Good morning. Here’s your weekly AI briefing from The AI Playbook.
This week: how to build an AI workflow that runs on autopilot — using tools you can set up in under an hour, with zero coding.
THE PROBLEM WITH USING AI ONE TASK AT A TIME
Most business owners use AI the same way: open ChatGPT, type a question, copy the answer, paste it somewhere else. Repeat.
That works. But it does not scale. Every time you manually copy-paste between tools, you are doing work a machine should be doing for you.
The fix is a workflow — a chain of steps that triggers automatically and runs without you touching it.
WHAT AN AI WORKFLOW ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE
Here is a real example. A marketing consultant set this up in 45 minutes:
A new lead fills out a contact form on their website.
2. Zapier detects the form submission.
3. ChatGPT drafts a personalized follow-up email based on what the lead typed in the form.
4. The email is sent automatically through Gmail.
5. The lead’s info is added to a Google Sheet for tracking.
Total manual effort after setup: zero. The consultant estimated this saves 30 minutes per lead, and they get 10 to 15 new leads per week.
THE TWO TOOLS YOU NEED
Zapier connects your apps together. It watches for a trigger (like a new form submission or a new email) and then runs a sequence of actions. The free plan gives you 100 tasks per month — enough to test your first workflow. Paid plans start at $29.99 USD per month for 750 tasks.
Make (formerly Integromat) does the same thing but gives you more control over complex logic. The free plan includes 1,000 operations per month with up to 2 active workflows. Paid plans start around $10.59 USD per month for 10,000 operations.
Both tools connect to ChatGPT, Google Workspace, Slack, Notion, and hundreds of other apps. Pick one. You do not need both.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR FIRST WORKFLOW (STEP BY STEP)
Step 1: Pick one repetitive task. Do not try to automate everything at once. Choose something you do at least 3 times per week that follows the same pattern every time. Good examples: sending follow-up emails, creating social media posts from blog content, summarizing meeting notes into action items.
Step 2: Map out the steps. Write down what you do manually, in order. “When X happens, I do Y, then Z.” This becomes your workflow blueprint.
Step 3: Create a free account on Zapier or Make. Both have drag-and-drop interfaces. No code required.
Step 4: Set up your trigger. This is the event that starts the workflow. Examples: a new row in Google Sheets, a new email in Gmail, a new form submission.
Step 5: Add your AI step. Connect ChatGPT as an action step. Write a clear prompt that tells it exactly what to do with the incoming data. Be specific — include the format you want the output in.
Step 6: Add your output step. Send the AI-generated result somewhere useful: an email, a Slack message, a Google Doc, a spreadsheet row.
Step 7: Test it. Run the workflow manually 3 to 5 times. Check the output. Adjust your prompt if the results are not right.
