The $10K AI Agency Blueprint

What to sell. Who to sell it to. What to charge. How to deliver.

By Daniel Hallman

Start with a paid assessment. Build one workflow. Define the ongoing work behind a $2,500 monthly retainer.

1. Sell the assessment

Watch one recurring process before recommending software.

Find where requests stall, who fixes them, and what the delay costs. Give the owner a written recommendation with costs, tradeoffs, and a first step.

Package the assessment around 4 deliverables:

1. An interview about the process.
2. A report showing where work stalls.
3. A plan for the first change.
4. A review call.

I review how new inquiries reach your team. I show where replies stall. You get a written plan with costs, tradeoffs, and the first change to make.

Name the buyer, process, and deliverable. Set the assessment fee around that scope.

Before selling the build, identify the data source, account owner, failure signals, and manual fallback.

2. Choose a buyer you can reach this week

Start with 3 people you can already text. Ask to watch one recurring process.

Look for 4 things:

• A person who owns the work.
• A task that repeats.
• A real example you have permission to review.
• A first change small enough to reverse.

Get specific. Watch an office manager reconcile appointments across 3 systems. Follow a new inquiry from arrival to the first reply.

Record the steps, delays, and handoffs.

Pass on low-volume work, constantly changing processes, and decisions nobody will take responsibility for. Tell the owner what needs to change before automation makes sense.

3. Build a book of 4 retainers

Sell the assessment, initial build, and monthly support as separate scopes. Keep one-time assessment and build fees out of the recurring revenue math.

The retainer needs recurring work.

Example $2,500/month scope for an agreed workflow:

• Review failed runs and unresolved requests.
• Maintain the agreed integrations and approved source material.
• Test and release changes within a written allowance.
• Report what ran, what failed, and what changed.

Set the support window, response expectations, and change allowance in writing. Quote additional workflows separately.

$10,000 is monthly revenue before software, delivery costs, payment fees, and taxes.

Choose clients with enough recurring work to justify the fee.

4. Price the full job

Count the preparation, interview, report, review call, and administration.

For a build, add setup, testing, documentation, handoff, and promised support. For a retainer, calculate the work required to operate and maintain the agreed workflow each month.

Separate hours saved from cash saved. Tie cash-saving claims to lower spending or additional paid work.

Write the scope as observable results:

• A valid inquiry creates or updates one record.
• A draft reply uses approved facts.
• A person reviews the reply before it goes out.
• Missing information and errors create a task.

Write the exclusions too:

• No invented prices or availability.
• No unreviewed outbound messages.
• No additional inboxes or workflows outside the agreed scope.

Use a proof of concept to answer one specific question. Confirm that the records support a useful draft before quoting production delivery.

5. Deliver one workflow

Start with inquiry handling.

Capture the inquiry in one record. Assign an owner. Draft a reply from approved facts. Get human approval before sending. Log the outcome.

Keep the assistant away from unverified prices, availability, and promises.

Stop duplicate events from triggering a second outbound message. Route failures to a person with enough information to finish the work manually.

Start testing with 3 cases:

1. A complete request.
2. A request with missing information.
3. A failed integration.

Handoff includes a named owner, operating instructions, an error view, a way to reverse the change, and a support agreement.

Add meeting-to-task workflows or staff Q&A after the first workflow is operating.

6. Keep the stack short

Start with 4 things:

• An AI assistant with a project workspace.
• The client's approved documents.
• A spreadsheet or CRM for tracking the work.
• A way to collect payment.

Use the systems the client already works in.

Add automation to handle a specific repeated transfer. Add custom code for a requirement someone will maintain.

Read the current documentation. Test the exact account and a real request before quoting the work.

7. Run the agency

Track each buyer from first inquiry through assessment, build, and monthly support.

Give every active opportunity an owner and a next action. Keep the scope, decisions, and delivery records together.

I use GoHighLevel for agency operations, including contacts, forms, pipelines, and follow-up.

Choose delivery tools around the client's process and existing systems. Keep the software pitch out of the first sales conversation.

See the tools and affiliate disclosures.

This week

1. Write 4 sentences: buyer, recurring task, decision, and exact deliverable.
2. Contact 3 people. Arrange to watch one process.
3. Follow one request from arrival to completion. Record the time, delays, and missing information.
4. Practice the assessment. Use the findings to scope a paid offer.
5. Name the event that starts the workflow, the person who owns it, and the result that counts as done.