Do you need to write blogs and posts for your business?

I know I'm supposed to but life just constantly seems to get in the way.... 

It's certainly not that I suffer from a lack of ideas to write about.... the problem I find is that my aha moments and 'ooooh I want to write about that today' seem to come when I first wake up or I'm in the shower. 

The stupid thing about both of these times, being early morning, is that they're fraught with craziness - it blows my mind that it's even possible I could have had a thought in the middle of it all LOL.

But nevertheless.... I spend my shower time writing my blog in my head.... and then when I launch myself full steam into the family 'start the day' mayhem and eventually find myself in front of my laptop 2 hrs later.... POOF! It's gone!

Wow someone needs to come up with some kind of shower voice recorder that links to Google or Siri and you can just say 'Record'.... and then the recording magically appears in Dropbox or Google Drive already translated into words. 

How awesome would that be?

Which brings me to today's little brainfart, which I had in the shower, and then decided to write it all down BEFORE heading out the door.....

Automation.

Seriously everywhere I turn I've embraced it.... but nowhere more than in my businesses. Between my hubby and I we now run 4 businesses - and there are no staff or employees to be seen anywhere.  And yet just 7 years ago we had one business between us and at it's peak 12 staff.  Ok so before I go further - I most certainly am not saying I didn't like having staff (well, there might have been a couple - hey I'm only human!).... and if we still had that business we definitely would have had to keep some of them as it was a more labour intensive industry.... but due to automation and all the great programs out there today...we wouldn't have needed the office staff.

And so it brings me to today.

The only way we can manage 4 different businesses is because they're automated within an inch of their life (I love that saying).

Now, if you're reading my blog - you're more than likely a fellow Kajabian or an entrepreneur moving into the online world.... and this next section is for you.

I wanted to share with you some of my favourite programs, ones that have changed my life forever....and in particular how I use Kajabi with them:

1. Google Chrome -

   ☞ I want you to think.... 4 different businesses, 1 chick in the office (me).... and a laptop.  How do you work out what window is open and what business you're working on.... and what about emails..... Well thanks to Google Chrome it's doable.  I have a different G-Suite account for each business and each one can be open at the same time on my desktop.  Each time I want to work in one of the businesses, I open up that Google window and have everything I need in front of me.... including completely separated emails (thank goodness).  I do have to say it was difficult for me to give up Apple Mail, but once I embraced Gmail for work and email separation.... well there's a whole lot less stress!!!  And you create bookmark folders for each business - no cross pollination LOL.... which means it sooo much easier to find things.

2. Zapier - 

   ☞ .... wow, this little program is like the butter on my toast. My toast would be nothing with just tomato and avocado slices.  It's the butter that brings it all together.
   
   And so Zapier is the missing link that joins up Kajabi with Stripe and Xero and Google Sheets, and Google Forms.  Zaps let me move data and info around where I need them, and then they actually create new jobs and tasks and just get staff done.  Zapier is my V.A.  
   
   Did you know that you can completely automate all sales, payments and merchant fees from Kajabi into Xero (accounting) without living a finger.  The only thing left is to reconcile my bank account.....and even that is nearly automated!

3. Trello.... 

   ☞ Sometimes you just need some visual in your life.  Sometimes all the words you stare at on screens need to be broken up.  Trello reminds me of the days of multicoloured sticky (post-it) notes - and I miss those a little.  
   
   So bring on the sticky notes, but instead as gorgeous visual cards that I can drag and drop and move around to where I want them.  This program keeps me organised - every client gets a trello board and on it is stored everything I need to remember.... fonts, colours, links to existing pages, logos, ideas... etc  AND when you're creating Kajabi courses, it's perfect.  You create a board, and then the cards are your categories and posts.  You can move things around until you're satisfied that everything is where it should be - add your links to images, videos, cheatsheets etc  Everything is kept in one place easy to refer back to...it's accessible from your mobile to pop down those emergency ideas, and you can share the boards with other team members! Love it.

4. Xero Accounting... 

   ☞ Well seriously, I threw an office party all those years ago when we said goodbye to MYOB and hello to Xero.  This little baby is the ants pants.  But be warned - there are many accountants and bookkeepers out there who won't embrace it, and they'll try to talk you out of using it.... why? because they're super scared of it.  It eliminates a huge chunk of their work..... and yes, it's different......  But good different.

   Xero talks seamlessly to so many different programs (including Zapier).... and this is what makes it super special in my eyes.  Spend the time to set it up correctly, and to the exact way your business operates, and you'll be amazed at how little time either you or your bookkeeper actually has to spend in there.

Ok...TIME's UP!!!!

The you know what is about to hit the fan which is my cue to hurl myself back into morning chaos and routine!!!  But hey, I did it.... I managed to brain dump and share with you before running out the door. 

That is totally deserving of an extra shot in my latte this morning.

Hope you have a great day! 😃