There's this, this idea going around in AI right
now. It says, the fast track to making money
is starting an AI automation agency. Sounds flashy,
right? Modern. Yeah. Lucrative, even. But what
if it's not quite the golden ticket, it seems?
What if it's more like a bubble? We've got some
insights from a founder who, well, they built
a big agency, sold it for millions, and then
walked away saying, hold on. think again welcome
everyone yeah today we're really diving deep
into this our mission basically is to unpack
why this popular ai agency model might actually
be a trap for many we'll get into the real story
from someone who lived it and then the exciting
part we'll look at three other ai business models
ones that are actually scalable actually profitable
in the long run we've even got a kind of build
-in public blueprint to share how you might actually
do this yourself Okay, let's get into it then.
The appeal of an AI automation agency. I get
it. It feels cutting edge. You're helping other
businesses automate using AI. What could be wrong
with that? It sounds great on paper. Yeah, but
here's the thing. The secret that often gets
missed. These AI automation agencies, they're
not really AI businesses in the way you might
think. Fundamentally, they're traditional service
businesses. They just happen to use AI as one
of their tools. It's like... Think of a personal
trainer. They're so busy training other people,
they don't have time to work out themselves.
The agency owner is selling their time, their
team's time, their problem -solving skills. They're
not building their own leverage with AI. That's
the crucial difference. That's a really clear
analogy. And this isn't just hypothetical, is
it? We have this story, this cautionary tale
from a founder who actually did it, built a tech
agency, scaled it to, what, $2 .6 million a year,
25 employees, sold it, looked like a huge success
from the outside. But hearing them talk about
it. They called it a trap that looked good. Exactly.
That multi -million dollar operation from the
inside was a daily grind, a constant battle.
They identified four big problems, what we're
calling the high revenue grind. First one, the
leaky bucket of doom. Agencies are always losing
clients. It's just the nature of it. A key person
leaves the client company, budget shift, they
get bought out, boom, a chunk of revenue disappears.
So you're constantly, desperately hunting for
new clients just to fill the holes. Forget growth,
you're just trying not to shrink. Wow. So just
maintaining feels like a full -time job in itself.
It absolutely is, and that feeds right into the
second problem. The hiring and firing roller
coaster. You land a big contract? Great. Now
you scramble to hire people? Fast. Then the project
winds down, maybe the next big one isn't signed
yet. And you're faced with letting good people
go. It's incredibly stressful. Unstable for everyone.
Which leads to number three. The fire chief reality.
As the owner, you think you'll be setting strategy,
right? Visionary stuff? Nope. You're the chief
firefighter. Client's mad. Your problem. Deadline
missed. Your problem. Server down. Team conflict.
All land on your desk. Your day is just reacting
to the latest crisis. Zero proactive work. That
sounds utterly exhausting. Just constantly putting
out fires. And after all that, what was the end
result? The big payoff. Well, that's the final
problem. The 12 -year grind. This founder spent
over a decade in this mode. Then they sold the
company. And the kicker. Those millions they
got. It wasn't retire to an island money. It
was, in their words, just enough to start over.
All that work, all that revenue didn't buy freedom.
Just the chance to get back on another hamster
wheel. It really drives home that illusion of
the AI business, doesn't it? When it comes down
to it, it's still managing people, managing problems,
often at 2 a .m. So for someone thinking about
starting an agency right now, what's the bottom
line here? It's selling human time, not building
scalable AI assets for yourself. OK, but let's
be fair. It's not always a bad move to build
an agency, is it? There must be situations where
it does make sense for certain people. Oh, absolutely.
If you genuinely love building teams, if you
thrive on managing complex client needs, navigating
difficult conversations, designing systems, if
that's your true passion, then sure, an agency
can work. But the key is you have to go in knowing
it's a service business. It's not a product company.
The scaling mechanics are totally different.
Right. And this is where the thinking gets...
Really clever, I think, this idea you mentioned,
the pro -level upgrade, the client as an angel
investor model. That sounds intriguing. What's
the twist? This is a really smart pivot, yeah.
Instead of trying to build a big, sprawling agency,
you deliberately take on only, say, two or three
clients, good clients, paying a fixed monthly
fee, predictable income. But here's the mindset
shift. These clients aren't your main business.
