The argument in one line.
Starting with no technical background is an advantage when the market is young enough that execution speed matters more than expertise — and AI has made execution speed available to anyone willing to ship before they feel ready.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You have a full-time job and kids and keep telling yourself you will start when things slow down.
- You tried drop shipping, Etsy, or Amazon FBA and failed, and you wonder if AI is just the next version of the same promise.
- You want to make money with AI but cannot decide between consulting, content, products, or a community — and want a real case study.
- English is not your first language and you wonder if that is a disadvantage for AI content creation.
- You have impostor syndrome about not being technical enough to use Claude Code.
SKIP IF…
- You already run multiple AI income streams and want advanced technical depth — this is a story-driven interview, not a tutorial.
- You want step-by-step Claude Code instructions — the app demo is brief and screen-share only.
The full version, fast.
Sandy Lee made $48,000 in one month split six ways: salary, AI SEO consulting via Upwork, YouTube sponsorships, a Skool community launch, a Claude-coded creator app, and AdSense. She had zero AI experience six months prior. Each stream was found by doing first and learning second — she applied for jobs she was unqualified for, used Claude Code to fix client workflows in two days, built a YouTube channel by copying successful formats, and launched her community with no content and backfilled it after people paid. The conversation is a real-time argument that the AI opportunity is not yet saturated and the barrier is psychology, not skill.
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Create a free account →Who's talking.
00:00hostSabrina Ramonov
00:28guestSandy Lee
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 00:57
01 · Cold open — the $48k reveal
Sabrina teases Sandy's numbers mid-sentence, then introduces her properly.
00:57 – 02:38
02 · Sandy's background before AI
Political science, UN internship, 10+ years in sales and marketing, $50M accounts.
02:38 – 05:10
03 · Getting laid off and diversifying
Fired as highest producer. Decides no employer will control her income again.
05:10 – 05:29
04 · Breaking down the $48k month
Overview of all six income streams.
05:29 – 07:27
05 · AI SEO consulting on Upwork
Applied for jobs she knew nothing about, faked it, used ChatGPT to build n8n workflows, landed $3k retainer.
07:27 – 08:49
06 · Learning Claude Code on the job
Claude Code fixed a broken client workflow in two days. Sandy then asked for a raise to $5.5k.
08:49 – 11:06
07 · Why AI beats drop shipping and Etsy
AI is unsaturated; the others are not. Sandy failed all of them first.
11:06 – 13:16
08 · Landing YouTube sponsorships
Grew new channel to 10k in under a month, then inbound sponsorship deals started. Four deals totaling ~$12.5k.
13:16 – 15:04
09 · The old Korean content channel
550k followers, almost no revenue, burned out. Six to eight hours to edit a two-minute video.
15:04 – 16:47
10 · Ikigai framework for creators
Four questions. Sandy was answering only the first two — missed the monetization half.
16:47 – 17:56
11 · The first TikTok flop
Running through rooms, waving stuffed animals, four hours of editing, zero views.
17:56 – 19:01
12 · Copy the format, stay authentic
Study what works, make it your own with personal story. Both hosts cite MrBeast.
19:01 – 21:44
13 · Zero to 10k subscribers
Found Claude Code video format that worked, blew up from 2k to 10k after one post.
21:44 – 23:33
14 · Building the creator studio app with Claude Code
Sandy built a full web app — Slee Studio — using Claude Code, Vercel, Supabase. Made $2k in its first month.
23:33 – 26:00
15 · Inside the creator studio app
Live demo: outlier video finder, hook generator, personal blueprint via Ikigai, teleprompter.
26:00 – 28:27
16 · Why the hook matters most
Pattern interrupt, mirroring the viewer, authority build, then the reveal. Hormozi: 75% of time on the hook.
28:27 – 30:08
17 · Recapping every income stream
Sabrina summarizes all six streams and the totals. Sandy adds YouTube AdSense ($1k) and Skool ($6.2k).
30:08 – 32:08
18 · Launching a paid Skool community
Launched with nothing, got complaints it was empty. Imposter syndrome. Solved by doing.
32:08 – 34:06
19 · Four of nine ways to make money with AI
Sabrina's nine-stream framework. Sandy has already hit four: consulting, content/sponsorships, product, community.
