If you have been reading Cozy Corner Daily for any amount of time, you probably know I spend a lot of time writing about ways to cut your household expenses. I have shared how changing my HVAC filter on schedule dropped my heating bill by 30 dollars a month, how the 48 hour cart rule saved me hundreds of dollars a year on impulse buys, and how our simple meal rotation system cut our grocery spending by 200 dollars a month.
For years I thought the only way to get ahead financially was to cut more costs. I trimmed every bill I could find. I completed a full subscription audit and cancelled all of the recurring services we no longer used. I learned to do simple home repairs myself instead of hiring a plumber, and I got really good at stretching every dollar. But there is a hard limit to how much money you can save. You can only cut your bills so far. At some point, if you want to get ahead faster, you need to find ways to earn more money.
The problem I ran into, and the problem I know most of you as busy parents run into, is that I did not have time for a second job. I already spend my days creating content for this site, taking care of the house, cooking meals, and spending time with my kids. The last thing I wanted to do was trade my limited free time in the evenings and on weekends for extra income. I wanted to earn more money, but I also wanted to work less, not more.
That is when I started learning about automation, building simple digital assets, and creating systems that earn money for me even when I am not actively working. Today, the digital services business I run over at Practical Tools Explained adds over 1200 dollars a month to our household income, and most of the work happens automatically.
I did not build this business overnight, and I did not spend thousands of dollars on courses to learn how to do it. I started small, and I built the system step by step, and now it runs so well I barely have to touch it. I am sharing exactly how this works today because I know so many of you are in the exact same position I was in. You work hard, you budget carefully, but you still feel like you are treading water financially, and you do not have any extra time to take on more work. You do not have to get a second job to earn extra income. You just need better systems.
How the system works
Most people who start their first side business end up creating another job for themselves. If you start selling baked goods on the weekends, or doing lawn care for your neighbors, you are still trading one hour of your time for a set amount of money. There is nothing wrong with that type of work, but it will never give you your time back.
What automation lets you do is remove all of the repetitive work from your business so you only spend time on the parts of the work that actually require your personal attention.
I will use my own business as an example. When I first started offering web design and automation services, I spent at least 15 hours every single week on administrative work alone. I had to reply to every new inquiry email as soon as it arrived. I had to manually write and send every single quote. I had to send reminder emails to clients, update my project tracker, and answer the exact same questions about pricing and timelines 10 or more times every single week. I was earning money, but I had no free time left for my family, or for creating new content for Cozy Corner Daily.
I built my first automation to fix this problem. The first thing I did was connect my website contact form to a CRM system so new inquiries no longer landed directly in my personal email inbox. Now, the second someone fills out my contact form, the system automatically sends them a welcome email, a copy of my full pricing guide, and lets them know when they can expect to hear back from me. I get one simple notification that I have a new lead, and I do not have to reply immediately. I can go through new inquiries once per day when I have time set aside for admin work.
This one simple change saved me 3 full hours of work every single week.
After that, I added an AI chatbot to my website that answers all of my most frequently asked questions automatically. People can get answers to questions about my pricing, my delivery timelines, and what is included in my service packages at 10PM on a Saturday night when I am having dinner with my family, and I do not have to lift a finger. The chatbot also qualifies leads for me, so I only spend time talking to people who are actually a good fit for my services. I no longer waste time writing long replies to people who are looking for a service I do not offer, or who have a budget that does not align with my rates.
All of these systems are exactly the same services I now build for my clients over at Practical Tools Explained. You do not need to run a web design business to benefit from this type of setup. I have built these exact same systems for all types of small business owners:
- A local dog walker who now has an automated booking system so clients can book and pay for walks without texting her
- A freelance baker who has an online store for her custom cakes, and an automated order confirmation system that sends her customers all of the details they need, so she no longer spends 2 hours a day replying to order update texts
- A tutor who has a chatbot that answers all of the common parent questions about pricing, scheduling, and cancellation policies, so he can spend his time teaching instead of answering emails
- A handmade candle brand owner who has automated abandoned cart emails and inventory tracking, so she spends less time on admin and more time creating her products.
You do not even need to have a formal business to save time with these systems. If you sell printable guides like the resources we offer here on Cozy Corner Daily, you can fully automate the payment and delivery process so you never have to manually send a file to a customer ever again.
A lot of people worry that automation will make their business feel less personal. This is never the case when you set your systems up correctly. Automation does not replace your connection to your customers. It removes all of the boring, repetitive work that you do not want to do. It answers the question what are your prices one hundred times a month so you can spend your time talking to your clients about the things that actually matter, and providing a better service. I still talk to every single one of my clients at least once during their project. The automation just removes all of the administrative work that was taking up all of my time.
You do not need to be tech savvy to make this work
One of the most common messages I get when I talk about these systems is that people feel they are not good enough with technology to set something like this up. That is the entire reason I created Practical Tools Explained. You do not have to learn how to code, you do not have to spend weeks watching Youtube tutorials trying to figure out how to set up a CRM. I build the entire system for you. I handle all of the technical work, and you get a working system that saves you time and earns you more money.
If you are not sure where to start, you do not have to build an entire automated business overnight. Start small, and start with automating parts of your personal life first so you can see how much time you can save. If you are still manually tracking all of your bills and due dates, start by setting up the bills calendar system I shared earlier to remove that mental load first. If you do not already have savings to fall back on while you build your side income, focus first on building your 3 month emergency fund so you do not have to stress about money while you get things set up.
Once you see how much time even a simple automation can save you, you will start seeing opportunities to automate parts of your work as well.
What my life looks like now that these systems are running
Before I built all of these automations, I was earning roughly the same amount of money from my service business, but I was working 15 plus hours per week on the business. Now, I spend less than 5 hours per week on client work. The rest of the system runs automatically.
That extra 10 hours a week I get back is worth even more to me than the extra 1200 dollars a month in income. I get to be present for my kids after school. I do not have to work late at night answering emails. I have extra time to test new home hacks, try new meal prep recipes, and create the free content that you read here on Cozy Corner Daily. The extra income covers our family vacations, our car insurance premiums, and it gives us a buffer so we no longer stress when we have unexpected expenses like car repairs or home maintenance.
I spent so many years believing that the only way to get ahead financially was to work harder, cut more costs, and sacrifice my free time. Learning how to build automated systems completely changed that for my family. You do not have to be burnt out to be successful. You can earn more money, have more free time, and stop spending all of your time doing boring repetitive administrative work.
If you want to build a similar system for yourself
If you are tired of trading every hour of your time for money, if you have a side business idea or an existing small business that is taking up all of your free time, head over to Practical Tools Explained to see all of our service packages. We can build your website, set up your automations, and get your system running so you can earn more and work less. We even have a 97 dollar website and workflow checkup if you are not sure what you need first. We will send you a full report of exactly what changes will save you the most time and earn you the most money.
I know it can feel overwhelming to try something new, especially when you are already busy with all of your other responsibilities. But the small amount of time you spend setting up these systems now will pay you back in free time and extra income for years to come. I wish I had started building these systems sooner, and I cannot wait to see how much time and money they help you save for your own family.
If you have any questions about how this could work for your specific situation, leave a comment down below, or fill out the contact form on the Practical Tools Explained website and we will help you figure out the best first step.
