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

LET'S CONNECT

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📱 Instagram
💡 LinkedIn
🖥️ Website
💻 Facebook Group

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
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Transcript

Sarah Baker 0:00

Hey there. Welcome back to Tech Savvy 101: AI Automation Made Simple. I'm your host, Sarah Baker, your tech savvy Bestie, who's here to help you simplify your business, embrace automation, and save hours every week. Today, I'm excited to bring you the first episode in our"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. If you're tired of repetitive tasks eating up your day, if you're drowning in follow-ups and deadline tracking, or if you're ready to scale without working more hours, this series is going to be your roadmap to building an automated business dream machine. In today's episode, we're gonna be focusing on how project management systems like Asana can automate your business processes and why this matters so much for busy entrepreneurs, small business owners, and solopreneurs. By the end of this episode, you're gonna understand exactly how much time and money you can save with the right setup. Let's dive in. Let me ask you something. How many hours did you spend last week on tasks that felt repetitive, mundane, or plain administrative? I'm talking about things like sending follow-up emails, updating spreadsheets, or checking if tasks were completed, or even just reminding team members about deadlines. According to research by Smartsheet, the average knowledge worker spends a staggering 60% of their work week on tasks that could be automated. That's almost 24 hours every single week. So for entrepreneurs and small business owners, this number is often even higher because you are wearing so many hats within your business. Now, think about what you could do with an extra 24 hours every week. That's time that you could be spending on business strategy, content creation, client relationships, or maybe just maybe actually having better work life balance. The problem is what I call the automation gap. There's a massive difference between what could be automated in your business and what actually is automated, and this gap is costing you in three major ways. So first there's the obvious time cost, right? We just talked about that 24 hours in your week, and when you're manually tracking projects or sending repetitive emails, you are using up your most valuable resource your time. Second, there's the financial cost. A study by McKinsey found that businesses that effectively implement automation see an average 20% reduction in operational costs. That has a direct impact on your bottom line. And third, there's the opportunity cost because every hour spent on administrative tasks is an hour not spent on business growth. According to a survey by the Alternative Board, entrepreneurs who dedicate more time to strategic planning see 30% faster business growth than those who get stuck in day-to-day operations. How often have you thought,"I just need more hours in the day so that I can actually work on launching that new project or developing that new course or nurturing those new clients?" well, that's the opportunity cost. So here's the good news. Modern project management systems are specifically designed to close this automation gap. I'm going to be talking about Asana primarily throughout this miniseries, because that's the project management system that I know and use. But really you could use any project management system, but Asana is leading the way in terms of both ease of use and powerful automation features. Now we're gonna talk more about the evolution of project management. So project management tools have come a long way from simple to-do lists, if that's what you're envisioning. Think again. Today's platforms use AI and automation to. Fundamentally change how work gets done. Let's look at how the major platforms compare when it comes to automation capabilities. Asana offers"rules." this is their automation builder. You've also got AI task predictions, and over 200 different integrations with other apps. In my experience, it strikes the perfect balance between power and usability. Other platforms that you can consider include clickup monday.com, Trello, notion. These are all great examples of project management systems. Clickup has automation features too, but with a slightly different. And steeper learning curve, it offers more customization options that can be a little more overwhelming. For teams that are just getting started with automation. monday.com provides what they call"automations," which are similar to asana's rules, but they do have fewer trigger options, and a trigger is what kicks off that automation automatically, meaning it removes you from the equation. Trello has what they call"power ups," and slightly fewer and more limited automation capabilities through its Butler feature, but they're more basic compare again, compared to what Asana offers. And the reason I personally use Asana and recommend it to my clients is its unique approach to AI and automation. According to a study by Forrester, businesses using Asana's automation features, save an average of seven hours per employee per week. So right there, you've reclaimed almost an entire workday per employee every week. Now let's talk specifically about what makes Asana's automation and AI capabilities so powerful. First, they've got Asana intelligence. This is an AI assistant that can actually help you write things like task descriptions, summarize project updates, and even suggest deadlines based on your team's past performance. So we're not gonna be guessing how long something will take. Then you've got their rules feature, which lets you create custom automations without any coding knowledge. For example, you can automatically move tasks between project stages when they're completed or assign follow-up tasks to team members or to your va, or even send notifications when deadlines are approaching. So if you're at risk of