Client paid an agency $15k to build a workflow. I rebuilt it in 8 minutes with a prompt. Agency is now my client.
Client paid an agency $15k to build a workflow. I rebuilt it in 8 minutes with a prompt. Agency is now my client. This happened last Tuesday. THE ORIGINAL PROJECT Agency's Timeline: - Discovery call: 2 hours - Requirements doc: 4 hours - Development: 40 hours - Testing: 8 hours - Revisions: 12 hours - Total: 66 hours over 3 weeks What it did: - Parse customer emails - Extract key info - Update Airtable - Send Slack notifications - Generate weekly reports Client paid: $15,000 Agency profit: ~$8,000 THE CLIENT'S COMPLAINT "It breaks every time Gmail updates" "Takes 3 days to fix anything" "We're paying $500/month for maintenance" Me: "Can I see the workflow?" Opens n8n. 47 nodes. Nested IFs everywhere. Comments say: "DO NOT TOUCH THIS" THE REBUILD I pulled up what I've been building - Skada.ai Typed one prompt: "Build workflow that monitors Gmail for customer requests, extracts contact info and issue description, updates Airtable customer database, sends Slack alert to support team, generates weekly summary report" Watched it build: - Created the nodes - Connected everything - Added error handling - Configured credentials - Built the logic Time: 8 minutes 23 seconds Tested it. Worked perfectly. THE CLIENT'S REACTION "Wait... that's it?" "How long did this take you?" "Under 10 minutes" "..." "So what do I owe you?" I thought about it. "Nothing. This one's free." THE REAL MOVE Two days later, agency owner calls me. "The client told us what you did" "How is that even possible?" "Are you using some kind of... different tool?" Showed him a demo. Built three of their current client workflows. Live. On the call. Total time: 22 minutes. Agency owner: "How much would it cost to use this?" THE AGENCY CONVERSION They had 14 active automation clients. Average project: 30-50 hours of development. Average price: $8k-12k. Their new model with my tool: - Build in 5-10 minutes - Charge the same $8k-12k - Profit margin: 95% - Can take 10x more clients They're now paying me $2,500/month.