From $500 UpWork fails to $20 AI wins
A few months ago, I hired a developer on UpWork.
I wanted him to fix a technical bug on my website.
I won't name and shame, but he cost me $500.
And my project went nowhere.
I'm reasonably good at hiring and outsourcing... but I've always had a bad experience contracting work to developers.
It's usually expensive and time-consuming.
This week, I found a sweet workaround... without lifting a finger.
I'm building a news aggregator covering developments in the AI space.
It's called the AI Flash Report.
I built it with Cursor AI.
Last month, Cursor rolled out background autonomous AI agents
I fired up a few AI agents for The AI Flash Report.
Then I switched tasks and wrote my newsletter for 30 minutes… I’d rather write than code.
Meanwhile, Cursor AI autonomous agents spotted a few bugs and fixed them.
(The kind of thing a pricey developer would usually do)
When I returned to check out my project, every bug was fixed.
Usually, I'd pay a developer on UpWork a few hundred dollars for this type of work.
Plus days of back-and-forth communication.
The whole thing cost me less than $20.
It’s like having my own team of developers that never get sick, take time off or bill me for shoddy work.
AI doesn't just assist your work anymore.
It actively works while you focus on higher-value activities.
The question isn't: Will AI put me out of work?
It's How can I use AI to leverage my work?
Development work is just one use case for AI in my business. I've created an entire course that details my approach to prompt writing and engineering. Check it out at PromptWritingStudio.
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