It is Sunday, February 8th, 2026. And I want
you to, just for a second, close your eyes and
think back three years. Oh, 2023. Remember 2023?
The noise, the hype, everyone was shouting that
prompt engineering was the new gold rush. Oh,
I remember it vividly. It was the learn to code
of this decade, but on like a whole other level.
Everyone thought typing, imagine a cat in space,
photorealistic, 8K. What's a legit six -figure
career. Exactly. But here we are. It's 2026.
And the reality is just it's starkly different.
What is? The economy moved on. It went from prompts
to, well, to agentic workflows. The whole job
of prompt engineer, it's kind of dead. Or it's
just literacy now. Yeah. It's not a job title.
It's like knowing how to use a hammer versus
being a carpenter. That's a perfect analogy.
Yeah. No one's going to pay you just because
you know how to hold the hammer. Yeah. The tool
isn't the job. Not anymore. So today we're doing
something a little different. We're going to
dissect a guide by Max Anne. It's titled 11 Best
AI Business Models to Start in 2026. But our
mission here isn't just to read you a list. We're
going to look at the 11 real paths that founders
are using right now, today, to actually replace
their 9 to 5s. And I got to say, I have some
mixed feelings about this list. I love that it's
brutal. It admits most people failed, the ones
who made it. They're building complex systems,
not just prompting. Right. But I do think the
guide maybe glosses over just how hard some of
these paths really are. Well, let's unpack that.
The source makes a really bold claim right at
the start. It says prompt engineering is a skill,
not a business. And that's it. That's the thesis
for the whole 2026 economy, isn't it? It really
feels like it. It's like typing. You needed to
be a writer, but professional typer isn't a high
paying job. The market's just matured. You see
tools like Kling V3, Sora 2. They don't need
magic spells anymore. They just need direction.
That brings us perfectly to our first big category
today, the visual revolution. This covers the
AI filmmaker, the creative studio, and the AI
influencer. Okay. Let's start with the filmmaker
because that one feels the most, you know, tangible.
This is the one that just blows my mind. We are
literally talking about replacing an entire film
crew. The whole thing. The lighting. camera ops,
logistics, all of it replaced with a good laptop
and a few subscriptions. And the guide mentions
Kling V3 and Sora 2 are what really pushed this
from being a cool experiment to a real career.
But what's the actual workflow? It's not just
one button, right? No, not at all. That's the
big misconception. It breaks down what creators
like PJ Ace are doing. And it's a stack. You're
not just typing, make a Nike ad. Okay. You're
in Mid Journey 7 generating reference images
just to get the lighting right. And you're feeding
those into Sora 2 for motion. Then you're using
a totally separate agent for sound design. It's
orchestration. So the filmmaker is really an
editor in chief of AI agents. Precisely. Yeah.
And the barrier to entry is just crumbled. You
used to need, what, 50 grand for a decent 30
second spot? At least. Now you have people landing
contracts with David Beckham's brand from their
home office. The source mentions the first fully
AI generated ad was during the 2025 NBA finals.
That feels like a moment we all kind of just
glossed over. We did, but the industry didn't.
That was the signal. If you can get cinematic
quality without all the friction of a physical
shoot, the economics just flip. We're seeing
projects go for $3 ,000 to $10 ,000 for a single
spot. Wow. And the margin is huge because you're
not paying a crew. But doesn't that just flood
the market? If anyone can do it, doesn't the
price just tank? That's the risk, for sure. But
right now, taste is the scarcity. The tool can
make the video, but your taste. Your taste makes
it a story. And most people still have bad taste.
Fair point. Okay, so if you scale that filmmaker
model up, you get the AI creative studio. Yeah,
which is just the agency version. Instead of
one -off projects, you're on retainer. $5 ,000
to $15 ,000 a month selling speed and volume
to brands that need content every single day
for TikTok, for Instagram. Right. And then there's
a third part of this visual puzzle, and this
is where it gets a little weird for me. The AI
influencer. Oh, I love this corner of the internet.
The character play. But explain this. We're not
talking about a human using an AI filter. No,
no. We're talking about completely fictional
entities like Bigfoot doing vlogs from the forest
or a Rastafarian monkey character, a digital
avatar with a personality and a fan base that
doesn't actually exist. And brands are really
putting money behind a character that isn't real.
