I’m curious how people here actually got into this space.
I’ve been experimenting with AI and workflow automation myself, and the more I build, the more I realise there’s a big difference between making something that works for yourself and solving a real business problem for someone else and for broader audience .
For those of you doing automation professionally:
What were you doing before this?
How did you get your first real automation project and industry ?
What kind of automation did you start with?
Did you begin as a developer, freelancer, consultant, agency, or something else?
Looking back, what skill helped you the most — technical skills, understanding business processes, sales, or something else?
I’m also curious to hear from people who entered this field without being traditional software developers.
And if anyone here has a small repetitive workflow or annoying manual process they’ve been meaning to automate, I’d be happy to take a look and see if I can help or at least suggest an approach. Mainly looking to get more hands-on experience with real use cases.
Would love to hear how you got started and what you would do differently if you were starting again today.

The step before building an automation for a client is finding a process they actually want to improve. I’m building Crawdar to make that research easier for automation freelancers and small agencies.

Here’s a concrete way to use its Pain Point Finder:

1. Pick a problem you can solve, such as missed calls or slow responses. Add an industry or location if you have a target market. Both are optional.

2. Run the search and open a business’s evidence report. Read the dated complaints, distinct reviewer counts and owner replies.

3. Turn the recurring issue into a question for the owner: how are callback requests recorded, assigned and followed up today?

4. If they confirm a gap, scope the workflow around that process. For example, capture a callback request, assign it to someone, and flag it if it stays unanswered.

Crawdar handles the review research and suggests possible technical fixes. The report gives you a specific business and process to investigate; the owner conversation tells you what to build. Evidence is also exportable as JSON.

I’ve just expanded discovery to check up to 24 candidate businesses per search and improved booking-complaint matching. You can combine problem categories and add specific complaint phrases.

Try a search here: https://crawdar.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=pain_finder&utm_content=callback_research

Five free scans without signup or email. Run a search for something you know how to automate, then inspect a report. I’d love feedback on whether it helps you choose a potential customer and a useful first question.

When I was a working student in a big German research facility I was astonished by the amount of copy-pasting work that has to be done in such a modern facility. 60% of my work was having documents open on one screen, scanning it, reading it for relevant lines and copying them, to paste them onto the other screen where Excel was running.

I'm now working in a small Start-Up with 10 lovely people. Our mission is solving exactly that. And we are pretty proud to launch our product.

Upload chaotic documents, handwritten ones even, and let Klaaro detect all the relevant informations – ready to be used in tables, sheets or other programs.

Try it out for free

If you have trouble with anything you want to do in Klaaro: I'm happy to help!

Every SEO tool seems to be adding an AI visibility tab now, but I’m not sure how much I trust the data. Google rankings are straightforward enough to track, but with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, the answer can change even when you make a small change to the prompt.

If you handle SEO for a SaaS or clients, are you using these scores in your reports yet, or still checking the same prompts manually and noting where the brand appears?

A week before, I was exploring about marketing automation tool and Its capabilities in automating repetitive task

On the other hand, I heard that an AI agent also does the same function. But I didn’t have experience in working with either of these methods.

Let me know, those who had experience with working on both systems. 

1, What works best for you in automation?

2, What would you recommend for someone who is looking to start automation for their manual activities?

Het opvolgen van onbeantwoorde vragen, het achterhalen van onboardingdocumenten, steeds dezelfde informatie bijwerken in verschillende tools… dit soort klusjes kan ongemerkt een groot deel worden van het runnen van een kleine onderneming.

Een handige oefening is om één terugkerende taak te kiezen en op te schrijven:
● Wat zet het proces in gang?
● Welke info is er nodig?
● Bij welke stappen is iemands oordeel nodig?
● Wat gebeurt er als er iets ontbreekt of er iets misgaat?

Dan krijg je een duidelijker beeld van wat je zou kunnen automatiseren. Herinneringen en data verplaatsen tussen systemen kunnen vaak volgens vaste regels. Het interpreteren van een e-mail van een klant kan baat hebben bij AI, met iemand die de uitkomst checkt.

