How I’m Automating My Entire Creator Workflow with Notion + Make + ChatGPT
How I’m Automating My Entire Creator Workflow (So My Eyes Don’t Have to Do the Heavy Lifting)
If you’ve ever spent 45 minutes hunting “the thing” you already made… welcome to the cure.
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The Moment I Knew I Needed Automation
There’s a moment in every creator’s life when you realize the “fun part” (making stuff) is being held hostage by the “boring part” (copy-paste, renaming files, rewriting the same description 14 times, and hunting for that one sentence you swear you said in the video).
For me, the turning point was simple: my eyesight is not here for scavenger hunts. If a workflow requires me to manually find “the thing,” then congratulations—my workflow now has a built-in failure point named “Jason squinting.”
So I started building a system where:
- Notion is the brain (organized, searchable, keeps receipts).
- Make is the nervous system (moves data between apps without whining).
- ChatGPT is the writing and thinking engine (turns raw inputs into finished outputs).
The goal isn’t “more tech.” The goal is fewer steps, fewer mistakes, and a smoother path from “I recorded something” to “it’s posted everywhere like magic.”
Automation isn’t fancy. It’s just fewer clicks between your idea and your publish button.
If you can “drop a file in one folder,” you can run a whole content factory.
Hands-free is great… until it posts something unhinged at 2:07 a.m. Add an approval gate.
The Big Picture: What We’re Automating
Here’s the exact work we’ve been doing with ChatGPT—now turned into a pipeline:
- Take an input (SRT transcript, notes, PDF, outline, idea dump).
- Generate a full blog post (around 1400 words) in the right voice.
- Create supporting assets (titles, snippets, Facebook post, YouTube description, tags, CTAs).
- Store everything neatly (so it’s reusable and searchable later).
- Repeat consistently—without reinventing the wheel every time.
That’s the dream: you press one button and a complete “content packet” pops out. (Yes, I want the button to feel dramatic—like launching a rocket—but I’ll settle for “doesn’t crash.”)
Step 1: Build a “Content Factory” Database in Notion
Notion works best when your inputs are predictable. So instead of random pages everywhere, create one main database. Think of it like a control panel for every piece of content you make.
Here’s a simple structure that plays nicely with automation:
- Content Title
- Status (Idea → Drafting → Needs Review → Approved → Posted)
- Source Type (SRT / PDF / Notes / Audio)
- Source Link (Drive/Dropbox link, or pasted text)
- Transcript / Raw Text
- Blog Output
- Facebook Post Output
- YouTube Description Output
- Tags / Hashtags
Then create a Notion template so every new entry starts the same way. Automation loves structure. Humans love “I’ll remember where I put it.” Humans are adorable. Automation is not impressed.
Step 2: Decide Your Trigger
Make needs a starting gun. You pick what event means “go.” Two clean options:
Option A: New Notion item
You create a new row, drop in the transcript (or link), set Status = Ready. That status change triggers everything.
Option B: File added to a folder
You drop an SRT into a folder. Make detects it, creates a Notion row, and begins the pipeline. If your eyes are tired, this is a gift because it’s one action: drop file here.
Step 3: Normalize Your Input
If the input is messy, the output gets messy. So before you ask ChatGPT to write, you want your content in a clean, predictable format.
In real life, transcripts come with timecodes, weird line breaks, and that one moment where captions decide your name is “Jason Lorde… Lemon… Laird?”
So the trick is to standardize what you send into the model. Even a basic “handoff” structure helps:
- Transcript text
- Title idea (optional)
- Tone rules
- Required links and CTAs
- Any “must include” notes
Standardize once, and suddenly every run feels consistent instead of “spin the wheel and hope.”
Step 4: Make Is the Assembly Line
Here’s the rule that saves you endless headaches:
Make should move data. ChatGPT should think.
- Trigger: New Notion item or new file in folder.
- Get content: Pull transcript/text from Notion (or download the file).
- Call ChatGPT: Send a structured request for outputs.
- Update Notion: Save the blog + social outputs into your database fields.
- Branch (optional): If “Approved,” push to Blogger draft, Google Doc, or scheduling tools.
Think of Make like conveyor belts and switches. It’s not there to be clever. It’s there to be reliable. The clever part is you designing the flow once so you don’t have to think about it 200 times.
