How to Automate Everything in Your Business in 2026 (Step-by-Step)

The Problem

You send a proposal, a cold email, or a welcome email. Then you wait. If no response, you need to follow up in 3 days, then 7 days, then 14 days. For every active conversation, you are manually tracking who responded, who did not, and when to follow up. With 20-50 active conversations, this eats 5+ hours per week.

The Free Solution

Brevo (free tier) for email sequences + n8n (self-hosted) for custom triggers.

How to Set It Up

1. Sign up for Brevo Free (300 emails/day, unlimited contacts). No credit card required.
2. Create an automation workflow: Go to Automation → Create Workflow. Set the trigger to "Contact added to list" or "Form submitted."
3. Add email steps: Email 1 (welcome/proposal) sent immediately. Email 2 (follow-up) sent after 3 days if no open. Email 3 (value-add follow-up) sent after 7 days if no click. Email 4 (final follow-up) sent after 14 days.
4. Add conditions: If the contact opens Email 1, skip directly to a different branch. If they click a link, tag them as "engaged" and stop the sequence.
5. Connect to your forms: Use Brevo's form builder or connect your website forms via the Brevo API or Zapier Free/Make.com Free.

Plan your sequences visually before building them with our Email Sequence Builder.

The Problem

Posting daily on 3-4 platforms means creating 15-20 pieces of content per week, formatting for each platform, finding hashtags, and posting at optimal times. Doing this manually takes 4-6 hours per week.

The Free Solution

Buffer Free (3 channels) for scheduling + SpunkArt content generators for creation.

How to Set It Up

1. Connect 3 channels in Buffer Free: Choose your top 3 platforms (e.g., X, LinkedIn, Instagram).
2. Batch-create content: Use our Social Post Generator to create 20 posts at once. Input your topic, tone, and platform — it generates platform-optimized content.
3. Generate hashtags: Use our Hashtag Generator to find relevant hashtags for each post.
4. Schedule in Buffer: Paste the generated content into Buffer. Set optimal posting times (Buffer suggests them). Queue an entire week's content in one sitting.
5. Plan with our calendar: Use our Social Calendar to plan themes and content types for each day of the week.

Advanced: Set up an n8n workflow that automatically generates social posts from your new blog content using an AI node and schedules them via the Buffer API.

The Problem

Creating invoices, sending them, tracking payments, and chasing late payers. For a freelancer or agency with 10-20 active clients, this takes 2-3 hours per week.

The Free Solution

Wave Accounting (free) for invoicing and payment tracking + SpunkArt Invoice Generator for quick invoices.

How to Set It Up

1. Create a Wave account (completely free, no trial). Add your business details, logo, and payment information.
2. Set up recurring invoices: For retainer clients, create recurring invoices that send automatically on the 1st of each month.
3. Enable automatic payment reminders: Wave sends automatic reminders at 3 days before due, on due date, and 3/7/14 days past due.
4. Enable online payments: Let clients pay directly from the invoice via credit card or bank transfer. Wave charges 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment (no monthly fee).
5. For quick invoices: Use our Invoice Generator to create professional PDF invoices in 30 seconds. No signup required.

Track your profit margins on every project with our Profit Margin Calculator.

The Problem

Leads come from your website, social media, email, and referrals. Collecting them, adding them to a spreadsheet or CRM, scoring them, and deciding who to contact first takes significant time. Many leads slip through the cracks entirely.

The Free Solution

HubSpot CRM Free for lead management + Make.com Free for connecting sources + SpunkArt tools for forms and landing pages.

How to Set It Up

1. Set up HubSpot CRM Free: Unlimited contacts, deals, and pipeline management. Add custom properties for lead source, industry, and budget.
2. Create website forms: Use HubSpot's free form builder or embed forms from our Form Builder on your landing pages.
3. Connect lead sources with Make.com Free: Create a Make.com scenario that watches for new form submissions (from your website, Typeform, Google Forms, etc.) and automatically creates a contact in HubSpot with the right tags.
4. Set up lead scoring: In HubSpot, create a scoring model: +10 points for visiting pricing page, +5 for downloading a resource, +20 for requesting a demo. Leads above 30 points get a "hot" tag.
5. Automate the first touch: Connect HubSpot to Brevo so that new "hot" leads automatically enter your email sequence (see Automation #1).

The Problem

Answering the same 20 questions over and over. "How do I reset my password?" "What are your hours?" "How does billing work?" Each response takes 2-5 minutes to type. With 50+ support requests per week, this is 3-4 hours of repetitive work.

The Free Solution

Tawk.to (free live chat with AI chatbot) + Notion Free for knowledge base + SpunkArt tools.

How to Set It Up

1. Install Tawk.to: Free live chat widget. Add the script to your website. Set up automatic greetings based on page and time on site.
2. Create canned responses: Write templates for your top 20 most common questions. In Tawk.to, save them as shortcuts. Type a shortcode and the full response auto-fills.
3. Build a knowledge base: Use Notion Free to create a public help center. Organize articles by category. Link to it from your chat widget so customers can self-serve.
4. Set up the AI chatbot: Tawk.to includes a basic AI chatbot. Train it on your FAQ content. It handles simple questions automatically and escalates complex ones to you.
5. Automate ticket routing: Use Make.com Free to send a Slack/Discord notification when a new high-priority ticket comes in, with the customer's details and message history.

