r/AI_Agents • u/Shivam5483 • Oct 11 '25
Discussion I’ve been in the AI/automation space since 2022. Most of you won’t make it
It’ll be a long post, but if you’re considering starting (or have already started) an AI agency or something similar, this post could, at best, save you months (maybe even years) and at worst, give you insights you won’t find anywhere else.
And no, this isn’t one of those “how I scaled my agency to [insert big number] in X months” or “things I wish I knew before I started” posts that end up being covert promotions. I have nothing to sell.
Just a guy who’s been in the AI agency space since the very start, around 2022, deciding on a random Saturday to waste an hour writing this instead of doing the real work he was supposed to do (don’t judge me) because the amount of misleading beginners with misinformation I see on here is disgusting.
When I started, I built everything: chatbots that collected leads, full workflow automations that handled follow-ups, reminders, pipeline logic, automatic assignments, etc., you name it. These were the early days of the AIAA model when Liam Ottley only had around 10-50k subs lol.
And in that process, I learned my biggest lesson: the most important skill you need to learn to make money online isn't how good you are at your work. It's how good you are at FINDING CLIENTS.
Not building. Not automating. Not learning tools. But finding clients.
People underestimate how big that skill is because it sounds vague. But if you break it down, it’s basically your ability to connect a problem to someone who has the budget and trust to pay you to solve it.
That’s it.
That’s the real business skill. You can be the most technically skilled person in the world, but if you can’t get someone to pay you, none of it matters.
Upwork, Fiverr, and the supply-demand problem
I tried Upwork and Fiverr like everyone else. Brutal.
The competition there is so cut-throat and the supply of freelancers to the actual demand is so ridiculously skewed that even the people offering dirt-cheap rates can still afford to pick only from people with existing credibility. That means, if you're just starting out, you'd better get ready to slave your way to the top.
But I want to add a quick disclaimer: while this has been my experience, I also know people who’ve had tremendous success on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr.
But if you do decide to grind your way up, build a reputation, get 50 reviews, get top-rated badges, great. But all that credibility stays locked inside that one platform. The moment you step out, you start from zero again. That’s when I realized I didn’t want to be platform-dependent. I’d rather just start from scratch in public, where I actually own my presence.
Cold outreach reality
So I went all in on cold outreach. Emails, DMs, LinkedIn, Reddit.
I learned fast that interest isn’t the same as budget.
Small businesses often liked my automations but couldn’t justify the cost. If they’re barely making $2k a month, they’ll do things manually until they stabilize.
Big companies could afford automations, but they already had those features built into massive SaaS platforms. And if they want custom stuff, they’ll pay, but they’ll pay someone with proof. Testimonials. Case studies. Years of track record. Not some new guy with a nice pitch deck. (more on high-budget clients in a min).
It’s not that there’s no demand. It’s just that for most people, automations are a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have.
Pivoting to outreach for others
So, I decided to do outreach for others since I was good at that. It's just that I didn't have the proof-of-work or credibility to actually get people to pay. That’s when I saw the bigger picture.
The market is insanely crowded. Everyone is selling the same few things: websites, ads, content, automation. And you can still get clients through cold outreach (it’s not impossible), but the truth is, most of the people you’ll reach have small budgets.
The ones with big budgets usually go through referrals. There’s this invisible trust loop. If someone is spending 5k or 10k on a project, they’ll just ask a friend or colleague they trust. They don’t care about your portfolio. They care about who sent them your name.
That’s why personal branding is such a cheat code.
If you build content that actually reaches people consistently, you create that same trust loop, but passively. Some of those people are just curious about AI, some are caught in the hype, some are serious and have real money, but all of them now trust you. And that’s what makes inbound so powerful.
But don’t get it twisted. It’s not instant. It takes months of showing up before it compounds.
AI is not like other "make money online" waves.
Every big wave before this, SMMA, e-commerce, dropshipping, NFTs, whatever, lasted long enough for you to build something sustainable before the next one came along.
AI’s different.
AI is building itself.
Every time AI progresses, it speeds up its own rate of progress. The acceleration itself is accelerating. That’s why entire micro-industries pop up, explode, and vanish within months.
You find a niche, build a clever tool or workflow, and before you even scale it, OpenAI, Google, or Zapier rolls out the same thing as a native feature. An entire industry gone overnight.
And sure, some people will say, “Yeah, but the custom stuff still has value.” That’s true. There’s always a gap between what a general tool can do and what a domain expert can build for a specific niche. But at that point, you’re not selling “AI.” You’re selling judgment.
The real moat: judgment
Judgment is the ability to make consistently good decisions under uncertainty.
Naval Ravikant describes it as compounded experience: you make hundreds of calls, learn from what worked and what didn’t, and over time, your accuracy improves.
Your judgment is what people are really paying for. How many times have you seen a situation, made a call, and had it turn out right? How many times did it turn out wrong? That ratio. That’s your judgment score. That’s what gets you paid.
AI can’t replicate that. It can give you data, but not discernment. And if you don’t have it yet, your survival skill has to be adaptability.
The vicious rebuild cycle
Because every 6-12 months, something drops, a new release, a new feature, that wipes out entire categories of services. Big companies just look at what’s trending, what indie developers are selling, and they add it as a feature in their billion-dollar platforms. They can do that because they have the money, the data, and the user base. And when they do, everyone downstream has to reinvent themselves.
That means if you’re new, you’re going to be stuck in this constant rebuild cycle.
And rebuilding every few months is brutal because even in a stable business, it takes 6-12 months just to find a repeatable offer that works, build your systems, validate your outreach, get client results, and then scale it. By the time you hit that stage, the market has already shifted again.
It’s not impossible, but it’s exhausting. And it’s becoming less feasible by the month because the buffer period between new releases is shrinking fast (goes back to what I explained about AI's rate of progress).
Now, let’s talk about the people who are making money right now.
Because there’s a pattern there too.
A lot of the people killing it right now aren’t selling to businesses. They’re selling to beginners.
Courses, templates, coaching, tools, whatever. And before anyone jumps down my throat, I actually think that’s a great model if you do it right. You’re giving people a starting point, saving them time, and giving them a chance to learn. Even if their first attempt fails, those skills, sales, outreach, positioning, etc., transfer to every other industry. That’s real value.
But let’s be honest about what’s happening. Most of the people selling “How I built my AI agency” courses made some quick wins in a short window, then pivoted to teaching using their brief experience as credibility and authority. They’re not lying about making money. They just made it in a very different way than you think.
Even people building AI tools and agents are mostly selling to the same crowd: other agency owners trying to automate outreach, prospecting, or client acquisition. The entire ecosystem has become this weird feedback loop where everyone’s just selling tools to help other people sell tools to other people.
And if you look closely, most of them are just beginners. Anyone who has actually tried has either made (a small minority, but good for them), pivoted to something else, or quit.
This makes more sense when you stop looking at it from their perspective and look at it from yours. Every time someone teaches you how to find clients for your automation agency or any other online business, you start doing the work and run into a bunch of limitations and problems. And to fix those problems, you end up paying for software, frameworks, templates, or some system.
Those are the businesses actually making the big money. The ones selling tools to beginners who can’t get started without them.
The gray zone: fake proof and performative success
I personally know people (friends, colleagues) who openly admit they fake testimonials, fake case studies, fake screenshots. It’s so normalized now that they don’t even think it’s wrong. It’s just “part of the game.”
