My Three Unpopular Opinions on AI-Assisted Consulting

I am three years into running an AI-assisted consulting practice. The consensus wisdom in the space is wrong on three specific points. These opinions have cost me conversations and won me clients. Here they are, unedited, with the reasoning behind each.

Opinion One: You Should Charge More With AI, Not Less

Every solo operator using AI is tempted to compete on price. Do not. AI raises your per-hour output, it does not raise the client's expected price. Use the leverage to deliver more and charge the same, or charge more for faster turnaround. Racing to the bottom is a losing strategy that invites other operators to race you further. The clients who value speed will pay for speed. The clients who want cheap will always find cheaper.

Opinion Two: Deliverables Matter More Than Process

Clients care that the thing works. They do not care whether you used six agents or zero. Process marketing is for consultants who cannot ship. Ship the thing. Write about the thing. Let the methodology be an inference from the work, not the pitch. Founders who lead with methodology are usually hiding that they have not shipped anything recently.

Opinion Three: Most AI Automation Is Not Worth Selling

A thousand founders want to sell AI automation to SMBs. The economics do not work. Small businesses do not have the data, the integrations, or the margin. Sell to mid-market or build your own product. The easy middle does not exist, even though the content about selling to SMBs is everywhere. I tried it for six months in 2024. The gross margins looked fine on paper and collapsed on the first integration project.

Why I Publish These Anyway

Unpopular opinions are filters. The clients who disagree with me self-select out and we both save time. The clients who agree sign faster. Clarity is a sales tool. Vague pitches attract vague prospects.

What to Do Next

Write down three opinions you hold that your peers disagree with. Publish them. You will close better clients in half the conversations. Do not soften the opinions to make them palatable. The whole point is that they filter.

The Risk

You will lose some prospects. That is the point. The prospects you lose to strong opinions are the ones who would have been difficult to work with anyway.