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➡️ If this is your first video: I’m Nick Saraev. I run LeftClick, an AI growth agency. We’ve done work for large brands you’re likely familiar with, like Mr. Beast, Anthropic, OpenAI, and a few others.
In plain English: I help people build systems that generate leads, close deals, and scale businesses, mostly using new AI models like Claude. I also make videos about how to do all of that here on YouTube.
It hasn’t always been this way. My family immigrated from a Soviet bloc country (People’s Republic of Bulgaria) in the 90s. They worked extremely hard, and we were broke for a very long time. I grew up wishing for more security, stability, and freedom over my own life.
I don’t have a programming degree, and never took formal education for IT or workflows. I learned it all myself from YouTube videos like you’re watching now.
As for my path: I started my first business at 19 in college. We threw events (mostly parties) at campus bars, and charged people for entry.
That failed to provide me enough money to pay my bills, so at 21, I started another business, a door-to-door marketing agency.
From there, every year, I would start several companies, over 10 in total. I did this in a variety of industries, like e-commerce, photography, videography, SaaS, credit repair, etc. Each grew slightly more profitable, until, at 25, I would start 1SecondCopy, a content writing company. A friend and I eventually scaled that to over $90,000/m. It was my first taste of financial independence, and the reason I’m here today.
Since starting my journey, I’ve grown a fair bit of capital. To diversify my income, at 30, I began investing in other businesses and advising companies on how to grow in the AI era. These include SaaS businesses, like Clairvo, agencies like Dental Connect, and more.
Collectively, the businesses that I own outright or are a part of generate over $10 million per year. This returns far more than the 5-10% you would get in the stock market, but also requires a lot of my active time. There’s a tradeoff there, but I greatly prefer active investing, where I have control over the entities I’m a part of.
It wasn’t easy to get here. But I did in the end! For anyone on their own entrepreneurial journey: I wish you luck, happiness, and perseverance. You can make it!
Summary ⤵️
Is AI automation still worth it in 2027? Lots of people have been asking, and in this video I explain my beliefs on the subject.
To make a long story short, agents are getting extremely powerful at autonomous automation, and it’s unlikely we will be the sole owners of this space moving forward. For that reason, it’s pertinent we upskill immediately and begin doing things like: a tremendous focus on sales and marketing, workshops, education, and consulting.
Chapters
0:00 AI automation is not going to last forever
2:10 Automation Bench and GDPval
3:14 We saw this with website builders
4:31 Website designers that still make bank
5:57 The knowledge asymmetry bet
7:05 The floor is always rising
7:56 Is AI automation even worth getting into in 2027?
10:27 The difference with our industry
12:52 The first half of 2027
14:46 After 2027, I don’t know
15:33 The phasing out of drag and drop builders
16:22 Move your outputs to a higher bandwidth medium
17:10 From implementation to upskilling
18:32 Teaching teams Claude Cowork
19:12 Short-term growth hacking opportunities
19:58 Sales and marketing are 100x as valuable
21:19 The most profitable year of AI automation to date
21:52 I didn’t make this video to scare people
22:25 Maker School
source
44 Comments
@barbeque44 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
wow
@jeremywilsman6878 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
you got a real shitty lamp and curtains and ceiling fan for someone who's made '10 million dollars with ai'
@AdityaRaj272. · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
This will either age like fine wine or perhaps rotten milk. Let's see which one would it be.
@rebelfrogstudios375 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
I have made the decision and pivoted my website to focus on small size businesses as first a c-suite coach to companies that dont have any and deliver turn over recomendations after getting to know thier company/customers. Then and only then do we discusss any AI automation which I dont involvement at the techinical level. Just find grind and missing KPI data and create it for them and yes using AI. enterprise client will require much more dialied in high level AI skill stack which I am not interested in.
@ivanmadethis · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
This is my new bible!
@shootermcgavin4999 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Boomers got a house, a stay at home wife, kids, 2 cars, cheap college all on avg job. I want that.
@shootermcgavin4999 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
I kinda just give up. Too much competition. Wish I could just be a boomer.
