App 1
Would you like to add some automation to your workday? And do you like apps that are easy to use and won't cost you a thing? In this video, I'm going to share seven free tools that make automation easy. So, let's dive in.
The first app on our list is called Unroll.Me, and what it does is connect directly to your email account, so you can drastically reduce the number of messages in your inbox. What Unroll.Me is specifically looking for are subscriptions to your email account.
This is going to be not only a quick and easy way to unsubscribe, but also allow you to summarize
and group a batch of subscriptions together. So let me show you how it works.
Here within my Unroll.Me account, it's showing that it has found 12 new email subscriptions and it's listed it in alphabetical order, which is very easy for me to go through one by one and see if I still want to subscribe to these services.
From this same screen, I can immediately go over to the right and decide if I want to unsubscribe, if I want to keep it in my inbox, or if I want to add it to my Rollup.
What is a Rollup? Well, if I choose to add this to my Rollup, what it's going to do is look for new messages, and rather having them display in my inbox, it's going to give me a fantastic summary.
Here, if I click on my Rollup on the top of the screen, I may only have one message for today, but if I had several from my subscriptions, they would all be listed here. And if I click on them, I can choose to open and read them as I would normally.
And if you don't want to view your Rollup within the Unroll.Me interface, that's fine too. Here within my Gmail account, you'll notice that it automatically has created an Unroll.Me label.
If I click on this, I'll find that very same email, along with the other eails which I've included in my Rollup, so I've got one centralized place that I can go to find my emails. This is a very simple and easy way
for you to automate your subscriptions and clean up your inbox.
App 2
The second tool on our list is going to help you create a fantastic and professional-looking user guide in a matter of seconds. How often have you needed to share something with a client or with a colleague, or maybe it's for yourself, because you only do that one thing in QuickBooks once or twice a year. Well, with Scribe, you can create those easy-to-follow user guides in a matter of seconds.
First, let me show you what a finished Scribe looks like. In this case, I've got one titled, "How to Change Drive Share Settings," and you'll notice, it has a step-by-step guide, including screenshots and highlights exactly where the user needs to to click.
In total, this is a 12-step guide, but you know what? I didn't actually edit any of these labels, I didn't take these screenshots or add this little circle image. In fact, I created this entire Scribe in less than one minute. So let me show you how easy it is to create a Scribe of your own.
Within your free Scribe account, all you need to do is come up here and select New, and I'm going to say Record a Scribe. Next, I can select which tab within my browser I would like to record. In this case, I'm going to go back to my Gmail account.
t's telling me that my capture has started, and there is an indicator here in the bottom left-hand corner. Now all I need to do is go through the steps that I want to record.
So I'm going to come up here and select the gear icon, select Settings, I'm going to scroll most of the way down, and I'm going to change my email signature to this My Signature, and don't forget to hit Save Changes.
Now that I'm done, I'm going to come over here to that indicator, I'm going to say Show the Controls, I can choose to pause the recording if I need to set something up or go somewhere else, I can choose to delete it if I want, I can of course, move these controls, but in this case, I'm going to say Complete the Recording.
And what it's going to do is open up a new tab with my complete Scribe in an easy-to-use user guide. So here you can see, it's even included the logo of Gmail, configuring Gmail settings. It even has much of the text accurate, although of course, all of this is editable. As I go down, you can see that it is highlighting exactly where I clicked,
and Scribe will even capture the correct instructions, so it's very easy to follow along.
Now, you can edit any component of your Scribe if you like. So for example, yes, technically, this is the URL of my Gmail account, but in the case when I'm sharing it with someone else, I'm just going to reduce it to that, and this is still clickable, so that when they receive the Scribe, they can go directly to that application.
I can change the name and add a full description, but right off the bat, the user will see how many steps and roughly how long it should take them to do so.
When I'm all finished, I can select Done Editing, and then hit this Share button, and either add an email address if I want to, I can link them to this particular Scribe, or I can export it as a PDF, as well.
Now, if you're wanting to take advantage of additional export and some advanced features, you can sign up for their Pro Plan, but the basic plan lets you create as many Scribes as you want, absolutely free.
App 3
Now, the next automation tool on our list has received a lot of attention, and for good reason, because ChatGPT is extremely powerful and can be used in so many different ways.
Here within my ChatGPT account, of course, I could ask it to write a number of different copy, such as add copy, sales copy, or perhaps product descriptions, but there's additional features that you may want to take advantage of.
For example, did you know that ChatGPT can help you make better decisions? In this case, I've asked the AI bot to create a pro and con list of buying a PC versus a Mac computer. Let's see what it comes up with.mIn a matter of seconds, it's going to create a bullet point pro and con list so I can review what is going to be best for me,
or perhaps, if I'm suggesting it for someone else. And you can do this for virtually anything, whether it's an application, a product, a service, whatever you're thinking of,
you can create such a list for yourself. While this bullet point style is fairly easy to read, I'm now going to say to create this in a matrix style table. And now, in just a matter of seconds, I have a nice table view of the same information, but I can click and drag and copy this into a spreadsheet, into a presentation, or somewhere else where I need to.
App 4
Now, the next automation tool on our list is also about producing text or information
in a matter of seconds. But in this case, we want to take a look at taking templates
or things that perhaps you need to type in time and time again, and be able to reproduce them in a matter of seconds. And for that case, we're taking a look at an application called Text Blaze.
