Client paid their agency $31k over 4 months for "workflow optimization." I recreated everything from scratch in 67 minutes. Runs 4x faster. Sometimes starting over beats fixing broken things. THE PROBLEM Client: "Our workflows are getting slower" Agency: "You need our optimization package" Client: "What's that involve?" Agency: "Performance audit, code refactoring, architecture improvements" Cost: $31,000 Timeline: 4 months Month 1: Audit phase Month 2: Planning phase Month 3: Implementation Month 4: Testing and rollout Client paid. THE RESULTS After 4 months and $31k: - Workflows 12% faster - Three new bugs introduced - Monthly maintenance required - Additional $2k/month ongoing support Client called me: "This doesn't feel right" THE ANALYSIS Me: "Show me the workflows" Client shares access. I review their system. What I see: - 9 workflows - Overly complex routing - Redundant steps everywhere - Built like spaghetti code Me: "Your agency optimized this?" Client: "That's what they said" Me: "They polished a mess" THE SOLUTION Me: "Let me rebuild these from scratch" Client: "How long?" Me: "Give me an hour" Client: "For the estimate?" Me: "For the rebuild" THE REBUILD 1:00 PM - Open Skada.ai Workflow 1: Lead processing - Agency version: 24 nodes, 8 seconds - My version: Generated in 4 minutes, runs in 1.8 seconds Workflow 2: Order fulfillment - Agency version: 31 nodes, 12 seconds - My version: Generated in 6 minutes, runs in 2.4 seconds Workflow 3-9: Same pattern 2:07 PM - Done All 9 workflows rebuilt. All tested. All deployed. THE PERFORMANCE Agency's "optimized" workflows: - Average execution: 9.2 seconds - Error rate: 3.1% - Maintenance: Weekly updates needed My rebuilt workflows: - Average execution: 2.1 seconds - Error rate: 0.1% - Maintenance: None needed 4.4x faster. Built in 67 minutes. THE COMPARISON Agency approach: - Analyzed existing complexity - Added patches and fixes - "Optimized" inefficient structure - Charged $31,000 - Took 4 months

Competitor's workflow broke. Took them 9 days to fix. I rebuilt the entire thing in 11 minutes. Client switched vendors on day 10. THE CRISIS 3 AM email from prospect: "Our workflow stopped working" "Agency says 7-10 days to fix" "Processing 500 transactions daily" "Losing $3k per day in delays" "Can you help?" THE BROKEN WORKFLOW What failed: - Customer order processing - Inventory updates - Shipping notifications - Payment confirmations Agency's response: "Need to audit the entire system" "Could be the API integration" "Might need to rebuild from scratch" "Timeline: 7-10 business days" "Emergency rate: $15,000" THE CALL Prospect: "Can you fix it?" Me: "Don't need to" Prospect: "What do you mean?" Me: "I'll build you a new one right now" Prospect: "That doesn't help, we need it fixed" Me: "New one will be working in 10 minutes" Silence. Prospect: "You're joking" Me: "Describe your workflow" THE BUILD Prospect explains the process. Standard e-commerce automation. I open Skada.ai Type the requirements. Generate workflow. 9 minutes later: - Order processing: Working - Inventory sync: Working - Notifications: Working - Payment tracking: Working Me: "Send a test order" They process a test transaction. Everything fires perfectly. Prospect: "What just happened" THE COMPARISON Agency's fix: - Day 1-2: System audit - Day 3-4: Identify issue - Day 5-7: Rebuild nodes - Day 8-9: Testing - Cost: $15,000 - Status: Still broken My rebuild: - Minute 1-3: Requirements - Minute 4-9: Generation - Minute 10-11: Testing - Cost: $5,000 - Status: Live and working THE SWITCH Prospect: "Can you handle our volume?" Me: "What's your volume?" Prospect: "500 orders daily" Me: "That's nothing, it'll handle thousands" They migrated that morning. Canceled the agency. Agency called: "We're almost done with the fix" Prospect: "Don't need it anymore" Agency: "You found someone else?" Prospect: "Yeah, he rebuilt everything in 11 minutes" Agency: "That's impossible" Prospect: "It's been running for 6 hours"

