June 2020 Summaries

Justin Blase, a marketer with no coding skills, leverages automation tools like Zapier and Airtable to build an eCommerce business that runs almost entirely on automation, resulting in over 5,000 vintage map prints sold. He uses Zapier as the backend of most his business processes, automating tasks such as product image creation, managing product data, and post-purchase shipping processes, saving him over 20 hours a week. With this automation setup, he can focus on marketing efforts like SEO and social media promotion, achieving his goal of creating a mostly-automated company.

To perform audience analysis and find new markets, social listening can be a valuable tool. By monitoring your own brand, competitors, and industry, you can uncover gaps in geographic locations or demographics that are not being served by existing brands. Social media platforms like YouTube and Reddit can also provide insights into emerging trends and interests. Leveraging brand advocates and influencers can help expand your reach into new markets, while analyzing customer demographics and geography can identify opportunities for growth. By staying on top of social listening, you can gain a deeper understanding of your audience's needs and preferences, ultimately informing your marketing strategies to target new and untapped markets.

A decade ago, two co-founders searched for a bug tracker that met their needs, only to find none existed with features they needed. They developed their own solution, realizing the key to success was simplicity. Through customer research, they identified four primary use cases and prioritized accordingly. Building from scratch allowed them to stay focused on what mattered most - their customers. By embracing simplicity, they avoided introducing unnecessary features and created a tool that meets the needs of its users. Their experience highlights the importance of keeping processes simple and following customer feedback when scaling a business.

Niklas Luhmann, a renowned sociologist, developed a productivity system called Zettelkasten, which he used to write over 70 books and nearly 400 academic articles. The system consists of numbered index cards, or slips, filed in six large cabinets, each containing a single idea or concept, known as an "atomicity." Luhmann's method allows for low barrier to entry, and relations between notes are key, with links between notes exponentially increasing the value of the system. He connected his ideas using unique index numbers and explicit reference links, creating a conversational partner that challenged him and prodded him on to greater productivity. Today, the Zettelkasten method has been adapted to fit various workflows and information management systems, including digital applications such as Roam and Obsidian, which offer robust full-text search, non-hierarchical organization, and access to notes from anywhere or any device.

Designing a system for accountability can help individuals create habits and improve themselves in a sustainable way. This involves setting up systems that keep you accountable, such as using a to-do list app or calendar, and adding tasks with due dates for things you intend to do. Small changes add up over time, making it easier to make progress towards your goals without feeling overwhelmed. As you build momentum, you can scale up your habits to achieve more significant improvements. It's also essential to protect your willpower by taking action to conserve energy and cognitive resources when faced with obstacles or challenges. Ultimately, the key is to find a personal framework that works for you and adapt it as needed to make lasting changes.

Google Contacts is a feature within Google that allows users to manage their contacts, including email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses. It provides various features such as cleaning up or updating contact information, creating groups, looking up contact information for individuals inside an organization, importing and exporting contacts. The service can be accessed through the Gmail interface or directly at contacts.google.com, and its data is synced across devices, including Android phones. Google Contacts offers a range of sections to organize contacts, such as frequently contacted lists, directory listings, labels, and other contact information. It also allows users to create groups by adding labels and importing/exporting contacts from CSV or vCard files.

Zapier has grown from three founders in a small apartment to a team of over 500 folks around the world. To build and maintain a remote team, Zapier defines characteristics of successful remote workers, including propensity towards action, ability to prioritize, proficient writing, trustworthiness, and local support system. The company uses behavioral interviewing questions and unique application processes to evaluate candidates. Zapier also emphasizes transparency in communication throughout the hiring process, using tools like TalentWall and applicant tracking systems. The company invites top candidates to video call interviews, puts them to the test with a project, checks references, and makes an offer. By following these steps, Zapier aims to find the best remote talent for its team.

Quizzes are an effective way for small businesses to generate leads and grow their brand recognition, especially when used as part of a diversified marketing strategy. They offer personalized results that help businesses connect with their audience and create a sense of exclusivity, making people more likely to share their email addresses and engage with the brand. By using quizzes, businesses can segment their leads, drive traffic to their funnel, and personalize their offers, ultimately helping them stand out in a crowded market.

Google Calendar was launched in 2006 as a beta version of an app that quietly showed up on the internet and gained popularity due to its speed, features, and browser-based functionality. The app's natural language processing, multiple calendar management, and Gmail integration were notable early features still used today. Google Calendar has become the most popular calendar service on the web, offering fast and easy-to-use collaboration tools, with integrations available through Zapier with over 1,500 apps. Users can automate tasks such as creating Trello cards from new Google Calendar events or adding Microsoft Outlook appointments to Google Calendar.

Google Assistant is a virtual voice assistant from Google that connects with your favorite apps and games, allowing you to control various aspects of your life such as home devices, streaming services, and even automating tasks like setting reminders or sending texts. You can access Google Assistant through the app on your Android or Apple device, car, or other compatible devices, without needing a smart speaker like Google Home. Additionally, Zapier integrations enable automation of workflows with popular apps like Trello and Slack, making it easier to manage work and home life efficiently.

The author of the text expresses their preference for not seeing their face during Zoom calls, citing it as a distraction and mildly nauseating experience. They provide instructions on how to hide one's face on Zoom by using the Hide Self View option or switching to Gallery View or fullscreen mode. The author appreciates efforts made by coworkers but still prefers to avoid showing their face during meetings.

