Automate DALL-E Image Workflow with Zapier

One thing no one tells you is how much ‘unseen’ work goes into building a ‘creator biz.’

The logistics alone humbled me this past month.

Let's take a simple task like creating images or screenshots for posts.

Think about all the steps... here are a few:

• marking up screenshots, 

• compressing,

• naming,

• tagging,

• storing,

• searching…

All that time spent clicking, instead of creating...

I spent last month blowing up a few systems (I’ll spare you the details for a future post).

As someone who does this daily and helps others with their workflows, the irony wasn’t lost on me. Impostor syndrome was kickin’ in haaard.

But it reminded me there are no perfect systems and that building something new requires a lot of work. 

So, I found the task and lowest-hanging fruit I could fix and thought I’d share it with you. It’s practical with a huge ROI upside. 

2 things I love: practicality and data.

Let’s use Automation ROI GPT, a custom GPT that helps you calculate if a task is worth automating.

Calculating Automation ROI

Hard ROI vs Soft ROI

• Hard ROI is quantifiable and includes:

  • Time saved

  • Enhanced productivity

  • Money saved from labor costs

• Soft ROI, though trickier to measure, is equally important:

  • Reduced human error

  • Better well-being and decreased stress

  • Increased customer satisfaction and experience due to consistent quality service

    
    → How is Automation ROI Calculated

Time (spent on one task) × Frequency (of performing tasks per month) × Cost (per hour) ×12 Months = Yearly ROI

→ Automation ROI GPT a Custom GPT that helps you calculate Hard ROI

One of the prompts included in the Custom GPT is,

“Help me figure out if a task is worth automating”.

All you need to do is provide 3 inputs (no prompting required!):

1. Time Spent on Task

2. Frequency

3. Cost Per Hour (how much it cost for your or someone else to do the task)

4. Automation Tools (Optional)

   • Note: The ROI is higher since it’s not considering that I can automate more than 1 task

These were my inputs:

• Creating screenshots and images,

• 20 mins a day,

• 5x per week,

• $100 per hour (Conservative number, keeping it simple. I hope you value your time more than $100 / hour!)

• Zapier is $74 / month and Make is $18 / month

Total savings: $7,554 for ONE task!

Let’s help you automate expensive tasks, save you some moolah and keep your coffers filled 🤌

How It Works: DALL-E Automation 👾

(The Notion template I’ve included below includes detailed instructions)

TL;DR

Let me explain how 3 essential tools now handle images for me:

1. Airtable: Stores image prompts/requirements

2. DALL-E: Creates images from a prompt in Airtable

3. Google Drive: Stores completed images

4. Zapier: The ‘glue’ that connects everything.

Steps eliminated from this automation:

1. Search for prompts.

2. Copy and paste them

3. Then, saving the images

4. Uploading them to Google Drive

5. And then, think about a name for the image.

Improved AI-Tomated Image Workflow 🕹️

Now all I have to do is type my prompt in Airtable and it triggers everything else.

That's it. 😛

Now I get my images stored in my database, ready for me whenever I want to publish.

The cool thing?

It only takes about 15 minutes to set this up yourself. I made an easy-to-follow Notion template showing how to set it up.

Ready to simplify your workflow?

Additional Automation Ideas 💡

• Publish your DALL-E images on Instagram

• Automated image descriptions, captions, and ALT text with ChatGPT (‘cause SEO)

• Automate DALL-E images and create LinkedIn quote carousels for your podcast with Bannerbear (or Placid)

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