Growth In Reverse - Episode Summary

Podcast: Newsletter & Email Growth: Growth In Reverse
Hosts: Chenell Basilio & Dylan Redekop
Guest: Joe Casabona
Episode Title: How To Save Time While Doing More: Automations with Joe Casabona
Date: October 29, 2025

Overview

This episode dives deep into the world of automation for newsletter creators, solopreneurs, and content marketers. Joe Casabona, a renowned automation and workflow expert, joins hosts Chenell and Dylan to demystify automation. He shares hard-won lessons, actionable frameworks, and practical use cases for saving time and reducing stress, all while running (and growing) an email-centric content business.

Joe discusses his journey from overwhelmed solopreneur to efficient automator, revealing the processes, tools, and mindset required to streamline repetitive tasks. The conversation is rich with real-world newsletter and email workflow examples, making automation accessible for beginners and enticing for power users.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Joe’s Automation Origin Story

• The Challenge & The Turning Point
  • Joe recounts how a friend's advice in 2018, “What would your day look like if you did less?” sparked a shift in his approach—not in taking less on, but in automating more (03:30).
    Quote:
    “What I heard was… how can I make robots do things for me? So I’m taking on more still, but I’m doing physically less of it.” – Joe Casabona [02:05]
  • A pandemic-induced panic attack made him realize he needed to change:
    “I made a list of everything I do and just like drew lines through the things I personally didn’t have to do. And that’s when I really started to automate.” [03:13]
  • Hired a virtual assistant to delegate tasks that couldn't be automated.

2. Joe's Step-by-Step Automation Framework

• Step 1: Document Everything

  • Write down every step in your workflow—especially for newsletters (05:00).
  • Don’t skip details; even the smallest actions matter.
  • Use a notebook to capture each task as you perform it.

• Step 2: Ruthless Delegation & Automation

  • Ask: Do I personally need to do this?
    “Unless it requires your brain or your mouth, your voice, you don’t personally need to do it.” – Joe [06:32]

• Step 3: The Automation Litmus Test (07:17)

  • For each task, ask:
    1. Am I sending information between multiple apps?
    2. Does it require more than simple decision making?
    3. Is the input and output pretty much the same every time?
  • If YES, NO, YES: perfect candidate for automation.

3. Concrete Automation Use Cases

• Feedback Form to Newsletter Subscribing

  • Joe describes automating feedback from a Notion form into his newsletter platform, Kit (07:22).
    • Only transfers if users opt in, ensuring consent.

• Event Syncing Example

  • Chenell automates adding Circle community events to a shared Google Calendar (09:51).
    • Once set up, she no longer thinks about it:
      “Now at this point I kind of forgot that I even have that running until I just thought of it right now.” – Chenell [10:21]

• Personalized Welcome Videos

  • Using Paid Memberships Pro (WordPress) and Bonjoro, Joe sets up a zap to be notified of new members and sends them a personal video (10:36).

• New Subscriber Outreach

  • You can trigger personalized actions for each new email subscriber, not just members [12:21].

4. Uncommon but Impactful Automations

• Reply-to-Receive Automation

  • Joe automates sending templates to users who reply to a welcome email with the word "template" [16:30].
  • Uses a Gmail search to find the specific replies and automatically sends the promised resource (20:50).

• Capturing Testimonials Automatically

  • When someone replies positively to a newsletter, Joe’s automation forwards their message to Senja for social proof/testimonial management (24:13).
  • This enables quick collection and display of feedback for sales pages and marketing assets.

• Capturing Reader Questions

  • Any reply with a question is logged to a Google Sheet for future content ideas (28:48).

5. Four Core Components of Every Automation (31:35)

1. Trigger: The event that starts the automation (e.g., new subscriber, reply received) [32:10].

2. Action(s): What happens next (e.g., send email, add to table).

3. Conditions: Optional filters (e.g., “if user joined from a certain form…”).

4. Timing: When and how often the automation runs.

   Quote:
   “Understanding these components is like understanding the ingredients of a good automation.” – Joe [32:10]

6. Advanced and Creative Workflows

• Podcast Guest Workflow:

  • Calendly → Notion → Google Doc (for research, VA, editor) → reminders & file handling. Full episode tracking from booking to production, all automated (36:52).
  • Files are auto-moved for editing, statuses updated, notifications sent at each step.

