I feel really tired today. I really like this course but I’m having a couple of worries:
I don’t know what products to sell because I like utilitarian stuff, things to make things and all those items, quality matters a lot and there are existing players
For more complex items, I don’t know if my RFQ will require a lot of work (cad models and blueprints)
Anyway, excited to see what happens today.
Thoughts and questions:
Money is like soldiers
There was a village that borrowed soldiers from other villages until they became an empire…they become Rome
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Einstein
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:
What is your current profession or line of work? Do you have experience running businesses before?
What specific skills, expertise, or qualifications do you possess that are relevant to the potential AI consulting or art coaching businesses?
Do you have any existing client base, network, or portfolio to build upon for these businesses?
What are your primary motivations or goals in starting these businesses? Is it mainly for income, personal fulfillment, or a combination of factors?
What is your current financial situation? Do you have savings, investments, or other sources of income to support yourself as you build these businesses?
How much time and effort are you able to dedicate to these business endeavors on a weekly or monthly basis?
Do you have any partners, team members, or support system in place to assist with these business ventures?
What is your level of expertise or familiarity with AI technologies, and what specific areas of AI are you most knowledgeable about?
For the art coaching business, what is your artistic background, medium, or areas of expertise?
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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)
I have to work 24 hours per week on the AI contract, I’m willing to dedicate another 24 hours on these ventures
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.
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
My background is in painting, but I also sing, play the piano, dance and write
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:
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What are you missing? A formalized business plan and growth strategy for each venture. Dedicate time to properly scope, plan, and set measurable goals.
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.
Maintain AI expertise? The contract work helps. Also, publish content, study the latest research/trends, and collaborate on code projects with others.
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.
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.
Are your goals properly scoped? Your goals seem reasonable, though having finite milestones will help measure progress. Adjust as needed based on traction.
Speed up progress today? Conduct a time audit. Identify low-leverage activities to reduce/eliminate. Also, batch similar tasks for efficiency.
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.
Small shift for massive impact? Consistently publishing valuable content and leveraging your existing network can be high-impact, low-effort activities.
What to hire out? Once cash flows allow, hire for time-consuming tasks that don’t directly generate value (administrative, marketing execution, etc).
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!
I was doing some deep journaling in the form of questions and answers, where I would ask all the questions I have, feel deep in my heart what answer is coming to me, and then asking more questions about those answers.
For example, I will ask myself, what do I do about the anxiety with art? The answer that I feel come up intuitively is to create art which then poses the question, what do I do with art? Then I have the answer, use art to create richness in your life.
I was doing this exercise because I realized at this point in my life, I am so confused on what will happen next and what direction I want to go for my coaching, my career, and my relationship that the best way to serve myself is to get some clarity about what I am feeling and what I want. The faster you make decisions, the faster you progress. I felt that having clarity would make it much easier to make faster decisions.
I had quite a few revelations from this exercise I wanted to note down a few of the most important ones:
I will achieve what I want in the field of AI not by working with others and creating a startup but rather by involving others into my creative process. Remember the energy of anything is possible. Solve difficult problems in practical ways and help people dream again. Change the world for the better.
The long distance relationship does not meet the physical needs of closeness. I will need to dance more to keep in touch with the physical. I want to use emails and video chats to keep connected with my girlfriend on a spiritual level.
I’ve lost a bit of my focus with coaching where it has become too much about the client. Coaching is not just about helping people create amazing beautiful art, but also to create a space of my design. Aka a space where connection theory and flow theory rule.
Use your fear of not having enough money to fuel art that creates more wealth than money can buy (not about the value of the art, but the experience about having stories, music, and paintings so beautiful I may as well be rich).
One more note I wanted to make…I had a new idea with coaching a few days ago. I always wanted to create video clips of my coaching in order to show social media, but I was thinking recently, I can create clips that can be used to share something a package that can be used to motivate my clients (clips of songs created during the session, major breakthroughs etc.)
Fly first class to a destination with a plus one, with a nice airbnb every month: 5k
Organic high quality groceries: 1k
Nice quality clothes: 1k-2.3k
Total: 28.2k-41.4k
Per Year: 338.4k-496.8k
If I wanted to save 50%: 676.8k-993.6k
Before taxes that would be: 1.091M-1.601M
Meaning each month I would have to bring in: 90.1k-133.4k per month
I realize that this is more of an end goal. To get to the place I want to be right now, I don’t need to make enough to save 50%. That can come later. I highly suspect that having a great business coach, massages, and a therapist will enable me to double and triple my income.
So lets take another look at the numbers. What is the bare minimum I need to get into this lifestyle?
338.4k per year -> 531.8k before taxes
44.3k per month
If we were to operate on the Parrado Principal just for coaching:
80% from group coaching: 355 group coaching clients | 20% from one on one: 6 one on one clients
80% from art coaching: 425.4k | 20% from AI consulting 106.4k
Questions for myself:
What should I focus on first?
How do I divide what I want to do into steps?
What should I focus on, AI or Art Coaching?
Should I even do AI consulting?
Should I try to find a partner for AI consulting? Should I wait until I find a partner to do anything?
How do I want to legally set up my companies?
How do I make my life easier?
How do I market my businesses?
What is something that I’m missing?
How do I make my art coaching business succeed in a way that doesn’t destroy my peace?
How do I maintain my AI expertise? How do I make progress without being overwhelmed and unfocused?
What will make my life more fun while making big strides in my businesses?
Is there something I can start succeeding at today?
Am I aiming at the right goals? Are they too small? Too large?
What can I do today to rapidly speed up my progress?
If I wanted to make a lot of money, enough to live on in the next year, and I wanted to make this money in a month with my current skillset, what should I do?