@vladimirardelean3655 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
if AI goes super intelligence no course will save you, the economy will crash. including the money made on courses.
@everypuga · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
You’ve made 10 million dollars and you have that busted ass Walmart lamp every college kid has?
@AIEarnersClub · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
With the Cowork workshops, do you come back a week later and check which skills the team is actually using?
@trtoer · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
so everybody becomes a used car salesman
@fernandocisneors175 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Hubris is the gate to gain new clients.
They think they can do it themselves.
We need to mitigate against hubris to stay relevant. We do that by having tools that we own.
@cjjean-o7x · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
his body language and surroundings negate that he has made 10M
@samjak11 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
The point about picking skills that outlast the tools is useful. Understanding the actual business process seems to matter more than any one platform.
@undrash · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
12:51 Yes, yes, we’re God’s little soldiers. The righteous pioneers of the new era.
Lmao gtfo guys. Get that bag, whatever. But be honest. This is a 0 sum game, and the people getting the short end of the stick are the ones who can barely keep their children fed between pay checks.
@januszo.2180 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Dude keep being you. Love it. There is a lot of authenticity about your style.
@ushanel · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Great video, Nick! @nicksaraev Your take on where the market’s heading really clicked for me.
I’m thinking about joining Maker Skool and had one question first. Are the current modules built around the tools people are actually using now, like Claude Code, Codex and AI workshops? Or do new students still start with the older stuff? I’d love to jump straight into modern workflows. Thanks for keeping it so forward-looking!
@badallmann · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
21:27 dating
@jamesrhross · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Great video Nick. Thanks for your effort and time. I think next will be teaching their ai assistants, not the people. Domain knowledge for digital assistants.
@hasanx8317 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
In the old days (which weren't terrible) some one who wanted to launch a website had several options which didn't involve hosting or coding skills. It was called WordPress, and you could have it up and running in 5 minutes … There were other solutions as well like squarespace etc.
@wowclients · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
are you teaching this in maker school pro version already?
@michaelmartinez2322 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Are you kidding me ??, you are more than extraordinary at what you do !
@yelloworb98 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Who asked for this?
@tradernparadise · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
I don't agree that AI as of right now can automated a complete HVAC automated solution without proper prompting, direction, AI PMing and Evals.
@mattbulow4366 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
The irony here is that the AI companies and models will also take over the AI consulting. Anthropic and OpenAI are already on this, they call them Forward Deployed Engineers. Sure, it's good to be an FDE, but you'll need to get hired by Anthropic or OpenAI. Their goal is to take over the entire thing.
@lukejbonner · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Humans are never going to "be replaced". That's a fallacy. Look up "Jevon's Paradox" and you'll see that this is never the case. Coal made work and factory automation cheaper, but all that happened is more coal was used and more work was done because it was cheaper. When computers came in, they promised a "paperless office", but instead paper usage massively increased. The same is true with this AI bubble promising to "replace humans", which is ridiculous. People are tired of it. People want to interact with people. That's part of our DNA and it can't be escaped. "Replacing humans" is a marketing pitch by tech bros because humans are the most expensive and difficult aspect of business. They're also what create innovation.
AI, which is essentially just fancy automation (and automation isn't new) will empower people to build more. Basic economics will show you that you cannot "replace" humans. Our entire society runs on it. It doesn't even make sense. You need people to work, make money and spend it to keep things turning. That's also never changed or going to change.
@lukejbonner · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Was literally having this conversating on the weekend. When everybody is able to do the same thing, you need to focus on what's unique. When I was growing up, you could charge $5,000 for a standard website, then came WordPress, then Wix, Weebly, etc., now AI. I used to get paid a lot to do marketing and spent 5 years learning what was a very technical and specialised field. Now, Meta has AI do most of it (of course not the high end stuff – just laborious work).
In a sea of sameness, be the difference. We're still all human beings and business is about trust, connections and relationships. It's about providing real value and services that other people don't want to deal with. When you make everything easy and accessible, it's easy for people to jump in and offer things, but that doesn't make them an expert in business or marketing or sales.
