Roundup
10 automations every one-person business should run
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When you run a business alone, every repetitive task comes out of the same small pool of hours. None of these jobs is hard. They are just constant: copying details from one app to another, sending the same email for the hundredth time, checking whether something happened.
Here are ten automations that pay for themselves fastest. Each one works in Make or n8n; I note which is the easier fit.
1. New lead to spreadsheet and chat alert
What it does: every contact form, quiz or booking request lands as a row in a Google Sheet and pings you in Slack or by email.
Why it matters: leads stop getting lost in an inbox, and you have a list you can sort and follow up from.
Build it with: either tool. Here is the full n8n walkthrough.
2. New sale to thank-you email
What it does: when an order comes in from Etsy, Gumroad, Shopify, Payhip or Stripe, the customer gets a personal thank-you with any extra links or instructions.
Why it matters: a warm, fast follow-up earns reviews and repeat buyers, and you never forget to send it.
Build it with: Make is the quicker build for popular store apps.
3. Every sale logged in one sheet
What it does: orders from every store you sell on are added to one spreadsheet with date, product, price and fees.
Why it matters: you see real totals across platforms in one place, and tax time takes an afternoon instead of a week.
Build it with: either. If you sell on several platforms, n8n's per-run pricing keeps busy months cheap.
4. New subscriber to welcome sequence
What it does: anyone who joins your list, buys a product or downloads a freebie is tagged and dropped into the right welcome emails.
Why it matters: the first few days after someone signs up are when they are most interested. A sequence does the selling while you sleep.
Build it with: an email tool like Kit handles the sequence itself; Make or n8n connects it to the places people sign up.
5. Invoice paid to receipt and bookkeeping
What it does: when a client pays, the receipt is saved to a folder, the payment is recorded, and the client gets a thank-you note.
Why it matters: no more chasing your own paperwork at the end of the month.
Build it with: either tool.
6. Weekly numbers report
What it does: every Monday morning you get one email or chat message with last week's sales, sign-ups and top product.
Why it matters: you notice what is working, and what has quietly stopped working, without opening five dashboards.
Build it with: n8n, if you want to add a little custom maths or an AI summary step.
7. Social post repurposing
What it does: a new blog post or video triggers draft posts for your social channels, saved for you to review and schedule.
Why it matters: one piece of work shows up everywhere without you rewriting it by hand each time.
Build it with: either, with an AI step to draft the copy. Always review before it posts.
8. Customer email triage
What it does: incoming support emails are labelled by topic (refund, download problem, question) and the urgent ones are flagged for you.
Why it matters: you answer the important messages first and batch the rest.
Build it with: n8n handles the classification logic more flexibly.
9. Review requests
What it does: a few days after delivery, customers get a short, friendly request for a review with a direct link.
Why it matters: reviews drive sales on almost every marketplace, and most happy customers simply forget.
Build it with: Make, using a delay step after the order trigger. Check each marketplace's rules about review requests first.
10. Backups of the things you can't lose
What it does: product files, customer lists and key spreadsheets are copied to a second storage location on a schedule.
Why it matters: accounts get locked and files get deleted. A copy you control turns a disaster into an inconvenience.
Build it with: either tool, on a weekly schedule.
Where to start
Pick the one task you did most often last week and automate that first. For most small businesses that is number 1 or number 2. Once one automation is running, the rest get easier, because you will already have your apps connected.
Not sure which tool to use? Read Make vs n8n. Short version: Make if you want the gentlest start, n8n if your workflows will grow long or busy.