Build With AI

In this episode, I sat down with Dino Watt, an orthodontics industry consultant with zero technical background, who used the exact AI Operator Academy playbook to land a $30,000 consulting deal in under three months. Dino walks through his entire funnel live: a $97 workshop that pre-sold assessments before he ever taught it, a $797–$997 paid AI assessment, and a standout add-on nobody else is doing, an AI-generated explainer video that turns his report into a seven-minute video his clients can forward straight to a business partner or spouse. He breaks down the actual numbers: $5,734 collected before a single sales call, a 44% close rate, and a $5,000-a-month, six-month AI Concierge retainer closed off the back of an assessment he got paid to deliver. By the end of this episode, you'll have a full blueprint for turning a paid workshop into a five-figure retainer, even if you've never written a line of code.

Join our AI Operator Academy Community where we help entrepreneurs start and scale a profitable AI services business: https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about  

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: meet Dino Watt
00:50 - Not technical, dyslexic, no coding background
01:35 - Joining AI Operator Academy with his wife Shannon
02:39 - The $30K AI Concierge retainer overview
03:09 - Using Claude to build his podcast slides live
04:55 - The filter: effectiveness, efficiency, quality
05:27 - Pricing the $97 workshop and early bird upsells
06:20 - Upselling the $997 paid assessment
07:20 - Doing the assessments and giving one testimonial freebie
08:29 - Booking the follow-up call off the explainer video
09:30 - Why he charges $5K/month over six months, not $2K
11:45 - Solve rich people problems
12:48 - Walking through the full deliverable package
13:19 - The one-pager and proof kit
13:34 - Why he built a 7-minute NotebookLM explainer video
15:49 - How the explainer video preempts objections
17:39 - Selling to secondary decision-makers without being in the room
19:14 - His real numbers: $65,734 from one $97 workshop
20:37 - Why he'd scale this into in-person workshops
22:41 - Where to follow Dino and final thoughts

Key Points

Dino closed a $30,000 AI Concierge retainer, $5,000 a month for six months, despite having dyslexia, no coding background, and no marketing expertise. Proof the AI Operator Academy playbook works for anyone willing to run it as taught.

His funnel gets him paid at every single step. A $97 workshop with a built-in $497 early-bird upgrade to the paid assessment, then a $797–$997 assessment, then the retainer. He made $5,734 before he ever got on a sales call.

From one $97 workshop with 20 attendees, Dino generated $65,734 in total tracked value and a 44% close rate turning assessments into retainers.

His standout move: he runs the finished assessment report through NotebookLM (Gemini) to generate a seven-minute AI explainer video, then sends it to the prospect ahead of the sales call. It becomes an asset the client can forward to a spouse, partner, or financial advisor who needs to sign off.

He charges $5,000 a month on a six-month contract instead of pitching a flat total, and always frames the price against the dollar savings ("pay $30K to get $250K back") rather than naming the full number upfront.

His advice to new operators: don't overcomplicate the discovery questions. Even with 15 years of orthodontic industry expertise, his actual assessments still trace back to the same core questions taught in the program, deep industry knowledge just makes the calls longer, not more accurate.

He never pitches the retainer as the only option. Every prospect is told they can take the full assessment blueprint to any AI developer they want. That transparency, plus already being a paying customer, is what makes them choose to hire him instead.

Claude, used to build the presentation deck and customize the assessment questionnaire for the orthodontics niche - https://claude.ai

NotebookLM (Gemini), used to turn the finished assessment into a seven-minute explainer video for prospects - https://notebooklm.google

AI Operator Academy, the community where Corey and Dino teach people how to sell AI assessments and AI Concierge retainers - https://aoa.community

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In this solo episode, I break down the exact offer ladder that's letting complete beginners hit $10K a month selling AI services without a single cold call, cold email, or DM. I walk through the three rungs — a free 15-minute mini AI assessment, a $999 paid AI assessment, and a $1,000–$2,000/month AI Concierge engagement — and show you the real math behind why you only need four AI Concierge clients and four paid assessments a month to hit that number. I get specific on who your ideal client actually is, the exact text message script to send your warm network, and the pricing mistakes that keep people underpaid doing this work. By the end of this episode, you'll have the full playbook to land your first paying AI client this month, plus a free download to run it yourself.