Generate professional FAQ content with our AI Writer and organize it with our Content Planner.

The Problem

Copying data from emails, forms, and tools into spreadsheets. Updating inventory counts, revenue numbers, lead lists, and project trackers. Manual data entry is tedious, error-prone, and one of the first things that should be automated.

The Free Solution

n8n (self-hosted) or Make.com Free for data flows + Google Sheets as the database.

How to Set It Up

1. Identify your data flows: List every time you manually copy data from one place to another. Common flows: form submission → spreadsheet, email → CRM, Stripe payment → accounting.
2. Create a Make.com scenario: Set the trigger (new email, new form submission, new payment) and the action (add row to Google Sheets with mapped fields).
3. Map fields: Connect each form field or data point to the correct spreadsheet column. Make.com's visual mapper makes this straightforward.
4. Add error handling: Set up a fallback action (send you an email notification if the automation fails) so data never silently disappears.
5. Test with real data: Submit a test form entry and verify it appears in the spreadsheet correctly.

Use our Spreadsheet Tool for quick data analysis and our CSV Converter for format conversion.

The Problem

Every Monday you pull data from Google Analytics, social media dashboards, email marketing, and revenue tools to compile a weekly report. You format it, add commentary, and send it to your team or clients. This takes 1-2 hours per report.

The Free Solution

Google Looker Studio (free) for dashboards + n8n for automated email delivery.

How to Set It Up

1. Create a Looker Studio dashboard: Connect your data sources (Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google Ads, Search Console). Looker Studio is completely free and supports dozens of data connectors.
2. Design your report template: Add charts for traffic, conversions, revenue, social engagement, and email performance. Set the date range to "Last 7 days" auto-refreshing.
3. Schedule automatic email delivery: In Looker Studio, click Share → Schedule Email Delivery. Set it to send every Monday at 9am to your team or clients.
4. For custom reports: Use n8n to pull data from APIs (Stripe, social media, email), format it into a report, and send it via email or Slack automatically.
5. Track key metrics: Use our Analytics Dashboard to monitor real-time metrics between weekly reports.

The Problem

Every new client needs a welcome email, intake form, meeting scheduling, contract signing, project setup, and tool access. Doing this manually for each client takes 1-2 hours and introduces risk of missed steps.

The Free Solution

Brevo automation for email sequence + Cal.com for scheduling + Google Forms for intake + Make.com to connect them.

How to Set It Up

1. Create the onboarding email sequence in Brevo: Email 1 (immediate): Welcome + intake form link. Email 2 (day 1): Scheduling link for kickoff call. Email 3 (day 3): Access credentials and setup instructions. Email 4 (day 7): Check-in and feedback request.
2. Build an intake form: Use Google Forms or our Form Builder to collect project details, brand guidelines, login credentials, and preferences.
3. Set up scheduling: Use Cal.com (free, open-source) to let clients book their kickoff call. Embeds directly in the onboarding email.
4. Connect with Make.com: When a client is added to your CRM (or pays via Stripe), Make.com automatically adds them to the Brevo onboarding sequence, creates a project in ClickUp, and sends you a notification.
5. Add a checklist: Use our Project Planner to create a standard onboarding checklist template that auto-duplicates for each new client.

The Problem

Creating blog posts, social content, newsletters, and marketing materials from scratch every week. Research, writing, editing, formatting, SEO optimization, image creation, and publishing. For a solo founder doing their own marketing, this is 4-8 hours per week.

The Free Solution

ChatGPT/Claude Free for drafts + SpunkArt tools for optimization + n8n for auto-publishing.

How to Set It Up

1. Plan content: Use our Content Planner to map out topics, keywords, and publishing dates for the month. Use our Keyword Research Tool to find low-competition keywords.
2. Generate first drafts: Use our AI Writer or ChatGPT/Claude Free to generate blog post drafts. Provide outlines, target keywords, and tone guidelines.
3. Optimize for SEO: Run the draft through our SEO Analyzer. Generate optimized meta tags with our Meta Tag Generator. Check readability with our Readability Scorer.
4. Create images: Use our AI Image Generator for blog headers and our Social Post Generator for social graphics.
5. Auto-distribute: Set up an n8n workflow that monitors your blog RSS feed. When a new post publishes, it automatically creates social media posts for each platform, schedules them in Buffer, and sends the post to your email list via Brevo.

The Problem

"What time works for you?" followed by 5 back-and-forth emails. After the meeting, you need to send notes, action items, and schedule the next meeting. Scheduling and follow-up for 5-10 meetings per week wastes 1-2 hours.

The Free Solution

Cal.com Free for scheduling + Brevo for automated follow-up.

How to Set It Up

1. Create a Cal.com account: Free, open-source scheduling. Connect your Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar.
2. Set up event types: "15-min Discovery Call," "30-min Strategy Session," "60-min Workshop." Set buffer times between meetings.
3. Add booking questions: Collect context before the meeting (project description, budget range, goals) so you arrive prepared.
4. Set up automatic reminders: Cal.com sends automatic confirmations and reminders (24 hours and 1 hour before the meeting).
5. Automate follow-up: Use Make.com to trigger a Brevo email after each meeting type. "Thanks for the call" emails with next steps go out automatically 1 hour after the meeting ends.

Use our Meeting Scheduler for quick scheduling links without creating a Cal.com account.