Your First Automation Starts Here

I remember the first time an automation I built actually worked.

It wasn't just that it worked; it was the feeling of it. It was like a door opened into a room I didn't even know existed. And once that door opened, I couldn't stop exploring what was on the other side.

That moment is a big part of why I started this series.

A quick note before we dive in: this isn't a sponsored video or a paid endorsement. Zapier hasn't paid me to make this series. I'm building it because Zapier is genuinely the tool I know best. I've been building in it for a decade, I'm a certified Zapier Solution Partner, and in 2024 they named me their Automation Hero of the Year. It's simply an essential part of how I work and how I help clients, and I want to share that knowledge.

Introducing the Essential Guide to Zapier

This week I recorded the first two videos in a new series I'm calling the Essential Guide to Zapier. It's built specifically for people who have never built an automated workflow before, people who have maybe heard the word "automation" or "Zapier" but aren't quite sure what it means or where to start.

If that's you, welcome! This is exactly where I started too.

This will be most helpful for the small business owner who knows they should be automating more but doesn't know where to begin, or the founder who's curious but assumes it's too technical or too expensive. It's for anyone who's looked at a tool like Zapier and thought, "I wouldn't even know where to start." That was all of us at some point. The goal of this series is to change that.

Video one covers the fundamentals: what Zapier is, how to navigate it, and the two core concepts you need to understand before you build anything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unjib8RoTq0

Video two is where we actually build a real, working automation from scratch in about ten minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JWakt7wDiM

What I built

The first Zap I walk through is deliberately simple and universally accessible: when someone fills out a Google Form, their response automatically creates a new row in a Google Sheet.

No manual copy-pasting. No checking the form every hour. It just happens every time, automatically and accurately.

I chose this example because almost everyone has a Google account. If you have Gmail, you have everything you need to follow along. And think about how many situations this applies to: a lead capture form on your website, a client intake form, an event registration, a customer feedback survey, and so many more. Any time someone fills something out, that information needs to go somewhere. This Zap makes sure it gets there automatically, every time, without anyone having to touch it.

The moment that first real form submission shows up in your spreadsheet, without you doing anything, is the moment it clicks. That's automation. And once you feel it, you start seeing it everywhere.

How to build it yourself

Here's the short version of what I build in the video:

• Trigger: New response submitted in Google Forms

• Action: Create a new row in Google Sheets

• Connect your Google account to Zapier (two clicks)

• Select your form as the trigger source

• Map your form fields to your spreadsheet columns

• Test it, publish it, and turn it on

Total build time: under 15 minutes, with zero ongoing effort required. Every future form submission populates the sheet automatically.

The bigger picture

Learning Zapier is valuable, but the thing I really want you to walk away with is the underlying logic, because it transfers.

Here's what I mean: once you understand triggers and actions, you've learned something that goes way beyond any single tool. You've started training your brain to think differently about work; to look at a repetitive task and ask, "What has to happen here, and what kicks it off?" That's the question behind every automation in every tool at every level of complexity.

Make, n8n, Viktor, any of the more advanced platforms; they all share a similar fundamental logic. Zapier is just the most beginner-friendly place to build that foundation. Once that foundation is solid, the jump to more powerful tools is much shorter than you'd think.

This series is going to keep going. We'll get more complex as we go, but we're never going to rush past the fundamentals. If you're starting from zero, you're in exactly the right place.

Before we wrap

Have you ever built an automation before, even a simple one? And if not, what's the one thing that's been holding you back? Drop it in the comments. I'd love to hear where you're starting from.

See you next week!

— Andrew