Automating By Design: Your Business, Life, and Legacy

Kathy Swanson
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to "Automating By Design: Your Business, Life, and Legacy" where we have real conversations and talk about practical strategies for visionary experts and creators who want to scale without sacrificing their voice, values, or sanity; as well as ways real people use habits, processes, and systems to uplevel their lives and legacy. Our host, Kathy Swanson, a Business AI and Automation Guide, author, and speaker with Integrated Marketing Werx, is known for cutting through the noise and translating big visions into practical workflows that actually get implemented.

  1. Jun 30

    “It Was Never Built”: The Childcare System Problem No One Names | ft. Mark Larson #Shorts

    Most people say the childcare system is broken. Mark Larson says that’s the wrong diagnosis entirely. 👉 “It’s not broken — we just never made the system in the first place.” That single re-frame changes everything. You can’t fix whatwas never built. You have to build it from the ground up. Mark is the Executive Director of Early Matters San Antonio,and he’s doing exactly that. For example, they are leading the early childhood communityto launch a search tool that brings together licensed childcare centers, home-based providers, Early Head Start, public pre-K, school vouchers, and subsidy programs — all in one place, with an eligibility screener built in. 👉 For the first time, a parent in San Antonio will be able to say: “I have a 1 and a 3-year-old — who can take both, starting next week?” And get a real answer. 👉 This is what solving an asystemular problem actually looks like. Watch the reel and share with someone who thinks about theimportance of early childhood learning and access. 🎙️ Clip from our Automating By Design conversation with Mark Larson of Early Matters SA Check out the second of five segments with him at https://open.spotify.com/episode/5BNIkByLlSX52rYpIEcy2Z?si=4u6WsPQNTwSTeZ-FSlMhQQ         #EarlyChildhood #Childcare #SanAntonio #ChildcareAccess#WorkingParents #WorkforceDevelopment #CommunityBuilding #ChildhoodDevelopment #SystemsThinking #ImpactLeadership #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #EarlyMattersSA __ Connect with Mark Larson (Early Matters San Antonio): ◼️mark.larson@earlymatterssa.org ◼️https://earlymatterssa.org/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/EarlyMattersSA/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/earlymattersSA/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/company/early-matters-san-antonio/ __ Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson __ References to: ◼️ Find San Antonio Area Childcare https://childcare.twc.texas.gov/find/welcome __ Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call with Kathy https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call __ Order your copy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈

    2 min

  2. Jun 30

    From Asystemular to Searchable: San Antonio Is Transforming Childcare Access | ft. Mark Larson

    In the second segment of this Automating By Design sub-series with Kathy Swanson and Mark Larson of Early Matters SA, we look at why childcare is so difficult for families.   ✅What if the problem with childcare isn’t that the system is broken — but that a system was never built in the first place?   Mark calls this being “asystemular,” and it reframes the entire conversation around early childhood access. Unlike K–12 education, which has districts, funding structures, and accountability systems: the zero-to-kindergarten window has no equivalent infrastructure.   ✅And families are left to Google their way to something as critical as early childhood care.   Early Matters SA is changing that. They are leading the early childhood community to launch a comprehensive search tool — think Zillow meets Hotels.com for childcare — where families can filter by cost, location, language, educational philosophy, quality rating, and subsidy eligibility. With an integrated eligibility screener that tells families exactly what funding they qualify for.   ✅The harder challenge is provider participation.   With 95% of childcare providers operating as small businesses, keeping vacancy data current requires genuine behavior change. While the system is designed to make it as simple as a 13-second update, busy providers will likely de-prioritize weekly updates. As Kathy notes, a confused mind doesn’t stay — and accurate data is the price of entry if providers want to attract and serve parents. . . . Connect with Mark Larson (Early Matters San Antonio): ◼️mark.larson@earlymatterssa.org ◼️https://earlymatterssa.org/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/EarlyMattersSA/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/earlymattersSA/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/company/early-matters-san-antonio/   Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson   Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call withKathy ◼️https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call   Order yourcopy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈   References to: ◼️ Find San Antonio Area Childcare https://childcare.twc.texas.gov/find/welcome   ◼️ "Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit" by Brene Brown https://www.amazon.com/Strong-Ground-Lessons-Leadership-Tenacity-ebook/dp/B0DVBPP4NR/   ◼️ "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things" by Robert Fulghum https://www.amazon.com/Really-Need-Know-Learned-Kindergarten-ebook/dp/B000FC1LRY/   ◼️ Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program https://educationfreedom.texas.gov/   ◼️ "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" by James Clear https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break-ebook/dp/B07D23CFGR/   #EarlyChildhood #Childcare #SanAntonio #ChildcareAccess#WorkingParents #WorkforceDevelopment #CommunityBuilding #ChildhoodDevelopment #SystemsThinking #ImpactLeadership #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #EarlyMattersSA