a project falling behind schedule, that's a great feature. You can update custom fields based off specific triggers and even create new tasks based off of form submissions. Now let's get specific about the return on investment when you implement an automated project management system. Because yes, there is some setup when 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 set it up correctly so that you do see that return. According to Asana's own Anatomy of Work report, employees spend about 13% of their time on work that's already been done by someone else, and another 10% on unnecessary meetings that could be replaced by proper project tracking. So let's do some quick math. Let's say you're a solopreneur working 50 hours a week, that's 11 and a half hours you could reclaim through better project management. If you have a small team of five people, that's potentially 57.5 hours per week. That is more than a full-time employee's worth of productivity gained. Now, what's the financial impact? I. If your effective hourly rate as a business owner is$150, which is conservative for many successful entrepreneurs, automating just 10 hours of administrative work per week, translates to$1,500 in reclaimed value every week. That in turn becomes$6,000 per month, or$72,000 per year. So even after accounting for the cost of Asana, which starts at about$11 per user per month for the premium plan, the ROI is massive. We haven't even talked about the reduction in errors, improved client satisfaction from consistent automated delivery, and the mental space that you gain when you're not constantly trying to remember what needs to happen next. Now let me share a few specific automations that I've set up in my own business using Asana. First, I have content calendar automation. When I create a new podcast episode, Asana automatically creates all the related tasks, including scheduling the recording, writing the show notes, creating social media posts, updating my website, sending the email announcement. Each task is automatically assigned to the right person when the right deadline relative to the publication date of the episode. And if I change the publication date, all the deadlines adjust automatically. Next I have client project tracking. When a client project reaches the ready for review stage, Asana automatically sends me a notification, creates a task for me to review the work and emails the client letting them know their project is being reviewed. Once I mark my review complete, the client automatically gets a notification that their project is ready, along with a feedback form. These automations alone save my team and me about 15 hours every week. That's time that we can spend on creating valuable content like this podcast and helping our clients, creating courses, managing other projects, and spending time with family rather than managing the administrative side of our projects. So if you're feeling inspired to close the automation gap in your own business, here are the first steps that I would recommend. First, identify your recurring workflows. These are the processes that happen repeatedly in your business, like client onboarding, content creation, product launches, or even things like recording a podcast episode. What are the things that you're doing every single week? Next, calculate the time cost. Track how much time you're currently spending on administrative tasks related to these workflows. Then I recommend you get started with Asana's free trial. One of the reasons I love Asana is that I think that their free trial is very robust, so get a feel for the platform, experiment with some of the basic automations. Then finally, focus on automating one workflow at a time. Don't try to overhaul your entire business at once. That is a fast track to burning yourself out and getting overwhelmed. In the next episode of this miniseries, I'm gonna walk you through exactly how to set up your Asana workspace with automation in mind. From day one, we're gonna cover everything from creating your account to setting up your first automated workflow. And if some of the things I talked about in today's episode went a little bit over your head, don't worry. That's why I've created this series. We're gonna walk you through from start to finish so that by the time this mini series is over, you feel like an absolute boss and ready to set up your project management system and start using it like a pro. So as we wrap up this first episode in our automated systems that scale miniseries, I wanna emphasize something important. Implementing a project management system isn't just about getting organized. It's about fundamentally changing how much time and energy your business requires from you. When you automate the repetitive administrative parts of your work, you create space for the things that only you can do: the creative work, the relationship building, the strategic thinking that's going to move your business forward. According to a study by Harvard Business 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 stuck on the operational and administrative tasks of your business right now, that is a clear sign that something has to change. And automation is how you create that space, even as a solopreneur or a small business owner. In the next episode, we're gonna dive deep and get practical and hands-on with setting up your Asana workspace for maximum automation. I'm gonna show you exactly how to configure your account, create through projects, and set up your first rules to start saving time immediately. If you're ready to reclaim hours of your week and build systems that scale your business without scaling your workload, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss the rest of the miniseries. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of Tech Savvy 101. If you found this helpful, I'd love it if you could subscribe and leave a review. It helps other tech curious entrepreneurs find the show. I'll see you in the next episode where we'll start building your automated business hub in Asana. I'll see you really soon.