• Voice Memo to Task/Content Automation

  • Joe uses Whisper Memos (with Zapier integration) to capture task lists and content ideas while on the go [39:45].
  • Whisper Memos → transcript → ChatGPT → formatted list → Todoist or Notion.
  • Triggers can be setup by specific phrases to route content (e.g., “article idea”) [41:45].
    Quote:
    “I talk into whisper Memos. It’ll transcribe… send that transcript to ChatGPT: ‘turn it into a list of tasks and send it to Todoist.’ So that is super crucial for me.” – Joe [40:10]

• Alternatives to Whisper Memos

  • Apple Voice Notes, Android Recorder, Dropbox/Google Drive folders all can be automated in a similar fashion using Zapier triggers [45:30].

7. Getting Unstuck & Finding New Ideas

• Zapier’s Explore Apps Feature

  • Use zapier.com/apps to see what apps can do, their triggers and actions (48:57).
  • Find ready-made use cases and inspiration.
  • Zapier’s Copilot is getting better for natural language automation setup (50:45).

• Joe’s Automation Quiz

  • Joe offers an automation quiz to recommend use-cases based on your tools and pain points (casabona.org/growth) [47:30].

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Delegation vs. Automation:
  “Cut away anything that doesn’t require your brain or your voice… Be just brutal.” – Joe Casabona [06:32]

• On Automating Event Creation:
  “Why are you manually doing this? This makes no sense. That’s a complete waste of time.” – Joe [10:00]

• On Cart Abandonment Automation:
  “I think the wording matters. It has a level of creepiness to it… But, ‘looks like you were interested… if you have any questions let me know’—that’s personalized.” – Joe [14:48]

• On Reducing Complexity:
  “The fewer links in the chain, the better. Because if one link breaks, the whole chain is compromised.” – Joe [18:54]

• On Embracing New Habits:
  “I was hardcore ‘people who talk to their phones are sociopaths.’ And now I am that.” – Joe [41:35]

Key Timestamps

• 03:30: Joe’s automation journey, burnout, and how automation saved him
• 05:00: 3-step framework for building automations
• 07:22: Real-life feedback form automation breakdown
• 10:36: Welcome videos and new subscriber actions
• 16:30: Automating email replies and resource delivery
• 24:13: Collecting testimonials and questions for social proof & content
• 31:35: The four components of any automation
• 36:52: Podcast recording-to-publishing automated workflow
• 39:45: Voice memo (Whisper Memos) to task automation
• 45:30: Alternative tools to Whisper Memos
• 47:30: Joe’s automation quiz and resource site
• 48:57: Exploring automation possibilities with Zapier apps
• 50:45: Natural language automation with Zapier Copilot

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Joe Casabona’s Automation Quiz: casabona.org/growth
• Zapier Explore Apps Page: zapier.com/apps
• Joe’s YouTube Channel: Search "Joe Casabona" (handle: JoeCasa)
• Joe on LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile

Takeaways for Newsletter Creators

• Start by listing every single step in your workflow—automation begins with understanding your own process.
• Automate tasks that are repeatable, involve multiple apps, and don’t require your unique touch.
• Begin with small wins: automating calendar events, welcome emails, and feedback capture.
• Embrace tools like Zapier and experiment! Use Copilot, explore triggers and actions, and don’t fear breaking things.
• Leverage automation not just for efficiency but also increased audience engagement, personalization, and social proof.

“If you do automatic bill pay, you’re automating. If you have direct deposit, you’re automating. If you’ve set up an email autoresponder, you’re automating. Right. It doesn’t have to be complicated.”
– Joe Casabona [32:12]