They're your funders, your angels. You use that
steady income, that predictable cash flow to
finance the development of your real business
on the side. which is your scalable AI product
or productized service, suddenly client work
isn't the trap anymore. It's the launchpad. Ah,
okay. So it's not the end goal itself. It's the
engine to power the real goal. Exactly. You're
leveraging service income to build lasting, scalable
assets. Mid -role sponsor, read placeholder.
All right. So we've seen the potential pitfalls
of the standard agency model and a clever way
to use client work as funding. Let's shift gears
now to the main event. The truly smart, truly
scalable paths. What are these three types of
AI businesses that actually make long -term sense?
Right. So instead of that agency grind, think
about these three routes. They let you benefit
directly from AI's power. First up, AI services,
but done the smart way, the productized way.
This is probably the most accessible starting
point for many. Instead of doing custom work
for every client, you create a standardized service
package. Something repeatable. You use AI and
automation to do like 90 % of the work. You're
basically sending access to your efficient AI
-powered machine, not your time block by block.
Can you give us an example? Make it concrete.
How would that look in practice? Sure. A great
one is a productized content creation service.
Think about all the experts, coaches, consultants
who know they should be creating content, but
they hate writing. or they just don't have time.
Your service could be they record a quick voice
memo, maybe drop a messy draft into a folder.
Your system, mostly automated with AI, takes
that raw input, transcribes it, cleans it up,
turns it into a polished blog post, maybe some
tweets, a LinkedIn piece, an email. You get the
idea. The heavy lifting is done by the system.
Your role is overseeing it, maybe some light
QA, managing the client relationship. That's
a true AI business. You're leveraging the tech.
Beat. Whoa. I mean, just imagine scaling that
kind of content engine, delivering huge value
to tons of clients with minimal extra effort
from you. That's powerful. That's a world away
from custom projects. Huge difference. Okay,
what's model number two? The second one is automation
templates. This is where you can potentially
build a, say, $5 ,000 digital product. this is
super interesting instead of running the service
for people you package up the actual automation
system itself the templates the workflows maybe
using tools like zapier or make and you sell
that system along with instructions on how to
use it this is what the founder we talked about
eventually did so successfully why is it great
well the profit margins are potentially massive
right build it once sell it thousands of times
delivery cost is near zero it scales infinitely
selling the one thousandth copy takes no more
effort than the first you can charge Premium
prices, too, because it's not just information.
It's a working system, a business in a box for
a specific task. And crucially, almost zero client
management after the sale. Maybe a support forum,
but no ongoing service delivery. That founder
sold his content engine database for $5 ,000
a pop. People bought it straight off the page.
No sales calls needed. Incredible scalability.
Just pure asset leverage. What's the third type?
Third is information products. The scalable goldmine.
potentially. Now, when people hear info products,
they often think, I don't know, courses, teaching
how to make money online. But there's this massive
underserved market professional AI education
for established businesses. Think about it. From
your local dentist to big corporations, most
companies are way behind on AI. Maybe one or
two people are playing with chat GPT, but that's
it. They lack real internal knowledge on how
to apply AI strategically. This creates a huge
opportunity. If you can package AI knowledge
professionally for specific industries, things
like AI for healthcare administration or AI for
financial compliance, real practical applications.
These companies need this training. They have
budgets for professional development. They're
not looking for hype. They want real skills for
their teams. Okay. So across all three models,
the key theme seems to be creating something
once you can then sell over and over again. Yes.
Creating assets that scale independently of your
direct time and effort. That's the goal. So let's
circle back to that founder's story. After selling
the agency, how did they actually stumble upon
this $5 ,000 product? It sounds like it wasn't
exactly planned. Not at all. It was completely
accidental. After selling, he was basically starting
from scratch. One person, no team. Big adjustment.
He knew he couldn't just rebuild another service
agency, couldn't face that 12 -year grind again.
So he was doing what lots of people do, creating
content, trying different marketing things. And
he found himself struggling to organize his own
content workflow. Just to solve his own problem,
he built this simple little database using Airtable
and Zapier. Nothing fancy. Then, almost on a
whim, he started making short TikTok videos showing
how his simple system worked, how he automated
his content repurposing. The reaction was instant
and huge, videos getting 100 ,000 plus views.
