Lesson 446 of 2244
Selling AI Consulting Services as a Domain Expert
You don't need to be an ML engineer to sell AI consulting. You need a domain, a clear offer, a price, and a way to start a Tuesday morning meeting. Here's the structure.
Adults & Professionals · Careers & Pathways · ~7 min read
The domain expert's advantage
A 28-year-old AI generalist consultant walks into a 200-person hospital and has to learn how a hospital works. You already know how a hospital works. You don't compete on AI depth. You compete on 'I've seen this floor at 3am.'
The four-part offer
- 1The audit (week 1-2): map current workflows and find 3 highest-leverage AI insertion points. $5-15k.
- 2The prototype (week 3-6): build one working tool for the highest-leverage spot. $10-30k.
- 3The rollout (month 2-3): train the team that will use it, write the SOPs. $15-40k.
- 4The retainer (ongoing): 4-8 hrs/month for tune-ups, escalations, vendor reviews. $1-3k/month.
Pricing without flinching
Most pivoters underprice because they're scared to charge AI rates with a non-AI background. Wrong frame. You aren't charging AI rates. You're charging domain-expert-with-AI rates, which are higher than either alone. A small mid-sized client pays $20-50k for a project that saves them $200k/year. Math is on your side. Hold your number.
Things to refuse
- 'Just build us an agent, you figure out what it does' (no scope = no money)
- 'We'll pay you in equity' (one out of fifty pays off, and you're not 28)
- 'Write the proposal for free first' (write a 1-pager; refuse a 10-pager)
- Anything where a junior can't tell what success looks like
Key terms in this lesson
The big idea: domain plus AI is a real product line. Charge for it like one.
End-of-lesson quiz
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