ads just a couple of weeks ago.

[00:09:09] Sarah Almond Bushell: That's episode 20, if you want to go back and have a listen. But essentially, this is all about getting a few of your social media posts Into literally thousands, if not more, of people's news feeds. So really ramping up that visibility even further. And that leads us nicely on to automation number two, which is lead generation.

[00:09:36] Sarah Almond Bushell: So lead generation is collecting people's email addresses, often in exchange for a freebie. So these leads, they're your potential clients. And without leads, you don't have a business. It's so important. You need a way of converting those people that have just discovered you, either through social media, visibility, or whatever method you've used.

[00:09:59] Sarah Almond Bushell: You need a way to convert them into email subscribers because email is how you take them on that next step of the journey towards wanting to work with you. Your email list is the most valuable asset of your business. And you need to be bringing in new leads every single day. So how do you incorporate automation here?

[00:10:23] Sarah Almond Bushell: So you might have some of those social media posts or your ads promoting your freebie. And then people click on the link. They get sent to an opt in page where they sign up. That opt in takes their name and it takes their email address and it adds them to your email list. And then they're automatically delivered the freebie.

[00:10:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: Now, after the freebie automation, It continues with a series of emails called a welcome sequence and that helps get your subscriber to like you, to begin to trust you, because you're making a really great first impression through this sequence of emails. So you set this up once and it continues. 24 7 forever.

[00:11:09] Sarah Almond Bushell: All you need to do is drive traffic from your social media to your freebie opt in page and the rest happens by magic. Or automation, actually. So another automation you can take advantage of is the social media DM auto responders, like ManyChat. I know you will have seen people create social posts and in the caption they ask readers to comment a certain keyword.

[00:11:35] Sarah Almond Bushell: Now, this keyword triggers an automation in the DMs. For example, I've got a free fussy eating masterclass and I might create a post asking people to comment the word masterclass. If they want the link. And when they do, first of all, they'll get a reply to their comment, asking them to go and check their DMs.

[00:11:53] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then in the DMs, there's a nice message from me with a link to book their seat on the masterclass. And of course, to do so, they have to leave me their name and their email address. And they become a new lead on my list. So once these leads are on my list, I want to nurture that relationship and I want to form a deeper connection with these people and that's where my third automation comes in.

[00:12:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: So every time I've written a really great newsletter email, I Add it to a sequence that starts after the welcome sequence ends, and it's delivered once a week. If I have published a new blog, or if I've written a great social media post, or perhaps even an article for a newspaper or a magazine, I've Taken that content and I've repurposed it and turned it into an email format and I've added that into the sequence as well.

[00:12:52] Sarah Almond Bushell: So now I've got over two years worth of really great emails in a sequence that goes out automatically to all the people on my list on a weekly basis. After that initial welcome sequence, and within this sequence, I periodically have promotional emails that tell people about an offer that links through to a sales page where the details of that offer are listed out.

[00:13:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: But I also might be running a promotion in real life as well. And I've probably talked about it on my social media. And I've asked people to click a link and that takes them through to a sales page. And so that's where automation number four kicks in. And that is the sales process. So people land on the sales page through these links.

[00:13:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: And if they decide to buy, they click through to the checkout and some of them buy, which is brilliant. And the checkout is linked to a payment processor. So I'm taking payment there and then. There's no invoicing. And if it's an offer that requires an appointment, that's also a link to my booking diary, which is linked to my calendar in real time as well.

[00:14:07] Sarah Almond Bushell: So as I say, there's no invoicing. There's no back and forth organizing dates. It all happens by automation. In my dietitians and business company, I like to talk to all of my clients first before I decide whether we're going to be a good fit together and go on and work together. So from my sales page here, it links through to my booking calendar directly to book a free discovery call.

[00:14:33] Sarah Almond Bushell: And that's done by automation as well. There's no back and forth. There's no arranging dates. It's all just done. The date pops up in my calendar and I turn up at the right time. So after someone buys, they are automatically redirected to a thank you page. There might even be a smaller offer on that thank you page.

[00:14:54] Sarah Almond Bushell: That's called a tripwire or a one time only offer. And then all the details of what they've bought is automatically sent in an email to their inbox. So I do this in my nutrition business for things that cost from 9. 99 right through to my 1. 497 program. And it's these four automations together that give me the consistency in my revenue, avoiding that whole feast and famine cycle.

[00:15:28] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then automation five is the onboarding. So I use automation here to make sure that everyone gets the same, really high standard of customer service when they work with me. So this could include emails with the pre consultation questionnaires, food diaries, that sort of thing. But it can also be things like their login details so that my clients can access the taught elements of my programs.

[00:15:57] Sarah Almond Bushell: They'll also get information about where the community side of things is located, some first steps on how to get started, and access to my diary to book in their follow up appointments or their group calls. And the purpose of this is to really make sure that everyone gets a superb new client experience.

[00:16:22] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then finally, automation number six happens after my clients have completed their program or their service with me. I've automated the off boarding. So here they'll get a email with a testimonial request with a link for them to complete a written form, but also a link for them to do a video testimonial if they want to, and I do like a video testimonial.

[00:16:49] Sarah Almond Bushell: I am also asking in this. off boarding sequence for feedback, because I want to be able to make continuous improvements to this services for, future versions of my programs. Also, if I'm doing any market research, this might be included as well. So for example, at the moment, I'm looking into my fussy eating clients demographic and specifically Those people who choose to pay in full, I want to find out a bit more about them so I can tweak and change and improve my marketing to ultimately get more clients.

[00:17:28] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then finally, if you have a referral scheme like Refer a Friend and Earn, you can automate the invitation to join that as well. And this is a really great way to expand your client base. When a past client who's had a really positive experience advocates for you. So there you have it. You now know my six automations.

[00:17:53] Sarah Almond Bushell: Number one is visibility. Number two is lead generation. Number three is nurture and connection. Number four is your sales process. Number five is onboarding new clients and number six is off boarding and gathering of feedback. So no doubt you will have spotted there's a bit of a common theme here, isn't there?

[00:18:17] Sarah Almond Bushell: And it's consistency. So the key to business growth is being consistent. Now, of course, you need to have an offer that people want to buy. And yes, that can be a struggle when you're just getting started because people don't just for free on the NHS if they wait long enough, they expect more. But when you have that offer refined, you also need to have an audience of people who love you to sell it to.

[00:18:48] Sarah Almond Bushell: And the power of automation is that it can do all of this for you, for you. Consistently. It's actually very hard to grow and scale a business without that consistency. And if you're someone like me who gets excited and distracted about the next project, this shiny object syndrome can actually stop us from being consistent with our marketing.

[00:19:14] Sarah Almond Bushell: So automation can safeguard against that. And that is why I absolutely love it. So my action step for you is to ask yourself, are there any inconsistencies in any of these six areas? And if so, could you adopt automation to make sure that these things happen on autopilot? This is what I help my clients set up in my Accelerate mastermind.

[00:19:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: So if any of this has resonated, but you don't know where to start and you are ready to make this. business thing work and my diary is open for discovery calls right now where we can chat about potentially working together just head over to sarahalmondbushel. com where you can book a free zoom discovery call with me by automation.

[00:20:08] Sarah Almond Bushell: So join me next week where I'm going to talk about launching and specifically what it is, why do people do it, and whether you need to do it as a health business owner too. Well, that's it for another week. I hope you have loved this week's episode of the Beyond the Clinic podcast. If you have, I would love for you to leave me a review on whichever podcast player you use, because it's this that helps us get pushed out to more listeners.

[00:20:39] Sarah Almond Bushell: And then I can help more professionals with their businesses too. Bye for now.