I think we've all felt this. You see the headlines,
right? You see these incredible success stories
on social media about people building huge businesses
with AI. And it's like two things hit you at
the exact same time. First, there's this real
excitement. But then right behind it is this
deep uncertainty. The doubt. The doubt. It whispers
things like, am I just too late to start? Or,
I don't know how to code, so this can't be for
me. Yeah. It's a very real feeling. It is. But
here's the good news, and this is maybe the most
important thing we can say today. You are absolutely
not too late. Not even close. And you don't need
to be a computer genius? Not at all. What you
need right now isn't some deep technical mastery.
You just need a map, a clear, proven roadmap.
And that's our whole mission for this deep dive.
And we're going to unpack a specific four -stage
progression for building an AI business in, well,
in today's world. It's all about validating your
experience and then stacking skills. Think of
it like a ladder. A ladder. I like that. You
have to start at the bottom. You have to. That
intentional climb is what makes it last. So we'll
walk that ladder today. Stage one, the freelancer,
then a consultant, the agency, and finally, the
teacher. So let's start with stage one, the freelancer.
We sometimes call this the Lego stage. The Lego
stage. Yeah, because the whole magic here is
that you can make real money without building
any software from scratch. That is a profound
idea, isn't it? You don't have to invent the
plastic bricks. Nope, they're already made. You're
just using what the AI world calls templates
or, you know, pre -built automation. Yet a template
is really just a recipe, right? A set of instructions
for the AI. Exactly. It tells the AI what to
do, what the rules are, how data flows from one
place to another. Your only job is to connect
the pieces. You don't invent them. So the sources
gave us this simple five -step method to get
started. It's called the build method. Right.
So B is for block by block. You can't master
everything at once. Just pick one single automation
and get really good at it. Like what? Like, say,
a Google review reply bot. Just focus all your
energy there until you can do it in your sleep.
OK, that makes sense. Then U is understand the
use case. Yes. It's not just about the tool.
It's about finding who desperately needs this
one block you've mastered. A dentist needs to
reply to reviews. A restaurant needs to handle
feedback. Hygrospecific. You have to be. That's
how you get quick sales. Next is I for install
and imitate. So you use tools, maybe like NNN
or Make. You download a template and then you
just run it with fake data. Over and over again.
You work out the kinks before a client ever sees
it. You have to. And then L is land the first
client. This has to be a super low friction pitch.
Not a big ask. No, just something simple. Like,
hey, I built a system that automatically handles
customer replies. Want to see a 90 second video
of it working? It's an easy yes. And finally,
D. is document and duplicate. The minute you
have a win, you have to quantify it. This bot
saved the dentist five hours a week. You use
that story, that tangible result, to land the
next client. Okay, let's make this real. A great
example is the missed call, SNS agent. Think
about plumbers or electricians. Right, they're
always missing calls. They're on a ladder, they're
under a sink. And every single missed call is
lost money. So this simple automation... catches
that missed call, and it instantly sends a text,
so sorry I missed you, I'm on another job, how
can I help? And then the AI starts a chat to
book an appointment. And the real value, the
thing you're actually getting paid for, is in
the prompt details. It's the rules you set for
the AI. 100%. The prompt needs a specific role,
like a friendly assistant for Mike's plumbing.
It needs a clear goal. Find the problem, get
the address. And you mentioned crucial rules.
Yeah, like keeping answers short, under 20 words,
people expect text to be brief. And here's the
really stiff part. You must mention the $50 visit
fee rule up front. But you don't promise a specific
time. Never. Because that one rule manages the
customer's expectations before a human even gets
involved. That's strategic problem solving. So
since the whole goal here is mastery, how specific
should someone get when picking that first block?
Pick a template that's simple enough to master
quickly. and sell it to a really targeted niche.
