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I love automation. It's one of the reasons I have a business, but it can also be a big pain in the rear when it doesn't work.

I remember this one week where I was having terrible problems with my meeting scheduler. I was using a service to set up complimentary appointments with prospective clients and I'd done this big promotion about it. What was supposed to happen is the person would go to this page, click on a link to see my available calendar, and in about 2-3 clicks they're all set.

They'd get an email confirmation and the meeting time would pop into my calendar. No back and forth, no wasted time, boom - there is the appointment.

I had a number of people trying to set up their free time to connect but they weren't getting the handy little meeting schedule. Instead every one of them kept getting an "error 404" page ... those error pages always get on my last nerve especially when it means I have a link not working! Ever had that happen to you?

So what was happening is I kept getting phone call after phone call telling me the link didn't work, asking for next steps, requesting a return phone call. Some were even downright insults saying things like "this is unprofessional" (and yes, remember I said it was a free offer ---sometimes those are the worst kind when things go wrong).

Well once I figured out what the problem was, I'd missed at least 20 prospective meetings. I had to personally call each person back who left a voicemail and arrange the meeting manually, which is what I'd set up the service to help me avoid in the first place! That free time turned into triple the hours I'd planned for.

After that little incident, I learned my lesson. I'll give you a few quick hitter tips you can use so you don't end up falling prey to an automation disaster like this.

Always Test Your Automated Systems

When I sent out the promotion emails and let people know the links were open, I should have already tested the entire process myself along with having a friend or assistant test it. I know this now. Most of the time I'll remember this horrible week and I will have someone go through the entire process as though they are signing up. That way, any errors can be worked out before the whole world hears about it.

Remember, It's People Over Process

Many people think more of their super fabulous tools and systems than what the experience will be like for the end user. If you take the time to put yourself in the other person's shoes -- you know, the person who might just be investing in you or your stuff? -- you will know if you're headed in the right direction. Think about things like, "how easy is this to use?", "how many buttons would I click?", "does this frustrate me more than endear me to the service?".

You should make it easy for people to do business with you, not harder. The more difficult it is, the less likely they will buy.

Always Have a Back Up

Sure in this case I was the back-up. I literally sat down and made a list of all the people and manually called them myself. But what if there was a better way? If I had an assistant at the time, I would have had more help. Or if I learned through the testing process that the service wasn't working, I would easily have changed over to a new scheduling service before the promotion ever went out.

Think through your backup plan. What could you use if a part of your system is not flowing smoothly? What resources are available quickly and within your budget? Just thinking this through may save you a ton of time and money.

Now I can't tell you I've never had an automation problem ever again, but I can say that putting systems in place to help me replicate my work has always cost me less in the end than doing it all manually...both in dollars and in sanity. If you remember the tips I shared with you in this post, you'll reduce the chances of automation fail.

Want to learn more about how to use automation the right way? Get more over at my main blog www.tanyasmithonline.com.

Remember that old Biz Markie song, ♪ "You, you got what I neeeed...." ♫.  Don't you wish that every time your ideal client or customer saw your stuff online that song would just automatically pop up in their head?

If you don't, you should.  Because that means you've made the right connection.  See it works like this...

But often we just focus on the first part of the equation - what we want to sell.

The fact is it can be pretty time consuming to do market research, but it's crucial to your business.  It's just one of those things you've got to do.  Otherwise, you can spend a lot of time creating products and promoting services no one will every buy.

You know my answer to almost everything when it comes to saving time, right?  Turn your research into a system, (my quick definition?  a system is a set of repeated activities you can map out, delegate and automate to get similar results).

Where Should You Start?

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the first step for most solo service providers. It helps you understand what people are searching for online and what words they are using. There are numerous tools that can help you do this research, including Google’s own AdWords keyword tool, a free and paid tool from Wordtracker, and a popular software program called Market Samurai.

It takes a little practice to learn to do keyword research well, but knowing the most commonly searched terms will help you target the problems that people are facing. It also means you can optimize any content you create, helping it rank in the search engines.

Study Problems People Are Facing

When you know the problems people are facing in your target market, you can create solutions. Solutions sell. Look at the questions people are asking and why they are asking them. Look for the places your target market hangs out, like forums or Facebook groups, and listen in.  You might even create a list using a tool like Evernote or Google Drive.  I call this list my R&D (research & development) list.

