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The Small Business Automation Playbook

5 Workflows You Can Automate This Month to Get 10+ Hours Back Every Week

What You'll Learn

01

Client Intake Automation

Replace 3-5 hours of onboarding work with a 5-minute form

02

Document Collection

Stop chasing clients for files. Give them a portal instead.

03

Proposal Generation

Create proposals in minutes, not hours, with automated templates

04

Status Reporting

Give clients real-time visibility without lifting a finger

05

Follow-Up Sequences

Never let a lead go cold again with automated nurturing

Introduction

If you're running a small business with 5-25 people (accounting, marketing, legal, real estate, IT services, or similar), you're probably spending way too much time on manual coordination work.

Chasing documents. Sending status updates. Following up on proposals. Manually entering data across five different tools. These tasks don't move the needle for your business, but they eat up your days anyway.

The good news: they don't have to.

This playbook covers the five workflow automations that save small businesses 10+ hours every week. These aren't theoretical concepts. They're practical systems built on tools you can set up today, designed to eliminate the busywork so you can focus on what actually matters: serving clients and growing your business.

Chapter 1

Client Intake Automation

The Problem

Client onboarding at most small businesses looks something like this:

  1. Prospect fills out a contact form or sends an email
  2. You manually create a client folder in Google Drive
  3. You email them an intake form (or worse, attach a PDF)
  4. They print it, fill it out, scan it, and email it back
  5. You manually enter their information into your CRM, accounting software, and internal systems
  6. You send them a welcome email with next steps
  7. You schedule their first appointment manually

This process takes 3-5 hours per new client, and it's error-prone. For a firm taking on 5-10 new clients per month, that's 15-50 hours spent just on onboarding.

The Solution

Replace the entire manual intake flow with a smart intake automation that:

  • Captures all client information through online forms
  • Automatically creates records in your CRM, accounting software, and project management tools
  • Generates personalized welcome sequences
  • Schedules first appointments without back-and-forth emails
Expected Results
  • 4-6 hours saved per new client
  • Near-zero data entry mistakes
  • Faster time-to-first-appointment: from days to hours

Tools You Need

Forms (Typeform, JotForm, Google Forms), automation platform (Make, Zapier, or n8n), CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Airtable), scheduling (Calendly or Cal.com), cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox).

Total cost: $0-50/month (most of these have free tiers)

Chapter 2

Document Collection

The Problem

Getting documents from clients is one of the most frustrating parts of running a service business:

  • "You sent me the wrong version."
  • "I never got that attachment."
  • "Can you resend the intake form? My computer crashed."
  • "Oh, I thought you needed the PDF, not the Word doc."

This creates version control chaos, lost documents, and a massive time sink on follow-ups.

The Solution

Create a client portal where clients can securely upload documents, sign agreements, and share information without ever touching email attachments.

Expected Results
  • 3-5 hours saved per month on document follow-ups
  • Version confusion eliminated
  • Faster document turnaround

Tools You Need

Document collection (Content Snare, Clustdoc, or Copilot), e-signature (DocuSign, Dropbox Sign, or PandaDoc), cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive), automation (Make, Zapier, or n8n).

Total cost: $29-99/month

Chapter 3

Proposal Generation

The Problem

Writing proposals takes 2-4 hours per proposal, and it's repetitive. The core structure is the same for every client. You're just swapping out the details.

Plus, proposals often get lost in email. Clients forget to respond. You forget to follow up. Deals die.

The Solution

Build a proposal automation system that generates proposals from templates in minutes, tracks when clients open them, sends automated follow-ups, and converts accepted proposals into contracts automatically.

Expected Results
  • 2-4 hours saved per proposal
  • Automated follow-ups recover lost deals
  • Know exactly when clients review proposals

Tools You Need

Proposal software (PandaDoc, Proposify, or Better Proposals), CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Airtable), automation (Make, Zapier, or n8n). Most proposal tools include built-in e-signature.

Total cost: $29-79/month

Chapter 4

Status Reporting

The Problem

Every time a client asks "How's my project going?" you have to dig through your project management tool, compile an update, and send it. That's 15-20 minutes per client per month. With 20 active clients, that's 5-8 hours every month just on status updates.

The Solution

Give clients real-time visibility through automated client dashboards that update automatically. No work required after setup.

Expected Results
  • 2-3 hours saved per month per 10 clients
  • Clients feel informed without having to ask
  • Proactive updates reduce reactive questions

Tools You Need

Project management (Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com, or Trello), reporting (Looker Studio or built-in PM dashboards), automation (Make, Zapier, or n8n), email delivery (Gmail or MailerLite for scheduled summaries).

Total cost: $0-50/month (most PM tools have free tiers)

Chapter 5

Follow-Up Sequences

The Problem

Following up with leads, inactive clients, and referral sources is essential, but it's also easy to forget. You meet someone at a networking event. They seem interested. You say "let's grab coffee" and then never follow up.

Following up is one of the highest-leverage activities in a service business, and also one of the most often neglected.

The Solution

Build automated follow-up sequences that keep relationships warm without requiring manual effort:

  • Lead nurture sequences for new prospects
  • Client re-engagement sequences for past clients
  • Referral source nurture for professional contacts
  • Inactive lead recovery sequences
Expected Results
  • 3-5 hours saved per month on manual follow-ups
  • Never let a lead go cold again
  • Systematic referral requests outperform hoping

Tools You Need

Email marketing (MailerLite, Kit, or Mailchimp), CRM (HubSpot free tier, Pipedrive, or Airtable), automation (built into most email tools, or Make/Zapier/n8n for more complex sequences).

Total cost: $0-30/month (MailerLite is free for up to 1,000 subscribers)

Where to Start

You don't have to do everything at once. Pick one area to start with:

  1. Client Intake: highest-impact starting point, saves time on every new client
  2. Proposal Generation: if you're constantly writing proposals, this gives you back hours weekly
  3. Follow-Up Sequences: if your problem is leads going cold, start here. Easiest to get started.

Each automation builds on the others. Client intake feeds into document collection, which feeds into project management, which feeds into status reporting. All of it feeds into follow-up sequences. Start anywhere and expand from there.

Want Someone to Handle This for You?

If you'd rather have these automations built and managed for you, send me a message. I'll tell you which ones would make the biggest difference for your business.