The other day I volunteered at my kids’ school to make copies for the teachers.  Five teachers, 22 kids in each class, and a bucket full of worksheets.

Now, I’m no stranger to the copy machine—in my former corporate career, I alone made up an entire marketing department and could change a toner cartridge with the best of them back in the day.

The school’s copier is a bit more high-tech, although I felt confident I could manage. The trickiest copy request was 3 pages, 1 page two sided, and the third page stapled—all pulled out of a 4–inch thick workbook. There were about 6 of these sets to do for each teacher.

I quickly whipped that copier into shape, 1 page, double-sided, third page, all collated into sets.

I found an electric stapler (JOY!) and while one teacher’s set was copying, I was quickly hammering away at that electric stapler.

I had a system.

And then I started to perfect it—testing out if I was faster with the papers facing up or down, little tweaks, how to put the papers into the stapler. I’m jamming along a good pace.

Out of 660 copies, I’d finished about 440 using this method. Happy with my progress–almost done!

Then another volunteer, white-haired and smiling walks into the copy room, asking to use the machine for just a few copies.

She sees me hard at work on my stapling.

And then she drops this bomb.

“You know, the copier will staple for you.”

WHAT? I’d spent an hour and half making copies, here at the last leg, and my system is blown to pieces.

She shows me. BAM. Technology advances a new system.

Here’s the thing, my copy/stack/staple method was working for me. I’d gotten faster. I’d perfected it to the best of my ability, with the limited knowledge I had.

Limited knowledge. That was missing the key factor that changed everything.

And that’s what it’s like moving into a marketing automation system from just an email marketing tool. It blows your existing processes away.

Many business owners struggle with the timing of upgrading from something like MailChimp, Aweber, or Constant Contact to a larger automation platform like ONTRAPORT or InfusionSoft.

It’s a major decision that can impact your business and your wallet.

If you’re considering a change to level up your marketing with a tool like ONTRAPORT or InfusionSoft, and like to discuss how it may impact your business,  click here to set up a complimentary 15 minute call with me. I’m happy to speak with you about the transition. There are options available that won't break the bank.