It just surpassed a $1B valuation, joining private US companies like SpaceX and OpenAI. Unlike those companies, you can invest in EnergyX today. Industry giants like General Motors and POSCO already have. Why? EnergyX’s tech can recover 3X more lithium than traditional methods. Now, they’re preparing 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land for commercial production. Buy private EnergyX shares alongside 40k+ people at $11/share through 2/26.

Invest in EnergyX Today

_{This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.energyx.com. Under Regulation A, a company may change its share price by up to 20% without requalifying the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.}

Just a couple of months ago, I was working 55-60 hours a week.

Not because I had too many clients. Not because I was crushing it with growth.

Because I was doing the same repetitive bullshit over and over again.

Sending follow-up emails. Updating spreadsheets. Moving data between tools. Scheduling calls. Sending invoices. Chasing down payments. Reformatting documents. You know the drill.

The work that doesn't move the needle but somehow eats your entire day.

Here's what really pissed me off: I knew most of this could be automated. I'd read the articles. Watched the tutorials. Even bought a couple courses.

But every time I tried to build an automation, I'd get stuck, frustrated, or realize it would take longer to set up than to just do it manually.

So I kept doing it manually. For months.

Then one Saturday morning, I snapped.

I was sitting at my desk at 9am on a weekend, manually copying client data from one spreadsheet to another, and I thought: "This is fucking stupid."

So I blocked the entire day. Grabbed coffee. Opened Make.com. And built my first real automation stack.

By Sunday night, I had seven automations running. By the end of the week, I'd gotten 11 hours back.

Not theoretical hours. Real hours I could actually see in my calendar.

Today I'm walking you through the exact automations I built, how long each one took, and how much time each one saves every week.

You can build this entire stack this weekend.

THE PROBLEM WITH "JUST AUTOMATE IT"

Everyone tells you to automate. No one tells you where to start.

So you try to automate everything at once, get overwhelmed, and give up.

Here's the truth: you don't need to automate everything. You need to automate the seven things that eat the most time.

For most founders, those seven things are:

If you automate just these seven workflows, you'll get 8-15 hours back per week.

That's not an exaggeration. That's what I tracked when I built this stack.

Here's how to do it.

AUTOMATION 1: THE FOLLOW-UP ENGINE

This was the biggest time suck in my business. Hands down.

Every day I'd open my inbox and spend 30-45 minutes sending follow-up emails:

It felt productive because I was "doing work." But it was soul-crushing repetitive work.

The Automation:

I built a system in Make.com that automatically sends follow-ups based on triggers:

Trigger 1: Proposal Sent

Trigger 2: Invoice Sent

Trigger 3: Call Completed

Build Time: 90 minutes for all three sequences

Time Saved: 4 hours per week (I was manually sending 40-50 follow-ups per week)

Tool: Make.com (https://www.make.com/en/register?pc=dkcapital)

AUTOMATION 2: THE DATA SYNC MACHINE

I was spending 2-3 hours per week moving data around.

Client fills out a form → I copy their info to my CRM → I copy it to my project tracker → I copy it to my invoicing system → I copy it to my email tool.

Same data. Five different places. All manual.

The Automation:

One form submission triggers a cascade:

All of that happens in about 8 seconds. Without me touching anything.

Build Time: 60 minutes

Time Saved: 2.5 hours per week

Tools: Make.com + Go High Level (https://www.gohighlevel.com/?fp_ref=your-friend-frank72)

AUTOMATION 3: THE MEETING COORDINATOR

Scheduling calls used to be a nightmare.

Back-and-forth emails. "Are you free Tuesday?" "Actually Wednesday works better." "Morning or afternoon?" "How about 2pm?" "Can we do 3pm instead?"

Then after the call: manually logging notes, setting follow-up tasks, sending recap emails.

All manual. All time-consuming.

The Automation:

Part 1: Scheduling
I use Calendly (or Go High Level's built-in scheduler) with automated confirmation and reminder emails.

Part 2: Pre-Call Prep
24 hours before the call, Make.com pulls their info from my CRM and sends me a prep brief with:

Part 3: Post-Call Follow-Up
Immediately after the call ends:

Build Time: 45 minutes

Time Saved: 1.5 hours per week

Tools: Go High Level + Make.com

AUTOMATION 4: THE INVOICE TRACKER

I used to manually track invoices in a spreadsheet.

Which ones were sent. Which ones were paid. Which ones were overdue. Who needed a reminder.

Every Monday morning I'd spend 30 minutes updating the sheet and sending reminders.

The Automation:

Now the entire invoice lifecycle is automated:

I don't touch it unless something breaks.

Build Time: 75 minutes

Time Saved: 1 hour per week

Tools: Make.com + QuickBooks (or whatever invoicing tool you use)

AUTOMATION 5: THE CONTENT MULTIPLIER

I publish a lot of content. Newsletter 3-4x per week. LinkedIn posts. Occasional long-form stuff.

I used to manually cross-post everything:

2-3 hours every week just moving content around.

The Automation:

Now when I hit publish on Beehiiv:

I write once. It publishes everywhere.

