Before you start an AI business, read this

Don't start an AI business until you know these four things.

I'm not giving you theory. I'm giving you the four mistakes I made myself. When I recorded this at the end of May, I was three and a half months into my own business, sitting out in the mountains trying to get some clarity. I had just raised my prices. A lot. And I want to tell you exactly why.

Know your value, don't hide your experience, show your prices, and learn how to say no. Here's what each one cost me.

1. Know your value

When you start an AI business, especially one built on consulting, you need to understand what you're giving up. You're giving up your time.

You can always earn more money. You cannot earn more time.

A lot of people will tell you to start low, price low, and go up once you have experience. But if you're working a job right now, you already have real domain experience. Start your AI business in the field you know (just don't create a conflict of interest with your employer). You're a professional. Price like one.

That's how a small business becomes a midsize business. It comes out of the gate knowing its value.

I didn't. Over my career and my business, I've made over $300,000 using AI. I'm not a rookie. And I still came out the gate pricing my first product under what Claude, Gemini, and OpenAI charge for their top plans. Same kind of product, lower price. Mistake. It led to a pile of support. It led to days where the business gave me more grief than my actual job.

Then I moved to consulting, and I priced low again.

A couple weeks before I made this video, a man who has easily made millions in business came by my house. He looked at my prices and said, "Richard, this is really low." I told him I was new to having my own thing. He said, "Yeah, but you do this professionally for one of the most well-known tech companies in the world."

At the time I didn't listen. A few weeks later I realized he was trying to save me.

2. Don't hide your real-world experience

For a long time I didn't want to share that $300,000 number. It felt like mixing my career with my business. But my tax returns don't care how it was made. That's my real experience.

Here's what you have to understand about the businesses that will hire you. They don't care that you've done this professionally for ten years but only filed your business two months ago. They care whether you know what you're talking about.

In my day job, people ask me, "Richard, how can we make this process better using Claude?" We build it. And then I hear, "Man, you saved our team hundreds of hours of work." So when I do the same thing for my own business after hours, I'm supposed to act like that doesn't count?

And this goes for you even if you're unemployed right now, or working at Pizza Hut. Say you get your hands on Claude or Codex and you build an automation that finds the roles that fit you, writes your resume, and makes sure it's true and actually highlights your experience. That is real experience. Do not hide it.

3. Show your prices

Who decides your value? You do. Who decides your prices? You do.

When you're transparent, the right clients find you. Some people won't see it. That's fine. Some people see it later.

Here's the math that woke me up. At my old prices, I needed over 30 customers to hit my goal. And for each one of those customers, I was doing the job of a web designer, a software engineer, an advisor, and a support desk. For one monthly fee that came out below minimum wage. That ain't enough to pay for groceries.

And if that's the price on the page, what am I saying about how I value myself?

The people who told me to keep my prices low meant well. But don't build your business on what feels safe for someone else.

4. Learn how to say no

This is the most important one, because it's what the other three add up to.

When you know your value, show your real experience, and put your prices out in the open, you get the ability to say no. Because you're not operating in desperation. And when you're desperate, that's when you make mistakes like I did.

Saying no is not mean. It's not personal. It's business. This person isn't ready to work with me. This company isn't ready. I don't need their money right now.

But you can't just up and do that. You have to prepare. If you see layoffs coming and you think your job might let you go, prepare now. Save money now. Start the business now, while you still have the paycheck. Once you've prepared, saying no becomes a choice you can actually make.

I'll say this about the big AI companies, too. Do I agree with every price increase from Anthropic and OpenAI? No. I think it hurts the regular person. But do I see why they do it? Yeah. They know their value. They know that a person who learns this stuff can change their whole financial life.

So the move for you and me is to take advantage of the time we have now.

What this means for you

If you're planning to start a business in the next few months, the first thing to do is learn AI properly, on your own field, before you ever quote a client.

That's what the RMDW Platform is for. A 10-minute assessment, lessons built around your business starting with Claude, new ones every month, and a monthly group Q&A with the RMDW team.

Know your value. Then build.