Exactly. Simple and targeted. Okay, so once you've
built a few of these, you hit the wall of stage
one. Selling a $500 tool is fine, but you're
constantly hunting for new clients. It's frankly
exhausting. It leads to high churn and yeah,
burnout. That's the signal then to move to stage
two, the consultant. And this is a huge mindset
shift. You're moving from a builder to a... A
doctor. A doctor. So you're not just handing
out medicine. No. A doctor diagnoses first. They
ask, where does it hurt? A consultant does the
exact same thing. You ask deep questions before
you ever design a solution. This process uses
the scan framework. What does S involve? S is
for study of the business. You're not asking
about tools. You're asking strategic questions.
What's the one task your best employees hate
doing? Or where are your staff costs highest?
Then we get to see Calculate the opportunity.
This feels like the most important step. It is.
This is where you use math. It's non -negotiable.
If you can show a client they're spending $30
,000 a year on a task, and you can automate it
for $5 ,000, well... The decision is made for
them. It's a no -brainer. Exactly. The math makes
the sale. Okay, then A is architect the solution.
Now you're not just laying bricks. You're the
architect drawing the blueprint for the whole
building. You're showing the data flow, the whole
workflow from start to finish. And N is... narrate
the results. This is where you professionalize
your success. You write these high quality case
studies about the ROI you delivered, and that
story is what attracts the bigger fish. I have
to admit, and this is maybe a bit of a vulnerable
thing to say, but even after years in this space,
I still wrestle with that, that mental shift.
To stop thinking about the technical wires and
start thinking about the strategic workflow.
It's hard. It absolutely is. I remember wasting
literally days on a complex database thing for
a client. I should have just spent two hours
defining the business process first. The money
is always in the process, not the tool. That
explains the jump in price. The real estate lead
qualifier example really shows this. The agency
had a huge problem. 100 leads a week. But 80
of them were just browsing. Just wasting the
sales team's time. And if you look at the math,
10 hours a week wasted at $50 an hour. That's
over $25 ,000 a year down the drain. There's
a charting $5 ,000 to fix that as an easy sell.
A very easy sell. And the solution was an AI
agent prompted as Sarah, the home buying assistant.
She asks three simple qualifying questions before
it ever gets to a human. And the sequence is
key. Are you looking to move soon or just browsing?
Right. then what area are you focused on? And
what's your rough budget? The guardrails are
also crucial. Never be pushy, and if they say
they're browsing, the chat just politely ends.
And that strategic approach leads to a totally
different pricing structure. You have two revenue
streams here. First is the audit, which is just
the plan and the math. That could be, what, $1
,000 to $5 ,000? Yep. And then there's the build,
the actual custom automation. That can easily
be $10 ,000 to $50 ,000. Wow. That is a huge
leap. So considering the risk of a custom build,
what makes that initial audit worth five grand
to a client? The audit gives them a valuable
plan and hard ROI math. So it completely de -risks
the bigger investment. Exactly. It justifies
the $50 ,000 project later on. Mid -roll sponsor,
read placeholder. And that brings us to stage
three, the agency or the AI partner. As a Swallow
consultant, you just... You hit a hard ceiling.
You do. You can only juggle, what, three or four
big clients at a time before you're completely
maxed out. Burnout is inevitable. So the move
to an agency is about scaling. Your role has
to change. Completely. You have to stop doing
the technical work. No more connecting wires.
Your job becomes 100 % strategy and sales. The
framework for this is G -O -W. So G is for Get
developers. You have to. You hire technical talent
from Upwork or developer communities, and they
build the solutions that you design. Then R,
retain authority. This feels critical. It is.
You have to remain the client -facing expert.
They're paying for your brain, not the developer's
fingers. The developer works for you. You own
the relationship. OK. O is for onboard sales.
Right. All that time you just freed up from doing
technical work. You use it to find more clients
and eventually you hire people to set appointments
for you. And finally, W is win with brand. Now
you have to become known. Post your case studies
on LinkedIn. Share what you're learning on Twitter.
