Can you give me a five‑step action plan to use AI and transition from time‑for‑money jobs to a remote lifestyle, given I'm a barber instructor who also does ATV repair and speaks Spanish?
First, keep your current income streams (barbering, ATV repair) while you allocate a small portion—maybe $300 a month—to learning one automation tool, such as Make.com or Zapier. Focus on mastering a single tool rather than juggling many; think of it as a pickaxe you can use for everything. Spend a few days watching a comprehensive course (e.g., my 6‑hour Make.com course) until you’re comfortable. Then take three concrete steps: 1) Choose a niche you want to serve. 2) Build an Upwork profile targeting that niche. 3) Start cold‑email outreach using the formula I described earlier. 4) Join relevant communities to network and share content. Keep the niche practical—look for markets where people are already spending money. Follow this five‑step plan, reinvest earnings into tools and education, and you’ll gradually shift from time‑for‑money work to a remote, AI‑enhanced business.
First, keep your current income streams (barbering, ATV repair) while you allocate a small portion—maybe $300 a month—to learning one automation tool, such as Make.com or Zapier. Focus on mastering a single tool rather than juggling many; think of it as a pickaxe you can use for everything. Spend a few days watching a comprehensive course (e.g., my 6‑hour Make.com course) until you’re comfortable. Then take three concrete steps: 1) Choose a niche you want to serve. 2) Build an Upwork profile targeting that niche. 3) Start cold‑email outreach using the formula I described earlier. 4) Join relevant communities to network and share content. Keep the niche practical—look for markets where people are already spending money. Follow this five‑step plan, reinvest earnings into tools and education, and you’ll gradually shift from time‑for‑money work to a remote, AI‑enhanced business.
I started with Harvard CS50, then taught myself computer science from the ground up, excluding languages and compilers, distributed systems, and operating systems. I completed nanotech to Tetris, building a computer from scratch. After that, I learned AI from scratch via a course that just listed introductory material, then I began training models—first a TensorFlow model called Stalan 2 that generated faces, then Gwarn's 'This Wu Does Not Exist' which I turned into an anime face generator, which I found hilarious and turned into a business called One Second Painting. I scaled that to about $3,500 per month by selling AI-generated art, but Midjourney's release destroyed that business. I had been selling NFTs, which gave me hands‑on AI experience. I then used that experience to freelance write while aiming for $10k/month, employing GPT‑3 for content. I also spent six months to a year locked in my room learning make.com and Zapier, building automations for my One Second Painting business and later for a second venture with a business partner. Eventually the money came from disproportionate time invested, leading to a compressed business model: get your first customer quickly, then worry about everything later. I realized most of the low‑level AI skills I learned aren’t used today, but the practical experience with automation platforms like make.com and Zapier, plus building info products, allowed me to scale to $100k/month through a blend of an AI automation agency and information products.
The reality is that motivation is fleeting and temporary—it often strikes in the middle of the night when you're not expecting it, leading you to watch motivational videos, but you can't rely on it day-to-day. To grow a business, you need to shift from motivation to discipline: small, consistent actions over time, like the gradual progress seen in muscle building. For example, doing 60 bicep curls every two days for a year yields more growth than attempting 10,000 curls in one day. As a college student, the most important thing is to build accountability and habits rather than waiting to feel motivated. Start with the simplest possible action you can do today—such as creating an Upwork profile or recording a Loom video of one of your automations—and repeat it daily for about a week. Once you have basic skills, focus on lead generation first. Finish the 'Make Money with Make.com' playlist, watch at least the first twelve videos, and put in a dozen hours of practice. Then begin lead generation activities: set up Upwork profiles, launch cold email campaigns, and if you have some spare cash, sign up for Maker School to be guided through the process. I also want to acknowledge the supportive comments I’ve received—like the crying emojis from Juan Jones and Phil Glover’s note that he wishes my video gets millions of views and suggests running ads for the channel. I agree: I’ve been dragging my feet on ads, but I’m now working with someone to manage retargeting ads. Because I’ve seen how retargeting can create a big revenue spike—potentially a 1.5× increase—I’m planning to hire someone to run retargeting ads for the Maker School 'About' page, aiming to spend around $1,500 per month and see how it goes.
First, I’d join a community like Maker School—not just to use my own products but because membership gives you deep discounts (often a 10x return) on AI platform credits and payment‑processing fees. With those savings I’d start by learning a visual drag‑and‑drop automation builder (such as the n platform) for about four to six hours; that teaches you the fundamentals of systems, workflows, JSON, HTTP requests, etc., which accelerates everything else. Next I’d spend another four hours on a Claude‑code course that covers the technical setup, agent communication, model selection, and so on—roughly ten hours total. After that foundation, I’d devote virtually all remaining time to acquiring customers; the first 90 days would be less than 1% spent on learning and the rest on outreach. You need a customer to actually enter the arena, so I’d use Maker School’s day‑by‑day accountability to hit call and outreach targets, then loop back to upsell from any lower tier to higher ones as the relationship grows.