The Bottleneck Audit: 35 questions I ask before automating anything.
The same five-leak structure I use on every paid and free audit. Work through it in about 45 minutes. Tick what stings, and the panel tells you whether to start with one targeted fix or a rollout.
Five places hours leak out of a business.
Read each line and tick it if it sounds like your week. No wrong answers. You end with a short list of real candidates.
01Hours
The owner's time · 0 of 702Bookings
Inquiries, follow-up, missed calls · 0 of 703Repeat work
The same tasks every week · 0 of 704Numbers
Reports and knowing where you stand · 0 of 705Know-how
What lives in one person's head · 0 of 7Four checks before anything gets built.
Most automation projects stall because the order is reversed: someone picks a tool, then looks for a problem. Run every candidate from Stage 1 through these four checks first.
Is this a job for AI at all, or would a form and a rule do it? The least complex reliable solution wins.
What do you already pay for? Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, QuickBooks, your booking tool. Build there first.
Is the information in one clean place? Messy data gets organized before any agent touches it.
Who approves, where is the kill switch, what is the spending cap, and what happens when it breaks?
One fix, or a rollout.
Your answers point one of two ways. The panel above makes the call from your ticks; here is the logic.
One targeted build
One leak clearly dominates. Fix that single workflow, measure it against a baseline for 60 days, then decide what's next. Most small businesses should start here.
A company-wide rollout
Leaks show up across three or more areas. Set access and a written policy first, then roll out one team at a time, with the first team as proof for the next.
Want the printable version?
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Prefer to talk it through?
Paste the self-audit prompt into any AI assistant and it will interview you through the same five leaks, then write you a one-page map.
Rather have me run it with you?
That's the free AI audit. One hour, and the map in 48 hours.