1141 – A Great Automation Tool: Tom talks Zapier

SUMMARY BY CHATGPT

Tom explains how Zapier has become much easier to use after years of being too technical. Zapier connects online tools that normally do not communicate with each other, allowing businesses to automate repetitive tasks.
Each automation is called a Zap:
When something happens → automatically do something else
Example:
A website form submission can automatically:
• Add someone to an email list
• Update a CRM
• Add information to a spreadsheet
• Trigger follow-up actions
Tom’s first Zapier project connects Manychat → Zapier → AWeber.
The process:
1. Someone responds to an Instagram Story
2. Manychat starts a conversation
3. It collects the person’s name, email, and interests
4. Zapier sends the information to AWeber
5. AWeber adds the subscriber and applies the correct tags
This replaces manual copying and organizing.
Tom explains that although sending people directly to a website signup page is simpler, keeping them inside social media first often works better. His goal is:
Social media → engagement → email list
He emphasizes that an email list is one of the most valuable business assets because you control it.
Other Zapier uses include:
• Automatically posting new podcasts/videos to social platforms
• Saving customer information
• Updating spreadsheets
• Creating AI-generated notes or summaries
• Connecting apps without custom programming
The main lesson:
If you repeatedly perform the same online task, automate it.
Zapier helps save time, reduce mistakes, and lets business owners focus on higher-value work instead of routine tasks.
Tom also mentions The Expectant Author by Heidi Richards Mooney, a book about taking an idea through the complete writing and publishing process.