Join our AI Operator Academy Community where we help entrepreneurs start and scale a profitable AI services business: https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about  

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro: the laziest way to $10K a month
00:30 - The opportunity and the offer ladder overview
01:45 - Why anyone can do this (no cold outreach required)
02:45 - Your ideal customer: 3–20 employees, 500K–10M revenue
04:30 - The real pain point: "where do I start," not an AI problem
06:00 - Becoming the technical translator and prescribing tools
07:30 - The three-rung offer ladder explained in full
09:30 - Pricing and margins: 98% net margin math
11:00 - The $1,000-an-hour AI concierge breakdown
12:00 - Getting your first client: list, text, upsell
14:00 - The exact text message script to send
15:00 - Turning every "no" into a referral
16:00 - Mistake #1: running out of your warm list
16:45 - Mistake #2: underpricing the AI concierge offer
18:00 - Mistake #3: not qualifying leads before the free assessment
18:45 - Next steps and how to join AI Operator Academy

Key Points

The whole business runs on one offer ladder: a free 15-minute mini AI assessment that finds one pain point and prescribes one tool, upsold into a $999 paid assessment that prescribes three to seven tools, upsold into a $1,000–$2,000/month AI Concierge engagement to implement it all.

The math is simple: four AI Concierge clients at $1,500/month plus four paid assessments at $999/month gets you to $10K a month, and AI Concierge fulfillment is just two 45-minute calls per month per client.

This is close to a 98% net margin business. The only cost of goods is a $20/month Claude subscription — no team, no overhead, nothing else required to fulfill any of these offers.

The client acquisition system is three steps: make a list of 50 people you already know, send one specific text message offering a free mini assessment, then upsell. Send 50 texts and you can expect 15–25 mini assessments booked and 5–7 paying clients.

Every "no" is still a win — ask for two referrals every time, whether you get a yes, a no, or no response at all. About 50% of nos turn into one or two referrals.

Never price AI Concierge under $1,000/month. Anchor to the hours you save the client, not the hours you spend — one AI Operator Academy member just closed a client at $5,000/month for six months.

Qualify before you assess. The ideal client has three to 20 employees doing $500K to $10 million a year in revenue — solopreneurs usually can't afford the follow-through, even if they want in.

Claude - the AI tool used to fulfill every AI Concierge engagement, and the only real cost of goods in this entire business at $20/month - https://claude.ai

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Grab the free AI Concierge Playbook, the full step-by-step implementation guide to build this offer yourself https://corey-ganim.kit.com/cde665995b

In this solo episode, I break down my AI Concierge offer, the exact system that's paying me over $1,000 an hour for two 45-minute calls a month and Voxer access to me in between. I walk through why so many business owners stall out with AI tools on their own, the AOA framework we use to fix a broken process before we ever automate it, and the four deliverables that make up the entire engagement: the intake form, the strategy calls, unlimited Voxer access, and the Notion Hub that keeps clients renewing every month. I also open up the real numbers, going from zero to $8,000 in monthly recurring revenue in 10 days, and show you exactly how to price this so you're making $1,000+ an hour doing it. By the end of this episode, you'll have the full offer breakdown to copy and paste directly into your own business.

Join our AI Operator Academy Community where we help entrepreneurs start and scale a profitable AI services business: https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about 

Timestamps 

00:00 - Intro: the $1,000 an hour AI Concierge offer
00:35 - The opportunity: done-with-you AI consulting for small business owners
02:10 - Zero to $8K MRR in 10 days from six conversations
03:15 - The problem: business owners stuck working in, not on, the business
05:00 - Why AI tools stall without fixing the process first
05:45 - The ideal client: wants a partner, not a course or a black-box agency
06:45 - Free AI Concierge Playbook and the AI Operator Academy business-in-a-box
08:15 - The intake form: no form means no call
10:00 - The two monthly 45-minute strategy calls
10:45 - The AOA framework: Audit, Optimize, Automate
12:30 - The first call: onboarding clients to Claude Cowork with a custom plugin
14:15 - Voxer: unlimited walkie-talkie access between calls
15:45 - The Notion Hub: the retention weapon
17:30 - Pricing and margins: how to price and when to raise your rates
18:45 - Capping clients and using scarcity to sell the offer
Key Points

AI Concierge is done-with-you consulting: an intake form, two 45-minute strategy calls a month, unlimited Voxer access, and a shared Notion Hub. No churned clients so far and an effective rate north of $1,000 an hour.

