{"id":"2060352963131101284","url":"https://x.com/aiedge_/status/2060352963131101284","text":"","author":{"name":"AI Edge","username":"aiedge_","avatarUrl":"https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1910271186442846208/vrYKSYRn_200x200.jpg"},"createdAt":"Fri May 29 13:30:00 +0000 2026","engagement":{"replies":11,"retweets":64,"likes":603,"views":418407},"article":{"title":"If I Wanted to Get Rich with AI in 2026, I'd Do This","previewText":"If you want to make money with AI in 2026, this is the most important article you'll read all year.\nLet's cut straight to the chase.\nMy credentials: $5M+in digital product revenue, CEO/founder of a","coverImageUrl":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMLPihagAAnOIq.jpg","content":"If you want to make money with AI in 2026, this is the most important article you'll read all year.\n\nLet's cut straight to the chase.\n\nMy credentials: [$5M+](https://x.com/search?q=%245M%2B&src=cashtag_click)in digital product revenue, CEO/founder of a 30-person AI media company, and [$20M+](https://x.com/search?q=%2420M%2B&src=cashtag_click) revenue with the help of AI systems.\n\nThis isn't to boast, but rather to emphasise this isn't just another AI slop article - this entire piece is coming from someone with real experience and a real background making money online.\n\nEarlier this year, I published \"How to WIN the 2026 AI Gold Rush\" - the article I would tell the 20-year-old version of myself to read if I wanted to crush the competition and capitalise on the AI gold rush.\n\nI enjoyed writing it, and the feedback was largely positive, but since publishing, the comments and DMs have been the same:\n\n\"This is great in theory, but how do I actually make money from it?''\n\nThis is Part Two, where I'll focus less on the general frameworks and more on practical execution, with real examples and real income streams you can build with AI right now.\n\nFor the past year, I've been deep in the AI trenches. I've spent countless hours connecting with real founders, building my AI network, funding startups, and getting my hands dirty with real AI workflows.\n\nI believe by reading this article, you're tapping into knowledge and experience that other creators can't mimic. I write all my articles by hand (no AI slop), and share only my real experiences (for free).\n\nAll I ask is that if this article delivers value, you Like/Repost and follow me [@milesdeutscher](https://x.com/@milesdeutscher) & @aiedge_ so I can keep making content like this!\n\n## A Quick Recap of Part One\n\nIf you missed Part One, let me quickly summarise - this is important to establish.\n\nIn Part One, I discussed three different \"architects\" (frameworks) for getting rich with AI:\n\n1. Career Architect - leveraging AI to build skills and increase your income in your current career\n\n1. Income Architect - the framework for building a \"side hustle\" and/or additional income stream with AI\n\n1. Venture Architect - the path of founding, designing, and launching successful AI products\n\n![part one summary](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMJX6TaYAAucrK.jpg)\n\nIn this article, I'll be diving into three practical examples of how to maximise your role as an Income Architect and Venture Architect.\n\nA.k.a. how to use AI to build additional income streams and launch successful AI-based products.\n\nWith that said, let's dive in.\n\n## Path One: The Distribution Play\n\nThis is the path with the lowest barrier and the path most people underestimate because it does not feel like a \"business\" at first.\n\nThe concept\n\nPick 1-2 AI skills/tools and master them.\n\nThink: Claude, OpenClaw, AI front-end development, agentic workflows, prompt engineering.\n\nThe exact skill/tool you pick will depend on your background and previous experience.\n\nFor beginners, stick to broad skills like Claude and prompt engineering.\n\nIf you have technical expertise and are more advanced, leverage that to learn agentic workflow design, AI systems, etc.\n\nThe point is, pick a trending AI skill/tool and go DEEP - learn it better than 99.99% of people.\n\nThen document the journey publicly.\n\nShare your findings consistently on distribution platforms like X, YouTube, or wherever your audience already is (you can use AI to research where your niche consumes content).\n\nThe content does not need to be perfect, but it does need to be specific, honest, and useful to someone one step behind you.\n\nstarted, and it's also exactly how I built a following in crypto. This is exactly how [@aiedge_](https://x.com/@aiedge_) started.\n\n![Path One (business model visual)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMJl3LaQAAZFt6.jpg)\n\nHow to monetise\n\nOnce you have built genuine expertise and a small but engaged audience around it, the monetisation paths are straightforward.\n\n1.     Paid Community or Membership - a private group where you share your workflows, your systems, your templates, and your ongoing learning. People pay for access, accountability, and information curation.\n\n2.     Course or Cohort - package everything you know into a structured learning experience, like a one-time purchase or cohort-based live sessions\n\n3.     Sponsors  - where companies will pay for your reach and marketing campaigns. You can even consult them on how to build reach.\n\nSome personal content advice from someone who built a [$20M+](https://x.com/search?q=%2420M%2B&src=cashtag_click) agencvy:\n\n- Pick a skill/tool that has longevity - you don't want to master a tool or skill just for it to become obsolete and lose your moat (this happened with many expert n8n creators). Focus on blue-chip skills and tools, and avoid niching down too hard unless you're an absolute expert who can appeal to a specific niche.\n\n- Topic → Hook - In content, the most important thing is TOPIC. Focus on viral topics, then optimise the hook (this is the recipe for going mega-viral).\n\n- Consistency is king\n\n- Optimise for each platform - each platform is slightly different. For YouTube, focus on authority/evergreen content. On 𝕏, personality shines, and you want to focus on being quick to cover real-time news/topics.\n\n- Be genuine - don't lie, share your real experiences, and be credible.\n\n- Learn content - learn storytelling, learn how to write engaging copy, and study outliers. The distribution moat only works if you actually go viral.\n\n- Network - reach out to other creators, try to get collabs, reply to big accounts, etc.