Use AI as your intern, not your boss.
👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas, your weekly playbook to monetize, grow, and build authority with your content.
Tools are great. I love tools. But because these tools are so new, we’re learning how to use them wrong.
Hear me out …
AI can make you better or worse at what you do. Use it for tasks you want to get better at, and you weaken those skills. Use it for tasks you avoid anyway, and you free up mental space for what matters.
Focus is a finite resource, so I want to show you how to rethink how you're utilizing AI and automation in your content and business.
This week, I'm showing you how to automate the repetitive work so you can focus on the strategic work that actually builds your brand and bank account.
In this issue:
Content automations you can set up in minutes
The filter I use to decide “AI or Brain”
Partner spotlight: HoneyBook’s business automation tools
Let’s get to work
— Brandon Smithwrick
This Is Your Silent Business Partner
More apps don’t mean more progress.
In fact, I’ve learned it’s not about piling on more apps. It’s about having one platform that actually does it all. HoneyBook doesn’t just simplify, it centralizes everything from proposals to payments, giving you the clarity to grow without the chaos.
Here’s what you get from HoneyBook:
Proposals, contracts, and invoices all in one flow
AI-powered recaps + replies that save hours each week
Automations that chase payments so you don’t have to
A dashboard that highlights your most valuable leads
This is an exclusive for my community: 25% off your first year of HoneyBook.
🧠 Grunt work on autopilot
The more you hand a core task to a tool, the weaker you get at that task.
This is called Cognitive Offloading.
If writing is your craft and you ask a machine to draft your headline, you’re weakening your headline muscle.
We're in a phase where people are using AI to avoid the work they want to get better at.
Think of AI and automation like hiring an intern.
You don't hand over your strategy calls to an intern. But you’d happily have them organize your files, schedule your posts, and compile your reports.
Content is a busy game. That’s why I’ll show you 4 automations that cut the noise without cutting your craft.
🧰 The Content Automation Playbook
I did the heavy work, so you don’t have to.
Here is content automation that handles mind-numbing tasks, allowing you to stay ultra creative and focused.
1. Stop Idea Leaks
After years of leading social teams, I noticed good ideas always get dropped in a Slack thread and then forgotten (aka: “idea leakage”)
Tools: Zapier, Slack or Discord, Notion or Airtable.
The Fix: Anything dropped in your dedicated Slack channel (#ideas) auto-adds a row to your content calendar or idea bank.
The Set Up:
Trigger: New message posted to your Slack channel.
Filter (Optional): Add a filter to only continue if the message length is above 40 characters. This keeps out the rejects.
Action: Create a database item in your Notion or Airtable Content Calendar, mapping the message text to the idea title.
Outcome: No more losing good ideas to speed.
2. LinkedIn Posts → Archive (The "Hall of Fame")
Confused? read this
You've created a great social post, but when you want to repurpose it months later, you’re scrambling.
Tools: Your Scheduler (Buffer/Taplio) or Slack, Zapier, Google Sheets.
The Fix: Every post you publish automatically gets logged in a "Hall of Fame" sheet with the URL and text
The Set Up:
Trigger: Use your scheduler’s “New Post Published” action for LinkedIn.
Formatter: Clean the caption (remove extra tags or emojis) if you need a cleaner swipe file.
Action: Create a spreadsheet row in your Google Sheet “LinkedIn Archive” with the Date, Post URL, and full Caption.
The Win: You build a goldmine of proven concepts. You still wrote the original content, but now the intern organizes the proof
3. PR Mentions → Content Queue
We’re bad at remembering our own wins, and we underutilize social proof.
When a media outlet mentions your brand, your CEO, or you … you need to turn that validation into content, but chasing Google Alerts takes time.
Tools: Google Alerts → Gmail, Zapier, Notion.
The Fix: Any Google Alert mention of your brand or product automatically creates a "Social Proof" item in your content queue.
The Set Up:
Trigger: New Gmail Email matching the query from “[email protected]”.
Formatter: Extract the Source Title and the first link (the mention URL) from the email body.
Action: Create a database item in your Notion "Press Mentions" queue with the Headline, URL, and Status set to "To Share."
The Win: You instantly turn external validation into repurposable content. The system simply collates the proof for your next "Win Vault" post.
4. Drive → Opus Clip → Publish
This eliminates the biggest time suck for video creators, manual editing. You’re great at long-form; you shouldn't be spending hours creating shorts.
Tools: Google Drive, Opus Clip (Zapier app), Gmail/Slack.
The Fix: Drop a finished long video into a specific Drive folder, and the system auto-clips it into 10+ shorts, sending you a review notification.
The Set Up:
Trigger: New file added to your Google Drive folder (only continue if file type is video).
Action: Send the file to Opus Clip to start the automated clipping process.
Notify: After 15 minutes, send a Slack or Gmail alert with the review links to the new clips.
The Win: You scale your video output without touching an editor. You still create the original value led video; you just automate the repetitive clipping and exporting.
Systems and automations will save you in the long run.
Pick one of these tactics to implement immediately. (reply and let me know which one)
♻ ICYMI…
I share quick, practical plays on brand, monetization, and growth all week. Plus tools I actually use that you might’ve missed.
Catch up in minutes:
🚘 Uber for Business is offering my audience 10% off (up to $10/ride, five rides per user). Limited time — Get started
🤍 Should you optimize your post for Likes? I say no
💬 Want to try ManyChat Pro free? — Comment “PRO” on this post
🤖 Where do you draw the line with AI? — Share your take
📊 Create content on LinkedIn? This tool audits your posts and helps you grow — Start an extended free trial
💸 Not sure what to charge for content? Try my Content Rate System — Get the formula
📣 Shy about marketing your business? I wrote a playbook — Read it and get moving
📰 Want to start a newsletter? 30-day free trial + 20% off — Launch yours here
🗓️ Calendar chaos? My mini-framework is helping folks take back their week — See the post
Brandon Smithwrick
Thanks for reading!
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe here
Interested in advertising? Get in touch