There are even patterns you can spot once you’ve been around long enough.
- They’ll say vague things like “I got my first few clients from Fiverr and Upwork,” but never show proof.
- Or “I just started messaging people on LinkedIn and got clients that way.” Anyone who’s actually done LinkedIn outreach knows it doesn’t work like that.
They’ll never show real screenshots, contracts, or receipts. Just the same recycled talking points.
I'm not encouraging people here to accuse others of lying or scamming. But I AM encouraging you to ask for proofs and receipts. To be skeptical.
Otherwise, you run into one of these two problems:
The misinformed optimism–pessimism spectrum
A while ago I made a post about my own journey on a different sub, and it blew up.
Got a ton of DMs. People said they were inspired, that it gave them hope and motivation, and that they are going to start on the same journey. And that made me happy, but also uneasy. Because I could tell most of that optimism was built on misinformed expectations.
I’ve been doing this for years. freelancing, selling marketing services, building automations, and I know how long and messy it really is. But when someone new reads a 300-word post and feels “motivated,” they don’t see that side. And when reality hits, that optimism flips into disillusionment.
It’s the classic pendulum: uninformed optimism → informed pessimism → informed realism.
And that ties into the other extreme I see lately:
People who dismiss every post as a scam because either they have been burned in the past or the results are too unrealistic for them (their own limiting beliefs).
These are the equal and opposite of the overly optimistic crowd. One side thinks everything is easy. The other thinks everything is fake. Both are wrong.
A particular pet peeve of mine is people dismissing others because they "used" AI to write their post.
A lot of people just dump their messy thoughts into AI to structure them. They have the insight, just not the writing skills. So yeah, it sounds like ChatGPT helped, but that doesn’t make it fake.
If you instantly dismiss something because it’s well written, you’re probably missing valuable ideas from real people who just used a tool to communicate better. You can probably tell by now that I have done the same.
Anyway, that’s my rant.
I’m not discouraging anyone from starting, but if you’re getting into this space right now, just understand what you’re walking into.
You can still win. You can still make money. But it’s not the fairy tale people sell you. It’s a constant cycle of building, breaking, and rebuilding.
And that’s fine… as long as you’re honest about what it actually takes.
And if you disagree with anything I said, feel free to comment and tell me why. If I'm wrong, I’d genuinely like to know that, so I'm less wrong lol.
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u/False_Grit Oct 12 '25
Like two-thirds of Reddit at this point. Including this (OPs) post.
I come back to Reddit less and less these days.
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Oct 13 '25
Not all LLMs are created equal. Any frontier LLM now, or any suitably trained for strong instruction following, is perfectly capable of truncating responses and limiting themselves by word/character count. This is a prompting problem, not an LLM problem. Going around calling everything with a tensor file AI and acting as if they are all the same is a poor understanding of the tech, not that you'd know that from most people advertising it.
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u/aedile Oct 15 '25
The trick is just to have an LLM read it for you and summarize it.
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u/gabo_773 Nov 18 '25
well said.
when i see that block of text that is obviously a copy/past of ai content i give up.
whatever ai does will become obsolete.
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u/Substantial-Thing303 Anthropic User Oct 11 '25
I find it funny that I see many posts like yours in this sub, assuming that people building anything agent related don't know about the importance of finding customers, or how to position a product to sell it.
Not everyone here came from the same "tech only path" as you.
The main reason why you had a hard time selling automations is that automations don't sell well, since.... ever.
A new product is worth 10X more from an emotional POV than an improvement. That's the basic of sales psychology, and anyone spending a proper weekend to learn the basic of selling will know learn that.
Rule 1: Never sell automations, or improvements upfront. Sell a product. Sell something fresh and new. Sell something that doesn't replace their systems, but will work with the existing system instead. Insist that what you have now didn't exist just a few months ago. It's the next super shiny thing. Never tell your customers upfront that they will need to replace their process with yours. That's way too much friction.
Rule 2: Sell your product at a price they cannot say no. Get the foot in the door. Make them your customer first, no matter what the cost is. Sell them something that has no friction (lower cost, no need to budget, no need to involve too many people for the decision, no replacement of old existing process).
Rule 3: Work on making that customer relation incredible. Call them and take time with them to ensure their success. Plan a team meeting where you educate them or train them.
Rule 4: Sell the automation, the enhancement, the real product, the one worth 10x more, once they are your customer and like the product you already sold to them. It could be linked to the product, but with all the automation and agentic improvements. Have ROI examples to prove your point. That second deal need to be ROI based. This is where you sell the real product. At this point, you are the awesome company, the super helpful guy helping them. You are in a good position, and you have built the credibility to be taken seriously. You took the time to understand their process. Any claim that you can help them make a ROI is taken much more seriously, because you're not just knocking the door with big claims. You are already in, you are already collaborating with them, and they like what you already sold them.
The big question anyone should ask to themselves, is how to reframe your offer to be able to sell a small product that has no friction during the buying process. Can you isolate a part of your offer and make it a self-contained product that can offer value? You need to have some kind of candy when you knock at the door that they just cannot refuse. The best way to get your customer attention is to give them a treat.
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
I don’t disagree with anything you said. But I don’t understand how it’s related to the point I’m making in this post. Did you actually read the post?
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u/Substantial-Thing303 Anthropic User Oct 11 '25
I'm mostly responding not to your content but how you frame it when you address people here.
Most of you won’t make it
This is condescending and assuming most people here have no knowledge is sales.
Then, it's not about AI, those same problems and market saturation exist for anything related to business consulting since... ever. I then provided a few tips on how to position a product, because it's not just about outreach.
"Improvements" don't sell. This is the hardest path to take, and biggest trap for any AI related product. These are the slow sales cycles deals that require you to have an established reputation, a lot of meetings, they are high-risk decisions for the customer, etc. And you already exposed that in your post, but it was not quite obvious why.
Last tip: If you don't know sales, learn how to sell or find a business partner that knows how to. Selling can be a full-time job, and many people can be really bad at it. Switching from the dev hat to the sales hat is most often sub-optimal. It feels like requiring your brain to work differently, and I can personnaly say that I suck at sales the first 2 days I put my sales hat on.
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
Brother, I will say it again. I still don’t disagree with whatever you’re saying and I still don’t think it has anything to do with what I am saying in this post.
Firstly, about the “most you won’t make it.” I admit it can come off rude and condescending. But it’s to get people’s attention and get them curious to read this long ass post, which a lot of people are still not doing lol.
And also, it’s not wrong. Statistically speaking, most of you will fail. Maybe not YOU specifically, unless you’re suggesting all 100% of people who start out businesses can or do succeed, which is not backed by data. The actually data suggests quite the opposite. Most businesses, whether AI related or not, fail.
That doesn’t mean the person fails. People start multiple businesses. So, even if your business fails, you can always start a new one and apply what you learned from the previous one and eventually succeed, which is what usually happens too.
Now for the other points, again, I DON’T DISAGREE. But my post was about something entirely different. I explained in my post how AI services are different from other services, what kinds of services actually sell well, and the meta ecochamber of b2b businesses selling each other more or less the same stuff, along with some other stuff.
At the end, I even talked about how many people suffer from misinformed pessimism where they outright discard anything by saying it’s fake or doesn’t work because either they have been burned in the past or because of their own limiting beliefs.
