Grab your calendar, recent messages, and invoices, then list every task completed during the last two weeks. Mark anything repetitive, time‑sensitive, or error‑prone. This compact audit exposes the few processes that, once automated, free hours weekly. Solo founders repeatedly discover follow‑ups, file naming, and scheduling as prime candidates.
Translate notes into a simple flow chart showing triggers, inputs, decisions, and outcomes. Airtable, Whimsical, or FigJam makes it visual and collaborative, even if you are the only collaborator. The map becomes your updateable blueprint, preventing random tool chasing and keeping every improvement anchored to measurable bottlenecks.
Locate the steps that stall work: waiting on replies, manual file prep, or calendar ping‑pong. Decide what can be eliminated, simplified, or automated with guardrails. By circling constraints first, your no‑code stack amplifies flow instead of decorating chaos, delivering fewer urgent fires and more predictable, client‑friendly turnarounds.