Oct 29 • General discussion 💬
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.
I'm saving them ~400 development hours monthly.
THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH
Most "custom automation agencies" are building the same 12 workflows.
- Email → Database
- Form → CRM → Email
- Webhook → Enrichment → Slack
- CSV → Transform → API
With the right approach, these aren't 40-hour projects.
They're 5-minute prompts.
What's your average build time for a standard workflow right now?
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Client paid an agency $15k to build a workflow. I rebuilt it in 8 minutes with a prompt. Agency is now my client.
skool.com/brendan
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