Made my first $10k building AI automations for small businesses. Here's what I learned

A few months ago I started building simple AI agents for local small businesses as a side project. I just crossed $10k in total revenue, so I wanted to share what worked and what didn't, in case it helps anyone thinking about trying this. 1. Nobody wants "an AI agent." Every business owner I talked to zoned out when I said "AI." They perked up when I said "this will answer your after-hours customer emails so you stop losing bookings." Lead with the problem, not the tech. 2. The best projects were embarrassingly simple. My biggest wins were things like: Auto-replying to appointment inquiries for a salon/clinic Turning messy invoices into spreadsheet entries for a small accounting shop Following up with unpaid quotes automatically None of these were impressive technically. All of them saved the owner hours every week. 3. Small businesses have a lot of manual pain and no time to fix it. Owners aren't opposed to automation. They just don't know what's possible and don't have time to research it. Sitting down and watching how someone spends their Tuesday reveals more opportunities than any brainstorm. 4. Pricing was my biggest mistake early on. I undercharged at first ($200-300 jobs). Once I priced based on the value (hours saved, leads recovered) rather than my hours, everything changed. 5. Maintenance matters more than the build. Things break, APIs change, owners want tweaks. The clients who stuck around were the ones who had someone they could message when something went wrong. What I'd do differently: pick one niche sooner. Doing work for a dentist, then a plumber, then a bakery meant relearning everything each time. Happy to answer questions about tools, finding clients, or pricing, and I'd love to hear from anyone else doing something similar. What's been working for you?