The AOA framework is the whole methodology: Audit the manual process, Optimize it by cutting the fat (most 15-step processes only need nine), then Automate it into a Claude skill. Automating a broken process just speeds up the inefficiency, so the order matters every time.

The ideal client doesn't want a course and doesn't want a black-box agency. They want a partner sitting beside them on the call, walking them through it step by step, so they actually understand what was built and how to maintain it.

The intake form is a hard requirement before the first call. It surfaces the three tasks eating the client's week and asks what process they'd pay the most to never do again, which tells you exactly where to start the engagement.

Voxer access is high perceived value and low fulfillment. Clients rarely use it, but knowing they can reach you anytime makes the retainer feel worth every dollar.

The Notion Hub logs every call, recording, summary, and top-three takeaways at the call level, and doubles as the renewal weapon. Two Claude skills fill it out and draft the follow-up email automatically, so updating it takes about 30 minutes per call.

Never charge less than $1,000 a month for this offer. Raise your price by $250 to $500 every time you close a new client, and if nobody's saying no, your price is too low.

Jotform, the intake form tool with a direct Claude connector - https://www.jotform.com

Claude / Claude Cowork, used to build the intake form, run the AOA framework live on calls, and onboard clients with a custom plugin - https://claude.ai

Notion, home of the client-facing Notion Hub that logs every call, recording, and takeaway - https://www.notion.so

Voxer, the walkie-talkie app used for unlimited between-call access - https://voxer.com
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Grab the free Mini AI Assessment Playbook that walks through the exact 15-minute assessment used to open doors with local businesses: https://corey-ganim.kit.com/0cea7ca381

In this solo episode, I break down the seven laziest ways to sign AI clients fast, no audience, no ad spend, no capital required. I walk through exactly how I landed seven qualified leads and a paying client from 90 minutes of effort spending zero dollars, then hand you the same playbook: hosting an AI for Business meetup in your city, door knocking local businesses, LinkedIn outreach that doesn't read like AI spam, free AI audits for your warm network, partnering with agencies and consultants who already have the clients you want, hosting AI office hours at a local co-working space, and posting your wins on social media to stay top of mind. Every method is built around one truth: you don't need to be an expert, you just need to be the first credible person who shows up with a plan. By the end of this episode, you'll have seven concrete, low-cost ways to become the go-to AI person in your city, starting this week.
Join our AI Operator Academy Community where we help entrepreneurs start and scale a profitable AI services business: https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: the laziest ways to sign AI clients
00:25 - Why local AI expertise is such a low bar to clear
01:30 - The problem: business owners drowning in repetitive work
02:35 - Method 1: Host an AI for Business meetup
05:20 - How to run the meetup format start to finish
07:00 - Method 2: Door knocking local businesses
08:45 - The free mini assessment playbook and the paid upsell
10:00 - Method 3: LinkedIn outreach done right
11:30 - Method 4: Free AI audits for your warm network
13:00 - Method 5: Partner with agencies and consultants
14:20 - Method 6: Host AI office hours at a co-working space
15:30 - Method 7: Post your wins on social media
16:30 - Recap and how to join AI Operator Academy
Key Points:

The bar to being "the AI guy" in your city is shockingly low. You don't need to be a big social media name, you just need to know more about AI than the local business owners who don't know where to start.

Hosting a free AI for Business meetup is the highest-leverage method on the list. One meetup in a rented co-working space room, cost about $100, produced seven qualified leads and a paying client within a week.

Door knocking still works better than almost anything else. One listener knocked on 30 businesses and landed five meetings and two paying clients in a week; another closed a client off a single door knock the same day.

LinkedIn outreach only works if you never pitch in the first message. Send 20 personalized DMs a day to local business owners with 10 to 50 employees, ask what's annoying about their day-to-day, and you'll land a paying client in three weeks or less.

