As the year comes to a close, I recorded a quick video to share a candid reflection on the lessons learned in 2025 and what I'm taking forward into 2026.

This short Christmas message is all about accountability, growth, and setting the tone for the year ahead.

👇 Watch this quick video now for all the details:

Hey folks, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy, Pat Chats, i-Convert Pro, and even i-Convert Summit — an old name you’ll be hearing again next year.

This year has had some ups and some downs for us at Automation Made Easy, and I’m sure you’ve had the same experience in your business.

I hope you don’t do what I did — although it’s probably too late for that now, because it’s already the end of 2025. But heading into 2026, maybe you can learn from my mistakes.

The biggest thing I did this year was jump back on the tools. I put myself into a little safe space in my business and just did the work, did the work, did the work. While that helped me reconnect and re-evaluate where I sit in the business, it also slowed things down.

At one point during the year, I even thought, “Maybe we’ll close.”

But in reality, that was never going to happen. It was just a thought process I needed to work through so I could keep driving forward.

Since the third quarter, we’ve experienced some major changes. We’ve lost a few customers, gained some exciting new ones, and if you’re one of those new customers — you know who you are — we’re really looking forward to growing with you in 2026.

For me, this time of year isn’t about rushing to get everything done and then switching off completely. It’s more about reflection.

What can we reflect on from this year to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes next year?

That’s the phase I’m in right now, and that Automation Made Easy is in as well — and I’m genuinely looking forward to what’s ahead.

In 2026, we’re bringing back i-Convert Summit. In the first quarter, we’ll be running a big online automation and business event, so keep an eye out for that.

There’ll also be more Pat Chats — not just SMS anymore. Pat Chats is growing into more AI, and I’m excited to share that with you. And of course, we’ll continue making automation easy for you throughout the year.

But the biggest thing I’m committing to in my business — and I encourage you to do the same — is holding myself accountable.

I’m the only one responsible for my business. I’m at the top, and I’m responsible for making the right decisions — for my team, my contractors, and the people I rely on — so the right things happen in the business.

That’s what 2026 is about for me.

What’s it going to be about for you?

Merry Christmas, happy New Year, season’s greetings — all of it. I look forward to seeing you in 2026.

Just a quick note: we’ll be closing on Friday the 19th at lunchtime and reopening at 9:00am on Monday the 5th of January.

If you’re part of our club, you’ll still have access and support throughout the break.

Otherwise, have a fantastic holiday, and we’ll see you next year.

Getting people to register for your webinar is one thing…

Getting them to actually show up is another...

And then getting them to take action? That’s a whole different game.

In this short but mighty session, Jason Buckner breaks down exactly how to not ghost after a webinar so you can start getting the results you're looking for.

👇 Watch the short, content-filled video below now to get better results from your next webinar:

Boosting Webinar Conversion

Hey there, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy.

So you’re running a webinar and… it went okay.

Some people turn up, some don’t. You get to the end, drop your call to action, and again—some people take action… and some don’t.

Sound familiar?

The average show-up rate for a live webinar is about 30%.
With the right strategies? You can get it up to 70%.

Let’s talk about how.

Use SMS and Bonjoro to Get More People to Show Up

SMS and Bonjoro are two brilliant tools that we use to increase webinar attendance.

Most of your registrants probably came in through a social media ad—and guess what? They’re on their mobile phones. So it makes sense to follow up where they’re already spending time.

If you're only relying on email to get their attention, you’re missing the mark.

SMS and personalized video messages (like Bonjoro) are far more likely to cut through the noise and nudge them to show up live.

What Happens After the Webinar? You Need Two Conversations.

Now, here’s where most people fall short...

Once the webinar’s over, they send a one-size-fits-all follow-up and hope for the best.

Instead, you should be having two different conversations:

1. People who showed up but didn’t take action
   These leads are warm. They’re curious. Follow up with a personal touch and address any hesitations they may have had.
2. People who didn’t show up at all
   These leads need a different conversation altogether. Don’t just resend the replay link. Ask if they’re still interested. Re-spark the connection.

And again—communicate with them on their phone!

SMS works wonders here. It’s direct, fast, and right where your audience is already hanging out.

Join the FREE Live Training

Want to know how to integrate AI-powered SMS into your marketing strategy?

Join me for a FREE live training, where I’ll show you:

• How to improve your email strategy
• The power of AI-powered SMS for higher engagement 
• How businesses are doubling (or tripling!) their sales

Simply click the button below to register now and let's get SMS marketing working in your business:

You’re driving traffic to your lead magnet, but barely anyone’s converting. Sound familiar?

In this quick but powerful session, Jason Buckner walks through two simple things that can dramatically improve your conversion rates—communicating where your audience actually is, and making your Call to Action impossible to miss.

👇 Watch the to-the-point, no-fluff video below now to start turning those leads into real results:

Why Your Lead Magnet Isn't Converting

Hey there, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy.

