Why I Don't Sell AI to Local Businesses (Despite What Gurus Claim)

Join Maker School & get your first automation customer ⤵️ https://www.skool.com/makerschool/about Watch me build my $300K/mo business live with daily videos + strategy ⤵️ https://www.youtube.com/@nicksaraevdaily Excalidraw used in the video⤵️ https://excalidraw.com/#json=eqArZwrk81X_VV235HnNo,NPzNTbeX8yma5K0fFk3_XA Summary ⤵️ Selling AI to local businesses is often a losing game due to high lead costs, low scalability, poor tech literacy, and tight margins—making them price-sensitive, skeptical, and hard to convert. Outreach efforts usually turn into unpaid education, resulting in weak ROI and high churn. My software, tools, & deals (some give me kickbacks—thank you!) 🚀 Instantly: https://link.nicksaraev.com/instantly-short 📧 Anymailfinder: https://link.nicksaraev.com/amf-short 🤖 Apify: https://console.apify.com/sign-up (30% off with code NICK30) 🧑🏽💻 n8n: https://n8n.partnerlinks.io/h372ujv8cw80 📈 Rize: https://link.nicksaraev.com/rize-short (25% off with promo code NICK) Follow me on other platforms 😈 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nick_saraev 🕊️ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nicksaraev 🤙 Blog: https://nicksaraev.com Why watch? If this is your first view—hi, I’m Nick! TLDR: I spent six years building automated businesses with Make.com (most notably 1SecondCopy, a content company that hit 7 figures). Today a lot of people talk about automation, but I’ve noticed that very few have practical, real world success making money with it. So this channel is me chiming in and showing you what *real* systems that make *real* revenue look like. Hopefully I can help you improve your business, and in doing so, the rest of your life 🙏 Like, subscribe, and leave me a comment if you have a specific request! Thanks. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:43 Why local businesses are generally not a good client profile 00:53 1. Lead generation problems 01:04 Limited geographic pool 01:23 Higher cost per lead 01:53 Difficult to scale outreach 01:55 Poor ROI on marketing spend 02:03 2. Value perception problems 02:50 Low technical literacy 03:10 Sales calls end up being educational rather than selling 03:33 Skeptical of digital solutions 03:46 3. Financial constraints 04:39 Tight profit margins 04:43 High physical overhead 04:45 No dedicated tech budget 04:55 Price sensitivity & churn risk 05:14 Lead generation nightmare 08:58 The value perception issue 13:20 The financial reality 13:50 Digital vs in-person business story 16:47 Outro