How I replaced $6K/day consultants with AI

Author

Jeff Sauer
February 28, 2026

$3M in research taught me this

I've been thinking about what separates confident decisions from hopeful ones.

Over the years building my agency, I spent over $3 million on consultants and research firms. $6,000/day specialists. 50-page reports that took six weeks to deliver.

It was worth it - that strategic clarity helped us grow 1,000% in five years. But it also meant research was something you either paid heavily for, or you went without.

Here's what's changed.

The depth of research that used to take weeks and cost tens of thousands? I can now get it in about five minutes. Not summaries. Comprehensive, sourced, strategic intelligence.

And it's completely accessible to anyone running an agency or building a business.

I recorded my exact process - the same one I use when I'm advising agencies in our community or pivoting my own business.

What you'll see in the video:

Why relying on a single AI leaves gaps (and the three-system approach I use instead)

The mega-prompt structure that gets you comprehensive answers, not generic fluff

How to turn all that research into an interactive advisor you can query anytime

The practical difference this makes is hard to overstate.

When someone in our community asks "What should I charge for AI automation?" - instead of collecting opinions, you can actually research comparable services, pricing models, market positioning, and competitive analysis in minutes.

That's the foundation of a real strategic advantage.

The gap between agencies that operate on evidence vs. those operating on collected opinions is about to get pretty significant.

The good news? The tools to close that gap are now completely accessible. This is a genuine leveling-up moment for smaller agencies and solopreneurs.

If you've been wanting to make decisions with more certainty - not just more confidence - this process changes everything.

To Your AI-First Success,

Jeff Sauer

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