How to automate the unsexy stuff

(so you can actually do the work you care about)

Author

Taylor Quade
April 10, 2025

There’s a part of building a business no one really talks about.

Not the launch. Not the scaling strategy.
The in-between.

The part where you're trying to actually run the thing.
Payroll. Timesheets. Reporting. Admin.
All the stuff that keeps the machine moving, but never feels worth the time it eats up.

We used to ignore it. Push it off. Handle it manually and move on.
Because “we’ll fix it later.”

But “later” never comes…

You can now build a real, functional iOS app with one sentence.

AI has been blowing our minds lately.

I tested an app builder that turns text prompts into fully functional iOS apps—and pushes straight to TestFlight or the App Store.

It’s called Rork, and it’s wild.

I literally typed:
“Build an Airbnb-style app where users can list and book properties.”

Rork generated it, deployed it, and gave me a working app.

I’ve seen a lot of “text-to-X” demos, but Rork is the first that actually delivered a full-stack app I could test instantly.

Want to try it yourself? It’s free to test: rork.app

Suddenly, you’re spending 4+ hours a week chasing timesheets and copy-pasting numbers into spreadsheets just so people can get paid on time.

That kind of busywork kills momentum.
Not all at once—but slowly. Quietly 🫠

So we stepped back and asked ourselves:
What if we treated internal ops with the same care we give our customer-facing stuff?

What if we built tools for ourselves the way we build for others?

That question changed everything.

We used Knack to build a simple Employee Timesheet app—starting from one of their templates, then layering on what we actually needed:

  • Team members clock in/out via a web app

  • Hours are logged in real-time

  • Data rolls up into weekly reports

  • Payroll gets what they need without the spreadsheets and emails

Completely with no code. Just a smarter way to handle something we were tired of thinking about.

And here's the weird part: once we automated this “unimportant” part of the business… we started moving faster everywhere else.

There’s something powerful about knowing the ops are handled. It gives you headspace.
It frees up attention.
It makes you feel like you’re running a real business—not just slapping stuff together.

We break it all down in this week’s video. If you’ve been meaning to “fix your backend stuff” for months now—start here 👇

Let’s make the unsexy stuff feel smart again.

Start learning AI in 2025

Keeping up with AI is hard – we get it!

That’s why over 1M professionals read Superhuman AI to stay ahead.

  • Get daily AI news, tools, and tutorials

  • Learn new AI skills you can use at work in 3 mins a day

  • Become 10X more productive

Come share what you’re building 🤝

If this inspired an idea—or you’re already building something like this—we’d love to see it.

Our new community, MakerThrive, is now in beta. It’s a space for makers, solo builders, and creators to share progress, get feedback, and find collaborators.

No gatekeeping. No trolling. Just good people building cool stuff.