Great news, your AI Consulting persona is…
The Inventor
You’re a tech whiz, so we’ll help you focus your attention as you rapidly level up your business, sales and client-service skills for your new consultancy.
As an inventor, you’ve spent years learning all things tech – and odds are you’re a quick learner and very good at lots of different software, and perhaps even a few different programming languages. You build stuff for yourself, you tinker with tools (online and offline) in your free time, and you’re always engaged in a new learning and building experience. Lucky for you, your personality makes you the perfect early adopter of AI, and you’ve likely been in the thick of trying new tech since shortly after ChatGPT hit the scene.
Your biggest challenge is building the business, marketing and sales skills to turn all those passions and skills into a thriving business that allows you to earn an enviable income while also protecting your free time. That means you’ll start your journey by focusing on the business-building track, which will be fun and exciting (you’ll learn lots of new techniques) and also sometimes will (gently) push you out of your comfort zone.
You’ll 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. Importantly, we’ll help you stay focused on key business metrics and not take a detour every time a new tool comes along (they’re fun, but trying every single one isn’t the best use of your limited time). 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 these 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 excellent tech skills, we recommend diving right into Launching Fast. If you experience Imposter Syndrome, it will likely be on the “business” side of things rather than the tech side – however, keep in mind that you’ll need to consciously rein in your desire to try a million tools and new coding languages so you can really focus on the business side of growing your consultancy. (There will be time to play with new tech toys after we build a rockin’ business together!)
Once you’ve found your niche, we recommend creating a first draft of your AI Consulting Service Menu, with the understanding that it will evolve as you gain more experience.
Next – defeat imposter syndrome and launch your first training
Keep in mind that you will naturally want to jump right into building complex AI solutions for clients. That is coming soon, but your first clients most likely won’t want, need or even be ready for that. Keep it simple at first, even if it seems “too elementary” sometimes. Remember that you are an extreme early adopter, and your job it to help clients who are not.
To see what other consultants are doing (with far less tech skill than you already have), start with our lesson on Real-World AI Consulting Businesses (that you can build right now). Then it’s time to Score Your First Gig.
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.
After that – specialize your AI skills & tech stack
If you’d like, you can take a detour from business and level up your AI skills a bit more – or team up with the other “techie” folks on the IWAI team and in our student community to talk shop and experiment with the most cutting-edge tools. Our AI Skills & Tech Stack lessons will give you the framework you need to make great recommendations to your clients, and to level up so you can build even more complex tools as you grow your business.
Then dive into building some real, ready-to-sell client projects, following the guides in our Build It Together series:
Explore the full curriculum
Once you’ve completed your customized Inventor starter path, explore the 100+ in-depth lessons in our full curriculum — we guide you through every step in building a thriving consultancy.
Suggested: Learn more advanced tech builds
What to focus on:
- Stay focused on the business side for your first few weeks, at least – otherwise, you may fall into the common trap of playing with every new tool and not really making progress on the actual financial + sales side of your consultancy
Common challenges:
- Sales is often very difficult for Inventors like you. It’s not just the actual act of selling, but the barrier of feeling like you don’t want to reach out to people until you have the perfect, gigantic project to sell them. Most clients don’t want a super-expensive custom build yet – they want to get to know you, learn the basics, and grow the relationship from there. So don’t wait – just reach out and know that you can actually provide a ton of value to a client today, just because you are a techie and they’re not.
How to win big: Aim to join the IWAI Directory
Set aside the long list of tools and programming languages you want to try, and just focus as much of your time on possible on getting good at business, marketing and sales. If you improve your business skills even to a B+ level, your creativity and tech skills will propel you to a profitable and enjoyable consultancy business.
Once you’re feeling more confident about talking to clients, level up with strong proposals that will lead to closing more deals.
As an Inventor, you’re still working on building your client skills and may not be ready to apply to our Directory. That’s okay—take the coming weeks and months to progress through the lessons and real-world milestones like establishing your business, defining services, and demonstrating ethical practices. When you’re ready, you’ll can apply to be listed in our directory as a trusted, IWAI-approved consultant.
Check out the lesson below to learn more.
Not an Inventor?
You might also be a Bootstrapper (less advanced tech skills) or an Engineer (more advanced business skills). Or, you can retake the quiz.