Is Automation KILLING Your Business in 2026?

Every single day, I see it on my feed: "You need this AI platform," "AI has completely automated my life," and "If you aren't automating everything, you're falling behind".

But after years of building a business that earned over $1 million in GCI in our first year alone, I have a different perspective. Is all this noise helping you, or is it creating a "technology wormhole" that’s sucking the personal touch out of your deals?.

In 2026, the question isn't whether you should use AI—it's whether you're using it to build a bridge to your clients or a wall between them.



The "Shiny Object" Trap

I recently sat in on a mastermind call where the hot topic was a "listing GPT". One agent spent six to seven hours building a tool where you could pop in an address and it would scrape Zillow to analyze the health of the listing.

Everyone was "oooh-ing" and "ahhh-ing," but I had to chime in with a reality check. I asked: "Where’s the distribution?".

If you spend all day building a fancy tool but you don’t have a YouTube channel or an Instagram following to send people to it, you don’t have a business—you have a hobby. Plus, if that AI tool tells a buyer to offer $85,000 less than asking, and they take it as gospel, you’ve just automated yourself into a corner.

The 60-Hour Year: Why I’m Not Buying It

I was at an event recently in Dallas where an "AI expert" claimed he only worked 60 hours total in 2025. He said every aspect of his business was automatic.

It sounded like the dream until he admitted he only closes 8 to 12 homes a year.

Look, if you can live off that, more power to you. But for most of us in big cities, that’s not going to cut it for a family. I don’t want to work 80 hours a week, but I’m perfectly fine with a solid 40-hour week if it means making millions. Don’t let the lure of "total automation" deflate your production.

Where to Automate vs. Where to Stay "High-Touch"

In our business, we are very high-touch on the things that actually close deals. We use automation to handle the "early stages" so we have the energy for the high-impact stuff.

Technical Steps (High Automation):

• Ghosted Campaigns: If a client stops responding, they go into a 30-day automated text and email sequence. We’ve had "ghosts" reappear months later thanking us for following up.
• Zero-Cost TC: We use a Transaction Coordinator who gets paid at closing, and that fee is passed to the client. It’s saved us roughly $275,000 over five years.
• CRM Pipelines: We use GoHighLevel to move cards from "Coming to Town" to "Under Contract" without manual data entry.

Relational Steps (Low Automation):

• Face-to-Face Zooms: We push for Zoom calls because we want to look people in the eye.
• The "Bieber" Experience: People watch our videos on their TVs—65% of our viewership, actually—so by the time we meet in person, it’s like they’re meeting a celebrity. You can’t automate that kind of rapport.

Get to Work

My cautionary tale is this: AI won't replace you, but an agent using AI effectively might. However, content—real, valuable content—comes from your own knowledge and experience.

If you don't have experience yet, go explore neighborhoods in Frisco or Plano and share what you learn.

Stop looking for the magic button. Document your process, automate the tasks you have to do twice, and get back to being a human being. That’s how we’re currently projecting $140 million in business this year—not through robots, but through relationships.

Want to learn how we leverage YouTube to stay "Passively Prospecting"? Grab a copy of the book or subscribe to the podcast. Let's get to work.