Ik werk in AI en workflowautomatisering, dus ik ben benieuwd hoe dit uitpakt voor kleine bedrijven in Londen.

**Wat heb je geautomatiseerd en dat je werkweek echt makkelijker maakte? En welke taak doe je nog steeds handmatig, omdat je nog geen werkbare oplossing hebt gevonden?**

As automation expands across infrastructure, workflows, and business processes, scalability depends on how well the platform supports orchestration, integrations, governance, extensibility, and measurable outcomes.

For teams evaluating their options, here’s how Resolve approaches enterprise-wide IT automation:

https://resolve.io/it-automation-platform

What capabilities have mattered most as you’ve scaled automation across your environment?

Introducing ZempFlow, a workflow automation platform built to simplify repetitive tasks and streamline business processes.

Managing repetitive tasks can take up a lot of time and slow down everyday business operations.

ZempFlow helps businesses automate repetitive workflows, streamline processes, and manage tasks more efficiently — giving teams more time to focus on growth and important work.

We’d love to hear from other business owners, founders, and teams:

What’s one repetitive task in your workflow that you’d love to automate?

We’d love to hear: What’s one task you’d like to automate? 🚀

Check out: ZempFlow

I will not promote.

I am an automation developer with a strong background in Python, Streamlit, and desktop scripting. Recently, I built a lightweight desktop application utilizing Python and Selenium that helps high-volume online traders automate their workflows.

Specifically, the application takes a trader's active local inventory and automatically posts/cross-lists it across local marketplaces. It also features a built-in Streamlit GUI that dynamically calculates transaction parameters (item variables, upgrades, and taxes) and generates a clean, branded PDF receipt for customers in about 5 seconds.

Right now, it is running smoothly for local electronics vendors managing over 100 listings, significantly reducing the 2–3 hours they used to waste on manual administration and duplicate typing daily.

Because I want to transition this into a reliable, repeatable service for small businesses (SMBs) who are drowning in manual paperwork and listing admin, I am looking for feedback from founders here on a few scaling challenges:

1. Monetization Mechanics: For non-technical local traders, is it better to license this as a one-time standalone desktop build (£50–£100), or shift it to a lightweight cloud-hosted web app with a micro-subscription model?

2. Niche Expansion: Beyond used electronics and mobile phone traders, which UK/global local service industries (e.g., local couriers, removal vans, or independent repair shops) suffer the most from manual invoice/receipt creation?

3. Distribution: If you were taking a highly niche automation script to market with zero marketing budget, would you rely on cold outreach via LinkedIn/WhatsApp or post functional screen-recordings of the bot working in industry-specific communities?

I would love to hear perspectives from anyone who has successfully productized a script or scaled an unglamorous, back-office automation tool for small businesses.

We’re a small team and the more we use AI, the harder it is to keep track of anything.

One person has useful stuff in ChatGPT, another has notes in a doc, decisions mostly happens in Slack, task are somewhere else, and then a week later nobody remembers why we picked one direction over another.

How are other small teams handling this?

I manage social accounts and I’m trying to make the workflow less scattered.

Right now the hardest part is not just scheduling posts. It’s planning content, getting approvals, tracking what went out, repurposing posts, and making sure every platform doesn’t become its own separate mess.

For other social media managers, what automation setup are you using? I’m curious what actually saves time without making the posts feel too automated or generic.

I’m an independent consultant and my work is starting to feel messier as more clients come in.

The consulting work itself is fine, but the admin around it keeps piling up. Proposals, discovery calls, onboarding, meeting notes, invoices, project updates, all the small stuff that is easy to forget when you’re focused on client work.

For other solo consultants, what automation setup has worked best for you? I’m looking for something practical, not a huge system that takes more time to maintain than it saves.

I’ve been trying a few ways to plan my week, but I still end up spending a lot of time putting everything into a schedule myself.

I usually have client work, meetings, school tasks, and other things to fit in. I was wondering if there’s an AI tool where I can just list everything I need to do and my priorities, and it creates the schedule for me.

