Running a software studio is maybe 40% building software. The rest is proposals, invoices, follow-ups, scheduling, bookkeeping, updating your website, and answering the same five questions over email.
I spent the last month automating as much of that as I could. Some of it was a huge win. Some of it was a waste of time. Here's what I learned.
What I automated
Invoicing. I use Stripe with a simple webhook that auto-generates and sends invoices when a milestone is marked complete. Took an hour to set up. Saves me 20 minutes per invoice and I never forget to send one now.
Proposal templates. I built three templates — one for MVPs, one for ongoing work, one for consulting. When a lead comes in, I fill in the blanks and send. What used to take an hour now takes 15 minutes.
Follow-up emails. I set up a simple sequence: if someone fills out the contact form and I send a reply, a reminder pings me in 3 days if they haven't responded. Not automated sending — just a nudge to me. That's important. Automated follow-ups feel robotic. A nudge to write a real one is better.
Meeting scheduling. Calendly. That's it. I resisted this for years because I thought it felt impersonal. It doesn't. People prefer it.
What wasn't worth automating
Social media posting. I tried scheduling tools and auto-posting. The engagement was terrible compared to posting manually and actually responding to people. Social works when it's social. Automation kills that.
Client updates. I tried templated weekly updates. They felt hollow. Now I just record a 2-minute Loom video walking through what I built that week. Clients love it. Can't automate that.
The real lesson
Automate the stuff nobody sees. Keep the human touch on the stuff people do see. Your clients don't care how you generate invoices. They care a lot about how your emails feel.