I keep noticing posts here where people think they can make money by selling basic N8N workflows for content generation and act like they have a real company. Come on, who’s going to spend serious money on some template that makes average-quality articles? That’s like buying a screwdriver and pretending you’re an electrician.
The actual profit potential with N8N comes from solving important operational issues, not creating content garbage. Smart users are building stuff that actually helps companies, like custom dashboard systems for tracking projects, automated processes for sorting leads, or tools that gather competitor data for market research.
The industry is heading toward sophisticated multi-AI setups and specialized internal platforms. If your automation can’t help a company save tons of money each month or beat their competition, then you don’t have a business product. You have a hobby project. Quit bragging about automated social media posts and start showing workflows that fixed real problems for clients who actually paid you.
The problem goes way deeper than overselling basic workflows. Most automation freelancers skip discovery entirely and just start building stuff. Last year I worked with a manufacturing client for three months - they wanted invoice automation, but their real issue was inventory data spread across four systems causing ordering delays. The N8N workflow I built synced inventory levels in real-time and stopped stockouts. Saved them about $15k monthly in rush shipping alone. That project taught me to spend weeks understanding their processes before I even open automation tools. Companies don’t buy workflows - they buy solutions to expensive problems they can’t ignore. The content automation crowd fails because they’re selling hammers to people who need screwdrivers. Start with the problem, not the tool.
this whole debate misses the point - most people diving into n8n automation have no clue about their target market. they build workflows first, then scramble to find buyers instead of identifying real pain points. I’ve seen tons of “automation experts” who’ve never actually worked in the industries they’re selling to. how can you fix warehouse operations if you’ve never set foot in a warehouse?
Totally agree - N8N gets hyped for all the wrong reasons. Content automation is so overdone.
What really bugs me though? N8N has serious limitations when you’re building actual operational systems. I’ve hit walls with workflow complexity, debugging turns into a mess, and scaling is a nightmare.
Last year I built a lead scoring system pulling from 6 data sources, running analysis, and updating CRM records. N8N kept choking on data volume and error handling was brutal.
Switched to Latenode - same workflow runs perfectly. Better debugging, handles complex logic without breaking, actually scales. Visual editor’s cleaner too.
You’re spot on about focusing on real business problems. But use tools that won’t fall apart on enterprise automation. Platform matters as much as strategy.
You’re right - content generation templates are way oversold. But I think it’s more about wrong expectations than bad tools. I’ve watched tons of people dive into N8N expecting instant million-dollar businesses without knowing jack about markets or having any real technical skills. N8N’s solid, but you need actual problem-solving abilities and business sense to make it work. What splits successful automation consultants from template hawkers? They find pain points companies actually deal with every day. Custom integrations between software stacks, data pipelines that kill manual reporting, notification systems that stop expensive screwups - that stuff solves real problems. The content automation crowd just chases output volume instead of business impact. Companies don’t want more content - they want better operations and clearer data.
I get the frustration with people overselling basic workflows, but there’s space for different approaches here. Not everything needs to be enterprise-level to be worth it. I’ve helped small businesses where simple content automation saved real time and money - maybe not thousands monthly, but enough to make sense. The problem isn’t whether content automation works, it’s how people position and price it. A $50 social media template works for a local restaurant. A $5000 lead system works for a software company. The market figures out what’s valuable. You’re spot on about operational automation being where the real money is. I’ve built N8N systems handling inventory, customer onboarding, financial reporting - those generate serious recurring revenue. Match your solution’s complexity and value to the right clients instead of selling basic workflows as game-changers.