Stop Doing the Work Your Tools Should Do for You
- May 6
- 2 min read
By Laura MacGregor
One of the most common conversations in DIY Influence, a community for solopreneurs and consultants, is about the gap between knowing what to do and actually having the time to do it. Everyone wants to focus on the work they're brilliant at — the consulting, the coaching, the creative problem-solving — but the operational busywork keeps pulling them back.
The truth is, most entrepreneurs are still doing tasks their tools could handle. And I'm not talking about anything complicated. I'm talking about the copy-and-paste, retype-the-notes, chase-the-follow-up kind of work that eats hours every week without ever moving the needle.
I've been learning how to use AI and automation to claw that time back, and I want to share a real example from my own workflow.
My Meeting Follow-Up Used to Be a Time Sink
I use an AI tool to record my meetings. It saves transcripts, and while the tool's own interface is fine for reviewing them, it's not where I actually work. So I built a simple automated workflow that does three things every time a meeting ends:
Saves the full transcript to a Google Drive folder so I can easily upload it wherever I need it
Sends a summary of the meeting to my CRM so the record stays current
Adds action items from the meeting to my task list in Asana
All of this happens behind the scenes. I never open the recording tool after the meeting. I never copy and paste a summary. I never manually create a follow-up task. The system does it for me, and I move on to the next thing that actually needs my brain.
You Don't Need to Start Big
If you're not sure where to begin with automation, here's the simplest advice I can give: start with the work you hate and the things you do over and over.
Think about the tasks that make you groan — retyping notes from a call, moving data between apps, sending the same follow-up email for the third time this week, chasing someone for information you already gave them. Those repetitive, low-value tasks are your easiest wins. Automate those before you worry about anything fancy.
You don't need to be technical. You don't need to overhaul your entire business. You just need to look at where your time is going and ask, "Could a tool do this instead of me?"
It's a Long Game
Building these kinds of systems isn't a one-time project. It's a mindset shift. Every time you set up a workflow that runs without you, you're buying back time to spend on the work that actually grows your business. Learning how to make things happen for you, instead of by you, is one of the most important investments you can make in your long-term performance.
Start small. Start with what annoys you. And let the systems do the heavy lifting.
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