AI Answers My Questions

AI

Before I can provide informed answers to your list of questions, it would be helpful for me to understand more about your background, current situation, goals, and resources. Please allow me to ask you some questions to gather this context:

1. What is your current profession or line of work? Do you have experience running businesses before?
2. What specific skills, expertise, or qualifications do you possess that are relevant to the potential AI consulting or art coaching businesses?
3. Do you have any existing client base, network, or portfolio to build upon for these businesses?
4. What are your primary motivations or goals in starting these businesses? Is it mainly for income, personal fulfillment, or a combination of factors?
5. What is your current financial situation? Do you have savings, investments, or other sources of income to support yourself as you build these businesses?
6. How much time and effort are you able to dedicate to these business endeavors on a weekly or monthly basis?
7. Do you have any partners, team members, or support system in place to assist with these business ventures?
8. What is your level of expertise or familiarity with AI technologies, and what specific areas of AI are you most knowledgeable about?
9. For the art coaching business, what is your artistic background, medium, or areas of expertise?
10. Have you conducted any market research or identified potential target audiences for your services?

Please provide as much relevant detail as possible in response to these questions. The more context I have about your specific situation and goals, the better I can tailor my advice and recommendations.

Me

1. I currently work as an AI consultant where I do advisory and coding services for large companies. I also do a little coaching of artists on the side.
2. I studied art for many years, went to a magnet art program in high school, and got a full ride to college for art. I have also started a non-profit children’s magazine when I was in middle school with my sister that used comics and cartoons to talk about social issues. The magazine is no longer running but when it was, we won over 26k in grants. I studied art and mechanical engineering in college, and worked in the software industry for over 6 years and have focused the last year on generative AI and large language models.
3. I do have an art portfolio, I don’t really have a strong client base, maybe a 2 or 3 who may not be ready to by. I am working on my network, I do have some connections on linkedin that I have not fully tapped into. I estimate maybe 20 or 30 solid connections on linkedin (even though I have over 1000 total connections).
4. It was personal fulfillment, I feel art coaching makes me really happy, I want to see more artistic masterpieces in the world and I feel I’m really good at coaching. AI is also really interesting for me and I think I’m really skilled at designing clever AI solutions.
5. Yes, I have a 40k emergency fund, 120k in stocks, and about 35k in cash. I also still do some AI contract work that nets me about 4k per month (which about covers my living expenses)
6. I have to work 24 hours per week on the AI contract, I’m willing to dedicate another 24 hours on these ventures
7. I don’t really have anyone. I do have a girlfriend who is supportive but she doesn’t really understand the space. I have a life coach, and also a good friend who also wants to start businesses.
8. I have a pretty advanced level of knowledge when it comes to generative AI and more basic knowledge on AI in general for other types of machine learning
9. My background is in painting, but I also sing, play the piano, dance and write
10. I did a bit of market research for my Art coaching business. It told me that people struggle with a couple of things: balancing art with a different fulltime job, they miss a community, and sometimes need inspiration

AI

Thank you for providing such detailed context about your situation. Based on the information you’ve shared, here are my thoughts and recommendations:

1. What should you focus on first?
   With your background in both AI and art, I would recommend focusing initial efforts on building up your art coaching business first. This aligns with your passion, leverages your artistic expertise directly, and can be a lower-risk entry point compared to starting an AI consulting firm from scratch.
2. How to divide what you want to do into steps?
   For the art coaching business: 1) Build out service offerings and pricing 2) Create marketing materials and online presence 3) Tap your existing network for first clients 4) Continuously improve/expand offerings based on client feedback

For AI consulting: 1) Define your niche and unique value prop 2) Build case studies from past work 3) Network and prospect for clients 4) Decide pricing/engagement models

3. AI or Art Coaching?
   Focus primarily on art coaching initially, using your passion as a competitive advantage. Maintain AI skills through contract work while validating the coaching business.
4. Should you do AI consulting?
   Yes, AI consulting can be very lucrative, but wait to fully commit until the art coaching business has traction. Use contract work to learn the consulting landscape.
5. Finding a partner?
   Having a partner can be helpful for AI consulting eventually, but for art coaching, it’s better to lead solo initially to control vision and branding. Hire contractors/staff later if needed.
6. Legal business setup?
   For simplicity, operate the art coaching under a sole proprietorship to start. Incorporate (LLC or Corp) for AI consulting when you’re ready to go full-time.
7. Make life easier?
   Prioritize optimizing your energy and focus. Batch routine tasks, automate what you can, and protect deep work time for high-leverage activities.
8. Marketing businesses?
   Art coaching: Build an online presence (portfolio site, social media, content marketing). Network locally. Get featured on relevant platforms/communities.
   AI consulting: Content marketing, networking, prospect outreach, referral partnerships.
9. What are you missing?
   A formalized business plan and growth strategy for each venture. Dedicate time to properly scope, plan, and set measurable goals.
10. Art coaching success without burnout?
    Set boundaries from the start. Limit number of active clients. Build passive income streams like courses/workshops. Focus on your unique methodology.
11. Maintain AI expertise?
    The contract work helps. Also, publish content, study the latest research/trends, and collaborate on code projects with others.
12. Make it fun while achieving goals?
    Celebrate small wins. Inject creativity into your work. Spend time with supportive people. And be sure to safeguard work-life balance.
13. Something to start succeeding at today?
    Update your portfolio site and start promoting it. Reach out to warm connections about art coaching services. Attend/participate in art events.
14. Are your goals properly scoped?
    Your goals seem reasonable, though having finite milestones will help measure progress. Adjust as needed based on traction.
15. Speed up progress today?
    Conduct a time audit. Identify low-leverage activities to reduce/eliminate. Also, batch similar tasks for efficiency.
16. Make a lot of money in a month?
    With your skillset, freelance AI projects could generate sizable income quickly, though likely requiring intense effort that month.
17. Small shift for massive impact?
    Consistently publishing valuable content and leveraging your existing network can be high-impact, low-effort activities.
18. What to hire out?
    Once cash flows allow, hire for time-consuming tasks that don’t directly generate value (administrative, marketing execution, etc).
19. Make you happier/more successful today?
    Spend an hour reviewing your goals/vision. Realign your daily priorities accordingly. Then tackle one high-impact step for each business.

The key will be patience, persistent effort, and continuous optimization based on what data tells you. Let me know if any other questions come up!