Is there a small shift I can make that will have a massive impact on my income/success?
What should I be hiring someone else to do? What things will have a good return on my investment, make me money not lose money?
What should I do today that will make me happier and more successful?
My intuitive answers:
What should I focus on first?
You want to focus on the fundamentals: sleep, meditation, food, emotional processing
The stronger the fundamentals are, the more you will be able to handle anything
How do I divide what I want to do into steps?
Picture some of your immediate goals that make you feel excited, give you energy, make them small enough to understand, and work on meeting those goals first
What should I focus on, AI or Art Coaching?
It depends on what you want to do, to create a large business, AI makes more sense
For creating a smaller business, focus on Art Coaching
Should I even do AI consulting?
Yes of course, there is a really good business opportunity here
If you mean at the same time as Art coaching, the answer is it depends, you will have to pick a priority
Should I try to find a partner for AI consulting? Should I wait until I find a partner to do anything?
No you shouldn’t wait, you can start by yourself
Yes, you should look for a partner while you are looking for clients, you are developing a network for both
How do I want to legally set up my companies?
Depends on how easy it is to change, the benefits of separating them, etc.
How do I make my life easier?
Stop doing everything alone, work with other people
How do I market my businesses?
Ask other people for ideas
What is something that I’m missing?
You are missing a business coach/mentor
How do I make my art coaching business succeed in a way that doesn’t destroy my peace?
You write about your challenges and experiences, to approach the business like an opportunity for personal growth
How do I maintain my AI expertise? How do I make progress without being overwhelmed and unfocused?
The best way is if you could connect the art coaching with AI and AI with art coaching, if you could find a way for them to be symbiotic, that would be the easiest way
The other way is to find a simple and easy way to make money from AI
What will make my life more fun while making big strides in my businesses?
I think maybe posting about your process/journey on social media
Hosting events and meeting people
Speaking at events
Creating strong boundaries for doing other things unrelated to business
Is there something I can start succeeding at today?
Yes, focus on the fundamentals, they are the most important part
Am I aiming at the right goals? Are they too small? Too large?
I think you are focused on the right goals, but maybe it is too early to be thinking about timelines, just create a bunch of attainable goals and work through them with no timeline in mind
What can I do today to rapidly speed up my progress?
Meditate
Sleep as much as possible
Find a mastermind
If I wanted to make a lot of money, enough to live on in the next year, and I wanted to make this money in a month with my current skillset, what should I do?
Teaching people would probably be the best way, that is probably your strongest skillset at the moment
Probably not the best use of your time for your goals
Is there a small shift I can make that will have a massive impact on my income/success?
Yes, write down goals and look at them everyday
What should I be hiring someone else to do? What things will have a good return on my investment, make me money not lose money?
Finding a good video editor or social media manager
Marketing is key and you need to work with people to get good at it
What should I do today that will make me happier and more successful?
Today is not the first day working on the Profit in Peace challenge, but it does FEEL like the first day I am living it.
Today is the first day when I dedicated my morning to finding my magical life. For some context of what that means:
Something that I still don’t really understand or feel comfortable with applying is the values that I believe in every day.
I think that writing honestly and focusing on myself in this blog every morning might actually hit all of these points:
Honesty – well, this blog isn’t called unfiltered for no reason! I do remind myself all the time of the “if they don’t like me please leave” mentality.
Imagination – for me, this blog is dedicated to all my imaginative parts: art, YouTube, philosophy, poetry etc.
Intuition – this is the place where doing things “my” way is celebrated and I tap into what is the best way to do something (according to my intuition) rather than how everyone else does it.
Empathy – this blog is a lot for my feelings where I process feelings through words, video, and images. It is a part of honesty too, honest emotion where this is my place to express everything imperfect.
I also like using the blog as my way of living out all my values and being the person I want to be because it really feels like I am sacrificing something to do this…in a good way.
JT Franco talks about if you aren’t willing to sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice. In the end, I had no idea whether I would sacrifice time talking to my girlfriend, going on YouTube, working, playing games, or making YouTube videos. Those are the things I spend most of my day doing anyway. But none of those things seemed right. It was too blunt on an idea, how could you sacrifice all of YouTube? How could I sacrifice all of work?
But by sacrificing my mornings, in a way, I am also sacrificing all of those things. I resist the urge to listen to audiobooks, watch YouTube videos, check messages, or work in the morning. I dedicate all my time to working on my blog and all my challenges, thoughts, ideas, and philosophies.
I also feel a deep unease and anxiety keeping pace with me this morning:
I’m Afraid I My Boss Will Check
I’m afraid my boss will check
See I’m not working
It won’t matter that I have bigger dreams
it won’t matter if I did a bunch of planning
On the weekend
Feverishly, desperately trying to
Make my workday
Productive, efficient enough
To make up
To make it easy
For me to balance
I remember the look on his face
When I told him
I like to meditate
Skeptical
And
I also wonder
If finding my magic
Will make me feel sad and lonely
Like I did yesterday
I feel tired as I
Let go of trying to change the feeling
And accept it instead
Another anxiety that I have about this challenge or this “morning commitment” is just the sense of lack of clarity. I don’t know what I should be working on, or what I can work on. I think is the pressure of time. Or maybe its because I completed all the prework for the challenge and I don’t exactly have something to work on right now. I’m afraid every action is not “right”.
Is it the right thing to:
Work on challenge videos?
Work on editing videos?
Work on reaching out?
To focus on my body?
Wow there is so much here and I feel that I may be stalling. Scared to make a decision so I’m just rambling on a super long blog post that doesn’t really say anything in particular.
Well all I know right now is I feel like doing a bit of freewriting, fantasy writing or something of that nature. So I’ll go do that.
