Don Schnure: The Man Behind 1AutomationWiz

Exclusive Insights: Don Scott Schnure, the Visionary Behind 1AutomationWiz

Few founders in the e-commerce automation space have built a platform that quietly powers thousands of online businesses and millions of dollars in transactions, yet prefer to stay behind the scenes. Don Scott Schnure is one of them.

As a digital marketing strategist, software designer, and former video production executive, Schnure brings an uncommon blend of technical precision, customer psychology, and operational discipline to the world of online commerce. Since founding 1AutomationWiz in 2001, he has helped entrepreneurs, publishers, coaches, and software creators simplify what is often the most fragile part of any business: turning attention into revenue, reliably and at scale.

With offices in St. Louis, Missouri, and a secure data center in Ottawa, Canada, 1AutomationWiz also operates with a modern workforce philosophy. More than 80% of its team works remotely, a structure that has allowed the company to attract top-tier talent while offering flexibility for working parents and professionals who value autonomy over office politics.

But Schnure’s leadership style wasn’t shaped in boardrooms.

As a digital marketing professional, software designer, and former video production executive, Don Schnure brings a unique perspective to 1AutomationWiz.com, an online shopping cart company.

With offices in St. Louis, Missouri, and a data center in Ottawa, Canada, Don's company offers a unique work environment where over 80% of the employees can telecommute. This provides new opportunities for working mothers and the flexibility in work schedules that attracts some of the industry’s top talent.

Don's company was founded in 2001 and is responsible for millions of dollars in online transactions and thousands of online stores.

Early Influences: A Moral Compass Forged Early

When asked what he wanted to be growing up, Schnure doesn’t offer a polished founder cliché.

“In all seriousness, I wanted to be Batman.”

Raised without a father, Schnure found his sense of right and wrong in comic books — stories where responsibility mattered, power came with accountability, and helping people wasn’t optional.

That theme still echoes through his leadership philosophy today: build things that actually help people, and don’t hide behind complexity or jargon.

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Customer-Centric by Design, Not Slogan

For Schnure, alignment between mission, values, and execution begins with a single question:

How does this make life easier, more effective, or more profitable for our customer?

Because 1AutomationWiz operates largely on subscription revenue, the incentives are brutally honest. If customers don’t succeed, they don’t stay.

This has led the company to design its systems around long-term customer outcomes, not short-term feature checklists or marketing hype.

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The Only Metrics That Matter

While many founders drown in dashboards, Schnure keeps performance measurement intentionally simple:

• Customer satisfaction

• Net revenue

“At the end of the day, there are really only two things that matter. Are our customers happy, and are we profitable?”

If both answers are yes, the business is healthy. If not, no amount of vanity metrics will save it.

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The Three Non-Negotiable Priorities at 1AutomationWiz

1. Deliver on promises
   First-rate support and reliable systems aren’t optional. They’re the product.

2. Anticipate future needs
   The goal isn’t to react to customer problems — it’s to design solutions before customers realize they need them.

3. Cross-trained teams
   Any team member should be able to help a customer without endless transfers. Schnure despises bureaucratic friction — especially when he’s the customer.

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Fighting Complacency Before It Becomes Fatal

Schnure is blunt about one of the most common business killers:

“If you get comfortable, someone else is getting ready to eat your lunch.”

He believes complacency is beaten two ways:

• Continuous improvement of systems, experience, and messaging

• Working on something that still excites you

If the business no longer challenges you, his advice is simple: sell it and build something that does.

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Leadership, Ownership, and Letting Go

Schnure is skeptical of buzzwords like corporate culture, but he believes deeply in ownership.

People who are trusted, trained, and appreciated will outperform those who are micromanaged every time.

One metric he watches closely — though few founders discuss openly — is whether the company can continue generating revenue when he steps away.

That’s real leadership. Anything else is disguised dependency.

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Business, Profit, and Community Responsibility

Schnure doesn’t sugarcoat this topic.

A business exists to make money. Period.

But profit cannot come at the expense of people or the environment. Beyond that, he is wary of corporate virtue signaling masquerading as social responsibility.

To him, the most meaningful contribution a business can make is raising the skill level of its people, equipping them to thrive long after they leave.

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Advice to His Younger Self

• Keep your eyes on the destination, not the weeds

• Maintain a 50,000-foot view

• Guard work-life balance fiercely

“No one on their deathbed has ever said they wish they spent more time at the office.”

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About 1AutomationWiz

1AutomationWiz.com is an all-in-one e-commerce shopping cart and marketing automation platform designed to help businesses sell online with less friction and more control.

Key capabilities include:

• Secure e-commerce shopping cart

• Email autoresponders and broadcast marketing

• Digital product delivery

• One-click upsells and ad tracking

• Affiliate management

• CRM and behavioral tracking

• Advanced analytics and reporting

• Seamless third-party integrations

The platform is widely used by digital publishers, coaches, speakers, software developers, and authors who want to automate sales without duct-taping multiple tools together.

A free 28-day trial is available at 1AutomationWiz.com.

We had a chance to sit down with Don to ask him what molded him into the business leader he is today.

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As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up, and in what ways does that relate to what you do now?

