Episode Summary:
Scott Todd reveals his biggest business mistake: spending months building automation software when he should have been closing deals. In this raw confession, he shares how “productivity theater” cost him $75,000+ and nearly tanked his business – and why most real estate investors are making the same mistake right now.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why automation is killing your deal flow (even though it feels productive)
- The 3-question test to know if you should automate anything
- The Investor’s Priority Pyramid (IPP) and why sequence matters
- How Jeff Bezos built Amazon by doing things that don’t scale
- When manual work is actually better than automation
- The real reason you’re avoiding the hard work in your business
Key Takeaways:
- The Wrong Sequence: Most investors automate at deal flow level when they should be at order level
- The 10x Rule: Don’t automate anything you haven’t done manually at least 10 times
- The Bezos Model: Prove it works → Document it → Automate it (in that order)
- The Hidden Cost: Building systems for a business that barely exists wastes months and tens of thousands in lost opportunities
Resources Mentioned: