Great news, your AI Consulting persona is…
The Bootstrapper
Your existing tech skills and passion for creating new things will act as a launchpad as we help you rapidly level up your business skills.
As a bootstrapper, you’ve built solid tech skills and might even have a long list of software or product ideas – but you’ve kept your “day job” so far, and creating your AI Consultancy is one of your first major forays into running your own business. Lucky for you, your personality makes you an early adopter of AI, and you’ve likely been playing with ChatGPT regularly since shortly after it hit the scene.
Your biggest challenge is building the business, marketing and sales skills while also properly identifying the areas where you can “do it yourself” with your current tech skills and the areas where you need to improve your skills to deliver top-notch work to clients. You’ll start your journey with a focus on the business-building track, and likely will focus on selling Training and Strategy projects to clients for your first few projects.
Since you’re full of ideas (and have many – but not all – of the skills you need to build the ideas yourself), it’ll be important for you to remain focused and not get caught “taking a detour” every time a cool new tool comes out. The business skill-building you’ll be doing will be fun and exciting but also push you out of your comfort zone, so be careful not to retreat into tinkering with new tools (which is your comfort zone) when you hit business challenges.
On the business side, we’ll help you score your first gig quickly by leveraging your personal network, then you’ll tighten up your online presence and start reaching out to prospective clients who aren’t already in your personal network. And since you likely haven’t had much experience making sales or signing clients, we’ll make sure you have the guides and templates you need to make fast, efficient work of the sales process (which, we know, is not the part that’s most fun for you) so you can sink your teeth into exciting projects – and get paid handsomely by your new clients.
Join us on Slack:
Share your persona when you intro yourself to the Slack community!
Where to start:
Before you start down your path you’ll want to make sure you’ve knocked out the onboarding steps below. They’re quick (about 20 minutes total) and they’ll make sure you’re plugged into everything this course has to offer: the Slack community, the live sessions, all the resources you need. Once you’re done here, you’ll jump right into your personalized path.
First – launch in 7 days
Because you’re coming in with solid tech skills, we recommend diving right into beating Impostor Syndrome.
From there, you can take a detour from business and level up your AI skills a bit more. Dive into our lessons on Mastering the AI Economy, Tools and Skills to help you skill up on AI. A great goal would be to build your first AI workflow, and we have TONS of tutorials to help you build projects for yourself, your clients, or just to start creating a portfolio of cool ideas and experiments.
To lock in your tech skills, build your first workflow by following our Build It Together: Document Automation series.
Keep in mind that you only need to do the intro, Core Workflow and Power-Ups lesson. The final lesson is a bit more techie, and safe to skip for now.
Result: Your first workflow that could be sold to a client in the future!
Then – create your AI consulting services
One you have those skills under your belt, you’re ready to Launch Fast and quickly score your first AI Training gig.
Once you’ve done that, you’re off to the races. We recommend creating a first draft of your AI Consulting Service Menu, with the understanding that it will evolve as you gain more experience.
Build your ethical framework
Knowing how to use AI will get you in the door, but understanding its impact on society will make you invaluable. This section explores the bigger questions you’ll face as a consultant: How is AI reshaping industries? What are the copyright implications? How do you spot and address bias? This chapter gives you the context and frameworks to navigate these complex human and ethical dimensions thoughtfully.
Next – meet 100 solid leads
Now, it’s time to start reaching out to people outside your “warm” network. Follow the Meet 100 Solid Leads project to learn how to build a super-simple website, update your online reputation, build a prospect list and reach out to them with gentle, powerful, human “cold outreach” that gets their attention and gets them excited to hop on Zoom with you to talk about how you can help them enhance their businesses with AI.
Explore the full curriculum
Once you’ve completed your customized Bootstrapper starter path, explore the 100+ in-depth lessons in our full curriculum—we guide you through every step in building a thriving consultancy.
Suggested: Enhance your client skills
What to focus on:
- Launch fast, then hone your business skills, then upgrade your tech skills. You have a ton of potential even with your current level of skills, and you can follow our early templates to start pitching AI 101 trainings to “warm” connections.
Common challenges:
- Running your own business is very different than working for an employer or experimenting with tech tools or side gigs – and most Bootstrappers notice the growing pains as we gently push them out of their “comfort zone” by encouraging them to talk to more clients and reach out to more people. When in doubt, reach out and have a conversation with everyone you can think of!
How to win big: Aim to join the IWAI Directory
Start fast and recognize that everyone is learning as they go – and that you have a huge advantage by being an early-adopter and AI enthusiast. The business and tech skills are all learnable—but it requires you to take action and talk to real people and real clients soon as opposed to waiting until you have “skilled up” on everything.
As a Bootstrapper, your tech skills are a real strength. Our certification asks that you pair these skills with solid client-based skills. Use our lessons and project milestones to steadily grow your professional expertise so you can propose and score deals consistently. Once you’ve successfully billed 2-3 clients, you can apply to be listed in our directory as a trusted, IWAI-approved consultant.
Not a Bootstrapper?
You might also be a Pioneer (less advanced tech skills), an Inventor (more advanced tech skills), or a Creator (more advanced business skills). Or, you can retake the quiz.