Step 5: The ChatGPT Instructions (Where the Magic Actually Happens)
When Make calls ChatGPT, the secret is repeatability. You do not want a one-time “perfect prompt.” You want a prompt that works every single time.
So instead of “write me a blog,” your instructions should be more like a job posting:
- Voice rules (clear, practical, friendly; a little humor + smart satire)
- Length target (about 1400 words)
- Structure rules (headings, short paragraphs, scannable lists)
- Required links (YouTube + Spotify)
- CTAs (subscribe, share, comment)
- What NOT to do (no weird formatting, no filler, no prompt talk)
That’s how you get consistency. And in the future, the better the model is at reasoning, the less you’ll see those “it did 90% of what I asked… then got creative with the other 10%” moments.
Step 6: Quality Control (Because Fast Mistakes Are Still Mistakes)
You don’t want a fully hands-free system that occasionally posts something unhinged at 2:07 a.m. (Ask me how I know. Actually don’t.)
1) A Human Approval Gate
Make generates the draft, then sets Status = Needs Review. Nothing posts until you flip it to Approved.
2) A Sanity Checklist
Have ChatGPT produce a short checklist at the bottom of the Notion entry, like:
- Does the blog include the YouTube + Spotify links?
- Is it close to 1400 words?
- Does it have at least 2 CTAs?
- Any obvious typos or repeated paragraphs?
Step 7: Packaging the Output Like a Real Creator (Not a Random Text Dump)
Once the blog is written, you want it to drop into a format that’s easy to publish. That means predictable headings, clean spacing, and “blocks” that feel intentional (not accidental).
So your automation can output:
- Publish-ready blog
- Facebook post (shorter, punchier, one link, one hook)
- YouTube description (CTAs, credits, links, hashtags)
- Tag bundle (ready to paste)
That’s how you stop “creating content” and start shipping content.
Premium Next Upgrade (Where This Gets Spicy)
Here’s the next-level move: turn this from “I get a blog draft” into “I get a full production packet that’s basically a tiny invisible team.”
- Auto-brief: Make writes a short “Episode Brief” in Notion before ChatGPT drafts anything.
- Multi-output in one pass: Blog + Facebook + YouTube description + tags all generated together and saved into separate Notion properties.
- Reusable blocks: Store CTAs + affiliate deck + credits once, then inject them automatically.
- Approval gate: Nothing goes public until you flip Approved.
- One-button publish: When Approved, send to Blogger draft + queue socials (or just stage them for you).
That’s the “gives you your life back” version. Not because you stop creating… but because you stop babysitting the boring parts.
Creator Desk Essentials
These are the small upgrades that make long sessions easier and keep the workflow smooth.
Logitech MX Keys S
Slim, quiet, reliable keys with smart backlighting—my default typing surface for long writing sessions.
Check price →Logitech MX Master 3S (Bluetooth Edition)
Comfort sculpted, scroll wheel that flies, and multi-device switching that just works.
See details →Elgato Stream Deck +
Physical knobs + keys for macros, audio levels, and scene switching—editing and live controls at your fingertips.
View on Amazon →BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2 LED Monitor Light
Even illumination without glare, so the details stay crisp into the late hours.
Buy now →Anker USB-C Hub (7-in-1)
USB-C lifeline: HDMI, SD, and the ports modern laptops forgot. Toss-in-bag reliable.
Get the hub →Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Additional Reading
If you liked this workflow build-out, here’s a related read that fits the same “outside-the-curve creator life” theme:
-
The Day Ads Arrived: When Your Creative Work Starts Paying You Back
What it feels like when the machine you built starts printing proof-of-life (and why it changes how you work).
Next Steps
Want to follow the experiments as I build this automation into a real creator pipeline?
Subscribe on YouTube:
http://bit.ly/44ArQcq
Prefer audio and behind-the-scenes thinking?
Listen on Spotify:
https://bit.ly/41Vktg6
Final thought: The goal isn’t to automate your creativity. The goal is to automate the nonsense that blocks your creativity. Let the robots carry the boxes. You decide what goes in them.
And if you’re reading this thinking, “I’m not a tech person,” good news: neither is half of my workflow. It’s basically duct tape, good labels, and a polite AI assistant that doesn’t judge me when I name a file final_final_v7_ACTUALLY_FINAL.
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