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#32 · AI Automation YouTube Is Overrated (+ My Growth Strategy)

youtube ↗Agency Operations

Which process should I automate first: outreach, nurturing, closing, onboarding, or fulfillment?

First, don’t jump straight to automation—build a solid, money‑making process first. Only automate a step if the process already works and there’s clear value in automating it. Look at each part of your workflow: outreach, nurturing, closing, onboarding, fulfillment. Closing is tough to automate without advanced AI, so focus on onboarding and fulfillment where automation is realistic. Sketch out your process (e.g., with a Whimsical mind map) before touching any automation tools. For example, a simple onboarding flow might start with a payment trigger (Stripe), then create a ClickUp folder, add a list, insert standardized tasks, send an onboarding email with a calendar link, update the client status when a call is booked, run the call, fill out an onboarding form, send a creative brief to AI to pre‑generate assets, turn those into a Google Doc and slides, and add a tracking doc. Once you have that map, see which steps can be hooked up via APIs or webhooks—like using a payment‑intent‑succeeded webhook to automatically create the ClickUp folder and list. Steps that can’t be automated via API (e.g., creating the folder or list) would instead trigger a manual action, such as a Slack notification to your project manager, which then starts the next automatable segment. In short, optimize the process first, make sure it’s profitable, then automate as much as you can.

automation prioritizationprocess optimizationonboardingfulfillment

Related answers

youtube ↗AI & Automation

Hey Nick, you make great content. It's almost exactly what I'm looking for—no BS, just actual use cases and useful things businesses need. Thank you. How do you decide which business processes are worth automating with AI? Do you perform an audit? I guess it's about targeting the most revenue potential and fastest development time, but what checklist or process do you follow when evaluating automation potential within a business? I'd love if you could walk us through your decision-making process. Also, what are your top three most requested or recurring automation solutions you build for other businesses? I can put this together ASAP—cold email, my proposal generator, and a one-click CRM based on CRM templates I've shown with 1‑second copy in my previous copywriting business.

In terms of the checklist, I use an automation agency sales skeleton. Instead of a full script, which is hard to deliver naturally, I give a skeleton—a big list of topics to talk about. I start by building rapport, then set the schedule, and ask the big question: 'Why me now in this?' Because asking 'why now' usually gives the person all the ammunition needed to sell them. For example, they might say they need X, Y, Z, and that they love that I talked about X, Y, Z and think I'm the best person to help solve those. Then I know everything I need to sell them. Next, I ask about the actual audit questions: always map the customer journey from start to end of fulfillment. That means identifying where the customer first sees you—whether it's a Facebook inbound lead ad, a referral email thread, a cold email inbox, or a cold call. Then I walk through every step: lead generation, sales process (how a lead becomes a sales call, sending a calendar link, booking or not), closing the deal (proposal, agreement, invoice), onboarding, fulfillment, post‑fulfillment retention, and getting them back into the business. If any step is missing, I note what to do. By running the customer through this series and having them map their pipeline from start to finish, you usually know everything needed to make a reasonable analysis of their main bottlenecks and problems. Another useful question is revenue per employee (or cost per employee/contractor). For example, when I made over $100,000 a month with just me, my revenue per employee was $100,000, while most other businesses have $15,000–$20,000. This helps map businesses from high to low revenue per employee; the lower the revenue per employee, the more you can systematize the business, and the higher it is, the trickier it becomes. Finally, I also ask some sales history questions.

ai automationprocess auditcustomer journeyrevenue per employee
youtube ↗AI & Automation

How can I set up an automated invoice‑collection system for my agency, and how should I sell it to clients?

The automation works by using a Google Sheet as a simple database of invoices you’ve sent. For each invoice you record the date, then calculate how many days have passed. Based on the age you trigger follow‑up emails: after 7 days send follow‑up A, after 14 days send B, and so on (7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 days). The sheet can be built in any system you prefer—Google Sheets, a CRM, Stripe, QuickBooks, etc.—as long as you can pull the invoice date and payment status. A second automation watches for incoming payments (e.g., via Stripe) and marks the invoice as paid, so only unpaid invoices continue to receive follow‑ups. The email templates are simple reminder messages that reference the invoice and ask if the client needs anything to expedite payment. This low‑cost setup automates the entire follow‑up process without manual effort.

invoice automationgoogle sheetsstripe
youtube ↗Agency Operations

How do you handle pass-through credits for services like Appify, Chatp, and Instantly? Do the credits come out of your build, and how do you set this up?

No—I just get the client to pay for it. When I say pass through, the clients are paying for it. If you want to set it up, you have to do it manually, which sucks. You could update it once a month. If you have their Stripe, you could theoretically auto‑build using Stripe after calculating monthly token usage, but I don't think that's a good idea. The credits don't auto‑build; they stay manual. If you want to do pass‑through, tell the client how much the tokens cost at the end of the contract and then handle it. If you need it ongoing, you need a way to calculate token usage automatically. It's annoying, so I don't recommend it. Snapo thanks me for the free game. I record videos with OBS Studio; zooming or switching views is done live, not in post‑production, which cuts editing time and removes the need to publish to post. I've been building and documenting an automation as well. The fastest way to scale depends on where you are. If you lack demonstrated value, inbound won't work—you need proven results. I've built two agencies, one at $92K and another at $72K, and my agency will soon far exceed those numbers because I've grown the team. I've shown success doing what most people want: starting an agency in the agency space. People want to know how to do that, make money with it, bootstrap, and do cold emails. I'm good at all that, so when I talk about it it's like listening to a bank robber rate his top 10 heists, Lionel Messi rate his top 10 plays, or LeBron talk about dunking. I'm not claiming to be the LeBron of AI automation, but I am the LeBron of AI automation in terms of experience. If you don't have equivalent experience, inbound won't work. Your oldest video is 10 months old; if you've made less than $20K in 10 months (about $2K/month), you'd be better off starting with cold outreach instead of documenting your approach. I hate to say it, but that's the truth. The fastest way to scale really depends on your starting point. Hopefully I've made my point clear. I didn't start with YouTube videos; I made money first, got good at delivering value, then realized I could talk about it for hours, found it affordable to create content, gained authority, and started making videos—and it worked.

pass-throughcreditsStripescaling
youtube ↗Agency Operations

I'm building an automated onboarding system for a $500 agency service. What elements should I include, which platform should I use, and should the onboarding forms be filled by my client or my client’s client?

I’d start by wiring automation between the stages of the onboarding flow. When a new client signs up, automatically invite them to a Trello board for the first stage and populate the board with all the resources they’ll need. Add check‑boxes for each required step, and use automations (or a webhook) to monitor when those boxes are completed. Once the checklist is done, move the card to the next stage, which can trigger additional actions such as sending contracts or setting up accounts. This Trello‑based workflow works well for agencies. As for the forms, you can handle them either way: have your internal team fill them out on behalf of the client, or send the forms directly to the client’s client. Many agencies choose to collect the information themselves first, then forward the finalized request to the downstream client, which keeps everything safe and ensures the information is captured correctly.

onboardingautomationtrelloagency