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Automation: Reality vs Social Media

Automation: Reality vs Social Media

Here's what the gurus don't tell you...

August 21, 2025

If you find yourself scrolling through X or YouTube and see some guru promise you $10K/month selling AI automations, today’s issue is for you. Why?

Because 99% of the AI automation content you see on social media is BS.

The majority of which is designed to sell courses / coaching on how to sell AI automation services to other businesses (versus the reality of selling automations when you don’t have a million-dollar personal brand generating leads for you).

So, as someone who recently got into the industry - and currently charges four-figures for custom automation builds - I thought I’d pull back the curtain a bit.

Content Creation Automations Are Useless

Let's start with the biggest lie: That AI-generated content has value.

Every day I see people “claim” they’re selling content automations for thousands of dollars. The reality? No business owner with half a brain is going to pay premium prices for generic AI slop.

It's like selling a hammer and calling yourself a carpenter.

Real businesses don't want more content…they want better content. They want emails, X threads, LinkedIn posts, and YouTube scripts that convert, build authority, and move the needle.

And for better or worse, a push-button TikTok clip generator does none of those.

Even worse, the creators pushing this stuff know it doesn't work. In fact, most of the pretty n8n pictures they share online were built using AI and have never ever been used in a real business.

But those kinds of flows are easy to demo, look impressive in a 15-second Reel, and prey on people who think more content equals more customers.

What Actually Works (The Boring Stuff)

Real automation clients pay for solutions to specific, expensive problems.

As an example, a guy on Reddit said he walked into an auto repair shop planning to sell an AI phone answering system. But once he got there, the owner wasn't interested.

Instead, he mentioned how quote requests were taking too long because customers didn’t include their complete vehicle information when they reached out. And the owner only checked emails at night, so incomplete requests resulted in 24-48 hour delays.

Which, if you know anything about lead gen, is a deal killer.

The solution? A simple automation that:

Identifies quote requests with complete info and sends an SMS summary
Auto-replies to incomplete requests asking for missing details
Alerts the owner when customers respond with the missing info

No 97 step flows. No automated TikTok videos. Just a boring automation that saves time and prevents lost sales.

That's what real automation looks like.

The Airtable Myth

The idea you can build legitimate automations using Google Sheets or Airtable as the underlying CRM is ridiculous.

Sure, that stuff works for solopreneurs and creators.

But outside that tiny niche, real businesses have real data infrastructure. They use PostgreSQL, MySQL, or at a minimum, proper CRM systems.

So if you think you can charge $10k for some n8n flow that leverages Airtable as a "database solution," you're not ready to sell to serious clients.

I don’t say this to discourage you. Instead, I mention this because real businesses have to follow laws around consumer privacy and record-keeping. And because of that, 99% of them absolutely will not trust their business-critical data to a glorified spreadsheet.

The Agency Lie

What they want you to believe: Starting an “agency” is the path to rapid wealth.

The reality?

Most businesses don't want agencies for automation work. They want experts. Mainly because most decision makers at these companies have no idea what automation is or how it works.

So when you pitch them via your “agency” despite the fact you’re a total beginner, what you’re really signaling to them is: "I outsource this to cheap freelancers who don't understand your business. Wanna hire me?”

The more effective path?

Become the person who understands a specific industry deeply enough to build automations that matter. Pick manufacturing, healthcare, legal services, whatever. But pick something and go deep.

The money isn't in being a generalist who can build any automation. It's in being the specialist who can build something that solves a high-leverage problem. Specifically, one tied to massive time savings or massive revenue generation.

What to Focus on Instead

If you want to build real automation businesses, here's your roadmap:

1 - Stop watching YouTube tutorials and start talking to real business owners about real problems.

2 - Learn databases. Understand how data flows through real business systems.

3 - Avoid social media automations entirely. They're oversaturated and low-value.

4 - Pick hard problems. The harder the problem, the more someone will pay to solve it.

5 - Build internal tools, not content generators. Think project management systems, lead qualification workflows, market data analysis.

The trend is moving toward complex, multi-agent AI systems and custom in-house solutions. Meaning, TikTok toys are out. You need to deliver real solutions.

The Real Opportunity

I call these gurus Automation Bros for a reason: Their business model is built on selling workflows to other automation builders.

On the flip side, the real key to success with automation lies in solving expensive problems for businesses that don't even know automation exists yet.

That auto repair shop owner wasn't looking for an automation solution. He was looking for a way to stop losing customers. The automation was just the vehicle for helping him solve his problem.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the businesses paying real money for automation work don't care about your n8n skills or your ChatGPT integrations. They care about results.

Figure that part out and you’ll have a legitimate business on your hands.

And if you’re interested in learning more about automations and vibe coding…

Make sure to follow me on X…

And join Sentient’s brand-new AI Automations members community (it’s free : )