People were messaging him like crazy, saying,
I need this. So the market was literally yelling
at him, telling him what it wanted. Exactly.
But here's the first mistake he made. He didn't
listen initially. He was still chasing other,
more complicated business ideas that weren't
getting traction. You know, I still wrestle with
trying to overthink what the market truly wants
sometimes. It's so easy to ignore the obvious
signals right in front of you. Anyway, eventually
he did listen. He set up a simple $10 a month
community just to show people his Airtable system.
Got over 100 members right away. Clear validation.
But then came mistake number two. He started
doing one -on -one Zoom calls with members, and
everyone had these long wish lists. Can it do
this? Can you add that? Complex stuff. He felt
pressured to please everyone, started offering
these $15 ,000 custom setups, which became total
nightmares. Unprofitable, complex, stressful.
So trying to please everyone with complexity
almost derailed the whole thing. Pretty much.
He was close to just quitting. But then he had
this epiphany. Simplicity scales, complexity
fails. He went back. Ricked out all the complicated
features, made the core system simpler. Instead
of custom installs, he made clear video tutorials
showing how to set up the simpler version. And
he packaged that simpler version as a $999 course
first week. Sold 50 copies. And people were happier
because it was easier to use. That led him to
this kind of golden rule. Every time he simplified
the product, took features out he found he could
actually increase the price his engineer brain
wanted complex features but the market just wanted
a simple solution to their pain the market won
and refining that led directly to the 5 000 automation
template that's now doing you know 40k to 75k
a month what a turnaround it really underscores
the power of simplicity and this whole journey
leads us to this build -in public blueprint,
the practical plan. Can you walk us through the
steps? Yeah, it's a really straightforward four
-step blueprint. Anyone can follow this. Step
one, pick your lane. Focus on solving a problem
in one of the big three areas of human need.
Money, think business. Productivity, investing.
Health, fitness, wellness, mental health. Or
relationships, dating, family, networking. Choose
one arena. Step two, build in public. This is
the absolute core of it. Don't hide away building.
Make your building process become your marketing.
Every time you work on your solution, document
it. Record your screen, talk through your process,
share the journey, the wins, the struggles, the
breakthroughs. This raw, authentic stuff is your
marketing content. Building and marketing become
the same job. That makes so much sense. Killing
two birds with one stone. What's step three?
Step three. Community first, products second.
As you're sharing your build and public journey,
invite people into a free community. Could be
school, Discord, Facebook group, whatever. The
key is, don't sell anything yet. Just gather
the people who are interested in the problem
you're solving and your process. Build that audience.
Learn from them. Let them see your expertise
grow. They become your best source of market
research and your future first customers. OK,
but the big question everyone asks, if I build
it all out in the open, won't people just steal
my ideas? That seems like a massive risk. It's
the most common fear, but honestly. it's largely
misplaced look people can try to copy your product
anyway especially with ai now someone can take
screenshots feed it to an ai and get a clone
pretty quickly your real competitive advantage
your moat isn't the finished product it's your
process and your audience by building in public
you understand your customers real needs way
deeper than any copier ever could you build trust
you build connection and you're naturally always
six months ahead while they're busy trying to
copy the thing you show last month, you're already
working on the next iteration based on real feedback.
The winning formula is audience plus deep insights,
just a product every time. Right. So transparency,
ironically, becomes your biggest protection and
advantage. Precisely. It builds trust and gives
you that priceless, continuous market feedback
loop. OK, so we know how to start with this build
in public approach and why it's powerful. What
are the concrete advantages? What's the real
payoff for working this way? Yeah, the payoff
is huge. There are at least five unfair advantages
you get over people building in secret. One,
market validation happens automatically. You're
not guessing if people want your thing. They
tell you every day in comments, DMs, your community.
Two, customer service becomes content. Instead
of answering the same question privately 10 times,
you make a video answering it publicly. Helps
hundreds. Becomes marketing. Three, product development
stays lean. You only build what your audience
actually asks for and needs because you're getting
constant feedback. No wasted effort on unused
features. Four, competition becomes irrelevant.
Seriously. While they're reverse engineering
your last version, you're building the next one
with your community. They can't copy your audience
or your insights. And five, sales become natural.
