You do not need to quit your day job to start AI consulting. Here is the moonlight plan.
Month 1: Foundation (5 hours/week)
- Update LinkedIn to reflect AI consulting interest
- Write 2 LinkedIn posts per week about AI automation
- Automate 1 thing in your own workflow and document it
- Read 5 case studies of AI implementations
Month 2: Authority (5 hours/week)
- Write 1 article per week on Dev.to or Medium
- Offer 3 free AI audits to people in your network
- Create a simple one-page website
- Build a proposal template
Month 3: First Client (8 hours/week)
- Convert 1 free audit into a paid discovery project ($3-5K)
- Deliver on evenings/weekends (2-day audit only needs 16 focused hours)
- Collect a testimonial and case study
- Post results on LinkedIn
Month 4-6: Scale Decision
If you have 2+ clients and $5K+/month coming in, consider going full-time.
If not, keep moonlighting and building your pipeline.
The Safety Net
At no point do you risk your income. The worst case? You learn valuable skills and build a network. The best case? You 3-5x your income within 6 months.
Complete transition framework: wedgemethod.gumroad.com/l/ai-agency-launch-kit
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