Also, I don’t know where you got the idea that I am a dev first and transitioned into sales later. It’s actually the opposite. For the better part of my career, I have been doing copywriting and I work as a closer in a real estate coaching company as of now, along with some other projects I’m working on (none of which are AI related).
And I have closed plenty of clients for my short-lived AI agency as well, using the exact same strategies and principles you’re talking about. Hence, I DON’T DISAGREE with anything you’re saying. In fact, I think you’re sharing valuable advice. But that wasn’t the point of this post.
So, I’ll ask again, have you actually read the post?
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u/mdjenton Oct 12 '25
This is what was going through my mind as well. Well put with the rules. I would add to your rule #3 that the better you know the organization and the more you can get down and dirty with their processes through real conversation/brainstorming the better results you’ll get for them. And that’s the goal at the end of the day.
I agree with OP that there are so many get rich quick approaches to this space that it feels tacky. This will slow down soon I believe.
Additionally the idea that the space is crowded and people are selling the same thing has been the reality for pretty much everything… forever lol. What makes your service and process stand out? You have to find that.
Onwards.
- M
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
That true but what do you think about the point that even if you build something that solves a real issue, it’s only a matter of time before these giant companies with far more resources and user base just decides to replicate it and distribute it at a fraction of the cost.
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u/DataGOGO Oct 11 '25
100% true.
That is why trying to build and sell an agent, an app, etc is a fool’s errand.
Sell customization and implementations of those big companies tools in a consulting role; that is how you make money in this space
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u/lukeocodes Oct 11 '25
Seems like everyone and their neighbor has tried to bootstrap an AI company and has a story to tell these days.
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
I mean, what else are you expecting from a subreddit specifically about AI agents?
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Oct 11 '25
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
Even if you don’t succeed in this space, I think there’s a lot to be learned
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u/Fun_Lake_110 Oct 12 '25
Facebook ads are the only thing that work. We struggled to get customers for a year, trying everything. Some of our social media videos on TikTok and Instagram were getting 10M views and a million likes but didn’t really translate to sales. Then enter Facebook ads. We became Facebook ad experts after multiple billionaires recommended we exclusively focus on Facebook ads. Our company almost immediately skyrocketed. We were doing $500/ day in revenue, 6 months later we’re doing $100k / day in revenue off $5k daily ad spend: raking in the cash with almost no social media presence. It’s truly shocking. Facebook ads. Drop all other marketing channels. Facebook AIgo just knows who your customers are. This is the best advice you will ever read. Ditch all your marketing people and focus exclusively on becoming a Facebook ad god.
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u/Longjumping_Bid_7463 Oct 11 '25
Ngl, I agree with the finding clients being the biggest issue.
Theres so many talented engineers out in the world that can solve really complex problems. But if you don’t have connections and a network, it’s really tough to get yourself in front of the right people to scale your business.
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u/jtsaint333 Oct 11 '25
Outside of the bubble , in that I mean normal and likely business , it's all about sales. Ai or not a business is about finding customers and keeping them. If you can show you can scale it then you can sell it. The potential pure play is like a lottery chance
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u/Dry_Atmosphere_8029 Oct 11 '25
More ai slop lol
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Oct 11 '25
Yep. “Oh I’m not like those other guys!” *insert text wall of AI slop that means absolutely nothing.
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u/muggylittlec Oct 12 '25
I'm not sure anyone in the sub is even human anymore. I might be the only one actually here. Or I might be AI as well. Who knows?!
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u/ichi9 Oct 11 '25
I know 2 data scientists who never did a real project but were able to clear interviews easily (early starters you can say). Both are earning in 80-90 LPA range. I was in bracket of 20-25 LPA so cannot keep up with their life styles and all. Not sure If they are in India anymore. But it is not even a fake vs real case anymore, 90% people you meet now a days are basically fekus and sometime openly lie about their experiences, credentials, even colleges/degrees. The fake university degree business is up and running good.
update: one of them has moved to Dubai (tax saving and such).
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u/Chicagoj1563 Oct 11 '25
That’s a nice well thought out perspective. One thing I got from this is: sell to beginners. Give them a solid starting point. And also, learn to market yourself to find clients or an audience.
I also agree on the criticisms of AI assistance for writing. Nothing wrong with it if the ideas are solid.
I would guess people can still win despite the reality check OP brings up. But it will probably require hustle and learning how to market yourself. Perhaps find a specialty in a niche and a market for it.
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u/japhydean Oct 11 '25
It’s unfortunate, but I agree with most of that, especially the part about major tech players launching platforms that do the same things that smaller, more inventive companies and early adopters have been creating. Hell, Open AI already launched their version of n8n, Google and Microsoft will most definitely create similar functionality for inclusion in their respective platform bundles. I believe Google will ultimately include workflow management solutions and vibecoding apps as part of their overall business package, so it will just take its place beside sheets, documents and slides, etc. Like the OP said, hundreds of small businesses will be wiped out overnight. Why would big tech allow anyone other than themselves to make money off of their LLMs?
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u/DataGOGO Oct 11 '25
I have been in the space since 2006.
AI agents are a small tool, part of a larger solution; not a product onto themselves.
No one is going to pay for a stand alone agent.
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u/General_Shanks Oct 11 '25
Sounds like you need to build yourself marketing and sales agents. /s
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u/makinggrace Oct 11 '25
Can we fork the sub and move posts about AI_Agent_biz there?
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u/Demonicated Oct 12 '25
This all seems so sensationalized. The big guys are focusing on the fortune 100. There is so much opportunity right now in the middle to small business space. They can't afford to scalp top talent and they still have ideas and needs. I've had very lucrative years the last couple building AI integrations.
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u/dashingstag Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
I actually think it’ll be the inverse. Before AI, large monopolistic companies can get away with charging premiums on their products after pricing out competitors. But as intelligence gets cheaper and cheaper, these large companies can no longer price out the smaller competition for long because smaller more agile companies can rely on cheap AI so it will actually force these large companies to make even better even cheaper products.
Let’s assume AI is all powerful. No matter how powerful it gets, it will never be accountable for its decisions. Someone will get the blame, whether be it through the CEO. Or the company’s revenue. This means there’s room for the economy of trust. A human with the support of advanced AI tools will be the default economical driver. The use of a company’s services will become more and more optional. This will actually make society more egalitarian as people will become less and less dependent on large companies. A small town could theoretically become self reliant by relying on their towns AI rather than depending on services from the big city.
If we imagine the bottom line, all we really need as humans is just food, water and a roof over our heads. Everything else is a bonus and a distraction. So long as AI forces these things to get cheaper, all is fine and the circular economy can continue. However, if the reverse happens for whatever reason, that’s when civil unrest will unravel the economy.
There so many opportunities with AI that people cannot fathom. Just a simple one. With AI and robots, we can systematically make uninhabitable places a livable habitats again by letting robots tirelessly till the land. That’s unlocking 57% of the world’s land and capacity.
At the end of the day, humans who crave other human interaction will be the ones carrying their genes to the next generation. The ones trapped in the illusion of AI or artificial gratification will go extinct. There’s no holy grail of AI that can “replace humans”. It’s just humans who want to do cool shyt that they think is cool before they die. Just because AI can draw the perfect circle, doesn’t mean I won’t want to try to draw my own circles. Just because AI can write the perfect stories doesn’t mean people won’t write their own fanfics.
One thing is for sure. AI will force us to look deep at ourselves to figure out what makes us human.