When you finally release your product, your audience
already knows you, trusts you, understands the
value. They watched you build it. Selling is
just opening the door. That sounds like a much
less stressful way to launch something. So what
kind of content actually works best in this model?
How do you create stuff that connects and eventually
leads to sales? Good question. It's not about
slick, polished corporate stuff. The content
that really resonates here does four key things.
First, it teaches while you build. Every time
you figure something out, solve a problem in
your build process, share it, teach it. That
positions you as a generous expert. Second. It
shows your thinking process. Why did you make
that design choice? What's your strategy? Let
people see how you think. That builds massive
trust. Third, and this is important, it includes
your mistakes. Don't just show the highlight
reel. Show the bugs, the dead ends, the frustrations,
and then show how you fixed them. That vulnerability
is relatable and builds way more connection than
just success stories. And finally, it solves
a real problem. All your content should ultimately
tie back to the core problem you're helping people
solve. It reinforces that you're focused on their
pain point, not just cool tech. That feels very
authentic. Build trust by being open and helpful.
But surely there are ways this can go wrong,
too. What are the common traps people fall into?
Oh yeah, definitely. We call these the anti -patterns.
Five big traps that'll absolutely kill your progress
if you fall into them. Number one, the secret
laboratory. Building in silence for months, then
launching to crickets. Fix. Build in public from
day one. Simple. Two, the jugglers act. This
crazy cycle where you're either 100 % building
or 100 % marketing, constantly switching, burning
out. Fix. Merge them. Building is marketing.
Three, the more is more fallacy. Thinking a complex
product with tons of features is better. Fix.
Simplify relentlessly. The market pays for elegant
solutions to painful problems. Complexity confuses
and kills sales. Four, the trend chaser. Hopping
onto every new AI tool or technique without actually
building something useful that solves a core
problem. Fix. Anchor yourself in a real human
need. Money, health, relationships. AI is just
the tool. And five, the agency delusion. This
is starting a traditional service agency hoping
it will magically turn into a scalable product
business later. Fix. Be honest about your goal.
If you want scalable assets, focus directly on
- productized services, templates, or info products
from the start. So a lot of success here seems
to be about discipline, focus, and simply avoiding
these very common mistakes. Yes, steering clear
of these traps keeps you on the right sustainable
path. It's often more about what you don't do.
Okay, let's try and wrap this all up. What's
the big idea here? The core message seems to
be that the standard AI automation agency model,
while tempting, often leads to this high -revenue,
high -stress trap. It doesn't necessarily build
freedom. But the good news is there are smarter,
more scalable ways to use AI to build your own
business, your own assets. Exactly. And it's
about playing the long game. This isn't a get
-rich -quick scheme. It's more like get -rich
-smart. Building an AI -powered business this
way, building in public, takes time. It won't
happen overnight. But every day you do it, every
piece of content you share, every interaction
in your community, you're laying another brick.
You're building multiple valuable assets simultaneously.
Genuine expertise, a loyal audience, deep market
understanding, and eventually revenue streams.
It's like gaining XP in a video game. Even if
your first product isn't a home run, you keep
the experience, points the audience, and the
knowledge. Those assets make your next attempt
much more likely to succeed. They compound. It's
a much more resilient approach, so it doesn't
need a complex plan or huge investment to start.
It boils down to this simple, repeatable loop.
Let's quickly recap that six -step loop for everyone
listening. Step one. Pick your arena, money,
health, or relationships. Choose a broad area.
Step two, identify a villain. Find one specific
painful problem within that arena that simple
AI automation can help solve. Step three, start
the broadcast. Just hit record. Start building
your solution and share the process publicly.
Step four, share the journey. Post everything,
the good, the bad, the ugly, your process, your
findings. Be transparent. Step five, build your
tribe. Invite everyone watching into a free community.
Engage with them. Learn from them. And step six,
repeat consistently. Just keep doing steps three,
four, and five until your community clearly tells
you they love what you've built and are ready
to buy it. The market, it seems, is speaking
quite clearly. It wants authentic people solving
real problems in the open. The only real question
left is, are you listening? Definitely something
to think about as you continue your own deep
dive into this space. Out to real music.