34:06 – 36:03
20 · The opportunity is now
82% of the world has not used AI. Less than 2% know Claude Code. Reframes the saturation objection.
36:03 – 37:58
21 · Cutting through AI influencer overwhelm
Chasing every new tool announcement is the fastest way to not execute. Pick something and ship it.
37:58 – 39:18
22 · Build systems, not just goals
Realistic goals plus systems to generate movement. Sandy forced herself by accepting sponsorships first.
39:18 – 39:59
23 · Heart-to-heart advice for moms
One step at a time. If you are better than yesterday, that is success. Don't give up.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- When your employer controls your income, being their top performer offers zero protection — Sandy was laid off as the highest producer at her startup.
- Fake it until you make it works in AI consulting because clients care more about results than credentials, and Claude Code can close the skill gap fast.
- Six months of AI self-study while working full-time and raising three kids produced $38,000 in side income — the hours exist if the motivation does.
- Building 550k followers without monetizing is worse than building 10k followers with a clear offer — audience size means nothing without an aligned product.
- The Ikigai framework reveals the gap most creators miss: they optimize for what they love and what they are good at, then wonder why it does not pay.
- Building a community with nothing in it and charging for it anyway is a valid market test — if people pay, the demand is real and you build the content afterward.
- 82% of the world has not used AI yet, which means the opportunity is at the very beginning of its distribution curve.
- Copying a video format is not plagiarism — it is research. The personal story and experience you layer on top is the original part.
- AI consulting via Upwork is fast cash and a fast education, but it is not recurring and it requires constant client acquisition — treat it as a launchpad, not a destination.
- A YouTube channel from 200 to 10,000 subscribers in under a month is possible when one video matches a trending search term and the hook is right.
- Sponsorships arrive inbound once a channel demonstrates traction — Sandy got her first deal at 10k subscribers, before most creators think to ask.
- Vibe coding an app with Claude Code, Vercel, and Supabase requires no prior programming knowledge — the limiting factor is identifying what to build, not how.
- The fastest path out of content burnout is monetization — working for free indefinitely destroys motivation faster than criticism does.
Six income streams, zero technical background.
WHAT TO LEARN
Making money with AI does not start with knowing AI — it starts with identifying what the market will pay for right now and shipping something before you feel ready.
01Cold open — the $48k reveal
- Leading with the end result and explaining how it happened is a proven interview structure that keeps viewers past the introduction.
02Sandy's background before AI
- A sales and marketing background — understanding what clients want and how to communicate value — transferred directly to AI consulting even without technical knowledge.
03Getting laid off and diversifying
- Diversifying income is an emergency preparedness decision, not a lifestyle upgrade — Sandy started because she was fired as her company's top performer, not because she was chasing upside.
05AI SEO consulting on Upwork
- Consulting via Upwork is the fastest path to real AI income: you learn what clients actually need, Claude Code closes skill gaps quickly, and the feedback loop is tight.
06Learning Claude Code on the job
- Claude Code can close a significant skill gap in days rather than weeks — Sandy went from not understanding a client workflow to fixing it completely in two days.
07Why AI beats drop shipping and Etsy
- Markets that are being sold as opportunity by influencers are typically already past peak for new entrants — the timing of entry matters as much as the quality of execution.
08Landing YouTube sponsorships
- YouTube sponsorship income arrives inbound once a channel hits early traction — Sandy had four deals by the time she reached 10k subscribers, all of them initiated by the sponsors.
10Ikigai framework for creators
- The Ikigai framework is useful specifically for diagnosing why a skill or passion is not generating money — most people stall because they are only answering two of the four questions.
12Copy the format, stay authentic
- Copying a successful video format is research, not plagiarism — the original contribution is the personal story and experience layered on top of the structure that already works.
14Building the creator studio app with Claude Code
- Vibe coding with Claude Code, Vercel, and Supabase makes building a working web product accessible without programming knowledge — the constraint is identifying what to build, not how.
18Launching a paid Skool community
- Launching a paid community before it has content is a valid market test: if people pay, you have confirmed demand and now have both the incentive and the audience to fill it.
20The opportunity is now
- 82% of people worldwide have not used AI yet, which means the teaching and tooling opportunity is at the very start of its distribution — not saturated.
