The basic sum
Take a repetitive task and write down three numbers: how long it takes, how often it happens, and the value of an hour of your work. The formula is elementary: time per occurrence × occurrences per year × hourly value. Twenty minutes per working day is about 85 hours a year. Put your own hourly rate against that: for many self-employed people and business owners, the result far exceeds the cost of an automation, in the first year alone, and the automation itself is only paid for once.
The costs the sum does not show
- The mental load: the to-do list looping in your head at night, the fear of having forgotten a follow-up. It cannot be measured, it just builds up.
- Mistakes: manual re-keying always ends up producing a typo. Some are expensive (wrong price, wrong address, duplicate order).
- Inconsistency: in busy weeks, it is precisely the follow-up or the review request that gets dropped, at the very moment it would pay off most.
- The opportunity cost: every hour of paperwork is an hour taken from service, from selling or from rest.
When doing it yourself is still right
Let us be honest both ways: not everything is worth automating. A rare task (two minutes a month), a task that is changing, or a task that calls for real judgement every time: automating there would be a gimmick. We say so in black and white in our method: we do not touch what works, and we do not automate judgement.
Do the sum for your own case
List your five most repetitive tasks, apply the formula, and look at the annual totals: the sorting almost does itself. That is exactly the exercise of the introductory coffee: we do it together, on your real tasks, and you leave with a costed plan within 72 hours (indicative timeframe), whether you then work with us or not. The prices are public so you can do your own maths alongside.