In all seriousness I wanted to be Batman. I grew up without a Dad so a lot of my moral compass about right and wrong came from comic books. There was something about being a "good guy" that helped people in need. That always resonated with me.

What steps do you take to ensure that your organization’s activities align with the company mission, core values, and vision?

It starts with a customer centric viewpoint. We strive to take the customers point of view in all of our dealings. We focus internally on questions like, "How do we make this easier / more effective / profitable for our clients?"

Because many of the products we offer are subscription-based, so we totally understand that unless our clients do well, they're not going to stick around. So it's in everyone's best interests to make sure our customers’ needs come first.

What are YOUR leading performance indicators? How are they measured and echoed throughout the business?

Customer satisfaction and net revenue are the two primary metrics that we look at.

I think a lot of business owners get caught in the minutia of dozens or even hundreds of different metrics. But I don't think it has to be that complicated

At the end of the day there are really only two things that are important; are our customers happy and are we profitable? If the answer is yes to both, we know are doing a good job.

When it comes to the top three priorities for 1AutomationWiz, what comes to the foremost of your mind?

First is making sure that we always uphold our promise to our customers. This means first rate support and services. Second is making sure that we anticipate our client's future needs and create solutions for them.

And third is making sure all of our team members are cross trained so that anyone on the team can help a client when they call. We don't want to shuffle them around to different departments. This is an easy one because I personally hate when that is done to me.

How do you fight complacency and mediocrity?

What has been the most impactful lesson you’ve learned as a business leader?

I hate the expression "corporate culture" because it's become such a cliché but if you can give people on your team ownership in the success, or failure of your project everybody wins.

People that are appreciated will do more than is expected.

How do you create leadership opportunities within the organization?

The biggest stumbling block I see with new business owners and entrepreneurs is that they have trouble letting go of control. Some of that is ego, and some of it is fear. But at the end of the day you have to give responsibility to team members. If you don't, you'll be unable to scale your business to the next level.

If you don't trust your team members enough to give them responsibility, you should look into hiring better people.

The truth is that if you pick the right people to start with (hire right) and you give them the tools, training and support they need to grow and succeed; people will rise to the challenge and everyone thrives.

Also I think one of the key success metrics that isn't talked about in small business is the companies’ ability to make money even if you’re not there steering the ship.

What responsibility do businesses have to the communities around them, and how do you exemplify that within your organization?

I think there's a fine balance between community and profit, and a lot of times that gets muddled.

The number one responsibility of a business is to make money. But of course, you can't do that at the expense of people's well-being or the environment.

When companies go out of their way to effect social change, like Starbucks or Target for example, I feel it's more of a publicity grab that it is an actual benefit for society or the community.

I think the biggest responsibility that a business has is to bring its people up, and train them with new skills so that they can take advantage of new opportunities.

What leadership advice would you give to your younger self?

Learn to focus on what you want to accomplish but have a 50,000 foot view of the goal. Don’t get stuck in the details.

Also of equal importance is to learn to always maintain a balance between your work life and your personal life. No one on their deathbed has ever said "I wish I had spent more time at the office.”

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Company Overview

1AutomationWiz.com Makes Selling Online Easy.

1AutomationWiz is an e-commerce shopping cart software and online marketing system designed to help businesses automate their sales and marketing processes. The platform provides a range of tools and features that make it easier for business owners to manage their online stores, track customer behavior, and implement marketing strategies.

Some of the key features of 1AutomationWiz include the following:

1. E-commerce shopping cart: The platform offers a shopping cart system that integrates with your website, allowing you to sell products and services online. It supports various payment gateways, tax calculations, shipping options, and inventory management.
2. Email marketing: 1AutomationWiz includes an email marketing system that allows you to create and send newsletters, autoresponders, and other email campaigns to your subscribers. You can segment your email list, track opens and clicks, and automate follow-up messages.
3. Affiliate management: The platform provides an affiliate management system that enables you to set up and manage an affiliate program for your business. You can track affiliate sales, commissions, and payouts and provide promotional materials for your affiliates.
4. CRM and lead tracking: 1AutomationWiz offers a customer relationship management (CRM) system that helps you manage and track your leads and customers. You can store customer data, track interactions, and segment your contacts based on their behavior.
5. Analytics and reporting: The platform includes analytics and reporting tools that help you track your sales, conversions, and other key performance indicators. You can generate custom reports and visualize your data with charts and graphs.
6. Integrations: 1AutomationWiz integrates with various third-party tools and services, allowing you to streamline your workflows and automate tasks between different platforms.

Overall, 1AutomationWiz is a comprehensive e-commerce and marketing solution designed to help businesses grow their online presence, automate their sales process, and manage their customer relationships more efficiently.

1AutomationWiz.com handles your lead prospecting, marketing, and online sales for you automatically so that you can run your business from anywhere - even the beach!

The “All-In-One” solution includes: Online shopping cart software, email autoresponders, broadcast email marketing, digital product delivery, ad tracking, one-click upsells, and even affiliate tracking software.

It’s perfect for Digital information publishers, Public Speakers, Coaches, Guru’s, Software developers, and book authors.

For a free 28-day trial of an easy-to-use all-in-one e-commerce and marketing solution, bookmark www.1AutomationWiz.com. Got questions about the system? Give them a call at 1-800-671-3871.