📖 2 min read
Rock Bottom Was the Best Thing That Happened to Me
February 3rd, 2026. Rent was due in 28 days. I had exactly ,247 in my account. No job. No prospects. Just a ChatGPT Plus subscription I couldn’t really afford.
So I did the most irresponsible thing possible: I asked AI to save me.
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The Prompt That Changed Everything
I typed: “I have ,200. I need to turn it into 0,000 in 30 days or I’m literally homeless. Give me a step-by-step plan using only free or cheap AI tools. No courses, no dropshipping, no crypto. Real services for real businesses.”
ChatGPT came back with a 3-phase plan that was terrifyingly specific.
Phase 1: The bash Service Stack (Days 1-3)
The plan was simple: offer AI-powered services to local businesses who don’t know AI exists yet.
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- Service 1: AI-written Google Business Profile posts (00/month per client)
- Service 2: AI-generated social media content (00/month per client)
- Service 3: AI email sequences for lead nurturing (00/month per client)
Total setup cost: bash. I used ChatGPT for content, Canva free tier for graphics, and my phone for outreach.
Phase 2: The 100-DM Blitz (Days 4-7)
ChatGPT wrote me 5 personalized outreach templates. I sent 100 DMs to local business owners on Instagram. Not spam — genuine, helpful messages pointing out specific things they could improve.
Response rate: 34%. Meetings booked: 12. Closed: 7.
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First week revenue: ,400
Phase 3: The Referral Engine (Days 8-21)
Here’s what nobody tells you about AI services: when you deliver 10x faster than traditional agencies, clients talk. A lot.
By day 14, I had referrals coming in faster than I could onboard. I raised prices. Twice.
The Final Scoreboard
- Day 1 balance: ,247
- Day 21 balance: 4,700
- Active clients: 19
- Monthly recurring revenue: 1,200/month
- Waitlist: 200+ businesses
- Tools used: ChatGPT (0), Canva (free), Google Docs (free), Calendly (free)
What I Learned
The gap between “AI exists” and “local businesses using AI” is a gold mine. Most restaurants, dentists, gyms, and salons have never heard of ChatGPT. They’re still paying agencies ,000/month for work that takes AI 20 minutes.
You don’t need skills. You don’t need followers. You don’t need a product. You just need to be the bridge between AI and people who don’t know it exists.
That bridge pays really, really well.