Do you ever wonder why your coworker's Slack sidebar looks different than yours? It's probably because they customized it. You can tweak all sorts of settings in Slack, from how the sidebar behaves to how it looks. You should customize your Slack sidebar to only show what matters by setting the Channels section to only show unread channels and creating personalized sections for specific channels or teams you want to keep track of. You can also change the order that channels are listed in and tweak the color scheme of the sidebar to give it a look that's just right for your usage.

Zapier emphasizes the importance of clear and concise bug bounty reports for effective security issue triaging. The company provides a structured format for submissions, requiring a summary, detailed steps to reproduce the issue, proof of concept, and an explanation of the potential impact. The summary should be original and directly related to Zapier, while the proof of concept might include screenshots or videos to illustrate the exploit. Contributors should avoid generic descriptions, copied content, or exaggerated claims about the issue's severity, instead focusing on clear, detailed instructions and specific impacts to ensure the submission's validity and potential reward.

Google Drive offers powerful search capabilities, but sometimes it can be challenging to find specific files or folders, especially if they are not well-organized. To overcome this issue, Google Workspace users can leverage various features and tools to streamline their workflow, including automation, shortcuts, workspaces, and folder color customization. By utilizing these tricks, users can save time and increase productivity in their daily tasks.

To avoid being late to meetings because of missing Zoom links, you can connect your calendar to the Zoom app, which displays upcoming meetings with a join button. Alternatively, you can use Meeter on Mac or iOS to see all upcoming appointments with meeting links and quickly join them in one click. Another option is to set up Zapier integrations that send Zoom meeting links as Slack notifications ten minutes before each meeting. By using these methods, you can reduce the frustration of searching for meeting links and arrive on time to your meetings.

You've got your products, website, and marketing plan in place, but taking payment from customers is a challenge. That's where Stripe comes in - a developer-friendly way to accept online payments and process billions of dollars annually for businesses of all sizes. With Stripe, you can process payments from websites or apps, collect money due from invoices, and even accept alternative payment methods like ACH bank transfers and mobile payments. Setting up payment processing can be challenging, but Stripe offers various integrations, APIs, and a user-friendly dashboard to simplify the process. The platform provides real-time data on sales, customers, and subscriptions, making it easy to manage your account and automate payments with Zapier's integrations.

Zapier played a crucial role in the rapid expansion of Canada Sews, a volunteer effort to provide personal protective equipment to health workers in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. By automating manual data entry and workflows, Zapier helped eliminate human error and centralize information, enabling the organization to scale its efforts and manage 8,000 volunteers. The use of powerful tools such as Airtable and Typeform, integrated with Zapier's automation capabilities, allowed Canada Sews to efficiently manage mask requests and provide a daily reminder system for volunteer coordinators, ultimately saving hundreds of hours of data input and ensuring the smooth operation of the organization.

Automating tedious tasks associated with video content management can help brands save time and increase efficiency. Tools like Zapier offer pre-made workflows, known as "Zap templates," that can be customized to automate tasks such as archiving, promoting, transcribing, and uploading videos to various platforms. These automated workflows can also integrate with communication tools, allowing teams to promote content more easily, and even send notifications and alerts when new content is published or ready for transcription. By automating these processes, brands can focus on creating high-quality video content that stands out in a crowded online space.

There are four key tweaks you can make to Gmail settings to save time when responding to emails. First, connect Gmail to other tools using automation, such as sending and archiving with one click, defaulting to reply all, enabling the reading pane, and using templates to create auto-replies. These changes can help reduce unnecessary clicks and streamline your email workflow, allowing you to focus on more important tasks.

Alexa, the virtual voice assistant, offers various features similar to those of Alfred Pennyworth, including playing music, providing weather forecasts, and managing calendars. Alexa can also handle practical matters like setting timers and controlling smart home devices. Additionally, users can shop through Whole Foods and expand its capabilities with Skills, which are like apps that add new functionalities. With integrations from tools like Zapier, users can automate workflows and connect various apps without requiring complicated code.

AeroVision's founder, Lee Easton, launched PivotsFromCOVID.com, a website where small business owners can share their stories and experiences pivoting to adapt to the COVID-19 crisis, with the goal of inspiring others. The website was created with the help of his web development team and uses Zapier to automatically create new submissions in his content management system (CMS) whenever someone submits a story. Lee's motivation for creating the site came from seeing inspirational stories of other business owners who had successfully pivoted their businesses during the crisis, and he hopes that PivotsFromCOVID.com can provide valuable resources and inspiration to those struggling.

The author has been playing Mario Kart with their partner during the pandemic, and discovered a new competitive aspect in time trials, where they compete against their previous best times. This experience led them to evaluate how they stay motivated at work, and realized that they needed to find a way to make their daily tasks more engaging and challenging. They found inspiration in applying this approach to their personal productivity by creating automated workflows using Zapier, specifically a "Personal Best Tracker" Zap that competes against their previous performance.

Antic Screen Printing in Austin, Texas chose Zapier to streamline their workflows and provide a seamless customer experience. They aim to send quotes quickly and efficiently, allowing customers to fill out online forms and receive quotes within a couple of hours. With Zapier's automation capabilities, Antic can now focus on bigger tasks and reduce the number of small tasks they need to handle manually.