Asana Tutorial: How to Automate 24 Hours of Work Each Week

Episode #133: Asana Tutorial: How to Automate 24 Hours of Work Each Week

Let’s talk about your time... or lack thereof.

If your to-do list keeps growing, but your actual progress? Not so much… you might be stuck in the automation gap — spending hours on repetitive tasks that software could handle for you.

In this episode of Tech Savvy 101: AI & Automation Made Simple, we’re diving into Asana (my favorite project management tool for automating workflows, organizing team communication, and reclaiming your time).

I’ll walk you through how using a project management system to automate repetitive tasks within your business can help you reclaim up to 24 hours of work each week … with no tech background needed.

This is your blueprint if you’re ready to stop doing everything manually.

✨ NOTE: This episode is part of the Automated Systems That Scale mini-series, where we're exploring how the right project management system can transform your business from manual and chaotic to automated and streamlined. Throughout this series, I'll show you exactly how to leverage Asana's powerful automation and AI capabilities to create systems that run your business for you.

IN THIS EPISODE, I COVER:

➔ What the “automation gap” is (and how it’s draining your time + energy)
➔ Real-life examples of how I use Asana to automate content planning, client onboarding, and more
➔ Step-by-step actions to start closing your automation gap today — even if you’re not tech-savvy

RESOURCES:

📌 Try Asana – free and paid plans available
📌 AI Evergreen Content Machine Waitlist
📌 Done-for-You Custom GPT Setup

RELATED EPISODES OF TECH SAVVY 101:

🎙️ Episode #134: Setting Up Asana for Small Business: Automation Rules That Save Time
🎙️ Episode #128: Systems That Scale: How to Create SOPs That Actually Work for Your Business

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:

02:35 – The Automation Gap: Time, Financial, and Opportunity Costs
04:03 – Project Management Systems: Asana and Competitors
06:31 – Deep Dive into Asana's Automation and AI Features
09:40 – Real-World Examples of Asana Automations
11:03 – Steps to Close the Automation Gap in Your Business
12:42 – Conclusion and Next Steps

📲 Send us a text! Let us know what AI + Automation Topics you want to learn about next!

LET'S CONNECT

📺 YouTube
📱 Instagram
🖥️ Website
💻 Facebook Group

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
Loved this episode? Please leave a review! If today’s episode got you excited about simplifying your systems and embracing AI, be sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes!

Episode Transcript

Sarah Baker (00:00):
Hey there.

Welcome back to Tech Savvy 101: AI Automation Made Simple. (00:00):
undefined
I'm your host, Sarah Baker, yourtech savvy Bestie, who's here to
help you simplify your business,embrace automation, and save
hours every week.
Today, I'm excited to bring youthe first episode in our
"Automated Systems That Scale"mini series, where we're

(00:21):
exploring how the right projectmanagement system can transform
your business from manual andchaotic to automated and
streamlined.
Throughout this series, I'llshow you exactly how to leverage
Asana's powerful automation andAI capabilities to create
systems that run your businessfor you.
If you're tired of repetitivetasks eating up your day, if

(00:44):
you're drowning in follow-upsand deadline tracking, or if
you're ready to scale withoutworking more hours, this series
is going to be your roadmap tobuilding an automated business
dream machine.
In today's episode, we're gonnabe focusing on how project
management systems like Asanacan automate your business

(01:06):
processes and why this mattersso much for busy entrepreneurs,
small business owners, andsolopreneurs.
By the end of this episode,you're gonna understand exactly
how much time and money you cansave with the right setup.
Let's dive in.
Let me ask you something.

(01:28):
How many hours did you spendlast week on tasks that felt
repetitive, mundane, or plainadministrative?
I'm talking about things likesending follow-up emails,
updating spreadsheets, orchecking if tasks were
completed, or even justreminding team members about
deadlines.
According to research bySmartsheet, the average

(01:51):
knowledge worker spends astaggering 60% of their work
week on tasks that could beautomated.
That's almost 24 hours everysingle week.
So for entrepreneurs and smallbusiness owners, this number is
often even higher because youare wearing so many hats within

(02:13):
your business.
Now, think about what you coulddo with an extra 24 hours every
week.
That's time that you could bespending on business strategy,
content creation, clientrelationships, or maybe just
maybe actually having betterwork life balance.

