A bit of background. I'm from Barbados, a small island in the Caribbean. We are constantly behind what the current standards are (most people run their business on Excel or by paper!). I have witnessed this firsthand and get frustrated looking at how inefficiently some things are done, and I wanted to make a change and actually try to help the country.
I did chemical engineering at school, so I have a problem-solving mindset by nature. Since I was young, I have always been the go-to guy to solve something. I didn't even need to know it, I just was asked and said I could do it. I would look up how or what to do and then go from there. As I got older, those tasks changed from "fix my printer" to "build this pricing system for me," and now, along with the help of AI, I think this is what I want to go into full time: a business efficiency agency.
I have seen every YouTube guy say to start an AI consultancy business, but I think that is very narrow-minded of what I want to do. I don't even know if "business efficiency agency" is what it's called, so please feel free to correct me.
I have a few things I want to ask help with.
First, the business model. What's the best one? Is it a retainer (and how do those even work)? What happens if your hours aren't used? If you have a project that takes more hours than the month, how do you present that to a customer? Is it a one-off build? Is it a subscription to host workflows?
Second, how do you get customers? I have about 4 companies I work with, but they are just small workflows, nothing major or meaningful. For example, one is a competitor rate tracking dashboard that pulls prices daily and sends alerts. Another is a WhatsApp booking agent. Another is an automated review scraper. One is a full construction project management app with cost estimating, invoicing, and timesheets. Another is an invoice and contract management system that replaced a firm's old spreadsheet workflow. Small stuff, but it gives you an idea of where we have started.
I have a large number of connections of business owners that I can reach out to, but half the issue is that when I reach out and say what I can do, I just say anything (like "we can help with anything"). Half the people don't even know their problem or where they are losing money. I list out what we have done, and if none of that interests them, then they're like "oh well, you can't help me," even though that's just the surface of what we can do.
I have tried to offer free work, but the problem is that they then don't put any effort into us helping them, and so it seems like a waste to them. And then how do we charge when we only have 4 clients? Should I just offer a course on how to use ChatGPT or Claude more effectively and then go from there? I'm not sure, open to suggestions.
The last thing: is this just something that AI will replace? Will a Claude Pro subscription replace it? I don't think so, just because I am technical, but there is still a lot of piecing together and directing Claude.
I'm really just putting this here to put my thoughts out, and I welcome feedback and guidance from people.
I did chemical engineering at school, so I have a problem-solving mindset by nature. Since I was young, I have always been the go-to guy to solve something. I didn't even need to know it, I just was asked and said I could do it. I would look up how or what to do and then go from there. As I got older, those tasks changed from "fix my printer" to "build this pricing system for me," and now, along with the help of AI, I think this is what I want to go into full time: a business efficiency agency.
I have seen every YouTube guy say to start an AI consultancy business, but I think that is very narrow-minded of what I want to do. I don't even know if "business efficiency agency" is what it's called, so please feel free to correct me.
I have a few things I want to ask help with.
First, the business model. What's the best one? Is it a retainer (and how do those even work)? What happens if your hours aren't used? If you have a project that takes more hours than the month, how do you present that to a customer? Is it a one-off build? Is it a subscription to host workflows?
Second, how do you get customers? I have about 4 companies I work with, but they are just small workflows, nothing major or meaningful. For example, one is a competitor rate tracking dashboard that pulls prices daily and sends alerts. Another is a WhatsApp booking agent. Another is an automated review scraper. One is a full construction project management app with cost estimating, invoicing, and timesheets. Another is an invoice and contract management system that replaced a firm's old spreadsheet workflow. Small stuff, but it gives you an idea of where we have started.
I have a large number of connections of business owners that I can reach out to, but half the issue is that when I reach out and say what I can do, I just say anything (like "we can help with anything"). Half the people don't even know their problem or where they are losing money. I list out what we have done, and if none of that interests them, then they're like "oh well, you can't help me," even though that's just the surface of what we can do.
I have tried to offer free work, but the problem is that they then don't put any effort into us helping them, and so it seems like a waste to them. And then how do we charge when we only have 4 clients? Should I just offer a course on how to use ChatGPT or Claude more effectively and then go from there? I'm not sure, open to suggestions.
The last thing: is this just something that AI will replace? Will a Claude Pro subscription replace it? I don't think so, just because I am technical, but there is still a lot of piecing together and directing Claude.
I'm really just putting this here to put my thoughts out, and I welcome feedback and guidance from people.
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