You become the go -to person in your niche. But
we have to add the reality check here. Agency
life looks glamorous. but it comes with a lot
of stress and overhead. That's the necessary
counterpoint, yeah. You might be bringing in
$80 ,000 a month in revenue, which sounds amazing.
Sounds incredible. But you're paying two developers
maybe five grand a month each, plus software,
plus taxes. Your actual profit might only be
$30 ,000 or $40 ,000. And the stress of managing
people is very, very real. So given that stress
and the high overhead, does the agency model
still have a big advantage? over just being a
highly paid, you know, stress -free consultant.
Yes. Because it's the only way to build a predictable
brand. And to scale beyond what you can do in
an hour. Exactly. It's a first step toward building
real, sellable wealth in this model. And that
leads us to the final, and I think the most profitable
step, stage four. The teacher. This is where
people who've climbed the whole ladder find the
most freedom. And the highest profit margins.
It's all because of this massive knowledge gap
in the world. You mean the gap between the tiny
number of people who know how to use AI and the
millions who have no idea. That gap is enormous.
And it's incredibly profitable to fill. The profit
model is just superior. Your overhead basically
disappears. No developer salaries. Minimal software
costs. So if you sell a course for $100 and 100
people buy it, that's $10 ,000 with almost pure
profit. Almost 100 % margin. And you can sell
that same digital product to one person or a
million people with the same amount of effort.
That's true leverage. Whoa. I mean, imagine scaling
that practical knowledge to 100 ,000 people.
The market for actionable AI training, especially
for small business owners, just feels endless
right now. It really does. That scalability is
why this is the ultimate stage. And the model
for this is the share framework. S is for show.
Right. You create free content, YouTube videos,
articles, whatever, and you just show the cool
real world stuff you actually built for clients.
Show your screen, show the results. Then H is
for hook. At the end of that free content, you
offer a free gift. Maybe the exact prompt you
used or a link to the template. That brings them
into your world. A is for attract. You build
a free community, maybe on school or Facebook.
And you put your best free stuff in there. This
builds so much trust because people think, wow,
if the free stuff is this good, the paid course
must be incredible. R is for recommend. Only
after you've built that trust do you offer the
paid product. Exactly. And E is for expand. You
just keep creating content. That's the fuel that
makes the whole cycle work. We have to bust the
myth here, though. People think they need to
be a world -class expert to teach. Not at all.
You just need to be one chapter ahead of your
students. The person who just got through the
struggle is often the best teacher because they
remember what it felt like. So if you've successfully
built, say, five automations for real clients,
you know more than 99 % of people. Absolutely.
That is more than enough expertise to start teaching
something valuable. But then why is it so important
not to skip the first three stages just to get
to this super profitable teaching part? Because
your teaching has to be credible. You need the
war stories. You need the war stories. Those
practical examples from real clients are what
make your advice valuable, not just theoretical.
So to recap, we've walked the four stages. You
start as a freelancer mastering templates. Then
you become a consultant selling diagnosis and
strategy. From there, you scale to an agency.
building a team. And finally, you become a teacher,
sharing that hard -won knowledge for the highest
profit and freedom. And the single most important
piece of advice is to start at stage one. You
have to do the work. You cannot skip the steps.
Your credibility is built in the trenches doing
real work for real clients. The entry barrier
for this is dropping every single day. The tools
are getting easier. They're getting cheaper.
Your first step today should just be to pick
one tool, learn it, build a demo, and find one
client. That first paying client is all the proof
you need. It seems like the real question isn't
whether you're too late for the AI revolution.
It's whether you have the discipline to start
at stage one, when the promise of stage four
is so tempting. That's the real test. So as a
final thought for you to take away, consider
this. If these AI tools continue to simplify
the technical building blocks, these Lego pieces,
how is the definition of a high value consultant
going to evolve over just the next 12 months?
Go build something great.