Automation Operator

Who this is for

• You have shipped an automation that runs without you, and you can show it running.
• You are happy being paid nothing until it works, because you can tell an idea that earns from one that does not.
• You move in weeks, not months.
• You will pick a niche and defend it, rather than ask which one to use.

Not for you if you need the specification expanded before starting, want a retainer against future profit, or your portfolio stopped running the day the client stopped paying.

The job

Build a media machine that runs without a person in it. It finds creators, offers each one a free written feature, and when they accept it writes the article, builds the carousel, generates the images, publishes to five accounts and asks the creator to co-post so their audience sees it. Then it repeats, unattended, until a feature on the account is worth paying for. Forbes charges roughly $3,100 a year for exactly that. The full specification exists, stage by stage, tools named and costs checked.

What you build

Stage	The work
Surface	Five accounts, one niche, one identity.
Source	A list of creators with contactable emails, from public data before any paid index.
Ask	Personalised outreach at volume, real sender, working opt-out.
Transform	Their approved post into a long article in a human voice.
Package	The article into a seven-slide carousel, every image generated.
Distribute	Publish through one API, then request the co-post.
Instrument	Four numbers weekly: yes-rate, cost per asset, borrowed reach, days to revenue.

The three gates

You are measured on these and nothing else.

Gate	Date	What has to be true
1. It runs	Tue 5 August 2026	The pipeline runs end to end without you touching it, and has published one article and carousel about a real creator who said yes in writing.
2. It repeats	Tue 26 August 2026	Thirty features from thirty separate consents, three co-posts accepted, four numbers reported.
3. It earns	Tue 30 September 2026	First money in: a brand deal, a sponsorship, or a paid feature.

Miss Gate 1 and it ends that day, with nothing owed either way.

Pay

No salary, no retainer, no fee, no expense budget. You are paid out of the profit the machine makes. Two ways: build it and hand over something that runs with nobody inside it, or build it and stay running it. The second pays more. The share is agreed on the first call.

Rules

1. Free tiers and open source until it earns. The budget is zero. Anything paid needs a yes first.
2. Unattended or unfinished. A stage that needs you every day is not done.
3. Consent before production. Nothing is written about a person before their yes is in writing.
4. Email, not bulk direct messages. Those get accounts banned.
5. The company owns the accounts, domains and data. Your share is of the profit and survives whether you keep operating.

How to apply

Two things. One automation you built that still runs without you, with a way to see it running. And three lines on the niche you would point this at, and why the people in it have money to spend on being seen. No CV.