5 Starter Automations
A free guide by Kamran Imam — Instagram · TikTok · YouTube
The best first automations share three traits: they run on a schedule (no complex triggers), they produce drafts rather than take actions (safe), and they save the same 15 minutes every day (compounding). These five qualify. Tools: no-code platforms like Make, n8n, or Zapier — or scheduled tasks in Claude. Ask AI to walk you through whichever you pick:
The build-it-with-me prompt
I want to build [automation below] using [tool]. I'm a beginner. Walk me through it step by step, one screen at a time, and tell me what to click. Ask me what I see when you're not sure.The five automations
1. The morning briefing. Every weekday at 7am: pull your calendar, your task list, and 2-3 sources you actually read → one summary in your inbox: today’s meetings with prep notes, top 3 tasks, and anything urgent from the sources. Saves: the first scattered 20 minutes of the day.
2. The meeting-notes pipeline. When a new transcript or notes file lands in a folder → run the Meeting Squeezer treatment (/r/meetings) → file the summary, draft (not send) the follow-up email. Saves: the after-meeting scramble, and captures actions before they evaporate.
3. The content repurposer. When you publish a video or post → auto-generate the other formats from your repurposing map (/r/repurpose): caption variants, a text-post version, newsletter blurb → drop them in a drafts folder for your review. Draft, review, post — the review step stays human.
4. The inbox triager. On a schedule, label incoming email: needs-reply / FYI / calendar-related / noise, and draft replies for the needs-reply pile in your voice. You send; it never sends. Saves: decision fatigue — the thinking about email, which costs more than the email.
5. The Friday review compiler. Friday 4pm: gather what happened this week — completed tasks, sent emails’ commitments, meeting summaries → one page: what moved, what’s stuck, what next week’s top 3 should be (/r/codes #25 pairs well). Saves: the weekly review you keep meaning to do.
Build order
Start with #1 (easiest, zero risk), then #2. One automation per week — the temptation to build five at once is how people end up with five broken automations and a story about how “automation doesn’t work.”
Maintenance truth nobody mentions
Automations rot — APIs change, formats drift. Budget 15 minutes a month to check on them. Five working automations beat twenty abandoned ones.
Related: /r/agents · /r/meetings · /r/repurpose
Found this useful? Follow along for new guides.
New breakdowns drop every week across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Free, no signup, ever.
← All free guides