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¿Ever feel like you’re reinventing the wheel every time you try to create content for your business?

Like, you know you need to show up consistently online, but every time you sit down to write, it feels like starting from scratch all over again? Girl, I totally get it—and I just learned something that might change everything for both of us.

Why This Conversation Stopped Me in My Tracks

Last week, I had the chance to learn from Marcel Santilli, CEO at GrowthX, who has literally built content engines at five different companies. And when I tell you this man dropped some serious knowledge bombs… 💣

Here’s what caught my attention: Marcel figured out something most of us are doing backwards when it comes to content creation. Instead of asking “How do I steal people’s attention?” or “How do I get them to click?” he completely flipped the script.

His game-changing question: “How do I become the best answer to your questions?”

Mic drop moment, right? 🎤

The Old Way: Building Content Machines from Scratch (Exhausting!)

Marcel shared how he used to scale content at companies like HP—and honestly, it sounded like a lot of work! His process was:

• Hire editors
• Build content strategy
• Recruit subject matter experts
• Systematically create high-quality content
• Distribute and convert attention into revenue

And yes, it worked. He was cranking out 20 articles a week and getting amazing organic reach. But here’s the thing he realized: “It never got easier. Every new company meant rebuilding the entire machine from scratch.”

Sound familiar? Every time you start a new project or launch, you’re basically starting over with your content strategy, right?

The Breakthrough: When AI Changed Everything

But when Marcel got to Deepgram, something shifted. Instead of rebuilding another content team from scratch, he did something brilliant—he turned everything he knew into AI workflows.

And I mean everything:

• How do you research audiences? Build a workflow.
• How do you identify content opportunities? Build a workflow.
• How do you plan, research, draft, optimize, and distribute? Build workflows for all of it.

The genius part? He kept expert editors in the loop for quality, but AI handled the heavy lifting of research, planning, and first drafts.

The “Aha!” Moment That Hit Close to Home

Here’s where it gets really interesting, amiga. Marcel started offering paid workshops to teach people these workflows. But guess what happened?

People didn’t want to build the workflows—they wanted the systems ready to go for their business.

As he put it: “They wanted the systems, not the instructions.”

And honestly? This hit me right in the feels because I see this ALL the time with my clients. You don’t want another course teaching you how to build systems—you want the actual systems that work for your specific business, right now.

What This Means for Your Business (Real Talk)

This conversation got me thinking about how we approach business growth. We often assume people want to learn how to do something, when really they want it done for them—or at least want the framework so customized that implementation becomes simple.

Marcel’s approach has two phases that I think are genius:

Phase 1: Strategy Sprint & Calibration Think of this like onboarding a new head of marketing who needs to:

• Learn your company inside and out
• Understand your target audiences deeply
• Figure out what content you should create
• Define your brand voice and style guidelines
• Map out the competitive landscape
• Build a content roadmap

Phase 2: The Actual Content Operation By this phase, you have:

• Months of content planned and prioritized
• Quality standards calibrated to your exact definition of “great”
• Distribution strategy tailored to your audience
• Performance tracking that shows what’s actually working

The Question That’s Been Keeping Me Up at Night

This whole conversation made me realize something about my own business. I’ve been assuming my clients want coaching and guidance, when maybe what they actually want is for me to build the systems for them.

But here’s my dilemma, and maybe you can relate: When we do everything for our clients, do they value it as much? And more importantly, does it actually serve them in the long run if they become dependent on us instead of learning to be self-sufficient?

It’s like the difference between teaching someone to fish versus giving them fish every day. Both have their place, pero ¿which one actually creates lasting transformation?

What I’m Thinking About Moving Forward

Marcel’s story is making me reconsider how I structure my offerings. Maybe there’s a middle ground where we create the systems with our clients instead of for them—kind of like having an expert guide help you build something custom rather than handing you a generic template.

The key seems to be understanding that people want results, not just knowledge. They want to see their business actually working better, not just understand how it could work better.

Your Turn: What Resonates With You?

I’m curious—when you think about the support you need in your business, do you want someone to teach you the process, or do you want them to help you implement it?

Because honestly, there might not be a right or wrong answer here. Maybe it depends on where you are in your business journey, what your capacity looks like, and what kind of learner you are.

What I do know is this: Marcel’s approach of systematizing everything and using AI to handle the repetitive parts while keeping human expertise for strategy and quality? That feels like the future of how we’ll all be working.

Ready to stop reinventing the wheel every time you create content? Let’s have a conversation about what kind of support would actually move the needle in your business—whether that’s learning the system or having it built with you.

P.S. If Marcel’s story sparked something for you, I’d love to hear about it! What part of building content systems feels most overwhelming right now? Sometimes just naming it helps us figure out the next right step. ✨

Disclaimer: The insights and specific examples about Marcel Santilli’s content strategy approach were sourced directly from the GrowthX website. Full credit goes to Marcel Santilli and the GrowthX team for sharing these valuable frameworks and methodologies.