Robbie Maltby

March 28, 2021

Technology & Automation

I love tech.

I love creating systems that work while I'm sleeping.

It's not that I'm lazy. I just hate being inefficient with my time.

I've just finished my end of year accounting for Pure Earth and analysed all my costs, and it turns out I spend around 5% of my 'turnover' on technology and automation across:

  • Ecommerce
  • Marketing
  • 3rd Party Logistics
  • Marketplaces (Amazon, eBay)
  • Accounting
  • Customer Service

On the face of it, that sounds like overkill for a small Ecommerce business (with fairly tight profit margins) which is why not everyone does it.

Instead they prefer to:

  • Use low cost Ecommerce platforms
  • Keep products at home and post themselves
  • Sell direct-to-consumer only vs. using (almost fully automated) marketplaces
  • Keep their books using spreadsheets or free / low cost accounting software

What people don’t realise is the more money you spend on automation, the more time you can spend driving your business forward - or focussing on other pursuits entirely.

It's a relatively old book now but it's the one that kicked off this whole mindset: The 4-Hour Work Week

I'm down to about 1.5 hours with Pure Earth, and with the new bookkeeper I've just taken on-board, I'm hoping to go sub-1 hour soon - freeing me up to take on new and exciting opportunities 🙂

So give it a bash. Get automating.

About Robbie Maltby

Learn more about my work at robbie.maltby.com