Nick Saraev's carousel AI Consulting 101 landed on 6 November 2026, and it makes a bold promise: he would make $12,373 a month as an AI consultant in 2027.
Saraev has 735,000 followers, and the post drew 1,318 comments — mostly from practitioners, not spectators. The comments kept coming back to the same two points: finding the right bottleneck is the whole game, and one good test run hides a weak system.
So the method is worth taking seriously. The income figure is not. This article walks through his six steps, checks the numbers behind them, and adds the parts the carousel leaves out.
What an AI consultant actually does
Saraev's definition is simple: an AI consultant helps businesses implement AI. Not selling software. Not giving talks about the future. Finding a place where a business leaks time or money, and building the system that stops the leak.
He cites his own agency, Left Click, at around $70,000 a month. That is his claim, and we have not verified it. Treat it as one agency's number, not a benchmark for yours.
The work itself is the same shape as starting an AI agency — one client, one bottleneck, one working system. If you want the full version of that path, our guide on how to start an AI automation agency covers the five steps from niche to first client.
Is the timing real?
Saraev's core argument is that most US businesses have not adopted AI yet — he puts it at 15–20%.
That range checks out. The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey found 19.8% of US businesses reported using AI in the survey period ending 3 May 2026, and 23.8% in the survey collected in September 2026. Large firms move faster: 37% of businesses with 250 or more employees reported AI use.
Two caveats, because they change what the number means. First, the Census question asks whether a business used AI in any business function in the last two weeks — not whether it runs deep on AI. Among firms using AI, 57% applied it in three or fewer functions. Second, adoption is uneven: information companies lead at around 40%, retail trails at around 14%.
So the opportunity is real, and it is also lopsided. The businesses that have not adopted AI are mostly small, and small businesses buy from people they trust, one bottleneck at a time.
The six steps, in plain English
The carousel frames the method as six steps. The slides walk through five build steps and close with three mistakes, so here they are as published — no step invented, no step skipped.
1. Find the bottleneck
Do not start with a tool. Start with the leak. Where does the business lose money or time every single day?
Missed calls that never get returned. Enquiries that sit unanswered for hours. A team member copying data between two systems by hand. The bottleneck is the one problem that, fixed, pays for everything else.
This is the step the comments kept praising, and for good reason: most people automate the wrong bottleneck. Automating a process nobody cares about is the fastest way to deliver a system nobody uses.
2. Break the goal into small tasks
A goal like "fix our lead follow-up" is too big to build in one go. Break it into tasks small enough that Claude can do one at a time — and small enough that you can check each one.
Answer the enquiry. Qualify the lead. Book the appointment. Send the reminder. Each is a task. Each can be tested on its own. If one fails, you know exactly which one.
3. Let Claude build it
Saraev's example is advertising: connect Claude to Meta Ads, analyse 90 days of data, generate 500 ad variations. The point is not the ads. The point is that the build step is now the cheap part — the expensive part is knowing what to build.
One honest note: Claude's connectors and integrations change, and what is available depends on the account and the plan. Check what exists before you promise a client a specific integration.
4. Make it run on its own
A system you have to babysit is not a system. It is a job. Saraev's step four is automating the Claude routines in the cloud — he names Modal and trigger.dev — so the work runs on a schedule without anyone pressing a button.
What the carousel does not say: someone still owns it when it breaks. Running costs, monitoring, and a person to call at 9pm when the workflow stops — that is part of the offer, and part of what you charge for.
5. Test it ten times
One good run proves nothing. Run the system ten times, score each run, and log a baseline. A system that works nine times out of ten still fails a client once a week.
This is the step the comments echoed most. Several practitioners said the same thing in different words: one good run can hide a weak system. If you only remember one step from this article, remember this one.
The finale: three mistakes to avoid
| MISTAKE | WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE |
|---|---|
| Automating non-revenue tasks | Building a clever system for a problem that costs the business nothing |
| Inventing new systems | Rebuilding a workflow from scratch instead of fixing the one the team already uses |
| Not tracking metrics | Shipping a system with no numbers, so nobody can tell whether it worked |
All three mistakes have the same root: building before understanding what the business actually loses by not having it.
What the carousel leaves out
How you get paid. $12,373 a month is Saraev's headline, not a rate card. In practice, the first deal is usually a small paid pilot: one bottleneck, one week, one fixed price. Charge for the outcome — the missed calls answered, the hours saved — not for the hours you spent building.
How you find the client. The carousel starts at the bottleneck, but someone has to let you in the door first. The honest route is the narrow one: pick a niche you understand, find businesses with a visible bottleneck, and offer the pilot. Dubai real estate teams, dental clinics, and home services firms all have the same visible leak — enquiries that go unanswered after hours. Our guide on how much an AI voice agent costs gives you real numbers to quote when a prospect asks what this costs.
The rules where you sell. If you sell AI calling in the UAE, the telemarketing rules apply to you too. Our guide on AI calling rules in the UAE covers what is allowed, what is not, and what to check before you dial.
How to start this week
- Pick one niche you understand. Real estate, dental, clinics, home services — somewhere you already know how the money moves.
- Find one business with a visible bottleneck. Missed calls, slow replies, manual follow-up. If you cannot see the leak from outside, it is not the right first client.
- Offer a one-week paid pilot. One bottleneck, one system, one price. Ten test runs before you hand it over.
- Measure it in their numbers. Calls answered, enquiries replied to, hours saved. If the pilot does not move a number they care about, say so — and fix it before you charge for more.
That is the whole method, without the headline income. The market is real, the steps are sound, and the work is narrower than the carousel makes it look: one bottleneck, one client, one system that runs ten times out of ten.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know how to code to become an AI consultant?
No. You direct Claude in plain language and it writes the code. What you need is the ability to find the bottleneck, break it into small tasks, and test the result properly. Those are business skills, not coding skills.
How much can an AI consultant make?
There is no standard figure. $12,373 a month is the headline on Saraev's carousel — his claim, not a promise. Your income depends on your niche, your pricing, and how many clients you hold. Start with one paid pilot and price the outcome, not your hours.
What tools do I need?
Claude for building, plus a way to run automations in the cloud and a way to test them properly. The exact stack matters less than the discipline: small tasks, ten test runs, metrics from day one.
Is AI consulting saturated?
About one in five US businesses use AI in any function, and most of those use it lightly. The market is not saturated — but it is noisy. The consultants who last are the ones who fix a visible bottleneck and prove it with numbers.
Where do I start in Dubai?
Start with the same bottleneck logic, in a niche you know. Dubai real estate, dental clinics, and service businesses all lose enquiries after hours. Join a free session with the Dubai AI community and watch a system get built live before you sell one.