You see success - what then?

The extent of automation depends on what you are doing, obviously. For a blog, you order content but you'll be required to proofread it. For a service, you hire virtual assistants which will save you good chunk of time but then, you've to be around for assigning tasks and making sure work is done. Also, hiring/training can take significant time.

Automation only appears to be straight forward. It happens in stages, not in one shot and takes a lot of time. In extreme scenarios, you'll need to build internal tools to fill in the gaps. Here's how I automated my service business -

Stage 1
Problem - Generate more content.
Solution - Hire filipino writers

Stage 2
Problem - Writers not delivering on deadline
Solution - Write articles myself. Hire in-house writers along with filipinos.

Stage 3
Problem - Task assigning not manageable over email anymore
Solution - Use Basecamp

Stage 4
Problem - Order volume increased. Each client order in email needs to be copied to Basecamp and assigned. Writer uploads the article to Basecamp. The articles needs to be zipped and emailed to client. The whole process is slow and prune to a lot of human error.
Solution - Develop custom project management tool. Each writer has an account and uploads an article against a project. Articles are zipped and emailed to clients in a single click. It also implicitly helps track deadlines.

Stage 5
Problem - Too many article writers and orders. Just task assigning is taking up a lot of time. Also, proofreading article is becoming cumbersome.
Solution - Hire a manager

The above is a minimal version of problems faced. It took more than a year to setup but it has paid off.