When I told Andy about my process for writing the weekly Job Drop, he stared in disbelief and said “can’t you automate that?”
Maybe I can (I probably can’t but I’m sure it could technically be done), but I don’t want to.
Here’s what I currently do (and I am similarly scrappy in other parts of my business):
- When I see an interesting job posted by someone in my network, I save the post
- On Wednesday afternoon, I go to my saved posts, open them and copy and paste the necessary information into the email template, which results in each Thursday’s email
- Yes, I copy all that stuff manually, add the hyperlinks, format where necessary
Depending on how many jobs I share it takes me between 30-60 minutes each week. And I think it’s time well spent, because I believe that sometimes the manual route and doing stuff ‘by hand’ is exactly the point.
Not only can I check to ensure the job is still accepting applications and I can sense check each role to ensure it sounds like something I’d happily share with all of you. I also feel more connected to the whole process. And when the email goes out on Thursday morning, I know exactly what’s in it.
This is an approach that has served me well in my business. Sure, it means some stuff takes a bit longer, but I like knowing my business inside out and being across every part of it. I’m not running a big corporate after all.
Going ‘scrappy’ until it’s time to automate or upgrade to a proper business tool is advice I received early and that I have taken to heart. In the beginning it’s so tempting to get all sorts of tools that make your life easier. They also add a lot of costs to your monthly expenses (subscriptions add up!). I’d say I’ve even simplified over time and removed tools I paid for because I couldn’t justify the expense.
That’s the ‘business owner’ lesson for this week 😊