A side-business owner turned inbox orders into automatic purchase orders
A make.com automation that reads order emails, uses ChatGPT, and drafts a reply with a ready Purchase Order PDF.
This student runs a side business where orders arrive by email, and every one used to mean manual paperwork. During their Mindvalley program they built an automation that does the work for them, from inbox to finished PDF. It is a clear example of how one practical build can give someone their time back.
Before
Orders for their side business landed in their inbox, all formatted in a similar way. Each one meant creating a purchase order by hand, writing the email, and updating spreadsheets for accounting. The work was repetitive and it ate into their time.
“It saves me a bunch of time having to manually create the POs and emails and updating spreadsheets for accounting.”
In their own words
The turning point
In the program they set out to automate the whole chain with make.com. They connected Gmail, ChatGPT and Google Sheets into one flow. When they hit challenges along the way, they used ChatGPT to work through them.
After
Now an automation watches their email for orders and sends the details to ChatGPT to turn into structured data. It fills a Google Sheets template, creates the Purchase Order PDF, and prepares a draft email with the attachment. Their records stay updated without the manual steps.
What it lets people do
The flow takes a plain order email and turns it into a finished purchase order and a draft reply, ready to send. It keeps accounting spreadsheets current along the way, so the owner reviews instead of retyping.
What they learned
They found that setting up a real automation was easier than expected. Challenges came up, but with ChatGPT as a guide they could navigate each one and keep going.
“I love how easy this was to set up.”
In their own words
See the work
Automated order processing: from inbox to PDF purchase orders was built during AI Mastery.
Read the full submission
Written 20 January 2025 Submitted by the storyteller
Every story is written by a Mindvalley student or by someone our teachers have worked with. How we collect and check stories
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