(02:35):
The problem is what I call theautomation gap.
There's a massive differencebetween what could be automated
in your business and whatactually is automated, and this
gap is costing you in threemajor ways.
So first there's the obvioustime cost, right?
We just talked about that 24hours in your week, and when

(02:59):
you're manually trackingprojects or sending repetitive
emails, you are using up yourmost valuable resource your
time.
Second, there's the financialcost.
A study by McKinsey found thatbusinesses that effectively
implement automation see anaverage 20% reduction in

(03:19):
operational costs.
That has a direct impact on yourbottom line.
And third, there's theopportunity cost because every
hour spent on administrativetasks is an hour not spent on
business growth.
According to a survey by theAlternative Board, entrepreneurs
who dedicate more time tostrategic planning see 30%

(03:42):
faster business growth thanthose who get stuck in
day-to-day operations.
How often have you thought,"Ijust need more hours in the day
so that I can actually work onlaunching that new project or
developing that new course ornurturing those new clients?"
well, that's the opportunitycost.
So here's the good news.

(04:03):
Modern project managementsystems are specifically
designed to close thisautomation gap.
I'm going to be talking aboutAsana primarily throughout this
miniseries, because that's theproject management system that I
know and use.
But really you could use anyproject management system, but
Asana is leading the way interms of both ease of use and

(04:25):
powerful automation features.
Now we're gonna talk more aboutthe evolution of project
management.
So project management tools havecome a long way from simple
to-do lists, if that's whatyou're envisioning.
Think again.
Today's platforms use AI andautomation to.
Fundamentally change how workgets done.

(04:48):
Let's look at how the majorplatforms compare when it comes
to automation capabilities.
Asana offers"rules." this istheir automation builder.
You've also got AI taskpredictions, and over 200
different integrations withother apps.
In my experience, it strikes theperfect balance between power
and usability.

(05:09):
Other platforms that you canconsider include clickup
monday.com, Trello, notion.
These are all great examples ofproject management systems.
Clickup has automation featurestoo, but with a slightly
different.
And steeper learning curve, itoffers more customization
options that can be a littlemore overwhelming.

(05:31):
For teams that are just gettingstarted with automation.
monday.com provides what theycall"automations," which are
similar to asana's rules, butthey do have fewer trigger
options, and a trigger is whatkicks off that automation
automatically, meaning itremoves you from the equation.
Trello has what they call"powerups," and slightly fewer and

(05:57):
more limited automationcapabilities through its Butler
feature, but they're more basiccompare again, compared to what
Asana offers.
And the reason I personally useAsana and recommend it to my
clients is its unique approachto AI and automation.
According to a study byForrester, businesses using

(06:17):
Asana's automation features,save an average of seven hours
per employee per week.
So right there, you've reclaimedalmost an entire workday per
employee every week.
Now let's talk specificallyabout what makes Asana's
automation and AI capabilitiesso powerful.

(06:38):
First, they've got Asanaintelligence.
This is an AI assistant that canactually help you write things
like task descriptions,summarize project updates, and
even suggest deadlines based onyour team's past performance.
So we're not gonna be guessinghow long something will take.

(06:58):
Then you've got their rulesfeature, which lets you create
custom automations without anycoding knowledge.
For example, you canautomatically move tasks between
project stages when they'recompleted or assign follow-up
tasks to team members or to yourva, or even send notifications
when deadlines are approaching.

(07:20):
So if you're at risk of aproject falling behind schedule,
that's a great feature.
You can update custom fieldsbased off specific triggers and
even create new tasks based offof form submissions.
Now let's get specific about thereturn on investment when you
implement an automated projectmanagement system.

(07:40):
Because yes, there is some setupwhen you first start using any
project management system,whether it's Asana or Clickup,
or monday.com or Trello.
You have to take the time to setit up correctly so that you do
see that return.
According to Asana's own Anatomyof Work report, employees spend

(08:00):
about 13% of their time on workthat's already been done by
someone else, and another 10% onunnecessary meetings that could
be replaced by proper projecttracking.
So let's do some quick math.
Let's say you're a solopreneurworking 50 hours a week, that's

(08:21):
11 and a half hours you couldreclaim through better project
management.
If you have a small team of fivepeople, that's potentially 57.5
hours per week.
That is more than a full-timeemployee's worth of productivity
gained.
Now, what's the financialimpact?

