The Design Blueprint That Changes Everything for Your Business
Hey there!
Remember when you used to wing it with your workflows? Yeah, we’ve all been there. You’d get a project, dive in headfirst, and somehow make it work. But as your business grows, that freestyle approach starts feeling more like chaos than creativity.
That’s exactly what we tackled in week two of our AI Your Ops course and honestly, it was a pivotal transformation for our students.
Why Most Agencies Skip the Most Important Step
Here’s the thing: most business owners jump straight from “I need to automate this” to trying to set up Zapier connections. It’s like trying to build a house without blueprints. You might get something that stands up, but it probably won’t be pretty (or functional).
The Design stage is where the magic actually happens. It’s where you take those messy, “we just figured it out as we went” processes and turn them into something AI and automation can actually work with.
What Our Students Discovered in the Design Stage
During our live session, Holden shared something that resonated with everyone: “I asked it to ask me all the questions possible so I could fill this out properly.”
That’s exactly the mindset shift we’re after. Instead of assuming you know all the steps in your process, you start asking the hard questions:
- What specific actions happen at each step? (Not just “review the work”—but who reviews what, using which tools, and what happens next?)
- Which tools handle each task? (Are you bouncing between Asana, Canva, Slack, and email? Time to map those connections.)
- Who’s actually responsible for what? (This is where the RACI matrix becomes your best friend Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed.)
The Real Breakthrough: Making the Invisible Visible in Your Processes
One student realized their approval process had “too many back-and-forth steps” that were slowing everything down. Another discovered they were losing client feedback because comments were scattered across different platforms.
These aren’t just operational hiccups they’re profit leaks. Every extra approval loop, every missed comment, every “wait, where did we put that file?” moment costs you time and money.
Your Design Homework (Trust Me on This One)
Pick one workflow that’s driving you crazy. Maybe it’s client onboarding, or project approvals, or even just how you handle client feedback.
Now break it down:
- Map every single step (yes, even the obvious ones)
- Identify which tools you use where
- Spot the communication breakdowns (where things get lost or repeated)
- Look for approval bottlenecks (too many cooks in the kitchen?)
Want to see this in action? One of our students discovered they could eliminate three separate notification steps by connecting Canva comments directly to Asana tasks. Simple change, massive time savings.
Ready to Design Your Way to Better Workflows?
Our AI Your Ops course continues for two more weeks, and we’re just getting to the good stuff. We’ve got live sessions where you can get feedback on your specific workflows, plus access to all recordings so you can revisit the concepts as many times as you need.
Join AI Your Ops – $997 for 4 Live Classes
Classes happen every Thursday at 9 AM PST via Zoom, and everything gets recorded for replay. We’ve got spots left, but they’re filling up fast.
Questions? Just reply to this email, I read every single one.
Talk soon,
Nicole
P.S. Next week we’re covering the Develop stage, where you actually build these connections. Bring your Zapier questions, we’ll have our automation expert Emma on the call to help troubleshoot anything that’s giving you trouble.
