How to pick your first automation

The biggest automation mistake isn't technical — it's picking the wrong first project. Choose something too ambitious and you spend three months integrating systems before anyone saves an hour. Choose something too small and nobody notices it worked. After dozens of builds, we open every intro call with the same three questions.

1. What do you do most often?

Frequency beats drama. A task that takes 15 minutes but happens five times a day is worth far more than the painful quarterly report everyone complains about. List a normal week's repeating tasks and count honestly — the top of that list is your shortlist.

2. Could you write down the rules?

If you can explain to a smart temp how you'd handle 80% of cases — "if the order is within 30 days and unopened, approve the return" — it automates beautifully. The AI handles the messy inputs (badly written emails, blurry receipts); your rules handle the decisions. If every single case needs your personal judgement, it's not a first automation.

3. What does a mistake cost?

Your first workflow should be one where an error is cheap and reversible: a misfiled receipt, a draft that needed editing. Not a wrong-amount refund. You're building trust in a new way of working — let it earn responsibility with a track record, as we lay out in the human-on-the-loop playbook.

Common first picks

By segment, the winners repeat: creators start with video-to-newsletter, stores start with WISMO replies, teams start with inbox triage or meeting notes, agencies start with reporting. All of them hit the three criteria — which is why they pay for themselves in the first month. When you're ready, one workflow is $490/mo, live within about a week.