A simple guide: What to Automate?

Many business owners avoid automation because they don't know if the time investment will pay off.

"What if I spend hours setting this up and it doesn't work?" or "Is this actually worth automating?"

Here's a simple guide:

The 150-minute rule.

How it works:

If you can teach someone or set up software to handle a 5-minute task in under 150 minutes of setup time, it'll be well worth the investment.

The calc: If you do that 5-minute task 30 times (which might happen over a few months), you'll have spent 150 minutes on it anyway. All beyond that 30th time is pure savings.

Why this works:

A clear decision framework to get going instead of draining deliberation. The maths removes emotion from the choice.

You can evaluate any repetitive task this way – and adjust the formula to the value of your time or the revenues generated.

Example:

A client was manually sending welcome emails to new subscribers - took about 5 minutes each time. Setting up an automated sequence took them a bit over 2 hours.

After their 36th new subscriber, they were ahead and six months down the road they’d saved a guaranteed 8 hours they value at the opportunity cost of the time.

Small, recurring tasks add up faster than we think. This rule can help you see which ones are worth systematizing.

Hot tip:

Look at your calendar from last month. Find any 5-minute task you did more than 6 times.

Likely a 150-minute rule candidate waiting to explore.

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You do the strategy, let automation do the work.

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