How I Made $10,000 in the First 60 Days of My Business (With AI Tools to Help You Do It Too)

I never thought building a business could be this easy.

Just 60 days into my new venture, I made $10,000.

Now, 8 months in, that early success has grown into something far bigger.

After 20 years in corporate life, I was done with the politics and grind.

I knew one thing—I didn’t want to work for someone else anymore.

But I had no idea what kind of business I wanted to build.

So, I leaned on what I did know:

• I was great at spotting trends.
• I enjoyed inspiring others and helping them grow.
• I had experience managing teams and mentoring people.

And I used AI tools to accelerate the process and take the stress out of building something from scratch.

Let me take you through how I did it—step by step, with the AI tools that can help you do it too.

The Power of Starting Where You Are

Before we dive into the AI, the first lesson: start with what you know. You already have valuable skills and experience—leverage that to solve problems.

Here’s how I did it (and how you can too):

1. Niche Down and Solve a Real Problem

To build a profitable business fast, you need to solve a problem people are willing to pay for.

In my case, I offered career transition coaching, helping professionals switch to AI—a space with massive growth potential, just like I did with blockchain years ago.

AI Tools to Help:

• Perplexity AI: Use this AI-powered search tool to quickly uncover trending problems in your area of expertise. You can ask it questions like "What problems are trending in remote work leadership?" to identify opportunities.
• Brand24 or Mention: These tools let you monitor online conversations to find pain points in your niche.

Action Step: Use AI to gather data and insights on market trends and frustrations. Let the data guide your niche selection.

2. Presell Your Solution Before Building It

Before you build out a full product or service, validate demand by preselling.

I did this by offering early-bird access to my career transition coaching, but I also offered free coaching to friends and some more demanding customers to refine my offering and gather unfiltered feedback.

This helped me improve the service and understand the exact pain points of my target market.

AI Tools to Help:

• Calendly: Automate scheduling for preselling calls or discovery sessions. You can use Calendly to streamline client booking and engage prospects early.
• Gumroad or Podia: These platforms allow you to set up a simple pre-order page to start collecting payments before you even build the full product.

Action Step: Set up an early-access or pre-order offer with these tools, and use AI to refine your sales pitch for maximum clarity and persuasion.

3. Build an Audience with Valuable Content

Building an audience is one of the fastest ways to build trust and generate sales.

For me, LinkedIn was the perfect platform. I shared authentic content consistently, and the followers turned into clients.

AI Tools to Help:

• ChatGPT, Claude AI, and Perplexity: Use a combination of these tools to brainstorm, research, and write content for LinkedIn. ChatGPT and Claude can help generate engaging posts tailored to your audience, while Perplexity assists in gathering up-to-date insights and trends in AI career transitions. You can also pull from extracts of your conversations with prospects and clients, using their specific pain points and challenges to create highly relevant and personalized content that addresses their needs directly.
• Canva: While not strictly AI, Canva helps you design professional-looking graphics to complement your social posts. It even offers AI features for automatic design adjustments.

Action Step: Pick one platform (I chose LinkedIn), use AI to generate and schedule valuable content, and engage with your audience consistently. I only moved to Instagram once I was consistently getting 100% of my leads from LinkedIn, allowing me to focus on expanding my reach without spreading myself too thin.

4. How I Used AI to Sharpen Every Part of My Business

I focused on refining each step of my funnel. AI was my secret weapon for making it happen.

AI Tools to Help:

• Otter AI: Every call, every insight, every single pain point from my clients? Captured. Otter AI transcribed everything in real-time, so I could focus on the conversation, not scribbling notes. The result? I walked away from every call with gold—direct feedback I could act on immediately.
• ChatGPT and Claude AI: I used AI to turn raw conversations into actionable insights. Every client had unique needs, and by running these conversations through GPT models, I could spot patterns in their pain points. This helped me sharpen my UVP, tighten my pitch, and deliver exactly what they needed.
• GPTs for Specific Tasks: Here’s where it gets powerful. I didn’t just use AI in one place—I used different GPT models to level up each part of my business. Need better email copy? GPT. Need to refine my social media content? GPT. Need to tweak my offer based on market shifts? You guessed it—GPT. Every task got its own GPT, and the results were razor-sharp improvements across the board.

Action Step: Record your client calls with Otter AI, then use GPTs to extract the insights that matter. Apply those insights to sharpen your offers, your funnels, and your messaging. Use AI to supercharge every single move you make. That’s how you scale with precision.

5. Deliver an Exceptional Experience and Get Testimonials

Happy customers are your best marketers. I made sure every client had a great experience, and they returned the favor by providing testimonials, which fueled future sales.

AI Tools to Help:

• Testimonial.to: This AI-powered tool makes it easy for customers to record and submit video testimonials, which you can then use on your website or social media.
• SurveyMonkey: Automate customer feedback collection with AI-driven surveys to improve your product and service offerings.

Action Step: Use these tools to collect social proof effortlessly, and show that proof across your platforms to build credibility.

6. Own Your Distribution

Owning your audience is the key to long-term success. Social media algorithms change, but your email list is something you own. I prioritized building an email list to keep my audience engaged.

AI Tools to Help:

• Kit: I personally use Kit (or ConvertKit as it used to be called) to build and nurture my email list, and I’m happy with how it simplifies things. It’s great for creating AI-driven automations and personalized email sequences. Plus, if you want to sell products, ConvertKit has that feature too. It’s not as seamless as Gumroad for selling, but if you want everything in one place, it’s a solid option.
• Mailchimp, Substack, and Beehiiv are all strong contenders too. At the end of the day, it’s about finding the platform that feels right for you and your goals. What fits your flow, your audience, and your vision for where you're headed? That’s the one you want.

Action Step: Use Kit to streamline your email marketing efforts, automate engagement, and even sell products directly. Owning your list ensures you stay connected with your audience on your terms.

You Can Do This Too—Even If You’re Just Starting

I didn’t have all the answers when I started, and you don’t need to either. But with AI, you can accelerate your progress, work smarter, and generate results faster.

And Here's How I Can Help You:

• Join Our AI Career Coaching Program: Apply for an AI Career Acceleration Call here.
• Get our How to Start 100 AI-Driven Side Hustles in Just 5 Minutes Guide: Get it here
• Sign up for the October cohort here: AI Career Acceleration Transition Blueprint – No Coding Required
• Find Your Perfect AI Career Path: Use our FREE AI Career Path Finder to match your background to the best AI career options. Get access here.

Let’s rise together ??

Salama

P.S. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily tips on how to get a job in AI with absolute clarity.