Other places people don't really think about are YouTube videos and Amazon books.  What's popular?  What are people talking about around the topic you're interested in promoting?  Watch the discussions that take place and the questions asked. If there are problems that people consistently talk about, you’ve just found a great opportunity to provide a solution.

Paint a Portrait of Your Customers

It helps to paint a portrait of your ideal customer in as much detail as possible. This isn’t necessarily a visual picture, though some people do that, but one that describes little details about them. What are their demographics, such as age, gender, occupation, where they live, etc? What is some of the lingo they use? Do they tend to have similar interests or hobbies? Write it all down. Some marketers even keep this list in front of them whenever they write anything for or to their customers.

While it can take what seems like a lot of time, having a system you use to do market research can save you from sinking a fortune in time and money in a doomed project. The more market research you do from the start to understand your market, the less risk you face and the more likely they'll be singing your song loud and clear. ;)

In my lunch time series coming up I'll share a few more tips on how to create great, but simple systems for your biz.  Get on the "notify me" list now so you get reminders.  

Very few people I know use business process mapping, but it can be a really good way to figure out the difference between what is happening now vs. what you want to have happen with certain systems running in your business.

For example, you might have this really great product out in your online store, but you somehow keep losing customers -- like 85% of the time -- after they click the "add to cart" button.  What happened?

Or in another instance, you may have tons of referrals and they come to you willing and ready to invest, but you only convert 10% of them into clients.  Where's the breakdown? How do you know?  And what resources do you need in order to increase that number?

Many times, knowing the solution that works the best for you does not just pop up in a magical light bulb over your head.  Instead, it requires knowing what is taking place, step-by-step, so you can make improvements for the better.

Business Analysts (also known as BA's) tend to take advantage of process mapping because it suits them perfectly since they tend to be practical thinkers, always looking for the "why" behind what's going on.  They also get really passionate about information.  I like how this article from TDWI says, "They love to wallow in it, get it all over themselves, see what they can do with it, and see it change state and morph and eventually crystallize into facets of meaning."

Basically, these guys can get really geeky about improving a system, or set of activities so you get the most optimal results.

How do I know?  Because I actually have an analyst background in my "other" career.  Yeah, that's how I got to be such a systems geek.

Now here's what is cool about that...

There are a lot of creative thinkers marketing how great it is to use your creativity to ...well...create things. Products, new service offerings, you name it. I love it and I think that's great.  If you want to promote creative thinking, mind-mapping is a very effective tool. But that's a whole different type of method than what I'm talking about.

The thing is, not everyone is naturally given to creatively wild or illustrative thinking.  Some of  us tend to be a bit more structured and systematic in our thinking.  Having those type of people in your business network can be tremendously helpful because we help with the execution of the actual sale of that wonderful new product, or we help you fix problems with the way you're handling questions from prospective buyers so they feel better about trusting you and affirmed when they buy.

This is the beautiful place where process mapping comes in.

In my upcoming webinar, 10 Ways To Design Better Systems For Your Business, I share more about process mapping and what it can do. Plus I'll be talking about more ways to improve what you're doing in your business, so you can be more efficient which => (ta-dah) more profitable.

Business process mapping may just be the answer to your problems. Oh, and if you search the internet now for some process mapping resources, it will probably look a lot more boring than how I do it.

I've made the webinar publicly available.  No registration required.

=> Just click here to watch and get my free Systems Success Roadmap

How many excuses can you come up with before you actually get work done? Excuses help pacify the fact that you aren't producing. It's time to stop making excuses for yourself and get the work done.

Just think of every excuse you make for yourself as a step further down the ladder of success. Who intentionally wants to take steps in the wrong direction? I know you don't!

As a woman you have to accept responsibility and provide accountability for the things you do and don't accomplish. Your main purpose as woman is to reproduce! That doesn't change when it comes to the work world either. This is your time to reproduce, that is multiply. By multiplying you can increase in all areas of your life.

You bring things into existence with your creative abilities. That means you supply your life with the things you desire by making it happen. Why deny yourself that? I challenge you to declare right now that you shall not be denied because of laziness. Declare that you will stop playing and get what needs to get done, done!

Remember F.O.C.U.S.!! Follow one course until successful.

I have been building my subscriber list for a few years now. It's had wear and tear, much of it because of my abuse.  I switched focus, lost focus, tried different paths, different brands...all of the things new business owners tend to do when they're finding their way.