Build Time: 90 minutes

Time Saved: 2 hours per week

Tools: Make.com + Buffer + Beehiiv (https://www.beehiiv.com?via=Dan-Kaufman)

AUTOMATION 6: THE LEAD ROUTER

When someone fills out a contact form or books a call, I used to manually figure out what to do with them:

Every single lead required a manual decision.

The Automation:

Now Make.com routes leads automatically based on their answers:

If they're looking for strategy: Books them on my strategy call calendar, starts the strategy prep sequence

If they're looking for done-for-you: Sends them the Done-For-You info pack, books them on a scope call

If they're looking for DIY: Sends them to my Automation Pack offer, starts the DIY nurture sequence

If they're not a fit: Sends them a polite "here are some resources" email and adds them to my general newsletter

Zero manual decision-making. Zero missed leads.

Build Time: 60 minutes

Time Saved: 1.5 hours per week

Tools: Make.com + Go High Level

AUTOMATION 7: THE WEEKLY DASHBOARD REFRESH

Every Monday morning, I used to manually pull data to see where my business stood:

I'd pull data from five different tools, drop it in a spreadsheet, and review.

30-45 minutes every Monday.

The Automation:

Now Make.com pulls all that data automatically every Sunday night and drops it into my Notion dashboard.

When I open my laptop Monday morning, everything's already there. Clean. Organized. Ready to review.

Build Time: 75 minutes

Time Saved: 0.75 hours per week (plus the mental load of "I need to pull the report")

Tools: Make.com + Notion

THE FULL STACK BREAKDOWN

Here's the complete picture:

Automation 1 (Follow-Up Engine): 90-minute build, 4 hours saved per week
Automation 2 (Data Sync Machine): 60-minute build, 2.5 hours saved per week Automation 3 (Meeting Coordinator): 45-minute build, 1.5 hours saved per week Automation 4 (Invoice Tracker): 75-minute build, 1 hour saved per week
Automation 5 (Content Multiplier): 90-minute build, 2 hours saved per week Automation 6 (Lead Router): 60-minute build, 1.5 hours saved per week Automation 7 (Dashboard Refresh): 75-minute build, 0.75 hours saved per week

Total Build Time: 8 hours, 15 minutes (one weekend)

Total Time Saved: 13.25 hours per week

I said 11 hours in the subject line because I rounded down and because some weeks I don't have as many leads or meetings. But even in a slow week, I'm saving 9-10 hours minimum.

That's not "I felt like I had more time" savings. That's "I used to work Saturday mornings and now I don't" savings.

YOUR AUTOMATION BUILD WEEKEND

You can build this entire stack this weekend. Here's the plan:

Saturday Morning (3 hours): Core Infrastructure

Saturday Afternoon (3 hours): Client Management

Sunday Morning (2.5 hours): Content & Lead Flow

Sunday Afternoon (1.5 hours): Reporting & Launch

By Monday morning, you'll have 11+ hours back in your week.

No new hires. No massive expense. Just a weekend of focused building.

THE TOOLS YOU ACTUALLY NEED

You don't need a massive tech stack for this. Here's what I use:

Make.com (https://www.make.com/en/register?pc=dkcapital) - This is the brain. Every automation runs through Make. Free plan works fine to start.

Go High Level (https://www.gohighlevel.com/?fp_ref=your-friend-frank72) - CRM, email sequences, calendar scheduling. All-in-one solution that plays nice with Make.

Notion - Project tracker and dashboard. Free plan is plenty.

Buffer (https://buffer.com/join/f774ae158b5a27bed1416cc8a0ff7dcc9a7ec66cd4b941db1ae92f69c4c79ce4) - Content scheduling across platforms.

Beehiiv (https://www.beehiiv.com?via=Dan-Kaufman) - Newsletter platform that integrates smoothly.

That's it. Five tools. Total cost if you're on free/starter plans: Maybe $100-150 per month.

ROI: 11 hours per week at even a modest $50/hour value = $2,200 per month in time saved.

Do the math.

GET YOUR TIME BACK THIS WEEK

Most founders are working 50-60 hour weeks doing work that could be automated in a weekend.

You're not being lazy if you automate. You're being strategic.

Your time should be spent on high-value work: strategy, sales calls, client delivery, building your business.

Not copying data between spreadsheets at 9pm on a Wednesday.

Build this stack this weekend. Get your time back.

If you want the exact Make.com workflows, all my templates, and step-by-step setup videos for each automation, it's all in the Dead Simple Growth Automation Pack.

Normally $97. This week it's $27.

Reply with AUTOMATE and I'll send it over.

If you want me to just build this entire automation stack for you (custom to your business, all seven workflows plus whatever else you need), that's the Dead Simple Growth Sprint. $5,000, done in 30 days.

Reply with SPRINT for details.

Either way, stop working nights and weekends.

Automate the repetitive stuff. Get your time back.

Dan

P.S. If you're not using Superhuman for email yet, you're leaving time on the table. The keyboard shortcuts alone save me 20-30 minutes per day.