So, you’ve got this lead magnet… and maybe you’re paying for ads, doing some social marketing, or working your organic reach like a champ.

You’re doing everything you can to get leads flowing in.

But your conversion rate is super, super low. 😬

You’re spending all this time, all this money—and getting very little to show for it. There are probably a few things going wrong inside your funnel, but let’s focus on two really important areas that can change everything.

1. Communicate Where People Are Hanging Out

The number one thing I want you to start thinking about is communication.

And I can tell you right now—it’s not happening in email. Sure, we still need to run our businesses with email. It’s part of the system. But it’s no longer the sweet spot for engagement.

There are two channels that are working better:

📲 SMS

• 98% open rate
• 45% response rate

Compare that to email:

• 17–28% open rate
• Just 8% response rate

Yep. That’s a huge difference.

Now, yes—SMS can be a little more costly. But if it gets you more conversions, isn’t it worth it? I say absolutely.

Messenger
Messenger’s a little different. You can’t just send outbound campaigns—you can only message people after they’ve messaged you first. But once they do, it’s a brilliant way to follow up.

If you want to automate this (or even use AI to handle it), let me know. It’s totally doable.

2. Make Your Call to Action Unmissable

The second big thing? Your Call to Action (CTA).

Here’s the rule:
👉 It should stand out like dog’s balls. 🐾 (Yep, I said it.)

• When someone opts in, your CTA should be right there on the page.
• In all your nurture emails, make sure the CTA is clear and easy to spot.
• If you're sharing content, make sure there's a CTA on that page too.
• At the end of your nurture process? You guessed it—your CTA again.

We’re not just sending “a couple of simple little emails.”
We’re nurturing properly—with content that relates to the lead magnet they opted in for, and that continues to guide them toward the next step.

So make it clear. Make it bold. Make it obvious.

And I’ll see you soon.

Join the FREE Live Training

Want to know how to integrate AI-powered SMS into your marketing strategy?

Join me for a FREE live training, where I’ll show you:

• How to improve your email strategy
• The power of AI-powered SMS for higher engagement 
• How businesses are doubling (or tripling!) their sales

Simply click the button below to register now and let's get SMS marketing working in your business:

Is your email engagement dropping—or worse, are your emails going straight to spam?

You’re not imagining it. With inboxes doubling in volume every year and new rules from Google and Yahoo, email marketing is tougher than ever.

In this quick but powerful video, Jason Buckner explains why your emails might be getting blocked—and the one simple solution that gets results fast (hint: it’s SMS, but not the kind you’re thinking of).

👇 Watch the no-fluff, content-only video below today to see what’s working right now:

Are Your Emails Going To Spam? Here's Why...

Hey there, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy.

Quick question: Are your emails now going into spam?

Or are they just getting a much lower response rate than they used to?

If so, you're not alone.

Inbox Overload Is Real—And Getting Worse

The number of emails landing in your inbox has doubled every 12 months for the last 3 to 4 years. And it’s not just your inbox—we’re talking about your customers’ inboxes too.

To stay relevant, Google and Yahoo have introduced new rules and filters. And yep, you guessed it... we’ve all got to jump through some serious hoops now.

If you're still emailing the way you did a few years ago, there's a good chance you're running into trouble.

Let’s say your email open rate is 30%. That sounds decent, right? But it also means 70% of your list isn’t engaging.

According to Google and Yahoo, that’s not okay anymore. They expect the balance to be in their favour—which means higher open rates, more engagement, and fewer ignored emails.

Here’s the Risk: Your Domain Reputation

If you keep emailing people who haven’t engaged in the last four months, you're heading for trouble. Those emails get flagged. Then your domain gets flagged.

And before you know it? Your emails aren’t just being ignored...
They’re going straight to spam. Or worse—blocked altogether.

The Simple Solution: SMS (But Keep It Conversational!)

There’s an easy fix here.

👉 Use email—but play by the rules (only email recent engagers)
👉 Add SMS to your strategy

Why SMS? Because:

• 98% open rate
• 90% of messages are opened within 30 seconds
• 45% engagement rate (compared to just 8–10% with email)

But here’s the catch:
SMS only works if you keep it conversational.

Don’t send formal, over-the-top messages. Don’t go corporate. Don’t blast promotions. That’s not how people use SMS.

Instead, write like you’re chatting to your best friend who’s also a customer. Keep it natural, low-key, and personal.

That’s it!

Higher engagement. Better deliverability. No stress.

Thanks. See you soon.

Join the FREE Live Training

Want to know how to integrate AI-powered SMS into your marketing strategy?

Join me for a FREE live training, where I’ll show you:

• How to improve your email strategy
• The power of AI-powered SMS for higher engagement 
• How businesses are doubling (or tripling!) their sales

Simply click the button below to register now and let's get SMS marketing working in your business:

So, what do I mean by "email is a monologue?"