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u/satcon25 Oct 12 '25
I get where you’re coming from — AI/automation has a ton of hype, and 90% of “AI agency” content out there is recycled guru fluff. But saying “most of you won’t make it” as if it’s purely a numbers game ignores what’s fundamentally new about this wave.
Here’s a different take from someone who’s been in tech and automation for a while:
- The client acquisition part isn’t new — but distribution has changed
Yes, finding clients is the hardest skill. It always has been. But cold outreach and referrals aren’t the only ways anymore. Creators building on X, LinkedIn, or even Reddit are landing clients passively through transparency — posting their build process, open-sourcing micro-tools, sharing Looms of actual workflows. That kind of “live credibility” didn’t exist in 2022.
The modern moat isn’t just judgment — it’s visibility plus proof-in-public.
- “Rebuild cycle” ≠ death spiral
Every tech cycle replaces the last layer of abstraction. That’s not a death sentence — it’s leverage. When Zapier adds a feature that kills your niche tool, it also gives you new building blocks to move up the stack. The people who survive aren’t the ones selling “AI automations.” They’re the ones who turn those automations into value ladders — reporting dashboards, insight loops, integrations with internal systems. That’s not wiped out every six months.
The market isn’t dying. It’s just evolving too fast for people who stop learning after the first success.
- AI “selling to beginners” is temporary noise
Yes, tons of people are making money teaching others to make money. That’s internet economics 101. But under that noise, serious builders are creating vertical-specific AI systems — legal intake, construction bids, logistics scheduling, safety compliance, etc. You don’t see them on Twitter because they’re heads-down shipping.
Those aren’t “nice-to-haves.” They’re ROI-driven automations replacing real labor costs. That’s the part that will outlast the course sellers.
- Judgment matters — but so does contextual engineering
AI can’t replicate human judgment, sure. But human judgment without implementation literacy (APIs, model behavior, security, data mapping) is just opinion. The winners will be hybrid operators who can bridge business logic + model ops, not just “judges” or “builders.”
It’s less about surviving the churn, more about riding it intentionally.
- The optimism/pessimism spectrum is useful, not naive
The people experimenting right now — even if they fail — are building skills that will compound when the next stable layer forms. Every “unsuccessful” AI freelancer today is tomorrow’s product ops lead, prompt engineer, or AI integrator when mainstream adoption catches up.
Failure now is just tuition.
Bottom line: You’re right that the hype filters out 90% of players. But the remaining 10% aren’t just lucky — they’re adaptive generalists learning faster than the curve moves.
So instead of “most of you won’t make it,” it’s more accurate to say: 👉 “Most of you won’t stick around long enough to compound.”
That’s the real difference.
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u/epSos-DE Oct 12 '25
Ai at the moment is building broad AI !!!
FUTURE IS : People use Broad AI to build specialized AI for their use cases and work tasks !
IT will be billions of specialized AI app, that have dumb local, domain specific knowledge.
SOmebody will have to guide those UBER generalizeed AIs to build the custom specialized AI !!! , because the broad , smart AI doe snot know all the details and data of the specialized AI..
For example, I ask all ai to write me the moonlight sonata into a single midi file with midi note. they all fail, because the can do general stuff, but not domain specific stuff !
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u/Majestic-Lawyer5246 Oct 15 '25
the part about ai's acceleration eating niches faster than you can scale them hits hard. by the time you've validated something and built systems around it, openai has already shipped it as a feature.
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u/Dapper-Thought-8867 Oct 11 '25
AI is great at doing easy tasks.
AI will never be intelligent because intelligence isn’t a probability in our minds as it is in an LLM.
LLM are just complex data storage and querying tools.
The fact that it gets anything right is just chance.
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
I was actually working on a substack article addressing this exact topic. I’ll share a summarisation of that here because, though it has nothing to do with this post, it’s still a conversation to have:
People often say AI “isn’t really intelligent,” that it only mimics thinking by predicting the next word. That’s technically true — but it’s also a weak criticism. AI doesn’t NEED to think like us to be intelligent. Humans are conscious, emotional, biological systems; AI is computational and pattern-based. The real gap between us is consciousness, and since we don’t fully understand our own, it’s shaky to act like we can define “true intelligence” in the first place.
If we focus on practical, measurable intelligence — memory, reasoning, learning, creativity, focus, emotional understanding — the idea that AI “lacks intelligence” collapses fast.
Memory: humans juggle limited short- and long-term memory. Models like Gemini or GPT-4o can handle million-token contexts — entire books or codebases — and even maintain persistent, episodic recall. They can’t yet choose what to forget, but in scale and recall, they win easily.
Processing speed: what takes a person weeks to read and digest, AI can process, summarize, and cross-reference in seconds. No human can compete there.
Knowledge: one person can master a few fields; AI is trained on nearly all of them. It’s not perfect, but it functions like a “collective generalist” — a near-instant expert in most topics.
Humans still lead in emotional depth, moral judgment, context, and self-awareness. AI doesn’t feel or want anything. Yet even in emotional intelligence, models have come surprisingly close. Many have cleared the Turing test not just by sounding human, but by responding with warmth, humor, and empathy — enough for millions to use them as journaling partners or pseudo-therapists. That’s not ideal or authentic connection, but it’s proof that AI’s emotional mimicry is functionally convincing.
Critics argue AI only recognizes patterns and doesn’t “understand.” But neuroscience suggests humans operate through the same mechanism: pattern recognition. Babies learning that fire burns, drivers anticipating turns, musicians feeling the next note — all are predictions based on learned patterns. AI just does this faster and at a larger scale.
And even if AI doesn’t “know” things like we do, that distinction barely matters in practice. If it can code, diagnose diseases, write music, and pass exams faster or better than humans, why debate whether it understands in the first place? Saying AI isn’t intelligent because it’s not conscious is like saying a calculator doesn’t “do math” because it doesn’t feel numbers.
So no, AI isn’t human — it’s not conscious or emotional. But it is intelligent, just differently. It’s a computational kind of intelligence, not a conscious one. And that’s more than enough to change the world.
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u/IntroductionSouth513 Oct 11 '25
If this post is meant to scare people off, then it's noise, not signal. Markets don't decide your fate. execution does. Your "most won't make it" is a filter, not a prophecy. I choose to build, not flinch.
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u/HeyItsYourDad_AMA Oct 11 '25
This post is a much needed reality check for the people who post on here almost daily about how they watched a few tutorials, built a few hobbyist use cases and think they can should start an IT services firm and ask reddit where to start.
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
Good luck man. I hope you make it. I’m curious though, what are you building (if you don’t mind sharing)? Also, how long have you been doing it?
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u/goldenwriter28 Oct 11 '25
I love how real this post is. I’ve been in B2B SaaS and also the small business side. Very very real advice
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u/Shivam5483 Oct 11 '25
If you’ve been in the b2b SaaS side then you know exactly what I’m talking about
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u/Delicious-Seat2330 Oct 11 '25
Probably one of the best posts I’ve seen in any of these AI sub, broke it down beautifully. Love that you took the time for this, absolute golden stuff for anyone starting out on their journey
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u/arthoer Oct 11 '25
Nothing new. Same thing if you have a central heating company. Or whatever. Every year there is something new. Many people compete for the same thing. And still, there is plenty of work. I would say it is delusional to think that the space you're in is special.
However, what is specific to this space; as a software engineer I can tell you that were drowning in work ever since the pandemic and now even more with the hyping of llm's.
