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#40 · How Will Manus.ai Affect AI Automation Agencies?

youtube ↗Agency Operations

How can I minimize time and effort by using dashboards for reports and streamline ad‑creative tasks?

Instead of manually generating a monthly report, you could create a dashboard. A dashboard functions like a report but its date fields can be changed at any time, allowing users to generate the data themselves without any work on your part. Because dashboards aren't one‑time reports, you can later automate them by dumping data into a specific Google Sheet. For ad creative, if your staff spends a few hours each day checking ads, you can simplify the workflow. Analyze the process and realize there’s no real difference between iterating daily versus on set days. Reduce the workload by assigning two specific tasks—one on Monday and one on Thursday—with a clear checklist: review conversion rates, create a new ad set, adjust targeting as needed, and log the changes in a Google Sheet. These are examples of process optimization; once you have solid processes, you can automate them later. Focusing on process first is what ultimately matters.

process automationdashboardad creative

Related answers

youtube ↗Agency Operations

How can I streamline my internal operations and track deadlines more effectively?

That's a great question—my go‑to solution is to use a tool that handles about 80 % of the work so I don’t have to build my own app or database. I often pick hacky solutions because they’re the fastest and simplest way to get up and running, even if they’re not the most elegant. They get me about 90 % of the way there; the remaining 10 % may require workarounds, but I prioritize speed. Speed lets me grow through real market feedback instead of endless planning, so I can put products in front of customers quickly and iterate.

operationsdeadlinesproductivity
youtube ↗Mindset

How should you handle time blocking when tasks take longer than allocated, and how do you structure your daily schedule?

Rather than strict time-boxing, structure your schedule by front-loading your highest-ROI, nearest-to-revenue tasks first and taking as long as needed to complete them. For instance, replying to community comments in Maker School directly drives retention, revenue, and goodwill, so it is completed first thing every morning. To speed up execution over time, record yourself completing a recurring task, review the footage to strip out wasted effort, and establish a realistic 'ideal time' benchmark. Track your time daily as a KPI until you consistently reach that benchmark. The key to productivity is productizing your daily schedule—repeating the exact same core high-value actions every day so you build speed and mastery, rather than constantly switching between contextually different tasks.

time managementproductivitytime blockingdaily routine
youtube ↗Agency Operations

I think you do a lot of tracking and logging like your end learnings in a sheet or another video. I'd be really interested in hearing more about that.

Sure. I use a deliverable tracker. I haven't used this personally, but here's how it works: each hour I note what I accomplished—e.g., created a hiring pipeline, updated a content calendar, added templates, etc. I let AI itemize it into a big sheet. The tracker lists all expenses and tasks, so I can quickly see what I did in the first hour, second hour, and so on. It serves as an accountability metric and I share it with others for transparency.

trackingdeliverableautomation
youtube ↗Agency Operations

How do you manage to keep track of all the things you want to improve about your business? Is it just in your head or do you have a complex system? How many things do you manage week to week (Google Sheets, notes, etc.)?

Managing everything can get chaotic. I don’t have a fancy CRM; I’m pretty disorganized. My Google Drive is filled with countless files with little naming conventions. I’m good at taking ideas from conception to a minimum viable product quickly, but after that it often becomes a mess. For example, a couple of hours ago I responded to 92 DMs for Maker School without any system—I just opened the DMs tab and worked through them top‑to‑bottom, which I do every few days. Most people at my level would have a proper CRM, support tickets, a refund person, etc., but I don’t. Realistically I probably have around 50 Google Sheets and 100 notes. To keep track, I use a note‑taking app called Godspeed. I write a line like “respond to school DMs,” and it creates a giant to‑do list that I see each morning. You can use any tool you like—Apple Notes, Google Docs, etc.

task managementgoogle sheetsautomation