Can you explain your onboarding process and what you sell?
It's a good question. My AI automation agency sells AI automations—primarily a monthly strategy service where I outline the shortest line path a person needs to take to improve their business growth. I actually do the building, so I’ll build out the automations and so on. My coaching arm offers a zero‑to‑one roadmap on how to get up and running with an AI automation agency, showing people what they need to do to build an agency similar to mine, plus some higher‑level coaching and one‑on‑one sessions for specific problems. So I’m selling quite a bit. As for onboarding, if you’re talking about my AI automation agency, it’s pretty simple. I get them on a kickoff call; on that call I have them sign up to all the platforms they need—usually about 10 to 15 minutes. I have a step‑by‑step list for each platform, pretty straightforward. Then I guide them through it via screen share; Zoom’s annotation feature lets me draw on the screen as they sign up. I’ll literally underline the button they need to press, tell them to go over here, click that setting, etc. At the end I’ll do two‑factor authentication, log into all the services on my end to verify I have access, and then I also cover timelines and expectations, get them laughing, and get them excited and stoked about me solving a problem they’ve had for a while. That’s how my onboarding works in a nutshell.
Thanks for the question. Shipping an automation isn't really needed—you don't need to ship it at all because the shipping happens during the building process. You start by talking with somebody who likes what you have to offer, get them on a call, discuss the problems and solutions, do quick math to see how much the problem is costing them, and pitch your solution at a fraction of that cost—usually around 30%. Once they agree, you send a proposal, they sign it and pay you a little money. I like doing a 50/50 upfront and then upon delivery structure for a small intro offer, then transitioning to a retainer fully paid up front at the beginning of each month. After they sign, you need to get them on a kickoff call to walk through expectations, scope, timelines, and confirm the scope again before starting work—this is your point of highest leverage. If there are project problems, deal with them now while you have some of their money and haven't done work yet, rather than at the end when they're holding money out on you. On the kickoff call, you also have them sign up to the necessary platforms (like Make.com or N8N) so they have everything they need upfront and you never have to bug them again for access; the only messages you'll get are positive happy updates. As a Make.com partner and NN verified creator, I get preferential treatment like a thousand free operations via affiliate promo codes, which adds 3‑5% to your margin because they use your affiliate links and trust you as an authority. You have no liability for recurring payments—they take that on. Before the end of the call, you have all the credentials so you never have to bug them again. That's how you actually go about doing the shipping. To find clients in the really early stages of your automation agency, join Maker School.
I don’t actually sell these AI agents myself; I don’t find them super valuable right now. I don’t think they’re more valuable than a traditional linear left‑to‑right automation, and the agency aspect doesn’t make my clients’ lives better or solve a unique problem I couldn’t just build easier with a linear flow. In general, what you should do is first try to sell the thing before you’ve built it. Go out, hear what people have to say, learn their pain points and what they want, and assemble enough validation or proof that the service is in demand. Only then should you actually go about building it. AI agents are a bit special because they’re very easy to set up—you literally just drag and drop an agent node and say a couple of magic words and it works about 80 % of the time. If you’ve already built it, I get it, but for future reference, sell first. When you sell it, tell them your goal is to make the process as easy as humanly possible, that you don’t want to lock them into anything, and you want to give them maximum freedom and autonomy. Walk them through setting up NADN (the no‑code drag‑and‑drop platform I used) on their account. Have them sign up with their credentials, then use those credentials to access the account—this makes handoff easy if they later choose not to work with you. It also makes managing everything simple and gives them total control, which I think is fundamentally important. Have them sign up for the cloud plan, don’t self‑host, and run the NNA agent on that cloud plan for them. On the kickoff call, make sure you get all credentials, handle any two‑factor authentication, and take care of Google console access if needed (with make.com you just need Google account access). When you do the implementation, hold their hands: make them open the browser, open NADN, sign up, and then get the username and password. Ensure any accounts you use for this purpose aren’t created with OOTH, otherwise you’ll have Google‑based 2FA, which is a pain. Confirm they can sign in, then you’re building it all on their account. Don’t sweat the building before you sell—sell first, then build after.
First, I’d join a community like Maker School—not just to use my own products but because membership gives you deep discounts (often a 10x return) on AI platform credits and payment‑processing fees. With those savings I’d start by learning a visual drag‑and‑drop automation builder (such as the n platform) for about four to six hours; that teaches you the fundamentals of systems, workflows, JSON, HTTP requests, etc., which accelerates everything else. Next I’d spend another four hours on a Claude‑code course that covers the technical setup, agent communication, model selection, and so on—roughly ten hours total. After that foundation, I’d devote virtually all remaining time to acquiring customers; the first 90 days would be less than 1% spent on learning and the rest on outreach. You need a customer to actually enter the arena, so I’d use Maker School’s day‑by‑day accountability to hit call and outreach targets, then loop back to upsell from any lower tier to higher ones as the relationship grows.
All agencies share the same fundamental shape: lead generation at the top (via ads, cold emails, cold calls, etc.), which funnels into a sales event (typically a discovery or closing call). From there you onboard the client, fulfill the promised service, and manage the client—checking in on progress—before delivering the project, possibly with a revision cycle that leads to another transformation event where you resell them. I’ve documented this shape in the three automation agency sales flows and a roadmap to $25k/month automation that you can download for free. The real key to success isn’t becoming a top AI or automation specialist; it’s becoming a good business person who understands the container (the agency model) and what you put inside it. This mindset can be learned in a couple of weeks, and you don’t need to be expert at the specific service you’re offering.