Automagic: Intro to Automation (ft. Zapier, Flodesk, and Notion!)

What if templates could become something to make your job easier, instead of something you relied on to learn?

In Automagic, you learn the fundamentals and apply them to real-world examples. None of your learning happens through templates. By building a solid foundation, you'll be empowered to evaluate your options, chart your own path, and make your own damn decisions.

Using templates will become an "I know exactly what I need, let's get a jumpstart" instead of an "IDK what to do, someone please tell me!!!"

Forget about getting to the end of a course and realizing you still don't actually know how to do the thing. In Automagic, you'll build as we go.

Imagine having practical, hands-on exercises to learn how to build your automation in real-time. Then having a course forum to geet actual feedback on what you're doing? No desperate web searches and YouTube video rabbit holes for you, babe.

Automagic is made up of 7 in-depth modules that guide you from a total beginner to an empowered modern business owner. We'll cover:

Intro to Automation

• What automation is (and isn't), when we do it, and why it's important to businesses of all sizes.
• Get the skinny on avoiding over-optimizing (aka make-work projects that avoid making your actual magic).
• Learn what you should do before you waste an afternoon winging it and throwing your hands up in frustration. Or crying (been there)

Automation Building Blocks

You absolutely cannot make automation a central, sustainable part of your business without these things:

• Deciding on a source of truth. You need one place to house everything from notes to documentation. We'll break it down step-by-step to help you build yours out in whatever software you vibe with. What you use isn't important, it only matters that it works for you. You'll see examples of a source of truth in Notion.
• Defining your systems (what needs to be done)
• Knowing your processes (how you accomplish what needs to be done)

How to Build a Process Map (aka plan your automations for SANITY)

It's fun to just go ham and hope for the best, but it's not the way if you value your time and your peace.

Learn how to get clear on where you're going, assess what obstacles may lie in your way, and mitigate common hurdles.

• Deciding on a source of truth. You need one place to house everything from notes to documentation. We'll break it down step-by-step to help you build yours out in whatever software you vibe with. What you use isn't important, it only matters that it works for you. You'll see examples of a source of truth in Notion.
• Defining your systems (what needs to be done)
• Knowing your processes (how you accomplish what needs to be done)

The Tools (hello Zapier, Notion, and Flodesk)

We dive into the course tools methodically enough to satisfy any fellow lover of systems and deliberately enough to gentle even the most skittish former Luddite. Understand:

• The problem it solves and how it works.
• How to get set up and get comfortable with the interface
• Get comfortable with the functionality using real-world examples

If you already work with any of these pieces of software, you'll be able to skip the intro videos as needed.

Making and Testing Automations

The main event! You'll learn exactly how to build your automations based on your map. But equally important - you'll learn how to make the process of creating and launching automations chill and not insanely anxiety triggering endeavors.

Documentation

AKA loving on future you who won't remember any of this, and future employees who cannot read your mind.

Every coder will tell you this: occasionally you'll look at a beautiful piece of code in the system and say, "WOW, this is great. Who did it?" You'll check and it was YOU. You in the present may not even know how to do that thing anymore, but past you has written something so elegant and pride worthy.

We don't want this with anything, but especially not something as consequential as an automation. You'd hate to accidentally switch something off and lose money or clients because of it. Equally bad, we want to avoid trying to make a change and having our anxiety on 11 because we're not sure what's what.

So, we'll build a database to document the whats, whys, and hows of your automation. We'll also build a process for updating these regularly so they don't become useless bits of digital dust.