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What. A. Year. 2024 has been absolutely wild in the AI automation space, and I’ve learned so much that my brain is practically bursting! Last week I dropped a YouTube video breaking down all the good stuff (if you’re more of a visual person, you can catch it there)… …but I wanted to share these insights with you in newsletter form too… Before we dive into this weeks email a quick note that our entire team will be out of office from December 22 – January 6th. All customer service enquiries will be replied to from Jan 6.
Back in early 2024, I was running my pet education company. I was looking to step back and potentially sell it, which meant I needed to automate A LOT of stuff. That’s when I noticed this tool called CastMagic doing some cool things with podcast transcripts. They were charging $100 a month for helping automate podcast and summit transcripts. We were doing about 20 interviews a month, and loved how much it helped. But I figured we could probably do ourselves for like… $2-3 max. Surely it wouldn’t be that hard. Classic entrepreneur moment, right? “I can build this cheaper!” So I dove headfirst into the rabbit hole of automation tools like Make.com and the ChatGPT API. What started as a way to automate my own business turned into something much bigger – BigMoves was born, and we’ve served almost a thousand customers this year with our automations. Wild, right? Through this journey, I’ve learned some pretty mind-blowing things about where AI automation is headed, what’s actually working right now, and what most people are getting completely wrong. Let me break it down for you… The Future of TeamsThe old way of business was building big teams of specialists – you know, having your content marketer, your designer, your social media guru, and your copywriter all as separate roles. But here’s the thing: that model is about to get flipped on its head. Instead of having a specialist for every task, we’re moving towards something way more interesting: content agents and AI workflows managed by generalists who understand the bigger picture. Think about it – rather than having a content marketer writing all your copy, you’ll have someone who knows how to orchestrate AI systems to create, refine, and distribute content at scale. It’s less about being a specialist in one area and more about being an architect of workflows. These new roles will be filled by people who can see the entire process – from idea to execution – and know how to build and manage the AI systems that make it all happen. There’ll be a period of transition. Most small business owners will be slow to adapt. But those that do will benefit massively. The Biggest Mistake Everyone’s Making (Including Past Me 😅)When we first discover automation tools like Make.com, our instinct is to build everything directly inside them. I get it – I did exactly the same thing. We put all our prompts, logic, and workflows directly into the Make.com scenarios, treating it like the central hub for everything. But here’s the problem: when you build this way, you’re creating a rigid system that’s hard to modify and scale. Every time you need to update a prompt or tweak your workflow, you have to dig into Make.com’s interface, find the right scenario, and make your changes there. It’s slow, inefficient, and frankly, a pain in the neck. The better approach? Use a base tool like Airtable, Smart Suite, Google Sheets, or even Notion to store and manage your prompts and workflow logic. These tools are built for easy editing, collaboration, and quick updates. Make.com should just be the engine that executes these workflows – not the place where you store and manage them. This simple shift in approach makes your automations far more flexible and user-friendly. Your team can easily update prompts without touching the automation itself, you can test different versions quickly, and scaling becomes much more manageable. The Real Players Haven’t Even Entered the Game YetRight now, the AI automation space is dominated by newcomers who are discovering these tools for the first time. While they’re building innovative solutions, there’s a massive untapped opportunity that very few people are talking about: the industry veterans with decades of specialized knowledge haven’t started automating their workflows yet. Let me give you a concrete example. I have a friend who’s a business operations consultant. She transforms multi-million dollar companies by implementing systems that remove founders from day-to-day operations. Her method is straightforward but powerful:
Now imagine taking her proven systems – which already work for companies from $2M to $500M in revenue – and enhancing them with AI automation. This is the kind of expertise that’s still sitting on the sidelines of the AI automation revolution. When veterans like her start building AI-enhanced versions of their proven systems, that’s when we’ll see truly transformative tools emerge. Want to Make Money Right Now? Here’s How 🤑Everyone’s talking about becoming an AI automation agency, but let me tell you – that’s actually the harder path right now. Why? Because you’re basically trying to convince business owners to try something new, and we all know how much people love change (spoiler: they don’t). The real money maker? Taking these automation skills and applying them to existing, proven business models. Like, imagine going to YouTubers and saying, “Hey, I’ll build you a killer presence on X (formerly Twitter) for $500 a month, posting 50 times a week.” The best part? You can automate 80% of it! There is a massive arbitrage to be made in taking old business models, automating them, and undercutting the incumbents while improving the quality. One of our community members, Christopher, went from zero to $10K monthly in just 35 days using this exact strategy. The Big Revelation: Systems > AutomationsThe biggest lightbulb moment for me this year? Understanding that we need to approach AI automation using systems design thinking, not just by automating workflows. It’s like the difference between building a house room by room without a plan (automation) versus designing the entire blueprint first (systems). I actually managed to take a workflow from 40 scenarios down to just 5 by asking one simple question: “What can I remove from this system and still have it work?” Sometimes less really is more! 2025 Predictions (Cue Dramatic Music 🎭)
The Two Big Moats for 2025Besides product and manufacturing moats, the 2 big things to focus on moving forward are…
What’s Next?I’d love to hear your thoughts on all this! What are you seeing in the AI automation space? Any predictions of your own? Leave your comment on the Youtube Video here. Well… Merry Christmas. |
