How does one even start to think like an automation developer? I can never come up with the ideas for automations on the spot.

#75 · The Definitive 2025 Cold Email Stack (+$2.7M Earned)

How does one even start to think like an automation developer? I can never come up with the ideas for automations on the spot.

Never say never. I've been in agencies for about 10 years — I got out of school and started a marketing agency, sent hundreds of proposals, talked to thousands of people, and basically seen the same business model pitched a thousand different ways. When you see something that many times, you start picking up on the trends. My recommendation: don't try to think like an automation developer, think like a business person in general. Every business is basically a pipeline: there's a customer, you pay some money to get that customer, your business adds value to what the customer wants (a project, knowledge, a product, whatever), and at the end you get a higher-quality thing you can charge more for. So there's a multiple on the value of the raw good versus the finished thing. That gives you three or four places to optimize right off the bat: lead gen and sales, fulfillment, and retention. Think of every business through that lens and the automation opportunities become obvious.

automation ideasbusiness fundamentalsmindset

Related answers

youtube ↗Agency Operations

If you're running a marketing agency, what does your thought process look like and how do you structure systems to manage teams and projects?

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.

agency structurelead generationfulfillmentclient management

youtube ↗AI & Automation

What do you recommend for me to start? I feel lost and can't find a good automation to sell; I was thinking about an inbound calling agent for a real‑estate or dentist firm.

Yeah, listen—feeling lost is completely okay. It’s fine to feel lost; the reality is you just have to make a move anyway. In modern entrepreneurship you basically have to lower your bar for what counts as “confident enough to succeed” and then just go for it. Decades ago, when starting a business required a lot more capital, you needed to be far more confident about ROI. Nowadays you can launch an AI automation agency with a couple hundred bucks, as I’ve shown multiple times, so you don’t need to be all that confident. The most important thing is just to get going. The idea that you can’t find a good AI automation to sell isn’t true; it’s that your standard for what counts as a “good” automation is just too high. Use the blueprints I’ve shown you, figure out the simplest three‑ or four‑module system you can, and start selling. Your biggest obstacle is yourself, not the niche or the specific firms you’re targeting. An inbound calling agent for real‑estate or dental offices could be great—just put something together, start talking to real customers with it, and you’ll quickly see how to improve the system into the high‑value solution you’re envisioning.

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youtube ↗AI & Automation

I'm really interested in how automations work. If my goal is to eventually transition into automation as my full-time focus, what types of automations should I start building and selling?

Automations don't let you do anything you couldn't already do manually — they just improve the speed and efficiency of the process. Speed matters for revenue (faster speed-to-lead, more orders fulfilled per unit time, more personalization squeezed in); efficiency mainly saves money. Given that, build and sell 'revenue-proximate' automations — ones close to the revenue line: sales automations, marketing automations, lead-gen automations. Focus on things that help clients make money, not just things that help them save money.

what to buildrevenue proximateautomation types

youtube ↗Niches

As someone with a software development and cyber background who has built sites and one automation pipeline but hasn't done any outbound, offers, or positioning, and is interested in cyber, web app, dev, and automation, what should I focus on and how should I put myself out there to become a one-stop shop?

It's a common problem for beginners to spend too much time thinking about the business model instead of actually doing it. You're likely stuck in your head wondering what niche to pick, how to reach people, and which platforms to use. Rather than overthinking, you should test an idea in the market. Pick three things: choose an outreach minimum per day on platforms you have experience with—like DMs on Instagram, X, LinkedIn, communities, Reddit—and run it for a month without changing anything. After 30 days, if you do about 10 pieces of outreach per platform, you'll have contacted nearly 1,000 people, giving you real data to inform your next step. For example, you might find that your web development offer converts at 2.9% while your cyber offer doesn't perform as well, letting you focus on what works. This approach turns you into a scientist of your own life, gradually carving out the solution space and increasing your chances of success.

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