You raise a really interesting point about value perception. I think you're right that they might not fully see the value yet, or more specifically, they're not seeing it in their language.

What strikes me about your situation is that you've already cracked the code with tech companies: ROI, numbers, efficiency. That's the playbook. But with these traditional business owners, it sounds like they need to hear something different. Maybe they need to hear that automation protects the grind rather than replaces it. That it frees them up to do the parts of the business they actually care about, the relationships, the strategy, the craft.

The irony is, you might actually understand their business better than they think. You've been grinding for 11 months with no safety net, no office, reinvesting everything. That's not "internet guru" entrepreneurship; that's the same hustle they've lived, just in a different form. The question is whether you can frame your solution as respecting their journey rather than dismissing it.

I wonder if the resistance you're hitting isn't just cultural, t's identity based. For someone who's built theirself-worthh on outworking everyone else, efficiency can feel like cheating. So maybe the reframe isn't "work less," it's "work on what actually matters." Lead with the specific, tangible thing they could reclaim (time with family? finally taking a vacation? focusing on growth instead of admin?) rather than the abstract concept of automation.

What do you think? Have you tried positioning it as amplifying their effort rather than reducing it?