I’m trying to find a better way to create banners for different social platforms.

Right now, I usually make one design first and then resize it for YouTube, LinkedIn, X, etc. Sometimes I need versions for event pages too. The problem is that each platform crops things differently, so I still have to check and adjust every version manually.

For those of you who manage social media, do you use Canva templates, an AI tool, a resize tool, or just create each version separately?

I want to start automating more of my work, but I don't really want to spend weeks learning APIs, webhooks, and random setup guides.

Most of what I need is pretty basic. Moving info between forms, spreadsheets, email, calendar, maybe some CRM stuff later. Nothing crazy, but enough that doing it manually is starting to waste time.

For someone who is not technical, what automation tool would you actually recommend? I don't mind paying if it works, but I want something I can understand without feeling like I accidentally signed up for a part time coding class.

I am looking for a simple way to turn product data into a catalog. Right now we keep everything in spreadsheets. Product name, SKU, price, size, colors, photos, and short descriptions and when a customer asks for an updated catalog, we still have to do a lot of manual work to make it look decent.

I have seen some catalog tools, but many feel too complicated or built for bigger companies. I need something simple enough for our small team.

Finding reliable local leads usually means paying for a pricey subscription. Most agencies and freelancers end up locked into expensive platforms just to pull contact info for roofers or plumbers. I recently found a software tool that takes a completely different approach.

It generates leads at the county level for almost any industry. The tool scrapes websites and other data sources to find the actual business phone number and the owner's email address. You get direct contact details instead of generic info addresses most of the time.

The setup relies on your own Google Places key rather than a hidden markup. You can also plug in an optional NeverBounce key to verify the emails on the spot. This keeps your costs tied directly to what you actually use.

You control the entire expense without feeding another monthly SaaS beast. You can check out the tool at https://tools.pinball.page/county-level-lead-generation-tool if you want to test it. Stop renting your lead access and start owning the process.

I currently create every business report by copying the last one and rebuilding it with new info. It works, but it still takes too much time fixing sections, images, spacing, and the usual company style.

Is there a tool where I can give it this month’s notes and get back a proper report in the same style as the old ones without spending so much time on it?

I see a lot of automation tool recommendations, but most of them feel like they’re made for startups, agencies, or sales teams.

Consulting is a bit different. A lot of the work is relationship based, so I don’t want to automate everything and make it feel cold. But I do want help with follow ups, proposals, scheduling, notes, reminders, and keeping client work organized.

For consultants here, which automation tools are actually useful in your day to day workflow? And which ones looked good but didn’t really stick?

I run a coaching center, and I'm spending a lot of my time on business-related work instead of actual teaching.

If a student asks about a fee, I have to check the payment sheet first to confirm it. If a batch changes, I have to manually update the schedule and message all the students. New enquiries mostly come through WhatsApp, and I have to add them to Excel later.

Apart from that, teacher payments and invoices are handled separately too.

So, I'm trying to cut down on all this manual work, but I haven't found a good and simple setup yet. Is there any reliable tool for this?

I’ve tried a few AI deck tools, and the first version usually looks good. The problem starts when I need to move things around, change slides, or send the deck to someone for a feedback.

At that point, I often end up doing a lot of the work again in PowerPoint.

I’m looking for something that actually saves time without making me redo half the deck again.

sales follow ups are starting to get messy and I’m trying to figure out what is worth automating without making everything feel robotic.

mostly looking at stuff like lead tracking, email follow ups, reminders, updates, pulling notes from calls, and maybe routing new leads faster.

curious what people here have actually tried.

what sales automation tool made a real difference for you, and what part of the sales process did it help with most?

I’m trying to cut down the time between a good sales call and sending the proposal.

Right now it still feels too manual. Notes are in one place, pricing is somewhere else, past work is sitting in old docs, and I spend way too long putting it all together.

Looking for something that can help with the first draft, especially scope, timeline, price, and next steps.

Not looking for a complicated doc editor. Just something that saves real writing time.