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Episode 1141 - Zapier
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.
[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with episode 1141 of Screw the Commute podcast. Today I want to tell you about a program that's been around for a long time called Zapier. And I avoided it for a long time because it was too techy. But that has changed and it can do a lot for your business. So that's today's episode 1141. Hope you didn't miss episode 1140. That was Facebook Stories. How easy they are to create and great relationship builders and keeping your your name top of mind. Now, before I get into some of the other stuff, I want to tell you about a new book that's out. It's kind of interesting. I did the foreword for it, and it's called The Expectant Author, and it's by a longtime colleague of mine, Heidi Richards Mooney, very successful business person. And but the it says it's a trimester by trimester guide to writing and Delivering the book Inside You. And it has a a woman on the front with the baby where the baby would be is a book, right? And so I'm not sure why she asked me to do the foreword. Maybe she saw my big gut and thought, hey, that's very similar to what she's doing, but it's a great book. The whole thing has this, um, this baby expectant thing going on through the whole thing. Let me read some of the back cover for you. It says your book is waiting to be born.
[00:01:53] Let's bring it to life. Have you always dreamed of writing a book, but aren't sure how to begin or get to the end? Well, the expectant author is your compassionate roadmap from conception to publication, guiding you through each trimester of the writing journey. And then there's some bullet points. Discover how to nurture your idea, develop your manuscript, and deliver your book to the world. Overcome self-doubt, procrastination, and overwhelm with practical steps and heartfelt encouragement. Learn the secrets of successful authors without the stress of confusion, and gain the confidence and clarity to finish strong and share your message with the world. It's a beautiful hardcover. Put a lot of effort into this book, and like I said, she's very successful in what she does. But I think I'd better go on a diet because I think she saw my gut and that inspired this whole book. I'm not sure. But anyway, I was very proud to be asked to write the foreword for her and and I just love her to death. So check it out. The expectant author. Okey dokey. Also, check out my automation free e-book. It's version 3.0 is the latest, but I'm about two thirds done with the version 4.0. But if you don't have 3.0, go ahead and download it, because 4.0 is adding a bunch of stuff to it. Most of the stuff in 3.0 is still valid, so you can get started with 3.0. screwthecommute.com/automatefree and check out my mentor program, greatinternetmarketingtraining.com and my school at IMTCVA.org, certified to operate by SCHEV.
[00:03:41] All right. Let's talk about Zapier. What the heck is it? It's been around a long time. I've known it, but I have never, ever touched it until now. Okay, so what is it? Well, it connects things online that don't normally connect. And like I said, it's been around a long time, but I avoided it. You know, my thing about dull edge technology? I don't like to fool with stuff until it's totally easy. All the bugs are out and that's where Zapier is now. It's been around a long time, and but for years it was just too hard to use. And so when you create one of these connections that connects things that don't normally connect, that's called a zap zap. Now, the first one I'm working on right now is connecting Manychat, which is episode 1138. You should check that out. Screwthecommute.com/1138, which is the chat bot I've been using for a long time that automates stuff, but it used to only automate Facebook stuff. Now it automates all kinds of stuff. So what I'm connecting with Zapier is many chat's going to go to a Weber, one of my autoresponder email programs. All right. And I'll tell you that that flow here in a minute. It's called a flow. But it used to be a nightmare of geek work. And now you just go to Zapier, you search for a Weber, and it shows you all the places that it'll connect to, and you just pick from a list.
[00:05:19] So I just picked Manychat. So it says, okay, if Manychat does this, do this over at a Weber, like put them on a list, tag them, do all this stuff all automatically same. And I'm not saying it's perfectly easy, but it's way, way easier than it used to be. You still might have to get a geek to do the final connection, but once you do, I mean, unless there's some major change in one of the things that's hooked together, which happens once in a while, you just have to rehook it up. That's all. But it can do so many things for you. So the first one that I'm working on is I'm getting doing a manychat thing on an Instagram story. So an Instagram story is going to tell you to comment with a certain word in it. And Manychat is going to ask you some questions, and then it's going to get email and tag the person of what they're interested in, what they're looking for so that I know in the future, you know, divvies them up. I don't want somebody that's interested in protection dogs, sending them stuff on internet marketing. Right. See? So anyway, it'll, it tags them and gives them their freebie, but then it sends their email, their name and their tag to Zapier, which then takes it over and puts it into a new list in Aweber.
[00:06:47] So this was all by hand in the past. You'd have to do this, see? So and some people say, well, Tom, why not just send them directly to your website to sign up? Well, you could do that. That would be even easier. However, lots and lots of people you listening to this may be in that group like to stay on the platform that you are in. So in this case it keeps them all on Instagram. However, it still gets the email address. And if you've been following me for any two seconds, you know that the bulk of the money is email. I want to use social media, which I don't look that great on. All right. To get them off of social media to an email list. And most people in social media would be very envious of my email list. And nobody can take that away from me. That's where the money is, folks. So let me give you some examples, a couple examples, but you can look this up and there's plenty of information out there about it now, but let's say somebody fills out a contact form on your website. Well, almost all of them will go ahead and send you an email that says somebody, you know, signed up, but very few of them will add that to some obscure or maybe even not obscure CRM program that you have.
[00:08:15] And also those forms will not send people to a spreadsheet. Normally, if they did, it would be so convoluted internal to them where this way you can send it to Google Sheets or anything that you want to and all automatic so you don't have to lift a finger. Let's say you upload a podcast or a YouTube video. Well, it could immediately make a Facebook post, a LinkedIn post, an Instagram post, an ex post, a blue sky. If you're on that, send it to the information to a spreadsheet and get AI to create the show notes for you. All automated, you know, lift a finger. All right. So this is the kind of power we're talking about. Much easier than it used to be. So I'm going to be zapping you all over the place, right. Zapping myself. In fact. Oh my God. Speaking of zap. I accidentally stun gunned myself yesterday. What a dummy. I'm cleaning out these drawers. And I had this old stun gun. It looks like a little flashlight. And I held it. I was holding the tip of it, and I pushed the button to see if the batteries were still good, and I zapped the crap out of myself. So. So this is a timely episode. I zapped myself and I'm working on Zapier. I'm not sure how they pronounce it right. So. So the lesson here is automate your stuff and don't test what looks like a flashlight on your own hand.
[00:09:58] Okay. You know, I'm always trying to give you the best stuff here, folks. You know that. So there you go. All right. So that's my story. I'm sticking to it. Happy 4th of July weekend. You might be listening to this while you're driving. Be careful because I'm going to always give you great stuff. And when you want to, you ought to probably go to screwthecommute.com/training. I've got probably near 500 episodes of training, things like this, very short to the point and things that will help you and we use in our business, almost everything that I talk about, where we use or we're going to use, say. So there you go. So check out my mentor program if you want one on one training. And my school at IMTCVA.org, certified to operate by the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia. But you don't have to be in Virginia because it's quality distance learning, and it'll probably save you a couple hundred grand by sending your kids to some stupid four year school where they learn how to underwater basket weave. And I'm not kidding. All right, we'll catch you on the next episode. Have a great weekend. Watch the fireworks. Don't get too loopy if you're drinking and stay off the roads and have a great weekend and appreciate 250 years. We've made it so far. All right, catch you later.