Built 23 workflows in one afternoon. Client's previous agency delivered 3 workflows in 6 months. Same client. Same requirements. Wildly different execution. THE BACKSTORY Client called frustrated. "We've been paying $8k/month for 6 months" "Agency delivered 3 workflows" "We need 20 more" "They quoted another 8 months" Me: "Send me the list of what you need" THE LIST 23 workflows ranging from: - Lead capture to CRM - Invoice reminders - Meeting scheduling - Document approvals - Customer feedback loops - Payment processing - Onboarding sequences Agency timeline: 8 additional months Agency cost: $64,000 more THE CHALLENGE Client: "How long would this take you?" Me: "Let's find out. I'll build them today." Client: "Today?" Me: "Yeah, I've got the afternoon free" Started at 1 PM. THE SESSION Workflow 1: Lead capture - 4 minutes Workflow 2: Invoice automation - 5 minutes Workflow 3: Meeting scheduler - 3 minutes Client watching on Zoom. Client at workflow 5: "This is insane" Client at workflow 10: "How is this possible" Client at workflow 15: "Should I be recording this" Finished at 5:47 PM. All 23 workflows built. All tested. All deployed. Total time: 4 hours 47 minutes. THE AGENCY'S 6-MONTH DELIVERY Workflow 1: Took 6 weeks Workflow 2: Took 8 weeks Workflow 3: Took 10 weeks (had bugs) What they delivered: - Same functionality I built in minutes - Required 3 revision cycles each - Needed ongoing "optimization" What I delivered: - Identical functionality - Zero revisions needed - Already optimized THE COST BREAKDOWN Agency's plan: - 6 months completed: $48,000 - 8 months remaining: $64,000 - Total: $112,000 for 23 workflows My delivery: - One afternoon: $18,500 - Time: 4 hours 47 minutes - Savings: $93,500 Client paid immediately. THE REAL DIFFERENCE Agency method: - Requirements doc - Architecture planning - Node-by-node building - Testing phase - Revision cycles - Deployment planning My method: - Read requirement - Write the requirement to Skada.ai

Built a workflow in 8 minutes that replaced my client's $15k/month agency retainer. They kept me instead. Here's what happened when I showed them what I can do: THE INITIAL CALL Client: "Our agency takes 2 weeks to build simple workflows" Me: "What are they building?" Client: "Lead qualification and routing" Me: "Show me their last delivery" Client: *shares screenshot* Me: "...I can build that right now on this call" THE AGENCY'S APPROACH What they delivered after 14 days: - 47-page proposal document - 3 revision rounds - 2 "strategy sessions" - 1 basic workflow (12 steps) - Monthly optimization calls (sales pitches) Their pitch: "Enterprise-grade workflow architecture" Reality: Manual node placement in n8n Time: 2 weeks per workflow Cost: $15,000/month retainer THE BREAKING POINT Client: "We need 6 more workflows this quarter" Agency: "That'll require expanding the retainer" Client: "To what?" Agency: "$25k/month for additional workflow capacity" Client called me frustrated. MY DEMO (LIVE ON ZOOM) "Give me a workflow requirement right now" Client: "When a lead fills our form, qualify them by company size, route hot leads to sales, warm leads to nurture, cold leads to educational content" I opened skada.ai Typed the requirement in plain English. Hit generate. 8 minutes later: - Form webhook configured - AI qualification logic built - Multi-path routing created - CRM integration connected - Slack alerts automated - Email sequences triggered Client: "Wait... that's it?" Me: "Test it" They submitted a test lead. Everything fired perfectly. Client went quiet. THE COMPARISON Agency Method: - Discovery call: 1 hour - Proposal creation: 3 days - Approval process: 4 days - Build time: 5 days - Testing/revisions: 2 days - Total: 14+ days - Cost per workflow: ~$5,000 My Method: - Describe what you need: 2 minutes - Generation: 5 minutes - Testing: 1 minute - Total: 8 minutes - Cost: Functionally zero WHAT HAPPENED NEXT Client: "Can you build the other 5 workflows?"

Client's agency wanted $12k and 3 weeks. Built it in 6 minutes on our intro call. They paid me $4k. Here's what happened: THE SITUATION Client: "My agency quotes 3 weeks for every workflow" Me: "What do you need?" Client: "Customer onboarding automation" Me: "Describe it" Client explains: - New customer signs up - Send welcome sequence - Create CRM record - Assign account manager - Schedule kickoff call - Send internal notifications THE BUILD Me: "Give me a few minutes" Client: "For the quote?" Me: "For the workflow" Opened Skada AI. Described the requirements. Generated in 6 minutes. Me: "Want to test it?" Client: "You already built it?" Me: "Running it now with test data" Everything worked. Client stared at screen. THE COMPARISON Agency approach: - Discovery meeting: 2 hours - Proposal: 1 week - Build time: 2 weeks - Cost: $12,000 My approach: - Described requirements: 3 minutes - Built workflow: 6 minutes - Cost: $4,000 Client: "The agency said this was complex" Me: "It's 8 steps" WHAT HAPPENED NEXT Client tested it themselves. Worked perfectly. Client: "Why does my agency need weeks?" Me: "They're building it manually, node by node" Client: "And you?" Me: "I describe it. Tool generates it." Client canceled their agency retainer that day. THE RESULTS Built 11 more workflows for them. Total time: 73 minutes. Agency timeline for same scope: 4 months. Client's message last week: "Just realized we've deployed more automation in 2 months with you than 2 years with our agency." THE LESSON Agencies sell process. I sell results. They need time to justify the price. I need speed to prove the value. Current average: - 5.5 minutes per workflow - $3,200 per build - Zero revision cycles - Zero maintenance issues Who else is tired of "automation experts" who take weeks to automate?