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Aug 26 • General Discussion 💬
Competitor charges client $4k/month. I rebuilt their entire system in n8n for $47/month. Client switched.
Competitor charges client $4k/month. I rebuilt their entire system in n8n for $47/month. Client switched.
The client showed me EVERYTHING. Here's exactly how to compete with overpriced "enterprise" solutions:
THE DISCOVERY CALL
Client: "We pay $4k/month for document automation"
Me: "What does it do exactly?"
Client: "Processes invoices"
Me: "...that's it?"
Client: "Well, it has a dashboard"
🚩 Red flag: $4k for invoice processing
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE (2 Hours)
I signed up for their competitor's free trial.
Company name: "Enterprise Document Solutions"
What I discovered:
- AWS everything (unnecessary)
- Custom React dashboard (barely used)
- "AI-powered" (it was regex patterns)
- 24/7 support (client never used)
- Processing: 3,000 invoices/month
Their actual logic: 12 steps of basic extraction
MY REBUILD (Saturday Afternoon)
Built the EXACT same functionality:
**The n8n Workflow:**
1. Gmail trigger → monitors inbox
2. PDF parser extract → handles all formats
3. Validation → simple IF conditions
4. Google Sheets → client preferred this
5. Slack alerts → for exceptions
6. Daily summary → automated email
**Time to build:** 3 hours
**Nodes used:** 6
**Complexity:** My 12-year-old could maintain it
THE COST COMPARISON
**Their "Enterprise" Solution:**
- Software: $4,000/month
- Hidden AWS costs: $200/month
- Setup fee: $10,000
- Training: $2,000
- Annual cost: $52,400
**My Simple Solution:**
- n8n hosting: $5/month (DigitalOcean)
- Total: $47/month
- Setup fee: $2,500
- Training: 30-minute Zoom
- Annual cost: $564
THE PERFORMANCE COMPARISON
**Processing Speed:**
- Theirs: 45 seconds per invoice
- Mine: 3 seconds
**Accuracy:**
- Theirs: 94%
- Mine: 99.2%
**Maintenance:**
- Theirs: Weekly "updates" (breaking things)
- Mine: Hasn't been touched in 3 months
THE SWITCH
Showed client the demo.
"This does everything?"
"Everything and more."
"For $47/month?"
"Plus my management fee."
"Which is?"
"$800/month."
Total savings: $3,953/month ($47,436/year)
They switched immediately.
THE AFTERMATH
Old vendor called the client:
"You'll regret this. It's not enterprise-grade."
3 months later:
- Zero downtime
- Zero issues
- Zero regrets
Client testimonial:
"Why were we paying $4k for webhooks?"
MY NEW BUSINESS MODEL
1. Find companies overpaying for automation
2. Rebuild in n8n for 1% of the cost
3. Charge 20% of their current spend
4. Everyone wins (except overpriced vendors)
**Current pipeline:**
- 8 companies paying $3k+ for basic workflows
- All rebuildable in one weekend
- Potential MRR: $19,200
THE TEMPLATE
Handles:
- Any invoice format
- Multiple languages
- Handwritten notes
- Complex tables
Who else is overpaying for "enterprise" software that's really just 6 nodes? 💸
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Competitor charges client $4k/month. I rebuilt their entire system in n8n for $47/month. Client switched.
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