Alabama Black Chamber · Take-Home Guide

Automate Your Small Business Without Getting Overwhelmed

Presented by Mike Sparks · nVision Systems · Get hours back every week — without losing the personal touch.

The one rule that prevents overwhelm: 1 workflow · 1 trigger · 1 measurable result Get one automation working end-to-end before you touch a second one.

1Score your tasks — what should you automate first?

Write in 3 tasks you repeat every week. Score each 1–5 per row, then total.

Criteria (1 = no · 5 = very much)	Task 1: ________________	Task 2: ________________	Task 3: ________________
Saves real time
Happens often
Easy to explain to a new hire
Low risk if it glitches once
Makes customers happier
TOTAL (out of 25)

19+ = automate it first · 13–18 = simplify the steps, then automate · under 13 = keep it human for now

2Map it before you buy anything

TriggerWhat starts it? A form, a booking, a payment, a date.

ActionWhat happens automatically — the email, the text, the task.

OwnerWho checks it weekly that it's still working?

ExceptionWhat's the plan when it fails? (Occasionally, it will.)

3Green lights vs. red flags

✅ Automate these first

Repeated weekly or even daily
Rule-based — no judgment calls
Easy to forget when you're slammed
Low risk if it glitches once

⛔ Keep these human

Complaints & sensitive moments
Refunds and big money decisions
Legal, medical, or financial advice
Anything that needs YOUR judgment

Page 2 · Copy-and-Paste AI Prompts + Your 7-Day Plan

Steal these prompts — free AI accounts work fine

Paste into Claude (claude.ai), ChatGPT (chatgpt.com), or Gemini. Replace the highlighted parts with your business.

✂

🔍 Prompt 1 — Find what to automate

Act as an operations consultant for my small business. Here are the tasks I do every week: [list your tasks]. Identify which are best for automation. Rank them by time saved, ease of setup, and risk. For each one, suggest a simple first version that does not require a large budget.

✂

🛠️ Prompt 2 — Design my workflow

Help me design a simple automation workflow. Business goal: [goal]. Trigger: [what starts it]. Desired result: [what should happen]. Tools I use: [your tools]. Give me the steps, possible failure points, and what a human should review. Keep it beginner-friendly.

✂

🚀 Prompt 3 — Build my dashboard (the one from the demo!)

You are a web developer. Build me a single-file HTML dashboard for my [type] business in [city]. Show my new leads with follow-up buttons, unpaid invoices with reminder buttons, today's schedule, and my Google reviews. Use a warm, professional theme with large readable text. Use sample data I can replace. Put everything in one file I can open in my browser.

Tip: save the dashboard reply as dashboard.html and double-click it — it opens right in your browser.

4Starter automations that pay for themselves

Automation	Tool ideas (free/cheap tiers)	The win
Lead follow-up (form → reply + text + tracker)	Website forms + Zapier/Make + Google Sheets	No lead falls through the cracks
Appointment reminders	Calendly, Square Appointments, Acuity	Fewer no-shows
Invoice reminders	QuickBooks, Wave, Square Invoices	Paid faster, no awkward calls
Review requests after a job	Email template + a 1-day delay	More stars, more trust
Answering the same 10 questions	FAQ page + saved replies + AI drafts	Hours back every week

5Your next 7 days

Day 1–2 Pick your winner from the scorecard on page 1
Day 3 Write down the current steps on paper — every one
Day 4 Run Prompt 2 ("Design my workflow") with your task
Day 5 Set up the simplest version: one trigger, one action
Day 6 Test it — be your own fake customer first
Day 7 Turn it on + put a 10-minute weekly check on your calendar