“My company runs for me”: How Make helped a father build a business fuelled by automation

Jeff Arnold is the Founder and President of 4Spot Consulting, an automation firm with a team of 15 employees across the globe. The company helps businesses with $5m+ in annual revenue streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs. But it hasn’t always been this way. In 2008, the recession ended Jeff Arnold’s career in the mortgage industry. When his financial security evaporated, he faced a choice: work for someone else again, or build a business of his own. He chose the latter. When Jeff started 4Spot Consulting, he offered services like SEO, website design, and social media management. But within the first year, he discovered automation. And it changed everything. Jeff took on a new goal: changing people's lives by reclaiming time. First, he used automation to transform his own business. Then, he started helping clients do the same. Over the next decade, he shifted his focus exclusively to automation consulting. Today, Jeff runs a thriving automation consulting firm from his home office in Las Vegas. He has a completely remote workforce. Near-zero overhead. And something most business owners only dream of – a company that runs itself. But Jeff’s real success lies much closer to home. He could become the father he wanted to be. The father who drives his children to their sports activities. The father who sits in on every practice. The father who cheers on at every match.

“The most important thing for me was making sure that I was at all the activities my kids were doing. With automation, I could be at my son's baseball practice while still having my company running on the back end.”

The challenge: A quest to cherish time

When Jeff discovered automation, he also embraced a noble but ambitious goal: redirect people’s time to what’s important. He wanted to automate their workflows, enabling them to focus on what matters most to them and what they love to do. 

"I realized that automation can change everything. I could really change people's lives if I gave them their time back. That mission, to me, became the biggest driver."

To succeed, Jeff first had to claim his own time back. To put into practice what he preached. Change the way he runs his company to show he can do it for others. Using an automation platform powerful enough to help his business sustain itself.

The solutions: Make runs Jeff’s business

Jeff discovered Make almost a decade ago. He tried other automation tools, but Make was different. It gave him flexibility and power to build complex, multi-branch automations in a single scenario instead of juggling multiple separate workflows.

On top of that, Make immediately clicked with Jeff’s brain. The scenarios were visual, and the workflows intuitive. Instead of simply executing, Jeff was empowered to understand the logic behind the automation. And to solve complex problems specific to his business.

"I really enjoy using Make because of its visual interface. And it flows left to right, which makes sense to my brain. When I saw the flexibility of Make compared to other systems, I said: this is going to make things a lot easier."

For Jeff, Make became a toolbox; a full set of capabilities needed to build a business that could run without constant hands-on management and effort.

"If you only had one standalone tool to do your job, you're not going to be very effective. But when you put that tool into an automation flow, now you've opened up the entire toolbox. You’ll be able to do anything you want."

His automations free him up to spend time where he can genuinely add value. His CRM is connected to his project management system. His time tracking is automated. Payroll handles itself. Client workflows run seamlessly. Everything lives in the cloud, accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.

“The only thing I'm working on is the human touch points like sales calls, as opposed to worrying about copying and pasting from one system to another."

Jeff is powering up his automations with AI. He is building what he calls a "company brain". A database that ingests client data, project history, and team knowledge from emails, task management, CRM, and so on. All this information gets analyzed and made searchable through AI.

Now, instead of asking "Hey, has anyone worked with this platform before?" and hoping the right person remembers, anyone can simply ask the AI. It pulls up every client project involving that platform, all the notes about its quirks and limitations, and every solution they've built with it.

Jeff emphasises that grounding AI within automation is what makes it valuable to his company. By deploying AI within an automation, you get consistent results that enable people to truly save time.

"A lot of people are using AI in a silo. But when you combine AI inside of automation, you get consistent results. That's where I say people get their superpowers."

The results: Giving 25% of the day back

Today, 4Spot Consulting offers business automation for clients across industries, from solopreneurs to companies with 50-60 employees, spanning low six to eight figures in revenue. 

And when it comes to driving change through automation, Jeff’s message remains the same: start small, build steadily, and focus on giving people their time back.

"We give people 25% of their day back. That's our goal. They don't have to work on weekends to support their small business. They don't have to work overtime. Rather, they can make it to their kids' sports events."

For example, one client had a 45-minute, paper-intensive process for every sales transaction. Jeff automated it down to three minutes, paperless. By the end of the year, it will be automated completely. 

"I'm so happy, I want to cry – that’s what one of my clients told me. And that's the kind of reaction we love to see.”

"Just start."

Jeff's journey was built on the choice to design a business differently. For people, as well as profit. The choice to use technology not to work more, but to work and live better. 

The choice to be present.

For business owners wondering if learning to automate is worth their time, Jeff's story serves as the answer. When tasks are automated, you don't have to choose between building a successful business and being there for your family. You don't have to sacrifice presence for profit.

As Jeff says, all you need to do is start. 

"Start. That's the biggest thing. Find an easy win. First, you’ll save several hours a month. With that little bit of extra time, you’ll implement another automation. That saves you a few more hours, so you’ll build a bigger one. And that’s how it goes until you realize – your company sustains itself."

Because when your business runs for you, that's when you make it happen.