    14 min

  3. Jun 23

    “90% of Brain Development Is Done Before Kindergarten” | ft. Mark Larson #Shorts

    Before society spends a single dollar on a child’s education,90% of the brain development that shapes our future employees is already done. That is not a metaphor. That is neuroscience — and it has serious implications for how we think about talent, workforce readiness, and where the real skill gaps come from. Mark Larson of Early Matters SA breaks down why the executive function skills we actually hire for — 👉 Curiosity 👉 Grit 👉 Interpersonal ability 👉 And the capacity to work through hard problems — are largely built by age five.   And why the broken childcare market is not just a family issue. It is a business problem showing up in absenteeism, turnover, andrecruiting costs right now. If you lead a team, own a business, or care about the nextgeneration of talent, this one is worth two minutes of your time. 🎙️ Clip from our Automating By Design conversation with Mark Larson of Early Matters SA Check out the first of five segments with him at ⁠https://open.spotify.com/episode/6uqe0vCWDUzee9HeSBZL7A?si=tIlTZhKIT4GtQ2l_dE58Dg⁠     #EarlyChildhoodEducation #BrainDevelopment #ExecutiveFunction #ChildcareAffordability #FutureOfWork #TalentDevelopment #WorkforceDevelopment#Leadership #TalentStrategy #BusinessLeadership #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #EarlyMattersSA __ Connect with Mark Larson (Early Matters San Antonio): ◼️mark.larson@earlymatterssa.org ◼️https://earlymatterssa.org/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/EarlyMattersSA/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/earlymattersSA/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/company/early-matters-san-antonio/ __ Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson __ Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call with Kathy https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call __ Order your copy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈

    2 min

  4. Jun 23

    Early Childhood, Executive Function, and the Future of Your Workforce | ft. Mark Larson

    In the first segment of this Automating By Design sub-serieswith Kathy Swanson and Mark Larson of Early Matters SA, we talk about how this San Antonio-based initiative is bringing together businesses, families, policymakers, and early childhood professionals to improve access, quality, andaffordability in early childhood education.   Mark opens with some striking realities: ✅90% of a child’s brain development occurs before the first day of kindergarten ✅That means the executive function skills employers value most — curiosity, grit, interpersonal ability, the capacity to delay gratification — are largely formed by age five, well before public education spending kicks in ✅Meanwhile, a broken childcare market is quietly draining businesses through absenteeism, turnover, and lost institutional knowledge, as employees struggle to afford care for their children   Early Matters SA serves as a convening space for everyone in the ecosystem, cutting across political lines to build solutions with broad support.   For families, businesses, and the community at large, the message is clear: investing in early childhood infrastructure is not just a social good — it is a direct investment in the workforce of tomorrow. . . . Connect with Mark Larson (Early Matters San Antonio): ◼️mark.larson@earlymatterssa.org ◼️https://earlymatterssa.org/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/EarlyMattersSA/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/earlymattersSA/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/company/early-matters-san-antonio/   Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson   Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call with Kathy ◼️https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call   Order your copy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈   References to: ◼️ Rocky Horror Picture Show https://www.amazon.com/Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show-Blu-ray/dp/B0FMFWMYH3/   ◼️Sandman by Neil Gaimen Audio Book https://www.amazon.com/The-Sandman/dp/B086WQ7J62/ IMDB https://imdb.com/title/tt1751634   ◼️First Robotics https://www.firstinspires.org/   #EarlyChildhoodEducation #BrainDevelopment #ExecutiveFunction #ChildcareAffordability #FutureOfWork #TalentDevelopment #WorkforceDevelopment#Leadership #TalentStrategy #BusinessLeadership #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #EarlyMattersSA

