If your business is ‘just fine’, you may be asking yourself if automation is really worth it. What’s all the buzz about? Especially if you’re facing retirement in a few years. I mean, you’ve figured it out already. Why add ‘one more thing’. So let me share the top three reasons we’ve decided to invest in automation.

Reason #1: “Retire” Early

Our business automation goals will help us create a retirement lifestyle out of our business income. We never really want to quit working. We enjoy working. We enjoy being an integral part of our community. However, as with every small business owner I’ve met, the idea of being able to take substantial time away to enjoy other experiences is really appealing. We’d like to create an environment in our store, even for our workers, that enables a more mobile lifestyle.

Our goals right now are 3 day weekends every once in a while. By the time we’re finished, we hope to be able to keep our business going without our physical presence more than a few days a week or a month. It might take a decade to get there, but we know with the combination of good hiring, training and process automation, we can provide incredible service for our customers AND reduce how much we are tied down to our business. What if your retirement lifestyle could be funded by your business income?

Reason #2: Protect Next Year’s Business

From offering the things our customers need to training employees to do quality work. We are all about creating an environment where customers are served. We can no longer hide that customers get better service delivered direct to their door these days. We can’t hide that they can find almost everything they need online. We have to innovate our small store to meet new needs. Satisfying the needs of the next generation of customers protects the next generation of our business. This includes online ordering, same-day delivery, fresh and made-to-order and all kinds of things we simply can’t provide without automating the day to day tasks of our current workforce. We’re embarking on this journey so that when we’re ready to sell our business, the next set of owners has a REAL chance at success.

Reason #3: Create More Valuable Employees

I’ve interviewed dozens of business owners about why they own a small business. Nearly every single one of them says the MOST important thing they do is train the next generation of workers. Whether it’s retail or services, they view it as their solemn duty to prepare their employees for the real world. Their gift to the world is a newly-developed worker ready for quality production. However, how can I prepare my employees for a digital world armed with the skills they picked up from a cash register? It’s true, work ethic is the most important thing we teach, but we have the power to enable our workers with technology experience as well. It’s time to add ‘the proper use of technology’ to our employee training checklist.