#272 · stop selling AI agents, sell this instead
Focus on your accounting SaaS, leverage your dad's contacts, grow it, and enjoy school—don't split focus; at 15, credibility is low, so prioritize one thing and have fun.
Well, this is pretty funny because you probably didn't just wake up one day wanting to run a school community and an automation agency. You're likely looking for a means to an end, so ask yourself what end you think running a school community and automation business would help you achieve. In my case, I make a ton of money with this stuff, so the end I see is money. But consider that a 17‑year‑old might say they want to make $100 million in 10 years—you need to clarify whether that's revenue, profit, bank account, etc. More importantly, recognize that your values and goals will shift over time; you won't want the same things in 10 years that you want today. So you have to be mature about that and accept that you're a changing organism whose goals evolve.
Keep going with your agency; the industry isn’t dead. At 15 you already have a five‑year head start on me (I started at 20), so you’re ahead of the curve. Focus on building business skills rather than technical skills, since technical skills are decreasing in value. Continue with your cold‑email outreach—you’re doing great—and don’t worry that a single tactical implementation will make or break your future.
At 14, it's going to be tough — most people will second-guess taking you seriously on a call, even though plenty of young teenagers are more capable with technology than people expect. I don't think you should join Maker School at 14, and I definitely don't think you should take money from your dad without his support — if he's willing to back your entrepreneurial efforts that's different, but don't take money without permission. A big part of getting from zero to one relies on freelance platforms (Fiverr, Upwork, Toptal, Freelancer), and all of them require you to be at least the age of majority in your country, which rules out 14 pretty much everywhere. On social proof with no track record: build a system for yourself, then present it as 'I built a system that did X for a consultancy' without explicitly saying it was your own business — that implies social proof without lying outright. It's a bit of a gray area I wouldn't recommend once you're established, but at the very start of a business it's a reasonable way to get going. If you've had any kind of job before, just use that instead — it's a much easier, honest source of experience to lean on.
There is no ‘after Maker School.’ The program will continue indefinitely, essentially becoming part of our daily accountability system. We’ll eventually upload Maker School to your cortex and turn it into an AI that slowly dominates the economy. I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do once the AI boom fades. I’ve been capitalizing on the AI boom, and when market opportunities shift, you have to pivot. I don’t suffer from shiny‑object syndrome; my partner and I chose an industry that matched our skill set and stuck with it for years. We take a measured, sniper‑rifle approach and pre‑commit to getting really good at it. As for my personal finances, I’m mostly investing the money I’ve earned in money‑market funds and ETFs. Ultimately, I want to use my resources to have a positive impact on people’s lives, perhaps through a small, close‑knit community with in‑person events rather than chasing the biggest revenue‑optimizing solutions.