    12 min

  5. Jun 19

    Good Marketing Is Supposed to Repel People — Here’s Why | ft. Jennifer Navarrete #Shorts

    Good marketing isn’t supposed to appeal to everyone. It’s supposed to attract the right people — and send the wrong ones running. Jennifer Navarrete’s advice for business owners thinking about podcasting: start with your greatest hits. Not sure what those are? Look here: 👉 What pages on your website people visit most 👉 What your sales team hears on repeat 👉 The questions you answer so often you’ve stopped noticing their value Those are your FAQs. Your pain points. Your content foundation. Build a standalone five, seven, or ten-part series around them. Commit to that — and only that. Even if you never record again, you’ll have an evergreen body of work that attracts the right clients and quietly filters out the wrong ones. That’s your calling card. Put it to work. 🎙️ Clip from our Automating By Design conversation with Jennifer Navarrete of Brewing Media #ContentStrategy #Podcasting #RightFitClient#MarketingStrategy #EvergreenContent #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #BrewingMedia __ Check out the fifth of five segments with her at https://open.spotify.com/episode/4dfojgMCodnkmAR8u1fcgD?si=Wm8JNc-IQuSeg8A7xOb_kw __ Connect with Jennifer Navarrete (Brewing Media): ◼️https://brewing.media/ ◼️http://x.com/epodcaster ◼️http://linkedin.com/in/jennifernavarrete __ Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson __ Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call with Kathy https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call __ Order your copy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈

    2 min

  6. Jun 19

    Evergreen Calling Cards & Why Delight Is the Real Conversion Strategy | ft. Jennifer Navarrete

    In the final segment of this Automating By Design subserieswith Kathy Swanson and Jennifer Navarrete of Brewing Media, we bring the conversation full circle with some of the most practical — and provocative — ideas of the entire run.   Jennifer opens with a question business owners oftencan’t answer: what are your greatest hits? ✅Her guidance is a standalone podcast series strategy as is an evergreen calling card that works, even if you never record again. ✅Good marketing isn’t meant to appeal to everyone — it’s meant to attract the right people and send the wrong ones running. Kathy extends that with the concept of delight — and backs it with neuroscience. ✅Drawing from Oren Klaff’s “Pitch Anything” and the crocodile brain framework, she unpacks why business owners lose people in conversations not because the content lacks value, but because it never clears the reptilian brain. ✅Delight is what opens the neural pathway upward — from the reptilian brain through the mammalian brain and into the prefrontal cortex, where decisions are actually made. ✅Content that delights doesn’t just inform. It converts.   This segment closes with a frank exchange on AI: ✅Not AI for AI’s sake, not AI slapped on as a Band-Aid or deployed to fix what wasn’t broken. ✅AI as a tool that enhances what’s already working — or doesn’t belong at all. . . . Connect with Jennifer Navarrete (Brewing Media): ◼️https://brewing.media/ ◼️http://x.com/epodcaster ◼️http://linkedin.com/in/jennifernavarrete   Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson   Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call withKathy ◼️https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call   Order yourcopy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈   References to: ◼️ "Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal" by Oren Klaff https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004H4XL7E/   #ContentStrategy #Podcasting #RightFitClient#MarketingStrategy #EvergreenContent #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #BrewingMedia

    12 min

  7. Jun 17

    What Keeps You From Building Better Systems (& How To Get Past It) | ft. Jennifer Navarrete #Shorts

