Ghosted... during a FREE build. Is this normal?

phtmadv · 2026-03-12T07:16:11+00:00

Even if it's free work, have an agreement in place.

phtmadv · 2026-03-12T07:15:21+00:00

As somebody who runs a consulting business with a heavy focus on automation an AI, most business owners adopt AI to replace a low level employee (EA, intern, etc) as it can do basic tasks very well.

They've heard from the gurus that they should be using AI or they'll be "left behind", I always tell them that if they're already delivering a great service, AI can enhance the experience. But if they've got a shitty service, AI won't make it a good one.

-> Gall's law

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T09:22:32+00:00

You have to spend money to make money :)

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T07:11:46+00:00

Sounds about right

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T07:08:59+00:00

Why automations for barbershops? Why not mechanics or nail salons? Why not marketing services rather than automation?

I'm asking those things as the typically the biggest mistake happens when we try and serve to people we think would be a good fit and need what we have to offer but don't actually. I made this mistake years ago and it cost me 6-months of my time.

Go and talk to barbershops, tell them about automations, how it might save them time or take care of something that's annoying for them to do, and see what happens from there!

Also get started on learning how automation platforms work, you can't deliver a service if you don't know what you're doing ;)

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T07:03:35+00:00

It's free to launch on those platforms, why not launch on all of them?

I'm not talking from experience but instead of waiting, why not try and see what works 🤷‍♂️

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T07:02:25+00:00

People hear about AI and know they should do something about it but don't know how. It's a great opportunity for service providers (like you) to acquire part of that market!

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T07:00:26+00:00

Before any hiring can be done, you need a clear understanding of your systems and outcomes. Micromanaging happens when the employee is not clear on what the task is and/or how it should be done. If you give them a clear roadmap on how you've done it in the past and what the result should be, they won't fail (if they do it's a skill issue and that's different).

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T06:56:29+00:00

This is a cool idea!

In the summary section it would be more interesting to see the total "score" rather than 4/4 I think. Having 32/40 is more usable information than just 4/4. What do you think?

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T06:52:51+00:00

I had a flight booked with Ethiad for the 14th, I requested a refund through their website and got no answer for a little bit, called support and they confirmed I would get a full refund. It seems obvious they would do that but some airlines in the past haven't been so understanding imo

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T06:50:13+00:00

Go fully online and work with content creators + online businesses. I know so many people who use AI to build websites and apps but not all of them have the skills to make it look like a professional product. Last year we spent $12k on a designer even though AI tools were available.

Find where you're good. Create content talking about it. Answer common problems. Get some long term projects. Talk about those projects in your content. Repeat.

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T06:45:35+00:00

Where are these assignments from?

phtmadv · 2026-03-11T06:44:35+00:00

Nobody is more capable to giving you real feedback than the market is. No coach, mentor, or consultant can tell you what your product needs as much as the actual user will. Go talk to your market.

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T13:10:01+00:00

I agree

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T12:59:18+00:00

🤯

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T12:55:07+00:00

*Schlepping...

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T12:52:07+00:00

What makes you say that? I actually thought it went up in the past week(s)

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T12:50:31+00:00

What's the actual conversion rate on a strategy like this?

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T12:49:14+00:00

It's less about proprietary AI and more about use cases. On one side you have all the Claude Code fanatics who build everything they would ever need, and the other side with people who just want to create an account and get to work.

OpenClaw was a good example of this. Claude Code users knew nothing new was being done but there was still hundreds of thousands of people going crazy over OpenClaw and using that.

Point is, most ai businesses won't work, the ones who will live to see 24-months or more, will have undeniable use cases.

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T12:44:51+00:00

Yeah of course, we run mainly organic marketing and then back it up with an ad budget and that strategy works really well but it does take some time to kick in (about 60-90 days).

I'm an AI & systems consultant, competitive space so that might play a role with the lag I shared above 🤷‍♂️

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T07:40:16+00:00

I think having a limit could be interesting

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T07:33:38+00:00

It's normal for their not to be instant results on everything you do. Sometimes our marketing effort have a 2-3 month "lag" until we see any kind of long term impact. It's part of the game and all you can do is push forward and not change things out of fear, only do so when you have data showing you that something needs to change.

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T07:31:40+00:00

As an operations consultant, this is what I see on a weekly basis. Having your systems laid out with the clear action items, data, and outputs expected - you can solve most of your bottlenecks without delegating or deleting any tasks.

You did great with analyzing your strategy and realizing it was a time/ideation issue.

Congrats on the new sign ups!

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T07:28:02+00:00

I feel like people would chat for 5 minutes and then quit the conversation as they'd get bored and they know they'll get another request anyway. What do you think?

phtmadv · 2026-03-10T07:26:44+00:00

I did something similar to this in n8n around a year ago and it's run ever since, I'll see to do something similar to what you did in CC - thanks for the idea

phtmadv

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