(08:44):
I.
If your effective hourly rate asa business owner is$150, which
is conservative for manysuccessful entrepreneurs,
automating just 10 hours ofadministrative work per week,
translates to$1,500 in reclaimedvalue every week.
That in turn becomes$6,000 permonth, or$72,000 per year.

(09:12):
So even after accounting for thecost of Asana, which starts at
about$11 per user per month forthe premium plan, the ROI is
massive.
We haven't even talked about thereduction in errors, improved
client satisfaction fromconsistent automated delivery,
and the mental space that yougain when you're not constantly

(09:35):
trying to remember what needs tohappen next.
Now let me share a few specificautomations that I've set up in
my own business using Asana.
First, I have content calendarautomation.
When I create a new podcastepisode, Asana automatically
creates all the related tasks,including scheduling the

(09:56):
recording, writing the shownotes, creating social media
posts, updating my website,sending the email announcement.
Each task is automaticallyassigned to the right person
when the right deadline relativeto the publication date of the
episode.
And if I change the publicationdate, all the deadlines adjust
automatically.
Next I have client projecttracking.

(10:18):
When a client project reachesthe ready for review stage,
Asana automatically sends me anotification, creates a task for
me to review the work and emailsthe client letting them know
their project is being reviewed.
Once I mark my review complete,the client automatically gets a
notification that their projectis ready, along with a feedback
form.

(10:39):
These automations alone save myteam and me about 15 hours every
week.
That's time that we can spend oncreating valuable content like
this podcast and helping ourclients, creating courses,
managing other projects, andspending time with family rather
than managing the administrativeside of our projects.

(11:03):
So if you're feeling inspired toclose the automation gap in your
own business, here are the firststeps that I would recommend.
First, identify your recurringworkflows.
These are the processes thathappen repeatedly in your
business, like clientonboarding, content creation,
product launches, or even thingslike recording a podcast

(11:27):
episode.
What are the things that you'redoing every single week?
Next, calculate the time cost.
Track how much time you'recurrently spending on
administrative tasks related tothese workflows.
Then I recommend you get startedwith Asana's free trial.
One of the reasons I love Asanais that I think that their free

(11:47):
trial is very robust, so get afeel for the platform,
experiment with some of thebasic automations.
Then finally, focus onautomating one workflow at a
time.
Don't try to overhaul yourentire business at once.
That is a fast track to burningyourself out and getting
overwhelmed.
In the next episode of thisminiseries, I'm gonna walk you

(12:08):
through exactly how to set upyour Asana workspace with
automation in mind.
From day one, we're gonna covereverything from creating your
account to setting up your firstautomated workflow.
And if some of the things Italked about in today's episode
went a little bit over yourhead, don't worry.
That's why I've created thisseries.
We're gonna walk you throughfrom start to finish so that by

(12:31):
the time this mini series isover, you feel like an absolute
boss and ready to set up yourproject management system and
start using it like a pro.
So as we wrap up this firstepisode in our automated systems
that scale miniseries, I wannaemphasize something important.
Implementing a projectmanagement system isn't just

(12:52):
about getting organized.
It's about fundamentallychanging how much time and
energy your business requiresfrom you.
When you automate the repetitiveadministrative parts of your
work, you create space for thethings that only you can do: the
creative work, the relationshipbuilding, the strategic thinking

(13:16):
that's going to move yourbusiness forward.
According to a study by HarvardBusiness Review, CEOs of high
performing companies spend 70%of their time on strategic
activities.
Rather than operational tasks.
So if you're in the weeds stuckon the operational and
administrative tasks of yourbusiness right now, that is a

(13:38):
clear sign that something has tochange.
And automation is how you createthat space, even as a
solopreneur or a small businessowner.
In the next episode, we're gonnadive deep and get practical and
hands-on with setting up yourAsana workspace for maximum
automation.
I'm gonna show you exactly howto configure your account,

(14:00):
create through projects, and setup your first rules to start
saving time immediately.
If you're ready to reclaim hoursof your week and build systems
that scale your business withoutscaling your workload, make sure
to subscribe so you don't missthe rest of the miniseries.
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of Tech Savvy
101.

(14:21):
If you found this helpful, I'dlove it if you could subscribe
and leave a review.
It helps other tech curiousentrepreneurs find the show.
I'll see you in the next episodewhere we'll start building your
automated business hub in Asana.
I'll see you really soon.