\n\n![Monetisation 101](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMJxHGa0AAIf6C.jpg)\n\nOnline distribution is a huge moat, and it's the modern-day equivalent of traditional advertising.\n\n## Path Two: Consulting - The SMBs Play\n\nThis is the fastest path to real income for most people reading this.\n\nNot because it is easy, but because the demand is enormous and the supply of people who can actually deliver is tiny.\n\nFrom personal experience, I can say that literally every entrepreneur I talk to is looking to cut their workforce and headcount down - yet, they don't know how to.\n\nEven my dad (in the art business) is running the same manual processes he did 10-15 years ago.\n\nThe person (or agency) who can fill that gap will have a literal money printer in their hands.\n\nThe concept\n\nYou become the AI person for businesses that cannot afford to hire one full-time.\n\nWhat this looks like: you diagnose where AI can create the most leverage in their specific operation, design the solution, and charge for the implementation.\n\nThis is not generic consulting or telling a business owner to \"use ChatGPT more.\" It is identifying the specific workflows that are eating their team's time, then building AI systems to automate processes and unlock productivity.\n\nHow to monetise\n\nThe businesses worth targeting are not large enterprises with internal AI teams (e.g., Amazon, Google, Microsoft).\n\nThese companies have the resources and means to build solutions themselves.\n\nYou want to target local law firms, marketing agencies, real estate offices, accountancy practices, e-commerce businesses, and professional services companies that rely on outdated manual processes.\n\nYour model:\n\n1.     Audit fee - initial fee to diagnose their problems.\n\n2.     Solution - for building and deploying the automation/agent/AI solution\n\n3.    Maintenance/Retainer - a fee to maintain and update the solution.\n\nWith this model, you have several benefits:\n\n- Low competition - think about how many small businesses in your area have been pitched AI (probably very few)\n\n- Outsource - if you're not technical, you can look to hire others to build the automations, and you focus on sales, marketing, and scaling.\n\n- Research - tools like Manus can easily help scan for local clients - just prompt it: \"I live in [x], find customers in my area that fit [xyz criteria]...\"\n\n![Consulting playbook (summary)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMJ7X5bgAA6lTS.jpg)\n\n## Path Three: The Product Play\n\nThis is the highest-ceiling path and the classic \"Venture Architect\" route. It is also the hardest and the one that requires the most from you before it gives anything back.\n\nYou build a product (from zero), but you own all the upside.\n\nThe concept\n\nBuild something people pay for.\n\nSome examples: an AI-native tool, an automated service, a productized workflow, or an agency built on AI infrastructure.\n\nThe single most important principle for this path: PMF (product-market fit) comes FIRST - always.\n\nYou could have the coolest idea in the world, but if nobody wants to use it, you'll fail.\n\nThis is exactly why this path has the highest barrier to entry.\n\nYou should only pursue the \"product play\" if you know exactly what you're building, who it'll be for, and ideally, you already have distribution and a network to back it.\n\nIf you do pursue this route, there are really only three areas you should be focusing on (in my opinion):\n\n![Path Three (business model visual)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMKJ2Ba8AAgnhu.jpg)\n\n1.     Vertical AI tools - software built for a specific industry problem that could not have existed two years ago. AI-powered trading journals for active traders, automated compliance monitoring for financial services, and AI content pipelines for media companies.\n\n2.     AI-powered agencies - high-ticket service businesses built on AI infrastructure.\n\n3.     Productized services - take a service you can deliver with AI and package it at a fixed price. You are not selling your time; you are selling the output. Your job becomes to handle client service, marketing, and scaling.\n\nThe cool thing is, AI has compressed the time and capital required to test products in all three of these areas.\n\nFor free, in a day, you can code a prototype, launch a website, and run a marketing campaign (which would've taken weeks and thousands of dollars before AI).\n\nSome advice for launching successful products:\n\n- Distribution is king - as discussed in Path One, you NEED distribution. Avoid putting your head down for 3-6 months building a product only to realise you have no way to distribute it.\n\n- Marketing → Build - attack marketing and PMF first, THEN build.\n\n- Creator Economy - you can look to outsource distribution by hiring a creator/influencer network to push your product. For many companies, this is a viable option.\n\n![Path Three: 3 Product Plays](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HJMKT6SawAA9zZL.jpg)\n\n## Final Thoughts\n\nTo be clear, none of these paths are easy, but they sure do all have massive upside.\n\nMy advice\n\nPath One (Distribution Play): for those looking for a low-barrier-to-entry income stream.\n\nPath Two (Consulting/SMBs): best for those with at least some capital, some skills (or willing to outsource), and ideally previous sales/business experience.\n\nPath Three (Product Play): you're in a better position to attack this once you're more established and can afford to take the calculated risk. Ideally, you've already succeeded at one of the other paths first.\n\nI hope you found this piece valuable - I write all my articles by hand and only share based on my real experiences.\n\nIf that's the style of content you want on your feed, be sure to follow me [@milesdeutscher](https://x.com/@milesdeutscher) & @aiedge_ , and more articles will be on your feed soon.\n\nIn this article, I covered how to build income with AI distribution, products, and various business models.\n\nHowever, there is one path I didn't cover. The \"Career Architect\" - these are people who leverage AI to build skills in their current role and become more valuable to the marketplace. It's a perfect balance of potential upside while still ensuring job security in the AI era.\n\nIf that Architect style interests you and you want to maximise your career versus starting new income streams, read this:\n\nLastly, be sure to Like/Repost, and share this with someone who would benefit. 💙"},"adhxContext":{"savedByCount":1,"publicTags":[],"previewUrl":"https://adhx.com/aiedge_/status/2060352963131101284"}}