AI chatbot setup is the highest-ticket AI service most beginners can offer. Here's the playbook.

Why this works

• Local businesses don't know how to set up chatbots
• Chatbots save them 5-10 hours/week of customer service time
• Most are willing to pay $500-$3000 for setup + $50-$200/mo maintenance
• You can do it in 1-2 days with the right tools

What you actually deliver

Typical setup:

1. Discovery call (1 hour) — what questions should the bot answer?
2. Build the chatbot (2-4 hours) using Coze/Dify/custom
3. Train on business's FAQ + products
4. Test with the business owner
5. Deploy to website / WhatsApp / Instagram
6. 30 days of email support

What you charge

Your tech stack

You need:

• A platform — Coze (free), Dify (free), Botpress (free), or custom (more $$)
• An AI to help you build the chatbot — AI Money Kit's chatbot agent walks you through the setup
• Web hosting (many chatbot platforms include this)

Finding clients (week 1-2)

Where to find businesses that need chatbots:

• Local businesses (restaurants, salons, dentists) — walk in, talk to owner
• LinkedIn — DM marketing managers
• Cold email — 100 emails to local businesses
• Facebook groups — local business owner groups
• Reddit — r/smallbusiness, r/entrepreneur

Your first 3 clients

Offer 3 free or 50%-off setups. Use the case studies to charge full price from #4.

Pro tip: For your first 3, pick businesses you already know (friends, family, your day job's network). Easier to close, easier to deliver.

Scaling to $15K/month

Math: $2000 average × 7-8 setups/month = $14K-$16K

That's 2 setups/week. Achievable with:

• 1 hour/day on outreach (10 cold emails + 5 LinkedIn DMs)
• AI does the heavy lifting (bot design, prompt writing)
• You handle client communication + QA

The recurring revenue bonus

The $100-$300/mo maintenance fees are pure profit. Once you have 20+ maintenance clients, you're making $2K-$6K/mo passive-ish income from existing clients.