How long will the AI consulting opportunity last?

I said it in May 2026: the time to make money from AI content and consulting work is the next 12 to 24 months, before business owners figure it out and prices compress. That's my forecast, not a promise.

My estimate has moved around, and I'd rather show you that than pretend it's precise.

When I said it	My window estimate
February 2026, local business AI help	Two to three years, maybe two, maybe five
February 2026, AI business overall	One to two years
May 2026, AI training and implementation	The next 12 months, with the next six massive
May 2026, AI content and consulting	12 to 24 months

Every version says the same thing: it's open now, and it won't stay this wide.

Why is the window open right now?

Most people don't want to change how they work, and the tools keep moving under them. Two years ago I talked about training and helping businesses with AI. I was right about all of it, just too early. Now every company is serious about this.

I compare it to the California gold rush in the 1850s. It's about capitalizing now. If I waited to do everything myself, the opportunity would run out before I could capitalize.

I feel the speed myself. An idea I had parked for a year became doable when a better model shipped, and I rebuilt my plan around it. The reason I felt so much further ahead one week than the week before was that new model.

What happens after the window closes?

People will still be interested. But a lot of the best clients will be taken and there'll be much more competition. Prices compress as owners learn the tools.

Won't better AI make consultants unnecessary?

I think the opposite. For about 98% of people who want to make money from AI, the answer is to be a consultant or implementer in some capacity. It doesn't matter what new tool comes out. Your job is helping people use the thing that came out.

"the faster things move, the faster things change, the more they need somebody to help them use it and understand it. So you literally benefit as a consultant or implementer, the crazier it gets because they need help."

The pitch to a client: you can learn the basics yourself, but you don't need to know how one agent connects to another and kicks off a workflow. Pay a specialist and focus on your business.

What happens if AI gets more expensive?

That's good for operators like us.

"If token prices rise, that is good for operators like us, because business owners will stop wanting to spend $400 testing tools themselves and will just pay someone to do it."

People are paying real money already. At an entrepreneur dinner, the first guy I sat down with does AI trainings and implementation, and he told me his audits start at about $5,000 minimum. That's his number, not mine, but people are paying it.

What should I do while the window is open?

• Do the sales nobody wants to do. Get in front of business owners, find out what they need and help them do it. You can give people 10 times the output. Nobody wants to get out and talk to businesses, including me. I'd make excuses not to even if I weren't busy. Whoever does it wins.
• Treat trainings as a network. Corporate AI training isn't a one-off fee. Follow-on consulting, implementation and referrals are the real upside.
• Niche down so the work compounds. See why generic AI consulting doesn't work.
• Build the audience while you sell. Because of AI, I think the real moat is audience. More in the real moat when anyone can build software.

Do I need to be an expert to get in?

No. You don't have to be the best at anything. You skill stack. AI is the first genuinely new skill in about 15 years, since social media, and it's the only one that teaches you the skill itself.

How fast is the ground moving?

By my estimate in May 2026, AI let my team build product features roughly five times faster and cheaper than before. One tip from that: ignore the build-time estimates AI gives you. They're human-hour estimates.