A lot of people forget something important: businesses were hiring developers long before AI automation existed. Many of them already have their tech locked down with existing relationships. The good news? The winners right now are the ones creating their own unique plan and niche instead of copying what everyone else is doing. Most people default to cold DMs, generic emails, and spammy outreach. It rarely works. My approach was completely different. I printed professional business cards on thick card stock, branded them properly, and added a QR code that led straight to my services. Then, while I was out doing deliveries for my other work, I started placing them strategically on doors and handing them out in person. That one simple offline move brought in extra cash and real leads. This is just one example of thinking outside the box. In today’s world, we have to be **doers** — not just scrollers. I get multiple messages in my business inbox every week with the exact same copy-paste lines. They all blend together and get ignored. Instead, try this: Get up, print some solid cards, and start handing them out. Grocery store, gas station, convenience store — it doesn’t matter. Strike up real conversations and give your card with confidence. You’d be surprised how well this works when most of your competition is hiding behind a screen.

Let’s see what is ground reality of building an AI business. I spent last 4 years on it and I won’t lie it is the most difficult thing to do. Share your experience in the comments .

Everyone is arguing about which memory repo wins. Mem0. Claude Cidian. Memory Palace. Most people pick one, install it, and move on. That is the problem. Off the shelf memory systems are built for the masses. They do not know your business workflows, your recurring projects, or what you need Claude to retain across sessions. A lawyer needs case precedent recall. An ecommerce operator needs seasonal ad performance and consumer demand patterns. Same tool, completely different memory profile. I reverse engineered three open source memory repos and built my own stack. Here is the process. Step one is clone. Pull Mem0, Claude Cidian, and Memory Palace into a local folder. Step two is audit. Ask Claude Code to spin up sub agents that do a full deep dive on every repo and compare them against each other. Each agent takes about 5 to 10 minutes and runs in the background. The results land in your context window without flooding it. Step three is extract. Tell Claude what your day to day actually looks like, then ask it to pull only the design patterns and code that fit YOUR use case. Skip everything else. From there you layer your system on top of Claude's native memory instead of replacing it. Identity: name, role, anything that never changes. Lives at the top. Critical context: your business, your current projects, your market position. Sits right below identity. Working memory: the messy temporary thoughts for whatever you are building right now. Disposable once the task ships. Long term knowledge: outcomes worth revisiting even if they are not foundational to who you are. A litigation result, a product launch postmortem, a pricing change log. Episodic memory: why you saved something in the first place. The context behind the entry, not just the entry itself. Decay and promotions run in the background. Old irrelevant memories lose weight. Frequently called memories rise in importance. The stack cleans itself as your priorities shift. You do not need a nuclear bomb for a fist fight, right?

I wanted to share a story about how I shifted my mindset from "scraping for a few hundred bucks" to engineering specialized solutions that business owners gladly pay a premium for. A few years ago, I was stuck in the "generalist trap" (Tutorial Hell). I was focused on the tools—HTML, CSS, or my newest n8n workflow. I was fighting on price for $500 static websites that clients didn’t actually need because I was focused on code, not business logic. Everything changed when I stopped selling features and started selling solutions to expensive problems. Clients don't care what stack you use. They don't care about Cursor, CODEX, or how complex your n8n orchestration is. They care about saving time, reducing headaches, and making money. The Taco Stand Case Study Take a local pop-up taco stand out here in Lancaster, CA. These guys are legendary—lines down the street at every pop-up. The Pain Points: 1. Absolute chaos managing the in-person order line. 2. Taking payments manually was slow and prone to errors. 3. Their huge fan base didn't know where they would be next. Instead of building them a generic "taco stand website," I built them an Automated Operational System. The Automated Solution: - A simple, custom website optimized for mobile online ordering. - Integrated payment collection right in the interface. - The AI/Automation Angle: A specialized alert system that instantly triggers emails and SMS to their entire subscriber list the moment they post a new pop-up location. The Results: It cut the client’s operational headaches in half. Instead of managing chaos in the line, they just cook. Revenue increased because the line moves faster, and their fans never miss a location. The tools don't matter. They are just leverage. The moment you shift your mind from "building sites" to being an Automation Architect, your value explodes. Stop looking for "web dev clients." Start seeking out expensive business pain. When you solve a problem that saves a business 10 hours a week or makes them an extra $2K, they won't hesitate to pay you $3,000+ for that setup.

My name is Michael, and I’m here to better understand the wave of new technologies reshaping our world. I’m especially interested in learning how to thoughtfully integrate these innovations into my everyday life and routines.