Well, let’s be real—email marketing isn’t what it used to be.

Your messages might look great, but if they’re not starting real conversations, they’re just… noise. In this short clip, Jason Buckner shares why email is a monologue, how inbox overwhelm is killing engagement, and why SMS is the smarter, more human way to connect.

👇 Watch the quick, content-filled video below and learn how to spark real dialogue—without burning out your list:

Email Is A Monologue - Here's What To Do Instead

Hey there, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy.

I want you to think about this: email is a monologue. Yeah.

What we actually need is dialogue with our customers. Dialogue with our leads. That’s how we start getting more engagement.

Of course, email has so many problems. Open rates are super low these days. It’s hard to stand out—especially when the number of emails in people’s inboxes doubles every 12 months. Not just ours, but our customers’ inboxes too.

And we all do it…
Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete.

Go Check Your Last Five Emails

Here’s a challenge for you:
👉 Go and read the last five emails you’ve sent to your database.

Ask yourself:

• Did it prompt a conversation?
• Or was it just you talking at your audience?

Even if you’re engaging in great ways—it’s still a monologue, isn’t it?

We Want Dialogue—And SMS Is the Answer

The best way to create dialogue right now? SMS.

We want conversational SMS going out to our leads. Conversational, relevant messages being sent to our customers.

And I’m not talking about the old-style, bright shiny object marketing:

• "Here’s a sale!"
• "Go buy now!"
• "Here’s something else—buy it now!"

That kind of SMS burns your audience out quickly. It’s noisy. It’s pushy.

Instead, we want conversational SMS.

Use SMS to Spark Real Conversations

The beauty of it? We can even do it with AI now.

AI-powered SMS lets you:

• Spark a real conversation
• Find out if someone needs help
• Drive them toward your solution—whether that’s you, a lead magnet, a helpful video, or something else

It’s super cool. And super important.

So remember this:
Email = monologue
SMS = dialogue

And that’s what creates connection.

Join the FREE Live Training

Want to know how to integrate AI-powered SMS into your marketing strategy?

Join me for a FREE live training, where I’ll show you:

• How to improve your email strategy
• The power of AI-powered SMS for higher engagement 
• How businesses are doubling (or tripling!) their sales

Simply click the button below to register now and let's get SMS marketing working in your business:

Email marketing is still powerful—but only when done right.

In this powerful clip, I share a cautionary tale about a marketer who spent $240K building a list, only to watch it become almost useless and wasting $180K after ignoring one crucial rule.

👇 Watch the video below to learn what went wrong—and how SMS marketing can save your engagement as the simple solution that turns everything around:

Why You Should Stop Emailing Your Whole List (And What To Do Instead)

Hey there, Jason Buckner here from Automation Made Easy.

One of my customers has 40,000 people on his database, and it costs him about $6 per lead to get those people onto his list. Do the math—that’s about $240,000 spent just to build that database. 😳

The problem? He’s an old-school internet marketer. Back in the day, you could just email and email and email, and it worked. People opened the emails, clicked through, bought stuff, registered for webinars, booked sessions... happy days!

But that’s not how it works anymore.

Thanks to Google’s algorithms (and the flood of emails landing in inboxes every day), open rates have plummeted. They used to be up around 40%. Now? It’s more like 17% to 28%—and for some, it’s even lower.

Here’s Where Things Went Wrong

Despite advice to stop, this particular marketer kept emailing his entire list over and over again.

What happened next?

• Open rates dropped even more
• Emails started landing in spam folders
• Google and Yahoo flagged him as a “naughty sender”
• His domain eventually got completely blocked

All that money spent on building the list? Pretty much wasted.

In fact, if you follow best practices, you should only be emailing people who’ve engaged with you in the last four months. That means, in his case, 75% of the database (or $180,000 worth of leads) couldn’t be contacted.

😱 Ouch.

The Solution? SMS to the Rescue

There’s one channel that cuts through the noise: SMS.

SMS gives you instant engagement, and when used strategically, it can help you:

• Re-engage cold leads
• Boost your email open rates
• Drive people straight to your call-to-action
• Increase registrations and responses across your funnel

You don’t need to be a tech wizard. Even if you just pick up your phone and manually send a few messages, you’ll see the difference.

(Although... yes, there are much smarter automated ways to do this too! 😉)

So here’s what I want you to do:
👉 Pick up your phone and say, “This is the solution.”
👉 Then start messaging your leads where they actually are—on their phones.

Join the FREE Live Training

Want to know how to integrate AI-powered SMS into your marketing strategy?

Join me for a FREE live training, where I’ll show you:

• How to improve your email strategy
• The power of AI-powered SMS for higher engagement 
• How businesses are doubling (or tripling!) their sales

Simply click the button below to register now and let's get SMS marketing working in your business: