Hey there,

Two questions land in my inbox more than any others. “Will this be worth it?” and “Which level is right for me?”

Enrollment for this cohort of the AI Consultancy Project closes tomorrow (Friday) at 11:59 PM Pacific, so let’s settle both.

The first question is really about risk, cost and value, and the better you can answer it for yourself, the better you will answer it for your own clients later. (If you run a team, you’re the client in this email. Every benchmark below is your own budget.)

Fun stuff. Let’s start with the money.

The payback math

On Monday I asked how long it takes for the program to pay for itself, and showed you nine students who earned back their investment on their first few clients.

Here’s the number I left out on Monday. The Training level is $2,997 to pay in full, or $297/mo on a 12-month installment plan. Put that next to single engagements you saw this week:

• George’s first paying client: $2,000, which turned into $26,000 from the same client.
• Sarah’s first audit: $10,000.
• Erika’s first month: $28,500.
• Thiago’s web app: $10,000, shipped in five days.
• Sean’s first client: $8,500 a month.
• Niki’s first sale: $10,000.

These are not guaranteed results, and each one took a lot of work. But it’s why George’s math going in was so simple: “if I could just get a single client for a few thousand dollars, then this program is gonna pay for itself.”

Now the benchmarks, which are how your future clients will think about the same question.

“How Much Should My Clients (or I) Invest in L&D?”

Set realistic expectations for potential clients (& yourself) with these benchmarks.

No one advances their career or business without improving themselves. Formally, we call that professional development. And, if that’s done for an organization – then we call it learning and development (L&D).

Experienced folks already know this – however, if you or your clients don’t have an established habit or budget of doing this, then it’s natural to focus a bit on cost.

Now, being cognizant of cost isn’t inherently a bad thing. However, it can turn into unintentional self-sabotage…if your clients (or you) do it without objective benchmarks and data.

If you’ve seen the AI Consultancy program page, then you know we love data