    “You’re going to make me do MORE work? I’m out.” That’s the real objection most business owners have when theyconsider investing in systems and automation. And honestly? It’s a fair one — if that’s what it actuallyrequired. Here’s how our intensive model actually works: 👉 You don’t bring a business plan. You don’t bring a manual. You don’t prep a deck. 👉 You bring your brain. 👉 You already know your business better than anyone else ever will. The job is to extract that knowledge efficiently — and build the systems around it while you stay in the decision-maker seat. Not the doer seat. The decision-maker seat.   🎙️ Clip from our Automating By Design conversation with Jennifer Navarrete of Brewing Media   #DecisionMaker #BusinessAutomation #ProcessImprovement#BusinessSystems #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #BrewingMedia __ Check out the fourth of five segments with her at https://open.spotify.com/episode/2K0Rkd3c3qPubO8aXgScXB?si=b6012117844141d7 __ Connect with Jennifer Navarrete (Brewing Media): ◼️https://brewing.media/ ◼️http://x.com/epodcaster ◼️http://linkedin.com/in/jennifernavarrete __ Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson __ Subscribe to Automating By Design here: https://www.youtube.com/@automatingbydesign?sub_confirmation=1 __ Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call withKathy https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call __ Order yourcopy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈

    2 min

  8. Jun 17

    From Pain Point to Process: The Model That Keeps You in Decision-Maker Mode | ft Jennifer Navarrete

    In this segment of Automating By Design with Kathy Swanson and Jennifer Navarrete of Brewing Media, we look at what pain-point-to-process thinking looks like in practice.   Jennifer’s example: podcast guests who show up to recording sessions looking and sounding unprepared — a bad product foreveryone. Her solution became a non-negotiable, concierge-style audio/video design session now baked into every workflow, every time — a clean model for how a real problem becomes a permanent system improvement.   Kathy’s example: the biggest obstacle between a client and meaningful process transformation is rarely the work itself — it’s the fear they’ll have to generate even more work to get there.   Her answer is direct: ✅Don’t bring a business plan. Bring your brain. ✅Let her intensive model handle the rest, beginning with a two-hour tech setup session that puts everything in place, followed by a series of focused half-day intensives where the client sits firmly in the decision-maker seat — not the doer seat — while the systems get built around them in real time.   You will hear about how challenges businesses constantly encounter in growth mode can be handled, including: ✅teams stretched thin ✅owners that end up being bottlenecks ✅new hires onboarding into chaos   Discover how the application of simplification and critical thinking equips the creation of high-touch processes with high-tech that builds lasting relationships at every level of the business, while increasing a profitable bottom line. . . . Connect with Jennifer Navarrete (Brewing Media): ◼️https://brewing.media/ ◼️http://x.com/epodcaster ◼️http://linkedin.com/in/jennifernavarrete   Connect with Kathy Swanson (Integrated MarketingWerx): ◼️https://mktgwerx.com/ ◼️https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyswanson2samarketer/ ◼️https://www.instagram.com/samarketer/ ◼️https://www.facebook.com/MktgWerx.KathySwanson   Schedule a complimentary 20-Minute Clarity Call withKathy ◼️https://bit.ly/20min-clarity-call   Order yourcopy of "Automation Works: Turning Your Marketing from a Money‑Pit into a Money‑Making MACHINE!"👉  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KL6KUWK/ 👈   #PodcastDesignSession #DecisionMaker #BusinessAutomation#ProcessImprovement #BusinessSystems #VideoPodcast #AutomatingByDesign #BrewingMedia

    12 min
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Welcome to "Automating By Design: Your Business, Life, and Legacy" where we have real conversations and talk about practical strategies for visionary experts and creators who want to scale without sacrificing their voice, values, or sanity; as well as ways real people use habits, processes, and systems to uplevel their lives and legacy. Our host, Kathy Swanson, a Business AI and Automation Guide, author, and speaker with Integrated Marketing Werx, is known for cutting through the noise and translating big visions into practical workflows that actually get implemented.

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