I mean, what's the ROI? They love it. Think about
it from a brand safety perspective. The character
never gets tired. It never gets caught saying
something awful on a hot mic. It never has a
scandal unless you write one for it. It's the
ultimate creator. It does make me wonder, though,
does removing the human face from all this content,
does it dehumanize the art or does it actually
liberate? the storyteller. I think it actually
frees the creator to focus purely on the narrative.
You don't have to worry about how you look or
getting older. You just worry about the story.
It's just puppetry with digital strings. That's
a fascinating way to put it. Okay, let's pivot.
Category two, the service and vibe coding economy.
Less art, more utility. This is where most of
the money is being made right now, but it's also
where the burnout risk is highest. The source
breaks this into three roles, the consultant,
the freelancer, and the automation agency. Let's
start with the consultant. The guide calls it
the fastest path to your first dollar. In theory,
yes, because you're not selling code. You're
selling certainty. You go in your business, do
an audit, and you fix one thing. But what does
an audit actually look like? The guide suggests
a three -point audit. You're looking for repetitive
emails, data entry bottlenecks, or customer support
lag. You find one of those, you install the tool
to automate it, and boom, that's a $3 ,000 fix.
It sounds so simple. There has to be a catch.
The catch is sales. You have to convince a business
owner to let you into their messy back end. And
most tech people, you know, they hate sales.
So it's the fastest path, but also the most socially
demanding. You're selling trust. Okay, then we
have the AI freelancer. And Source uses a term
that's really taken over this past year, vibe
coding. Vibe coding. I love that this is the
official term now. It just sounds so casual for
something so powerful. So for anyone listening
who might have missed this shift, what is vibe
coding in 2026? It's like going from being a
bricklayer to an architect. Before, you had to
know where every single semicolon went. Now,
with tools like Bolt or Lovable, you just tell
the AI, I want a CRM that feels like Notion but
acts like Salesforce. You described the vibe.
The AI handles the logic. So you're managing
the outcome, not the syntax. Exactly. It's coding
for people who get logic but hate syntax. And
I have to admit, this is something I still wrestle
with. Prompt drift. I mean, even with these incredible
new tools, I'll have a system working perfectly
on a Tuesday and then by Friday, it just gives
me something slightly different. Oh, absolutely.
That's why the freelancer is still so valuable.
It's not just building at once. It's having the
patience to wrestle that system into being stable.
That's what people pay for, your patience. And
when you scale that patience, you get the AI
automation agency. Right. You stop trading your
time for money. You build the systems, maybe
hire a couple of vibe coders to do the work,
and you just manage the client. That's how you
get to those five -figure months. But you become
a manager, not a builder. It raises a question
about where the value is. Is the value really
in the tool or is it in having the courage to
tell a business owner their process is obsolete?
The value is definitely in the diagnosis, not
just the prescription. The tool is 20 bucks a
month. Knowing where to point it without breaking
the entire company. That's 10 grand. We're going
to take a very short break. When we come back,
we're looking at the long game models, education
and sauce. And we'll discuss why that. recurring
revenue dream might actually be a trap mid -roll
sponsor break we are back we are diving deep
into the 11 ai business models of 2026 we've
covered the visual artists and the service providers
now let's talk about the educators this is the
long game and honestly this is the section that
requires the most patience the source identifies
three types the content creator the consumer
educator and the business educator let's start
with the content creator This is the path everyone
wants because it looks so fun on social media.
But the guide is... super harsh about it. It
says the reality is tough. It takes a long time.
Meaningful income is delayed. Most people quit.
It's the classic trough of sorrow. Yeah, because
you're fighting for attention in a world that
is just flooded with AI content. But the pivot
to consumer AI educator is where it gets interesting.
This isn't about being famous. It's about being
specific. The example it gives is how to prepare
your children for an AI future. Right. You see
the difference? Intro to AI is boring. It's a
commodity. But AI for parents, that hits a nerve.
When you narrow the focus, you increase the value.
That's how you get to $3 ,000 to $10 ,000 a month
in revenue from a niche course. And then there's
the business AI educator, corporate training.
This is the bridge. Think about how many companies
panic -bought enterprise licenses for ChatGPT
or Gemini last year. They bought them for everyone.