Your first paying client is probably already in your phone. Texting 30 to 50 people in your warm network for a free 20-minute AI audit converts at a high enough rate that even the "no's" turn into referrals.

Partnering with agencies, coaches, accountants, and realtors turns them into an unpaid sales team. Offer 10 percent of any deal that closes and follow up every two to three weeks until you're the first person they think of.

Posting your wins doesn't require big results or a big following. Screenshotting a single answered question with permission and posting three to five times a week for 90 days is enough to become the person your network thinks of when they think of AI.

Links mentioned:
Luma – simple event registration page for hosting local meetups -https://lu.ma 

Eventbrite – event registration platform for local meetups - https://www.eventbrite.com

Meetup.com – event registration and discovery platform for local meetups - https://www.meetup.com

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Grab the exact step-by-step plan to land local AI clients in 30 days: https://link.excalidraw.com/l/4z8Z2Lyybfg/2pMiTnq0qvf
In this solo episode, I break down the highest-ROI play I've found for landing AI clients without posting content or sending a single cold email: hosting a monthly AI for Business meetup in your own city. I walk through how I built mine in Charlotte from 25-30 people at the first event to a partnership that's set to bring 50+ to the next one, and exactly how the meetup feeds into the two offers that actually make money, the $999 AI Tools Assessment and the $1,000-$2,000/month AI Concierge retainer. I share the free Claude prompt I used to build the entire event structure and marketing plan, the exact Facebook group script that gets you 10-15 signups, and the three biggest mistakes that kill this strategy before it compounds. By the end of this episode, you'll have a step-by-step plan to fill a room with local clients in the next 30 days.
Join our AI Operator Academy Community where we help entrepreneurs start and scale a profitable AI services business: https://www.skool.com/aioperatoracademy/about

Timestamps 

00:00 - Intro: the AI for Business meetup opportunity
00:45 - What the meetup is and why it beats content or cold outreach
01:45 - The two ways clients come from this event
02:45 - Why non-technical local business owners are your ideal client
03:45 - The opportunity: everyone else is hiding behind a screen
05:15 - The offer stack: meetup as the front door
06:15 - The AI Tools Assessment explained ($999, 45 minutes)
07:15 - The AI Concierge retainer and AI Operator Academy
09:00 - The free Claude prompt that builds your whole event
10:15 - Pricing and margins on the assessment and concierge
11:45 - Step-by-step plan to fill your first meetup
13:45 - The hack: partnering with a local Facebook group owner
15:15 - How to close the room with a simple CTA
16:45 - Three pitfalls that kill this strategy (and the fixes)
19:00 - Your next step and how to join AI Operator Academy
Key Points

Hosting a free monthly AI for Business meetup at a local co-working space generates clients, referrals, partnerships, and speaking opportunities without any content creation or cold outreach.

Clients come from this event in two ways: ideal clients who attend and want to buy, and other AI-niche people at the event who refer you business from their own networks, often more of the latter than the former.

The meetup is the front door, not the offer. The real revenue comes from two back-end products: a $999 AI Tools Assessment (a 45-minute conversation that produces a report of three to seven off-the-shelf AI tools to reclaim 5-10 hours a week) and an AI Concierge retainer at $1,000-$2,000/month for done-with-you implementation.

The math works out to roughly $500/hour on the assessment and $667-$1,333/hour on concierge work, meaning two assessments and one concierge client from a single meetup can mean $3,000-$4,000 in one evening.

In-person trust compounds faster than digital trust. You can build more rapport in 30 seconds face-to-face than in six months of content or cold DMs, and most local business owners don't trust internet "experts" they've never shaken hands with.

Partnering with the owner of a large local Facebook group as a co-host is the single biggest lever for turnout. Approaching a group owner with a done-for-you pitch (you bring the expertise, they bring their audience) can multiply attendance from 12-30 people to 50+.

The three biggest ways this strategy fails: low turnout at event one (fix: co-host with a group owner and post in 5+ Facebook groups, not one), pitching too hard (fix: teach for 15-20 minutes before a soft 30-60 second CTA), and quitting after one event instead of locking a recurring monthly date so referrals can compound.

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