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  • 🎙️ $2 AI podcasts, 💰 Productivity payment hack, 📧 Lemlist ($70) replacement

🎙️ $2 AI podcasts, 💰 Productivity payment hack, 📧 Lemlist ($70) replacement

3 automation templates inside...

Author

Paul @ AutoMinted
August 28, 2025

Hey AutoMinters ⚡️

Hope you’ve had a really great summer building and learning.

I have a BIG announcement next week… so stay tuned.

Here are this week’s automations:

Content Creation

Generate local news podcasts with AI narration and audio tags.

This automation from Lucas Wallter scrapes local news stories and events from Google News, processes them through Firecrawl for markdown extraction, uses GPT to write podcast scripts with ElevenLabs V3 audio tags (like [excitedly] or [warmly]), and generates final podcast audio.

Why I like it

This unlocks a new channel (podcasting) that requires a lot of production work.

I could see this working really effectively paired with local newsletter operators… not to mention Beehiiv charges you a TON more for this service on their MAX plan (still cheaper than the $40+ upgrade).

The system uses RSS.app for feed creation, Firecrawl for batch scraping, OpenAI for script generation, and ElevenLabs V3 for text-to-speech with emotional audio tags.

Cost estimate: Approximately $2-5 per podcast episode (depending on script length, news volume, and ElevenLabs usage)

Productivity

Automate daily productivity payments through completed to-do lists.

This automation from TechWithDavid checks your Todoist tasks daily, automatically pays you via Wise transfers when all tasks are completed, and sends mobile notifications through NTFY.

Why I like it

This doesn’t have to just be for YOU – think bigger…

With some modifications, you could incentivize your kids with a system like this, as well as add features around sending photographic proof.

I also just love behavioral health hacks since not many people are building systems like this with n8n.

The system uses n8n for workflow automation, Todoist API for task management, Wise API for financial transfers, and NTFY for push notifications. It runs on a scheduled trigger (8:30 PM daily) and includes conditional logic to differentiate between success and failure scenarios.

Cost estimate: Approximately $1-5 per day in transfer fees (depending on your reward amount and Wise's transaction fees)

Leadgen

Build custom cold email outreach with A/B testing capabilities.

This automation from u/ekaa_ replicates expensive cold email tools like Lemlist using n8n workflows.

Why I like it

It saves you $70/month – Lemlist is ridiculously overpriced for what it actually does. 

This replicates most of the functionality for a fraction of the cost, and will work at a smaller scale.

HOWEVER, you need careful volume management (email hosts will shut you down if flagged for spam), multiple domains for proper scaling, and the A/B testing doesn’t really work unless you drive tons of volume which I wouldn’t recommend without some modification.

It pulls email lists from your database, implements A/B testing for subject lines, sends emails through your own provider for better deliverability, and maintains proper sending practices. The system includes lead management, email scheduling, and performance tracking while avoiding the $70/month cost of commercial tools.

Cost estimate: Approximately $5-20 per month (depending on email provider costs and sending volume, vs $70/month for Lemlist)

That’s it for this week.

Keep showing up, cheering each other on — and as always, keep automating!

– Paul

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