How I Built a 7-Figure Business in Less than A Year with AI | Ben Tossell
Dear subscribers,
Today, I want to share a new episode with Ben Tossell.
Ben is the founder of Ben’s Bites, a 7-figure business that has taught 10,000+ people how to use AI to save time and automate work. In less than a year, this business has already made more than his last exit (selling no-code platform MakerPad to Zapier).
Watch now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.
Ben and I talked about:
(00:56) I scaled to $1M+ by avoiding things I hate doing
(03:11) Key drivers of growing to 7-figures in 9 months
(10:44) What to automate with AI vs. delegate to teammates
(15:30) How to find and hire help online
(22:09) The art of writing great AI prompts
(25:42) Ben's bear take on Perplexity and my defense
(36:17) Underrated AI tools for illustrations, videos, and more
(40:02) How to build a business to suit your life, not vice versa
Keep reading for the takeaways.
How Ben scaled a 7-figure AI education business
Welcome Ben! So a few years ago you had a daily AI newsletter that had 100K+ subscribers. You then pivoted to an AI education portal with a lifetime plan. What made you decide to do this pivot?
I did it to avoid things I hate doing.
I don't think dealing with advertisers is anyone's choice. Readers don't want more ads. And if you ask them how they want to pay for an education platform, they wouldn't say "bill me $50 every month."
So I think a lifetime plan is the right thing to do. It's easier to quantify in your mind — pay once, get access to all this content. We started with 50 tutorials when we launched and now have over 300. It just gets more valuable over time. We can keep adding value for everyone who joins.
There are so many subscriptions already - newsletters, Netflix, and more. You don't need another one. With learning specifically, I don't want to pressure people.
So we pivoted to lifetime subscription which is the simplest model possible. It's probably not the best business model, but I'm not optimizing for that.
I'm optimizing for what's best for members and what’s best for my lifestyle.
You’ve only been doing the AI education portal for 9 months and it’s already bigger than your last exit. What have been some key drivers of this growth?