How to Automate Your
Business with AI

Here's a number that might bother you. The average founder spends 68% of their time on operational work. Not building. Not selling. Not thinking. Just... operations. Email, CRM, follow-ups, scheduling, reporting.

That's where your time goes. And that's exactly where AI agents come in.

I'm Johann. I'm 21 & I run a SaaS called DMpro. About half my business is automated by an AI agent named Jars. Morning briefings, lead outreach, CRM management, overnight code builds. All handled without me touching it.

This isn't some future vision. It's running right now. And the whole setup costs less than a Netflix subscription for your whole team.

Let me show you exactly how to do the same thing.

Why most "AI automation" advice is useless

Google "AI business automation" and you'll get a wall of corporate fluff. "Implement an AI strategy." "Build a roadmap." "Assess organizational readiness."

That's consulting talk. It sounds smart but means nothing.

Here's what actually works: pick a task that eats your time, build an AI agent to handle it, and move on to the next one. No roadmap. No strategy deck. Just results.

The problem with most automation advice is that it's either too vague (just "use AI!") or too technical (here's 47 Python scripts). Neither helps if you're a founder who needs stuff done yesterday.

What I'm gonna walk you through is the practical middle ground. Real automation. No code. Immediate results.

The 3 levels of AI automation

Not all automation is the same. Most people are stuck at Level 1 thinking they've "implemented AI." Here's the full picture:

Level 1: AI-assisted (you're still doing the work)

This is where most people are. You open ChatGPT, type a prompt, get an answer, copy-paste it somewhere. Maybe you use it to write emails or brainstorm ideas.

It's helpful. But you're still in the loop for every single action. You're the bottleneck. The AI is just a slightly faster version of Googling something.

Level 2: AI-automated (tasks run without you)

This is where things get interesting. You set up an AI agent with specific tasks & it runs them on a schedule. Morning briefings at 7am. Lead scoring every hour. Report generation every Friday.

You're not in the loop anymore. The AI does the work & delivers results. You just check the output when you feel like it.

Level 3: AI-operated (the AI runs systems)

This is where Jars lives. The AI doesn't just run tasks. It runs entire systems. It monitors your CRM, decides which leads to prioritize, writes outreach, adjusts based on responses & escalates only when something needs a human decision.

Most founders can get to Level 2 in a week. Level 3 takes a month or two. But even Level 2 saves 3-4 hours daily.

What to automate first (and what to skip)

Don't try to automate everything at once. That's how you burn out & give up.

Start with tasks that are:

• Repetitive: You do them daily or weekly, same pattern
• Time-consuming: Each one eats 30+ minutes
• Low-judgment: The decision-making is straightforward
• Data-heavy: Lots of info to process that's tedious for humans

Skip tasks that need creative vision, sensitive human judgment, or relationship nuance (for now). Your AI agent will get there eventually but start with the obvious wins.

The best first automations for each business type

If you run a SaaS: Morning briefings, CRM updates, lead scoring, support ticket triage. Check the SaaS founders guide for the full breakdown.

If you run an agency: Client reporting, project status updates, proposal generation, time tracking summaries. See the agency owners guide.

If you freelance: Invoice follow-ups, client communication, project scoping, lead qualification. Read the freelancers guide.

If you create content: Research, SEO analysis, distribution, repurposing, analytics summaries. Check the content creators guide.

The automation stack (what you actually need)

Forget the 47-tool Zapier + Make + Notion + whatever setup. You need two things.

Claude Code is your builder. It's Anthropic's AI coding agent. You tell it what to build in plain English & it writes the code, debugs it & ships it. No programming knowledge needed on your end.

OpenClaw is your operator. It turns Claude Code into a persistent AI agent that runs 24/7. Memory, scheduling, tool access, multi-step workflows. It's the operating system for your AI employees.

That's the whole stack. Two tools. ~$100/month. And it replaces thousands in labor costs.

Full setup guides: Claude Code Setup | OpenClaw Tutorial

Step-by-step: Automate your first business process

Let's do this for real. I'll walk you through automating a morning briefing. It's the best first automation because it's useful immediately & teaches you the whole system.

1. Map the process

Write down exactly what happens when you do your morning check-in. For most founders it looks like:

1. Open email, scan for important messages
2. Check CRM for new leads & deal updates
3. Review calendar for today's schedule
4. Check metrics dashboard
5. Decide priorities for the day

That's 45-60 minutes every morning. Your AI agent will do it in 30 seconds.