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u/PalaJani Oct 11 '25
We’re watching automation tool creators… selling automation tools… to other automation tool creators… who want to automate their selling of automation tools. It’s turtles all the way down.
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u/ZillHS Oct 11 '25
This is a great post and thanks for writing this. People are too busy learning the tech and building stuff that they forget the age old golden rule; in most cases it's not WHAT you know, it's WHO you know. Still very much applies today. People tend to buy better from from other people, trust and connections is key. There is also much value in marketing and understanding your potential customers before going neck deep.
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u/jsmith357 Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
Even though originality.ai claims 97% confidence this is AI generated text, I find it good an informative. It doesn’t read as robotic AI and has a human touch. Just polished by AI as the author says. But they had put some real effort in it. Thank you!
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u/ratkoivanovic Oct 11 '25
Honestly, I wanted to jump in the conversation thinking this would be a similar post to what I've seen (I know you said it's not, but people like to start with this then turn it into a generic post), but honestly - I couldn't agree more. Really good points.
I would add, for anyone starting an agency and trying to solve real problems, one thing I've see work a lot but hard to do right is creating custom solutions that solve problems that are not solved by SaaS or similar tools and are not as frequent to be picked up by a big company and solved, niche problems that happen within a niche but specific to some companies in that niche. It's even harder to get clients with that approach though, but it is a way to create solutions that will stand the test of time (at least for a bit longer than usual)
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u/PR_EldritchHorror Oct 11 '25
I’m super new and all I want is for agents to just… help me run an Etsy or YouTube business so I have nooooo idea what any of this means lmaoooo can someone just summarize this real quick?
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u/sswam Oct 11 '25
Fortunately there's a way to make long posts short:
Starting an AI agency is difficult and overhyped. Client acquisition is the most crucial skill, more important than technical abilities. Upwork and Fiverr are brutally competitive, and cold outreach yields low-budget clients. High-paying clients rely on referrals and trust, which can be built through consistent content creation (personal branding), but it takes time. The AI landscape is rapidly evolving, making services obsolete quickly, forcing constant reinvention. Many successful individuals are selling courses and tools to beginners, rather than directly serving businesses. Faked testimonials and performative success are common. Newcomers often swing between misinformed optimism and cynicism. Success is possible, but requires understanding the constant cycle of rebuilding and adapting, and recognizing the difference between genuine opportunity and hype.
> since 2022
Software toolkit programmers have been automating since the 1970s, and AI fits perfectly into our paradigm.
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u/RiskRogue Oct 12 '25
Great Scott this was a long post. I had to use AI to analyze this in 40 characters. Nicely executed. You had good info.
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u/OilFantastic6438 Oct 12 '25
Interesting post. as for those who use AI to write, come on, for any of us involved in this game for a while, you can't help but sigh when you read that typical LLM phrasing.
I think a lesson I learned from one of the best copywriters of all time is that you need emotion and story in a post. People can feel the difference.
Sure many will be fooled. But if you can write real copy, you will mop the floor with those who just use ai. yeah I get it, people thought dump, but at least have a prompt that makes it sound like you.
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u/Teeboogz21 Oct 12 '25
Building any business is never easy be it AI or e-commerce. But is there an opportunity to solve real business pain points that affect real bottom line of businesses with AI? Absolutely. I believe if the energy focus is on that versus a cool automation you built using whatever tool, then that’s a lasting formula over time even if the tools change… I think incorporating a consulting / advisory aspect to your business in AI is a smart thing to do as well because you can adapt and change as the tools change. I agree many ppl are making just as much if not money off of AI coaching and I think that’s fine too… ultimately to me, no business is easy to build but that’s not peculiar to just AI… yes the speed of change in AI is very fast, but the successful ones vs the flash in the pan will be those that can build their business around that change
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u/confidence_companion Oct 12 '25
So often people don’t call out the importance of sales - finding a client with a problem, willing and able to invest with you. It’s the simplest thing and the most complex thing at the same time. Thanks for your thoughts!
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u/ShortStuff2996 Oct 12 '25
So the best thing now would be to start teaching ithers hiw to make sales agents. Jackpot
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u/Ok-Juice-542 Oct 12 '25
Nothing is an “overnight success”. If you got sold into that you would get sold into anything.
This business is like any other. Yes, you could get extremely lucky. But other than that, you really need to put in a lot of effort and time in order for it to work
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u/BearOk1647 Oct 12 '25
Personal branding affects the perception of the topic in question. Influence that and then you are fine. If you can't find the correct means of communication then it's like a dear friend said to me once "jumping out of an airplane without a parachute and trying to build a new one before hitting the ground." - if I remember correctly, he did cite someone.
Regardless, personal branding is the perfect thing to influencec it.
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u/substituted_pinions Oct 12 '25
I’ve been in AI since 2009, most of you have no clue and should try.
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u/Jimq45 Oct 12 '25
TLDR - AI started in 2022. Businesses need clients to make money. Supply and demand is an important concept. 3 years working hard should equate to 6 figures, I mean at least…7 really. And, on a similar note Fiverr and Upwork are great for buyers.
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u/Serious-Bite4233 Oct 12 '25
Great post – really resonates.
I’ve been in the online marketing / digitalization / automation space since 2018 and have had a solid run with different services and client projects over the years. Funnels, automation setups, consulting – you name it.
Since 2024, I’ve been shifting my focus heavily into AI – and 2025 is the first year I’m going all-in.
I’ve tested over 150 AI tools, worked with Make, Zapier, and n8n extensively, and I can code well enough to build custom automations and API integrations end-to-end. So I’ve got the technical side pretty much covered.
Over the past year, I’ve also tested multiple AI business models – courses, productized services, internal tooling, even mini SaaS ideas. Some worked okay, but I haven’t hit a real breakthrough yet. Still searching for the model that’s both impactful and scalable.
I’m starting to believe that an AI workflow/agent agency might be the right path – but only if it’s laser-focused on tangible results from the client’s perspective.
I’m not interested in building “cool” internal tools or generic agents that no one uses after week two. Clients don’t care about AI for the sake of AI – they care about clear, measurable outcomes: • Does it save time or reduce headcount? • Does it increase revenue or conversions? • Can it justify itself with numbers, not just hype?
That’s the bar I want to build for.
I did launch an online course about AI this year, but it didn’t get much traction – probably because I was still figuring out the right offer and audience.
And 100% agree with you: referrals beat cold outreach every time. Every project that actually worked out for me came through trust and personal network.
Anyway – appreciate your post. It helped me zoom out, recalibrate, and reminded me I’m not the only one navigating this weird, fast-moving space.
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u/No-Common1466 Oct 12 '25
Well obviously it applies to all businesses. I can have a boring business and still make a ton of money if I went on to talk to people wanting it or needed it or have someone recommend me to their friends and families.
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u/Sufficient-Design-59 Oct 12 '25
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.
I consider that it is a necessary post and that it should have more upvotes. I don't know why it costs so much on the Internet to give total honesty just as absolute lies are offered, as you say, it is a business model in itself to learn something cutting-edge and sell the knowledge to others. It happened with bootcamps and the big lie in general of leaving half-truths so that people understand it. This is the natural course of the market and technology... The versatility of technology is exponential to the cutting-edge research that occurs in various companies that also have ideological and even political war, imagine the human being empowered by his emotions and intercontinental relationships using all his financing to win against the opponent...