Real business hasn't changed. Everyone is just distracted by the shiny objects. Don't put AI and automation on the frontend – that's what everyone is doing – put it in the engine room. You are the unique aspect of your business. You are the human that people want to do business with – not a machine.
@SamchukDenis · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Warm greetings from Moscow. I really enjoyed the video. Unlike most hysterical takes out there, this one is sane, ironic, and measured. I share your conclusions overall. Yes, there is a risk that AGI will create a "black hole in the center of the Earth" — and it’s a healthy approach to admit that we cannot control it directly per se… well, some people think they can, but they usually just attract the attention of asylum orderlies. 🙂
The idea that the focus will shift heavily toward business understanding, with sales and marketing remaining the eternal drivers, is incredibly sound. These thoughts are deeply grounding; they keep us focused on what we can actually control.
@FlowWithSasha · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Sales pitch
@Chris-iv3bc · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
this guy is an AGI believer lol
@EETechStuff · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
I've been an Electrical Engineer and Engineering Manager in large corporations for over 45 years, and lets not forget that for most large businesses and corporations, setting up a simple website or sorting emails are the least of their worries. Many big corporations are dealing with extremely complex, multi-year projects, involving engineering, design, procurement, manufacturing/construction, QA and so on. They're often dealing with internal/proprietary documentation and software, industry and regulatory requirements and standards, internal processes and procedures that may or may not be documented, and on and on. I'm talking about corporations doing, for example, commercial/military aircraft engineering, design and manufacturing; consumer and/or commercial communications equipment (from smartphones to worldwide networking); infrastructure such as roads, water, the electric grid, automobile manufacturers, commercial architectural firms etc. Figuring out if AI is even appropriate for some of these processes ( for example, is it practical to have AI replace designers or assemblers, etc), as well as figuring out how to actually implement it (API's for internal and/or proprietary software, modifying QA or procurement policies and procedures to implement AI, etc.) is a huge multi-year task. So yeah, I think being the expert in, for example, how to develop and integrate, say, API's for AutoCAD and integrate that into your design workflow might be something of value for quite a while.
@C0ZMICWIZARD · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
There are still people paying tens of thousands of dollars for someone to set up a simple Hubspot instance for their business.
Knowledge gap closure is never a problem.
@shwanjaf8954 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
You ruined it 12:17
@user-ns7qw9hd5y · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
i have the feeling someone has automated "liking" every youtube comment on his videos…
@Rockstarcrazy411 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Sooo do I need to sell a course or something to make 10mil from AI automations?
@malkum61 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Excellent video, thank you! Great thoughts.
@PaulIsibor3 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
This guyy literally said this last year and got a lot of criticism, I'm glad I took his advice.
@justchill-y3n · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
I would like to know : where do you have your this sources for your opinion from ?
@wtpwtp · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
The technocracy wants to slow boil everyone into an omni subscription-based paradigm & full control over everyone. You will own nothing & like it.😢
Say goodbye to freedom, privacy & self-determination if you can't see this & don't proactively reject this technocratic paradigm.😢
@inkarnator7717 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
I am sold on the capabilities, but you fail to mention one crucial point about the automation industry as a whole: It is not making money right now. It runs entirely on investor optimism. It is possible that in the long term only a fraction of the present compute capabilities will be available for the public. The forecast logic shouldn't be "It will only get better from here". Maybe it will, but that is not a given.
@modelandmoneyhq · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
The contrast you drew in the first minute between having to micromanage models and point them at the API docs and endpoints versus now just describing what you want really lands. Hard to argue the automation-as-a-service window stays open forever after hearing that.
@NikolaStojanovic-w4c · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
Hey Nick, when you say we will replace tools like Zapier or n8n, what do you mean? I use n8n a lot and would like to know who is going to be replaced.
@theshreyansjain · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
law firm name idea: Appendix Partners Inc.
@Mythix2 · October 29, 2026 at 11:46 pm
tokencost 10 cents, lol yeah right