2. Set up the agent

That's literally your agent's job description. Plain English. The AI figures out the technical implementation.

3. Connect your tools

OpenClaw has integrations for most business tools. Gmail, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Google Calendar, Slack, Stripe, whatever you use. Each integration takes about 5 minutes to set up.

You're basically giving your AI employee access to the same tools you use every day.

4. Test it

Run it manually first. Check the output. Is it useful? Too detailed? Missing something? Adjust the description & run again.

This is the beautiful thing about AI agents. You iterate by changing English, not by debugging code. It's like giving feedback to an employee.

5. Put it on autopilot

Once you're happy with the output, flip it to automatic. Now every morning at 7am, before you even open your laptop, you've got a summary waiting in Slack.

That's your first 45 minutes saved. Every single day. Forever.

The next 5 automations to build

Once your morning briefing is running, here's the natural progression:

1. Lead scoring

Your agent monitors new signups, website visits & engagement data. It scores each lead based on criteria you define (company size, engagement level, fit). Hot leads get flagged. Cold ones get dripped.

2. Outreach automation

Your agent takes those hot leads & writes personalized outreach. Not generic templates. Actual personalized messages based on the lead's company, role & behavior. It queues them for optimal send times.

This is how Jars generated a $48k pipeline overnight for DMpro. Automated lead scoring + personalized outreach + optimal timing = results while you sleep.

3. Follow-up sequences

No lead responded? Your agent follows up. It knows when to nudge, when to change the angle & when to back off. All based on patterns it learns from your best-performing sequences.

4. Customer follow-ups

Existing customers need attention too. Your agent tracks usage patterns, flags accounts that might churn & sends proactive check-ins. Retention goes up. Revenue stays stable.

5. Weekly reporting

Every Friday, your agent compiles a full business report. Revenue, pipeline, customer health, key metrics. Delivered to your inbox or Slack. No more spending Friday afternoons pulling numbers from 5 different dashboards.

Real numbers from real automation

Let me be specific about what happened when I automated DMpro with Jars:

The time savings alone are worth it. But the real value is what you do with that time. I went from spending 4 hours on ops to spending 4 hours on product & growth. That compounds.

Common automation mistakes (and how to avoid them)

Trying to automate everything on day one

Pick one process. Get it working perfectly. Then move to the next. I see people try to automate their entire business in a weekend & end up with nothing working properly.

Being too vague with instructions

"Handle my leads" means nothing to an AI agent. "Score new leads based on company size, engagement level & industry fit. Flag anything above 70 as hot. Send a Slack notification for hot leads." That works.

Not testing before automating

Always run manually first. Check every output. Make sure it's actually correct & useful before putting it on autopilot. One bad automated email to a customer is worse than no email at all.

Automating the wrong things

Don't automate tasks that need human creativity or sensitive judgment (yet). Automate the boring, repetitive, data-heavy stuff first. That's where the biggest time savings are anyway.

Ignoring the output

Automation doesn't mean "set it & forget it." Check your agent's work regularly. Give it feedback. Tighten the instructions. Think of it like managing a new employee. Hands-on at first, then gradually hands-off as trust builds.

The cost comparison

Let's talk money.

Factor	AI Agent	Virtual Assistant	Employee
Monthly cost	$100-200	$500-2,000	$4,000+
Hours available	24/7	20-40/week	40/week
Setup time	1-2 weeks	2-4 weeks	1-3 months
Scalability	Instant	Hire more	Hire more
Sick days	Never	Sometimes	Regular
Training	Update config	Meetings, docs	Weeks of onboarding

For the detailed breakdown, read AI Agents vs Hiring a VA.

FAQ

Getting started today

Here's your action plan. No fluff, just steps:

1. Write down every repetitive task in your business (10 minutes)
2. Pick the one that wastes the most time
3. Set up Claude Code (15 minutes)
4. Install OpenClaw (30 minutes)
5. Build your first agent using the step-by-step guide
6. Join AI Operators for templates, configs & help

The community is free. You'll get the exact agent configs I use for DMpro, production-tested templates & direct access to ask questions.

You're already spending 4+ hours a day on stuff an AI agent could handle. Every day you wait is another day wasted.

Stop doing the work. Start operating the system.