Hey there,

Salva was 51 when his company laid him off in July. He’d joined us in April, worried about ageism and a shifting tech market, and he’d been working through the program on the side. After the layoff he made it his full-time job. In August he hosted his first training, and it turned into his first paid project.

His fear was one I hear every launch. So are the other questions that have filled my inbox this week. I’m not going to answer them myself. The students who asked the same questions before they joined will do it for me.

Enrollment in The AI Consultancy Project closes tomorrow, Friday, at 11:59 PM Pacific.

1. “I don’t have time.”

Alessandro built his consultancy around a 9-to-5, an e-commerce business and two kids. Here’s what he thought before he joined:

And what he’d tell a friend is possible now:

In August he quit the 9-to-5 and went all-in. Less than three weeks later he had a $10,000 paid discovery engagement.

Kathleen, who runs a digital marketing agency, had the same hesitation (“can I make time to do this on top of everything else”) and landed on the reason the structure matters:

2. “Can I do this with a full-time job?”

Jo is an AI engineer with a full-time job. That was his biggest hesitation too:

Dan, who you met yesterday, built his whole first year between 9:30 p.m. and midnight, around a full-time job and three kids. He left his 9-to-5 when the clients outgrew the hours, not before.

3. “I’m not technical.”

Sean has an engineering background, but his answer applies to everyone, and it’s still the most reassuring thing I’ve heard on this:

Michelle, a psychologist who will tell you she has no real technology skills, signed $73,000 in three weeks. Some of her highest-paid work is AI governance, which needs no code at all. And Kristina, who consults for the superyacht industry from Australia, plans to partner with a technical builder for the heavy lifting. That’s a legitimate way to run this business.

4. “I’m technical, but I don’t know anything about business.”

Here’s Jo again:

That’s what the persona quiz is for. Jo’s roadmap pushed him away from the technical lessons he loved and toward the business ones he needed.

5. “Am I too old for this? Is it too late?”

Salva’s post in our Slack, a month and a half after the layoff:

He closed that first project, an AI email automation, for €1,100. Another student, Conor, joined in our first cohort, back in July 2024, and in August signed a 90-day partnership with an Irish financial services firm, his biggest client yet.

And on “too late,” Alessandro again:

6. “Is it worth the money?”

Alessandro, one more time, because he’s done the math:

That’s George’s math too, and Monday’s nine students earned back their investment on their first few clients. Those results aren’t guaranteed, and each one took a lot of work. But if this morning’s numbers made sense to you, the other half of the answer is that you don’t have to decide today whether it’s worth it. You have 60 days to try the whole program, and if it isn’t right for you, for any reason, email us and I’ll refund 100% of your investment. No hoops, no homework, no hard feelings.

7. “How do I know this course is the real thing?”

Sean asked the same thing:

Deborah went further. She waited a full year to sign up. Her post in our Slack two weeks ago:

That post was announcing that she’s booked two days a week through December doing corporate AI training. I’ll take the apology.

What I can point to: 134 Trustpilot reviews, more than two years of cohorts, 1,400+ students, and the wins I’ve been sharing this week. And a Slack you’ll be inside on day one, where in the last three months students have organized in-person meetups in Seattle, Toronto, the DC area and Boston, and posted subcontracting work for each other, from a law school clinic’s RFP to a sales-automation build for a SaaS company.

8. “I’ll be bad at sales.”

Rob B., a longtime developer in Seattle:

He signed five clients in under six months and exceeded his previous salary. And Paul’s numbers are worth knowing before you start: he contacted 20 businesses he knew, three said yes to a small training, and one became an audit and then an agreement in principle on six custom builds. In his words, “it is a volume game.”

9. “I already run a business. Is this for me?”

Yes, and it’s the reason we created the owner-operator lane. Kathleen joined while rebooting her agency:

Two owner-side results from our program page:

• Darrell – facing layoffs of nearly half the company, used AI solutions to recapture market share and saved 19 jobs, before he’d even finished the program.
• Nicholas – cut client onboarding time 80% ahead of a 2,000-client acquisition.

If that’s you, you’re still an AI consultant. Your first client is your own business. Before you fund any AI project, from a vendor, a consultant or your own team, ask three questions:

1. Does it live where work lives? Inside your existing systems.
2. Can it learn from your reality? There are feedback signals it can use.
3. Who owns it on Monday? One name, not a committee.

The program teaches you to answer all three yourself, then hand the work to your team. The Hybrid Consulting level lets you bring a team member free when you pay in full.

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With all that in mind, starting something new can feel daunting.

Thankfully, you’re not starting from scratch – you’ll start with a proven system, a community of like-minded consultants, and a team that wants you to win.

If you’re still unsure, that’s okay. I also came up a ways to remove the risk of investing in yourself:

Our 60-Day Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee.

Try the whole program for two full months. If it's not for you – or now just isn't the right time – just email me and get all your money back. No hoops, no hard feelings.

​Enrollment is open until tomorrow at 11:59 PM Pacific.

To your success,

Rob Howard
Founder, Innovating with AI

P.S. Got a question that isn’t on this list? Hit reply, or text me at +1 (888) 703-4363. I’ll get back to you before the doors close tomorrow night.