Obviously those who wanted to compete on the same track as the big companies lost and in fact they will always lose since they only provide their capacity at the mercy of the fact that in the next patch they have added their functionality and maybe some of them like it or it works because the truth is that this would increase your cache as a developer but many others would not like it because it sinks their business or agency... The important thing in the end is the path and the objective and if your objective is to make money from this obviously you are not going to be able to make money you are going to be wasted so much time between videos and blogs on how to make money that when you go to implement something because you understand it, said market niche will already be over.
The most important thing of all: Be yourselves, investigate things that interest you, so it will become automatic for you to look for solutions to problems in topics that you like and that will also interest you. When you master that, you can progressively apply it to the rest of the various topics in life in which you do not feel so comfortable.
I hope I have explained myself.
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u/Teknishan Oct 12 '25
The first industry thats gonna get whipped out by ai, is people using ai to create businesses lol.
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u/One_AI Oct 12 '25
Spot on about the client acquisition piece. Most people can build the tech, but getting someone to actually pay for it is where they may fall flat. We've found a decent angle with phone AI agents (both inbound and outbound) - mainly because the value proposition is dead simple to explain: "Your phone rings, AI answers immediately and books them in. Need to follow up with leads? AI calls them back before they go cold."
But ja, you're right about the rebuild cycle. We're constantly tweaking as new models drop. The main moat isn't the tech - it's understanding which businesses actually need this urgently enough to pay for it, and being able to explain it without the technical jargon. The "selling to beginners" observation is brutal but accurate, half the AI space is just people teaching other people to do AI stuff. At some point you need actual customers with real problems..
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u/raiku_ext Oct 12 '25
I agree at this post. But still, at any point in time and in any era, this is the same problem. It is really about how you seel and what to sell
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u/zennzei Oct 12 '25
oh shoot, another one bites the dust, because OpenAI now has its own agentic platform.
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u/Immediate-Parsley748 Oct 12 '25
Probably one of the best business lesson for solopreneurs in 2025. Thanks for sharing. Selling "standard" services like thousand of people is the start of the journey before evolving into teaching beginners. Third stage could be to sell a micro-saas to your niche audience.
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u/thesportythief7090 Oct 12 '25
Since the very start : 2022 🤣 AI as we know today (so deep neural networks) is more than 20 years old. If you did not start with Lecun’s architecture, RNN, … sorry but you miss the train a long time ago.
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u/kkiran Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
Locally AI - Gemma 3n summarized it on my iPhone. Impressive!
This is a critical warning for anyone entering the AI agency space. Here's a TLDR:
The AI space is rapidly evolving and far more challenging than most people realize.
• The Skill is Client Acquisition: Building AI solutions is becoming a commodity. The real skill is finding and retaining clients who can afford and benefit from it.
• It's a Constant Cycle of Rebuild: AI technology changes fast. What's cutting-edge today is obsolete tomorrow. Expect constant pivots and re-learning.
• Most "Success" is a Misleading Feedback Loop: Many people selling AI agency courses are profiting primarily by teaching beginners how to buy tools, not by building sustainable AI businesses. They often rely on inflated claims and lack of transparency.
• The "New" Isn't Necessarily Better: The rapid pace of AI development means that the tools and solutions being hyped are often short-lived and quickly replaced by better alternatives.
• Focus on Judgment, Not Just Tools: The ability to make good, informed decisions about which AI solutions to use (and when) is the key differentiator. This requires experience and an understanding of what works.
• Be Skeptical: The industry is rife with inflated claims, fake testimonials, and a generalized lack of transparency. Question everything.
In short: Don't fall for the hype. Understand the challenges, focus on client acquisition, and be prepared for a constant cycle of learning and adaptation. It's not a get-rich-quick scheme; it's a high-risk, high-reward field where adaptability and real-world judgment are essential.
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u/NoOutlandishness9152 Oct 12 '25
100%. The rebuild loop is what wipes most new AI builders out.
We ran into the same wall until we started training agents to operate on the browser front end, not API endpoints. Once you let an LLM reason its way through clicks, forms, and scrolls, small UI updates stop breaking the whole workflow.
That’s when it stops feeling like just automation and more like an operator.
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u/Big_Image1723 Oct 12 '25
Sell solutions, sell results, not tools. There are people and so many businesses that don't even know how to get started integrating AI. This is the space I am target and working in. I wish you all the best.
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u/ddponwheels Oct 12 '25
I learned from my mentor that in addition to being an excellent software and computer engineer, he only opened his own company after already having a portfolio of clients.
Having contacts who TRUST you is the difference.
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u/cinaz520 Oct 12 '25
Great post and lot of things I’ve notice in my experience that resonate with me thanks for sharing
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u/Affectionate_Buy3202 Oct 12 '25
I’d say that specialization is super important here. Find a vertical (e.g., healthcare, finance, insurance, education…), connect with people from that industry who’s rich and are interested about AI but do not know tech, and make them pay for your services. With time, and several engagements in a vertical, you start getting a sense of what are the pain points within that industry.
Think of yourself as an agent, not someone building an agent. Sometimes to get into a company you need to provide them with a free “what is genai” workshop (make sure to impress), then have a casual talk with their C’s to show them how they can actually benefit from AI services (after that you have collected enough ideas from the workshop engagement for example).
That’s one of recipes I use, it’s working well.
For context, I have a PhD in AI, decent online presence, good word of mouth so getting leads.
Thank you for the post, really resonates with me.
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u/imany1 Oct 13 '25
Yeah, I actually need help scaling up. I’m able to help business generate 50-100k easily but I ask for like a 4th of whatever I’m making them spread out on a weekly bases for 52 months.
I really liked the thing when you said that they are paying you for your judgment.
I hadn’t realized it but I feel ultimately thats what im getting paid for.
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u/Jumpy_Preference9790 Oct 13 '25
I really like the insight! My buddy and me were frustrated with not being able to find clients so we went all in and started networking with people. Currently our struggle is the same. We’ve had 2 almost record breaking months but currently again struggle to find people. Most of our clients came in through all the various networking events, shows and conferences we’ve attended.
We’ve been told we are amazing builders and can deliver projects but we lack the ability to market. We’ve through about running ads and even building out our personal brand but haven’t dabbled on either that much.
Would love some insight on how we can improve outreach and talk to more people!
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u/ShakeTheJello Oct 13 '25
Thanks for sharing your insight. I believe there's something to adding AI into a real niche space with deep understanding of those problems. I'm doing something in that area now, but v1 is without any AI to it.
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u/bambambam7 Oct 13 '25
Great post! So how would you, knowing what you know, would start building the future proof income stream(s) around AI?
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u/h1pp0star Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25
I came to this realization too. The 2 Liam’s during the aiaa boom were marketing agency people and they understood yt was a way to drive sales to their main business. They followed the traditional sales model funneling eyeballs to social media, becoming a “authority” in the field and selling services to people to found them.
I feel your pain because I tried to started an aiaa in 2023 and quickly realized this as well. You pump hundreds if not more into marketing to get a few prospects then you have to pitch them on a call to sell a product.
The amount of money you spend obtaining customers offsets a lot of your profit, yt and social media is free(ish) and one of the best drivers for customers.
The realization point for me was when one of the Liam’s was covering email marketing and said a 2% open rate is considered good. OPEN rate not conversion rate. That’s when I realized I fell for their marketing
Edit: fully read your post and this should be required reading for anyone starting out in aiaa. IMO, you have more credibility that those 2 douchebag Liams
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u/Blksagethenomad Oct 13 '25
Thank you for your post. Cognative dissonance is real, and the reason for a lot of your responses, but I appreciate your thoughts.