There are a ton of reasons people stay on your subscriber list.  Many stay even when they're no longer getting value. Maybe it's because they like you as a person, though they don't have interest in your topic. Or maybe they forgot to disconnect at some point. Instead they just delete everything you send.

Perhaps, they find a few tidbits of information you've sent for free they could appreciate, but now that you're asking them to invest they are offended.  The point is - my audience members came in for different reasons and stayed for different reasons.

The danger in this is at some point, you may find yourself with a huge list of people that DON'T CARE A THING ABOUT YOUR OFFER.

Signs of a list that needs to be downsized? You have dead silence when you're sending out market survey questions. You actually look at your metrics and find that your open rate is not only low, it's in the red. No one shows up for your special events that are only for your subscribers.

When these things are happening although you have list quantity, it's a good chance you have a list that needs to be downsized.

Recently I did a downsizing of my list.  It gave me a sense of freedom I never thought I'd have. At first, I was afraid (♪ I was petrified ♫...I love that song...short digression...ok, back on track now). Seriously though, when you work hard to build a good sized list it can be very intimidating to even think about minimizing it or tearing it apart.

But I had to do it.

Ever heard of the law of the vacuum?  Catherine Ponder talked about it in the book, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity.  It says something like, "Make room for the thing you desire by letting go of that which you do not appreciate or use. Give it away with a giving, charitable heart, and let the Universe compensate you."   In other words, when you let go and make space you have more room to receive what's really meant for you.

I knew that downsizing my list would put me in a different place, giving me the freedom to really talk directly to an interested audience of people who want what I have to share. No more wondering "do they care?" or "is anybody listening?" And for them - the ones who were purged voluntarily from my list - I gave them back freedom, freedom to read and receive information they truly would find useful and immediately applicable.

So how did I do it? I'll break it down for you:

First, I used my email marketing service, Mailchimp (shout out - "eep eep"), to evaluate my list. They have some pretty decent analytics and along with a tool called Hairball, it was pretty easy to create a small list, or segment of people who were rated below a 3 rating. These ratings give you an idea of how often your emails are opened or clicked by the user, along with a few other stats. Your service may have a different way to show you this information.

The key is to figure out who is least active in your list over a period of time. By the way, I did not include users who were fairly new and still building a rating.  Since they recently added themselves to the list, I assumed they have an interest in my content.

Second, I sent out an email to the folks in that group about 14 days before the purge date (you can adapt this to your comfort level). The subject line read something like "Only open this if you want to keep getting my emails!". I wanted to make it super easy for those who didn't open them anyway to take little to no action. Only the genuinely interested people would reply back to say "leave me on the list". And yes, I had several who read the email explaining my "Spring Cleaning List Purge" and they asked to stay on.

Great! That separated those who were missing in action, but still interested so I wouldn't remove them from the active list.

Third, on the date I'd set for myself I exported the segmented list (minus the ones who wanted to stay) and did a mass unsubscribe. I will admit, I was pretty nervous but after I clicked enter I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.  It was like, "now I get to talk to people who really care to connect with me and to get the full benefit of my sharing".

Here was another added benefit I didn't think about until later. You know how many email service providers charge you based on your total count of subscribers? Well, I was able to reduce my own email marketing fees because of the reduced count. Cha-ching!

Now mind you, I would be fine paying more for a more responsive, targeted list. It was just a good reality check to realize that I was actually paying to keep people on my list who never really wanted the info anyway.

So that's my story...and I hope it connects with you in some way. Does it make you think about downsizing your own list?  Don't you think that having 100 or 200 or 500 people who really connect with your message is better than having thousands who don't get it and won't take action at all?

As a business owner, we have choices to make for the good of our customers and ourselves. I chose to downsize for peace of mind and it was one of the best decisions I've made so far in my business.

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About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative online business strategist and coach specializing in showing independent service providers how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. Get free tools to simplify and stand out online at: www.tanyasmithonline.com

It has been said that social networking can be a great resource for small business owners. After all, you socialize, talk about what you do and promoteyour products all in the same venue. But that’s the frustrating part.Especially, when you are using social networking to beef up your business andcreate a following. Knowing when to say what, where to say it and who to say itto, it is a process and it does take time to implement. Every day.That’s why I created Social Networking Done 4 You.If you are looking for innovative social networking techniques and resources,take a look at the articles we have available.

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Happy Selling,Lisa MullinsMarketing ManagerReliable Business Solutions