It’s absolutely true: There’s nothing like achieving and living the Dot Com lifestyle.

• You have your own online business,
• Your time is your own, and
• Your office is anywhere.

To make it all possible, the importance of this strategy cannot be stressed enough:

The popular image of attaining and maintaining financial freedom may be the four-hour work week, but of course, any successful business involves more than that.

There will be days when a mere hour or two of administration and customer relations will suffice, but there will be many more that call for rolling up our sleeves and delving into it in order to advance the cause.

The key is that when those times come, we really are advancing the cause instead of simply treading water … or worse.

This is why automation is so important every step of the way — from start-up to upscale — in virtually every aspect of your marketing.

Beyond doubt, there’s some nifty cool stuff out there.

For example, on the high end, here’s Visiblee, a French-based software that automates targeted lead generation and lead scoring, and it’s worth every bit of its $299 monthly subscription:

For most motivated entrepreneurs, though, this level of automation only becomes feasible when they’re well along the way in their endeavors.

Fortunately, there are efficient automation options for those in the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey that are either free or have realistic purchase prices.

HubSpot is a popular and proven platform with a free suite of services that addresses the vital task of Customer Relationship Managment (CRM).

With all the bases it covers, HubSpot deserves strong consideration in any basic business setup.

For internal organization, it’s hard to beat Trello.

It’s a free activity tracker that allows you to survey the state of your operations at a glance. What’s more, it’s simple to quickly update, which enhances your ability to focus on moving your business forward in a positive manner.

There is nothing more mundane than researching, collecting, and analyzing data, which is probably why it’s one of the least-performed marketing activities among the uninitiated.

It’s also a key reason why so many businesses hobble along or fail completely.

This is where automation comes to the rescue with a number of options, including:

• Google Analytics, which is free,
• Affiliate Trax, which is only $27 and more versatile, and
• Mention, an excellent social media monitoring tool that starts at $29/mo:

The underlying reason for starting an online business is to reclaim your time by doing something you enjoy.

Automation helps you accomplish this in a significant way, enabling you to make your day your day.

Norra Ljusen — pronounced norra YOU-sun — is Swedish for Northern Lights.  My name, Kjell, is pronounced shell to English speakers.

You can view a short video about how I entered the exciting world of online entrepreneurship on the home page of our Better Life Focus site. It’s dedicated to motivated marketers and provides trending Dot Com news, information, and entertainment for motivated entrepreneurs who commit to take action in their quest to reclaim their time by becoming and remaining financially independent via e-commerce.

If you’re committed to online success, we’d like to welcome you to the Dot Com lifestyle!