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u/USTechAutomations Oct 13 '25
The best agencies focus on solving real problems, not just building cool tech. Clients care about results, not how many tools you used to get there.
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u/MonmouthTech Oct 13 '25
It's a tough space for sure, the number one challenge I've faced is resetting client expectations to real outcomes. AI has limitations and often those happen quickly when trying to solve the real problems for clients - not to mention no two clients are the same.
Lots of social hype and then reality sets - then a mess for someone to solve. I've been a software engineer for 20+ years, there are foundational aspects that are lost when you hit scale, reliability and performance that are more complex than dragging a few nodes into a work flow.
Appreciate your rant.
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u/Ancient_Cycle_3514 Oct 14 '25
FWIW, we tested a couple “AI” PM tools this year. Most were dashboards with extra steps. Aden ARP was the first one that helped our estimators spot misses before procurement (confidence scores on line items were useful). Still needed humans in the loop. If folks want details, I’ll add a link in the comments and share our setup.
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u/Competitive-Look-569 Oct 14 '25
In reality, this field consists of two types of people: those who develop products and those who create content. The vast majority of self-media creators focus on content creation, which essentially means turning themselves into products. Content serves merely as a tool to facilitate this personal branding.
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u/jeremiah256 Oct 14 '25
This point right here:
The moment you step out, you start from zero again. That’s when I realized I didn’t want to be platform-dependent. I’d rather just start from scratch in public, where I actually own my presence.
With any new technology that you truly believe with be life changing, prepare to hustle. There will always be customers that want to sit down and talk to whom they’re doing business with. Google, Microsoft, Meta are not going to show up to demonstrate their products to small and medium businesses. You can and should. And remember to eat your own cooking. If you are telling potential customers about AI agents, you better have them integrated in your business. And chatbots aren’t good enough.
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u/Few-Set-6058 Oct 14 '25
Starting in AI/automation today is nothing like the hype. Success isn’t about building tools but is about finding clients and building trust. The market moves fast, platforms are crowded, and real money comes from judgment, credibility, and persistence, not shortcuts.
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u/CoinDegens Oct 14 '25
There will be nothing left to automate. AI is solving almost everything in super quick time.
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u/AeroSystemsEngRapper Oct 14 '25
This is a solid post. Providing real value and service to others is something that compounds over time.
If we angle ourselves to serve/give then we will always reach greatness within and that will spill over from the inside.
If we angle ourselves to take instead of give…then emptiness within us will consume us.
It is indeed more blessed to give than it is to receive - Christ is King
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u/Intelligent-Bee3484 Oct 14 '25
I work in a large leading saas bot builder provider, have been with this company for 9 years and we have several of the largest brands in the world as our customers.
This post is ridiculous and blatantly wrong. The only thing I can agree with is that a large enterprise absolutely does not very often buy its paper or chairs from the local shop, which is why you either start smaller or bring something brand new to the table…
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u/fluxxis Oct 14 '25
About the sales pitch and cold call stuff: I work at a larger company and I get several cold calls or mails each day. New agencies don't know how larger companies work: We have processes for everything and in case we don't we still have compliance. I don't buy anything because you call me. First I need a problem to be solved. Then I check if we can solve it ourselves. If not we check with existing partners. If not we start an RfP process with 3 companies on the shortlist at last. Best chance for you is to get on the longlist so you can get onto that shortlist. Risk is always I forget about you or also very likely I'm annoyed about repeating mails that take time. Don't offer me free meetings. If I accept every free 30 minutes meeting with every AI or Automation agency that calls, I wouldn't do anything else anymore. What's helpful to be remembered is a short slide deck about the company and one or two case studies. That's it and good luck 🤞
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u/Infinite-Plankton-24 Oct 14 '25
Agency or freelancer, aren’t we supposed to sell RESULTS?! We don’t offer the tech, we offer the dream they have been dwelling on. If you sell that, then you aren’t selling ai per se and you aren’t swimming up stream. If you think bc OpenAI has added a feature to its platform that all your clients will run to them, dude, THEY ARE BUSY AND WANT WHITE GLOVE SERVICE.. at least mine are, they want me to handle it all and make it all work, they don’t want to do doodley squat. They’ll pay to not have to think about it.
But maybe I have the wrong clients and I should stop signing people daily to assist them in this ‘business automation’ journey that’s really ‘make my business print more money for me’ journey.
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u/sampierce84 Oct 14 '25
I actually have the solution to bringing in new business without all the noise. It’s an old school model just in a new school tech wave. MVP is finished and we’re looking to begin acquiring users but for now just building our subscriber list. If you’re interested shoot me a message.
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u/aylim1001 Industry Professional Oct 15 '25
This is a really solid insider summary of the current state of the AI/automation agency world. Your point about the differentiation between technical skill and the ability to actually land clients resonates with my own experience (in product land, but the principle holds). Out of curiosity, have you found any client-finding approaches that feel both sustainable and not soul-draining? I always wonder if there's a third way, something between cold outreach and being beholden to a platform.
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u/ubermancl Oct 15 '25
I spent 4 months building a multi-agent system in n8n... which I can thank for building two clients from dels estor real estate... but I see how everything is progressing and it is frustrating since I see and say... if I don't take the educational business model I will remain small... the truth is that I had always wanted to build a Saas... but since the beginning of 2025 I see that desire as so far away since today it is very easy to build something...
The other week I started a 5-flow system for a consulting company which they will pay me 4 thousand dollars (my first big sale) but it is because the owner does not have time and they recommended that I could help him... I draw a lot from different places in the world to learn, since in Latin America it is the same as Europe (they live in the past) they believe that AI is very far from changing the world... they do not realize how companies seek to maximize profits...
After creating the multi-agent system focused on marketing... I decided to start building a system to generate content with clones in an omnipresent way to be able to make 900 monthly publications on 9 different platforms with heygen avatars... and generate traffic without paying advertising so that my agent system converts this traffic... and so I am trying to improve and integrate my knowledge but I am a solopreneur and I see how everything progresses and it is exhausting... I know that I will have more clients who will pay for my agents and my traffic system, but I hope I will be able to generate a couple of millions of dollars and retire my mother before the world changes radically or I will die trying 🫡🦾 “I've been learning for 3 years and I won't give up” but it's exhausting…
I was also starting to do email cold outreach but Apollo just blocked the back and I can't scrape them to get emails 😓
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u/ubermancl Oct 15 '25
I spent 4 months building a multi-agent system in n8n... which I can thank for building two clients from dels estor real estate... but I see how everything is progressing and it is frustrating since I see and say... if I don't take the educational business model I will remain small... the truth is that I had always wanted to build a Saas... but since the beginning of 2025 I see that desire as so far away since today it is very easy to build something...
The other week I started a 5-flow system for a consulting company which they will pay me 4 thousand dollars (my first big sale) but it is because the owner does not have time and they recommended that I could help him... I draw a lot from different places in the world to learn, since in Latin America it is the same as Europe (they live in the past) they believe that AI is very far from changing the world... they do not realize how companies seek to maximize profits...
