Have you worked in the education industry, or what are your thoughts on targeting schools for your services?

#164 · Self-hosting n8n sucks (true story)

Have you worked in the education industry, or what are your thoughts on targeting schools for your services?

Yes, there’s great opportunity in education. For example, I ran a PR‑agency campaign for a skateboard association where we pitched teachers and noted that schools often fund such initiatives, letting us say ‘somebody else is going to pay for this.’ I’ve also consulted for a Google‑affiliated client who had an arrangement for Google to finance an AI project up to $25,000, and I’ve run a government‑of‑British‑Columbia digital upgrade campaign that offered up to $5,000 CAD to modernize brick‑and‑mortar businesses. These examples show you can tap school funding, incentives, or public money so the client isn’t paying out of pocket, which significantly improves conversion rates in cold‑email outreach.

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Related answers

youtube ↗Offers

Why not launch a super high‑ticket community to help other school owners, given my success in organically growing school communities?

I’ve thought about creating an info product, but it feels too circular and I don’t want to be part of that AI‑economy‑joke where everyone’s investing in each other’s pockets. High‑ticket products also don’t appeal to me; they’re annoying and would make me unhappy even if they could generate millions. I prefer hands‑on work that directly helps people, especially beginners who are starting from zero. Building something from the ground up and watching newcomers succeed is far more fulfilling than adding a little extra revenue for already wealthy owners. So I’m steering clear of high‑ticket offers and focusing on low‑ticket, high‑impact education that serves a broader audience.

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youtube ↗Lead Generation

What is the most straightforward path to reach $20,000 per month without using cold email outreach, given I have two engineering jobs earning $3,000 a month and a few hundred dollars from freelancing, plus a $500 monthly learning budget?

You can absolutely hit $17‑$20K a month without cold email, but you need to focus on the platforms and outreach methods that actually move the needle. The biggest issue right now is that you’re not targeting the right places. While cold email is the simplest and most scalable channel, you can still generate high income through Upwork and community‑based outreach. For example, sending about ten high‑quality Upwork proposals a day can give you a 4‑6x return on your connect spend, which translates to roughly $7‑$8K a month after accounting for marketing and platform costs, leaving you with a healthy 75% gross margin. To improve beyond linear growth, decouple inputs from outputs by building reusable outreach templates and leveraging platforms that let you automate large‑scale, yet personalized, communication. Cold email is one such lever: invest a fixed amount of time in a high‑quality campaign, target precisely, and let it run without daily manual effort. Community outreach works similarly—become a recognized figure in a niche community, create evergreen posts that solve problems, and let those assets generate leads with minimal ongoing work. The same principle applies to cold DMs. All these strategies are layers of leverage; even the lowest‑leverage method—consistent Upwork activity—can get you to $17K if you execute well.

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youtube ↗Client Acquisition

Is it still beneficial to join your school if I'm halfway through your AI business video and taking action?

If you're asking a man who sells a paid product specifically helping you build an AI business whether you should join his paid product, most people will probably say yes. I am of the mind that my product is valuable enough to warrant you paying the money to get in. But I will say, if you are the sort of person that doesn't require a daily accountability structure, if you're the sort of person that has historically been able to get up and running with this stuff, comparatively there is less value in that community because that's the whole point. The whole point is daily accountability. I just check in with you several times every 24 hours, give you QA, and then give you some live facetime with me. Not everybody needs that to the same degree. So if you are not one of those people, then absolutely just get up and going, make some money, and then when you make some money, then you can join.

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youtube ↗Cold Email

With a $150 budget for cold email outreach, how should I invest it to acquire US‑based clients?

Recognize that US prospects are far more sophisticated and receive far more outreach, so your reply‑rate will be much lower than in less competitive markets—often an order of magnitude lower. However, the lifetime value of US clients is also higher, making the effort worthwhile. The only real way to improve is volume: send as many emails as possible, even if it means burning through domains and mailboxes to gather data. Start by sending emails that provoke any reaction (negative or lukewarm) to test your copy, then iterate based on feedback. Treat outreach as a numbers game; without sufficient volume you cannot draw meaningful conclusions about what works.

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