Text Blaze is a text expander, so you get to create the text one time, and then in just a few keystrokes, you can insert it anywhere that you like. In this example, I share my Zoom link quite often, so I don't want to have to go
and copy and paste that from my Zoom account or from a Notepad or somewhere else with in my system, I would rather just hit forward slash and the letter Zed on my keyboard, and there we go, in an instant, I have my entire invitation, including my link and password for my Zoom account.
What about a standard reply to an email that you use all the time? Well, if I click on my Trello reply, here, you can see where I can craft that message and fine tune it, including links, including special formatting that I need to use.
And now if I go back to my test area, all I need to do is select /tr, and I have this message, which is actually going to prompt me for a name. So I'm going to say, "Hi, Bill," because that's whom I'm replying to, I'm going to hit Enter, and now I have that entire message right here, including my desired link and any other formatting that I may want to add.
What if you'd like to add even more detail? Well, here, I have an email reply, which states that I'm going to get back to them within three days, but I don't want to just say three days, I want to give them a specific date.
So I'm going to say /wait. Here, again, I can be prompted for a specific name, and you can see that I say that I will get back to them before February 27th, which is exactly three days from today. So you can be as complex or as simple as you like,
but rather having to type out the same thing over and over again, let automation work for you so you can use just a few simple keystrokes and then input it wherever you like.
App 5
Now, the next automation tool on our list is one of my all time favorites. In fact, I've been using it for more than seven years, and I really can't think of using email without it. It's called Boomerang, and it allows you to do a number of different things, but let me show you what I use it for on a daily basis.
Here within this email example, I'm asking a colleague if they'll be in town sometime next week. I want to see if we can get together.
But what happens when you're asking a question via email or if you want to make sure that someone responds to one of your messages? Do you set a special flag or a label? Do you set up a reminder in your calendar to check in within a few days?
Well, with the Boomerang extension installed, you'll see that you have some additional features here at the bottom of your email. What I'm going to do is select this Remind me checkbox, and then I can choose when I want to be reminded
if, and only if, this individual does not reply to my email. So instead of tomorrow afternoon, maybe I want to be reminded in two days' time, so I'm going to select that option here, and then to the right of it, it's going to say, if no reply, meaning that this message will only return to my inbox if this person does not reply.
However, if they do reply within the next 48 hours, no additional message will be sent to my inbox. And I can choose other options here, as well. If they didn't click on the message, if they didn't open it, or regardless, maybe I want to have this message returned, regardless what they do on their end.
But in most cases, I choose if no reply, so I never, ever forget to follow up with someone and can choose my specific timeframe. If you want to get started with Boomerang for Outlook or Gmail, you can do so absolutely for free.
App 6
Now that we've looked at a tool that I've used for many, many years, let's take a look at a new automation tool that I am starting to use each and every week, and that is called Grain.
Grain integrates directly with your Zoom, Team, or Meet meetings and allows you to not only record the entire meetings, but also gives you a complete searchable transcript and allows you to create your own highlights. But when it comes to automation, it gets even better.
Not only will it produce all of these features automatically, but it will also provide you with a summary. So immediately after the meeting, you've got a complete summary of what was said.
It will also show you a timeline of what was going on and who spoke at what time. So for example, maybe I know that the person I was meeting with said something very, very important, but in the last third of the meeting, I can see when he spoke up, click on that area, and either replay that part of the meeting, or I can search through that transcript here
on the right-hand side. And if I want to create my own highlight reel of key moments of our meetings, I can do so together.
So in this example here, I've created three highlights, which I can instantly copy their link, share it with others if I need to prove how the customer felt or what their insights were in a particular call. Grain is the perfect tool if you never, ever want to take meeting notes again, and get the most value out of each and every meeting.
App 7
Next, we have an automation tool, which will allow you to stay out of your social media platforms that much more.
What we're looking at is Buffer, which allows you to create social media posts in advance, but also be able to post to multiple different channels, so you can create your content and then ignore it for maybe weeks or even months on end.
In this example here, I've created a Facebook post which is scheduled to go out tomorrow at one in the morning, but that exact same post is going to be listed on my Instagram account at 8:22 in the morning, because maybe I recognize that my users and followers are quite different within those accounts.
To create and schedule your own post, all you need to do is select this Create Post button, and now I can choose if I want to schedule it to one or as many platforms as I like.
In this case, I'm going to send the exact same post to my Facebook, Instagram, and my LinkedIn account. First thing, I'm going to choose an image, in this case.
So I'm going to select this image here, and then I can add my own text. Now that I've added the text that I'd like to include with a little help from ChatGPT, I can select Customize for each network. And if I want to make specific changes, I can do so.
But in this case, I can either choose to schedule these posts for a specific time, I can also choose to share it right now, or I can choose to add it to the queue. I'm going to select this queue option, because in advance, I've told Buffer that I want to post on a regular basis.
And here you can see this next posting, the one that we've just created,
will go out on February 27th, two days after the one that is going to be scheduled next, so you can quickly and easily add new posts to your queue and make sure that you always have something to share on your social media platforms.
And if you're looking for additional ways to make marketing easier for your business, be sure to click on this video next, where I show you seven tools you should be using right now.