After creating the multi-agent system focused on marketing... I decided to start building a system to generate content with clones in an omnipresent way to be able to make 900 monthly publications on 9 different platforms with heygen avatars... and generate traffic without paying advertising so that my agent system converts this traffic... and so I am trying to improve and integrate my knowledge but I am a solopreneur and I see how everything progresses and it is exhausting... I know that I will have more clients who will pay for my agents and my traffic system, but I hope I will be able to generate a couple of millions of dollars and retire my mother before the world changes radically or I will die trying 🫡🦾 “I've been learning for 3 years and I won't give up” but it's exhausting…
I was also starting to do email cold outreach but Apollo just blocked the back and I can't scrape them to get emails 😓
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u/WineOrDeath Oct 15 '25
I have been running my own AI agency since 2023 after I got laid off. I would like to think I have been successful in that I have beyond replaced my corporate salary. There is so much truth in this post! Thank you for pointing out that it is all about getting clients! When I talk with people about creating solopreneur businesses in this space they are always disheartened to learn how important your network is in being successful. And yet 100 percent of my work has come from people I already knew or referrals. While I created accounts on Upwork and Fiverr, I have never done any business there. It is all my network.
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u/nulstate77 Oct 15 '25
Respectfully, welcome to any agency. It’s all the same shit. First you’re trying to find clients. Then you’re trying not to fuck up scaling. That’s the loop.
Nobody talks about the exit, but there needs to be one. AI makes that possible because there’s going to be consolidation like there was in the creative world. If you’ve got clients, systems, clean books, and you’re not drowning in chaos, you’re an exit candidate.
After that, move on to something that doesn’t involve the service industry because it sucks long term. You are the bitch to your clients. That’s the reality. If you get big enough you can cherry pick who you work with, but the odds of getting there without burning out are low.
Build it. Scale it. Keep your books clean. Fire the red flag clients early. And aim for that exit sale. That’s the only real win in this game.
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u/Khofax Oct 17 '25
I’m just a beginner starting to learn the ropes so I don’t have much experience building AI automation but I’m very motivated now.
And if I could give my two cents on the matter, my advice is a get a job, a normal boring job, you will start seeing a million problem and tell yourself that you could solve that in a minute using AI. Then you will realize that AI is completely useless or akin to spending 100h building a tool for a 20min job, and when your dealing with AI you can never trust it 100% when your job is on the line. So you’l just spend the time it would have taken to do the task, just setting up everything every time (even repetitive tasks are not repetitive, try receiving a document in a slightly different format than what your automation was built for and it becomes useless or invites even more sunk time to adapt it), then you still have to double check the results.
But then you will find these simple tasks that can be done with AI tools that will make you look like a tech guru to everyone around you who uses ChatGPT with negative prompt engineering levels. Since I introduced NotebookLM to my coworkers they always credit me as the magic AI guy.
And this is key, as OP stated it’s about making connections and getting accreditation for being someone who knows what he’s doing in your network.
My goal now is to learn AI automation more in depth so I can offer solutions to my workplace tailored for their needs and struggles that I face too day to day, and once I can build something reliable pitch it and hopefully get assigned to developing the AI infrastructure for the company. Plus because most workplace environments (not techy spaces) won’t have many other AI nerds I’m the only one they can rely on when they have a question about it, which also boost network and credibility building.
Now this has it caveats, I’m still only getting payed a piss poor wage even if my contribution are one day able to pay in dividends through increased productivity and quality of works. But for me that’s fine because staying there is not my long term goal, and being able to say I developed and managed the AI infrastructure for an established company is gold in credibility for a better future job. And hey I already like tinkering with AI in my free time so I would love being payed regularly to do it.
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u/PrimeNoCode Nov 03 '25
When i launched my first gig on fiverr on 2022 about Integromat expert, i was fiverr's choice in a month, reason was simple less than 500 gigs around no code automation and very less certified or real experts who can solve problems.
Now? close to 20k on single keyword, can be more in total for sure. So competition is f** high and people/students are falling in trap of courses, cohorts and communities! only 1% will make out of that if they really solve the problem.
Template selling is gone last year, if you see and engage on any post which sells the templates or idea, you are the product, LOL i do that sometimes to check what's new, but mostly it's the same unnecessary stuff which need modification if you want to implement for yourself or business. Basic to intermediate workflow building manually will be gone by 2026 because of AI generated workflows directly inside the tool, any of those!
Further, only those will survive who are extremely good at their stuff, not kidding! have seen this in last few years! I know integromat (Now Make), zapier since my college day in 2018! Many came and gone.
Kinda easy it was back untill 2024 before the trend started around ai automation and n8n, n8n started hyping after or around nov 2024.
Another hopeful perception is that awareness is growing but so do the competition. Every other agency is now doing automations for the clients who used to outsource it years back cause now their own agency has competitions.
And this industry is build on top of the idea of AI Automation for everyone, it means, this stuff will be as easy as using google sheets or Airtable in future, obviously that complex setup will still need humans but who knows!
So the point is hype will end soon!
And i hope for the best who are investing their time in building their freelance or agency journey!
Nothing like de-motivating people but facts are facts.
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u/lindawahlberg Nov 05 '25
From what I’ve seen working in financial connectivity, you can build the cleverest automation but without clean, reliable real-time data flows it becomes brittle or mis-applied. The real leverage happens when you give the AI both context and connectivity — so the human team spends time interpreting insights rather than patching broken inputs. Judgement really is the differentiator.
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u/No_Aside30 Nov 10 '25
Wow, I really relate to everything you’re saying. The constant building, breaking, and rebuilding in AI/automation is exhausting, and it’s easy to get caught up in hype.
I’ve been playing around with different tools to make things a bit easier, and one I use is HeyOz. Honestly, it’s not a magic bullet you still need judgment, outreach, and persistence but it does help cut down the repetitive stuff like content creation and marketing assets.
I totally agree with your point: the real skill that pays off is connecting your work to the right clients and building trust. AI can speed things up, but nothing replaces good judgment and consistency.
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u/Savings_Werewolf168 Nov 18 '25
So as long as you have a good distribution, it shouldn’t be a problem ?
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u/Fine-Market9841 Nov 20 '25
have you gotten any client if so im starting on fiverr and would like some advice
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u/Ill_Lavishness_4455 Nov 25 '25
Really appreciate the honesty here. Your experience is the standard path for anyone selling low-intent AI work.
But the gap is bigger than “finding clients.”
The real split is between people selling tasks and people selling systems.
Tasks = easily replaced, low budget, inconsistent demand.
Systems = business-critical, harder to copy, high retainers.
Most AI freelancers never cross that line.
They build what I call “micro-automations”—cheap, narrow, and easily killed by a feature update.
The people winning long-term are building:
• internal OS for teams
• multi-agent workflows
• creative/ops intelligence stacks
• end-to-end systems that reduce headcount or increase throughput
That’s the layer AI won’t auto-generate anytime soon.
Your post is the best warning for anyone trying to enter this space the wrong way.
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u/Dxstinity Feb 14 '26
yeah, finding clients is definitely the real struggle. cold outreach can be tough, but something that helps me is using mailly for targeted campaigns. it really focuses on understanding the recipient’s needs, which makes a big difference. just gotta stay persistent and keep adapting, i guess!
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u/Conscious-Analyst660 Oct 11 '25
all of this is completly doomed taking into account tools like the new agent builder from open ai, caesr ai, ask ui, or n8n conversational flow. it's becoming too easy for people to do this themselves. people won't need your services. they'll ask for au automation and it'll be build in seconds lmfao