But nobody actually uses them for more than...
like writing plate emails. The investment is
wasted. So the educator comes in and shows the
marketing team how to use it for data analysis
or HR how to use it for screening. They bridge
that gap. And the upside there is pretty significant.
Five to $20 ,000 engagements. And it almost always
leads to consulting. It's the perfect foot in
the door. You teach them, they realize they can't
do it themselves, so they hire you to do it for
them. So why do you think we value a specific
guide for parents so much more than a general
guide for everyone? Because generic advice feels
like noise, but specific advice feels like a
solution. One is just information. The other
feels like a rescue plan. That brings us to the
heavy hitters. Segment four, the sauce builder
and the transformation partner. This is where
the difficulty curve just spikes. This is hard
mode. The AI sauce builder, the product route.
Everyone romanticizes this one. The dream of
recurring revenue, right? Build it once, get
paid forever. But the source has a pretty big
reality check. The first version will absolutely
suck. And there's an even bigger trap, the clone
trap. The problem isn't building the sauce anymore.
You can build a functioning app in a weekend.
The problem is your competitor can clone it next
weekend. So the competitive moat is just gone.
It is, unless you have proprietary data. The
guide argues that if you don't have a financial
runway, this path is a trap. You're just going
to be fighting churn constantly. Then there's
the transformation partner, the summit, as they
call it. Yeah, this is not an entry -level gig.
This is for the veterans. You're not a vendor.
You are a strategic partner rewiring a company's
DNA with AI. And the contracts are six figures.
Easily. But you cannot fake this one. You need
a real track record. You're managing fear and
human psychology, not just software. It really
seems like the sauce route is the one people
romanticize the most. Is that dream of recurring
revenue actually a trap for someone without a
financial runway? Totally. It's a marathon disguised
as a sprint. Everyone sees the finish line with
the monthly checks, but they don't see the 18
months of eating ramen while you're begging people
not to cancel. So we've laid out all 11 paths.
The filmmaker, the consultant, the builder. The
final section is about strategy and selection.
How do you choose? Because analysis paralysis
feels like the real enemy here. The guide breaks
it down really simply, which I like. It's based
on your personality. Let's run through it. It
says, if you need money fast and you have no
tech skills. AI consultant. Go sell audits. But
you have to be willing to talk to people. If
you love building and tinkering. AI freelancer.
Get into those vibe coding tools. You can hide
behind your screen and let the work speak for
you. Creative. AI filmmaker for sure. And if
you're patient. Then you go content creator or
eventually. transformation partner the source
explicitly names the two most proven paths for
2026 and they are the consultant and the freelancer
because they have the shortest feedback loops
you do work you get paid you don't have to wait
for an audience to grow or for code to compile
there's one piece of advice in the conclusion
that really stood out to me the 1000 days rule
yes pick one model and commit to it for 1000
days that's what almost three years in a world
where ai changes every week Three years feels
like an eternity. How can you commit to a model
when the tech will be completely different in
six months? That's the paradox, right? The tech
changes constantly, but the fundamental business
model, solving a human problem. That doesn't
change. If you jump around every time a new tool
comes out, you never build any momentum. Just
a series of unfinished projects. Exactly. And
the guide mentions that mindset shift from being
a know -it -all to a learn -it -all. Right. You
can't rely on textbooks. They're obsolete by
the time they're printed. You just have to be
in the trenches learning by doing. It makes me
think. Does the paralysis of choice prevent more
people from starting than the actual difficulty
of the work itself? Absolutely. Action cures
fears so much faster than planning does. People
spend months picking the perfect model and zero
days actually doing it. So let's recap the big
ideas. The landscape in 2026 isn't about how
to prompt. That's just table stakes. It's about
solving specific problems. Whether that's through
visual storytelling as a filmmaker or bringing
clarity as a consultant or building systems as
an agency. And the barrier to entry is technically
low. You just need a laptop. But the requirement
for focus, that is higher than ever. You have
to pick a lane and stick with it. The final thought
from the source material is what I really want
to leave you with. The people making money right
now aren't smarter than you. They just started
while you were reading. That's the kick in the
pants right there. Stop researching. Stop listening
to podcasts. Well, maybe after this one. Just
pick one of these 11 paths this weekend and start.
Thank you for diving in with us. We'll see you
in the next deep dive. See ya.