21Cutting through AI influencer overwhelm
- Chasing every new AI tool announcement is the fastest path to paralysis — execution on one thing consistently outperforms awareness of everything.
22Build systems, not just goals
- Creating external accountability (accepting money, making a public commitment) before you feel ready forces follow-through in a way that private intention does not.
23Heart-to-heart advice for moms
- The goal of being better today than yesterday is a more reliable motivator than a revenue target, because it is achievable every single day regardless of external results.
Terms worth knowing.
- Ikigai
- A Japanese concept meaning reason for being. Applied here as a four-question framework: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. The overlap of all four is where a sustainable career lives.
- Claude Code
- Anthropic's agentic coding tool that operates in the terminal and can read, write, and execute code across a full project. Used here to build an n8n workflow fix and a full creator web app without prior programming knowledge.
- n8n
- An open-source workflow automation tool, similar to Zapier. Sandy used it for AI SEO blog automation for her Upwork client, and initially found it overwhelming until Claude Code built the workflow for her.
- Outlier video
- A video that significantly outperforms the channel's average view count. Used in the creator strategy context as a signal that a specific title pattern or topic has proven demand — worth studying and remixing.
- Vibe coding
- Building software by describing what you want to an AI model in natural language, letting the model write the code, and iterating until it works — without writing code manually. The term is used by both hosts to describe how Sandy built her app.
- Skool
- A paid community platform. Sandy launched a Skool community with no existing content and generated $6,200 in its first month by charging for membership before the content existed.
- Pattern interrupt
- A hook technique where the opening seconds of a video introduce something unexpected or counter-intuitive to stop a viewer mid-scroll. Both hosts discuss it as the most important structural element of short-form and YouTube content.
Things they pointed at.
22:59productSlee Studio (Sandy's app)
10:47channelTony Robinson show (reference)
Lines you could clip.
03:31
“If you're having somebody else hold out your income basket, the next day you're lost.”
06:13
“I totally fake it until I make it — and I really made it.”
23:00
“Nowadays, you build your audience first, and then you create your services or make your product afterwards.”
34:06
“82% of the people right now in the world haven't used AI. Isn't that crazy?”
39:17
“If you're better than who you were yesterday, you did a great job.”
Where the conversation goes.
00:00 – 05:10denseOrigin story and motivation
05:10 – 11:06denseIncome breakdown and consulting
11:06 – 19:01denseYouTube channel growth and sponsorships
19:01 – 28:27denseApp building with Claude Code
28:27 – 34:06steadyCommunity and full income recap
34:06 – 39:59steadyPsychology and mindset
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metaphorstory
00:00I hate it, Anita, and to be honest, one day they just let me go. Okay. So we got 5.5 k from consulting.
00:06So AI SEO consulting specifically, which you originally sourced through Upwork, which is awesome. And then the 10 k from the full time, and then the remaining 38,000
00:16has all been from your content and AI or something else? I didn't really monetize that channel. That's part of the reason why I got burned out because I was doing all this work for free, pretty much.
00:26Right?
00:28I'm super excited to be here with Sandy Lee. She had no technical background, but in six months, she's managed to grow her YouTube channel from zero and hit her first $48,000 month with no tech background, no prior experience in AI, And she's going to share everything today, break everything down today.
00:45She's amazing. She's a mom of three, and she's already blown my mind in the twenty minutes that I've met her. So, Sandy, we'd love to hear more about your background.
00:53Hi, Sabrina. Thanks for having me here. Yeah.
00:56I'll tell you a little bit more about me. So back in the day, I graduated college. That was a long time ago, and my major was political science.
01:04But when I graduated political science, I was, like, a little bit lost in terms of what kind of job I can do, where I can go. I did my internship at United Nations, but I quickly realized that was not my passion.
01:17So I went to sales and marketing instead. So I've been in sales and marketing from ten plus years managing over 50,000,000 accounts, $50,000,000 account, and I'm just going back.
01:27I'm still working for my full time job as a regional manager managing 25 people. And, um, currently, with AI, I was able to make $48,000 just this month, and it's May.
01:40It's not even done just yet. So it's I did four times x to with my full time income, and I wanna talk a little bit more about that because the reason why I wanna talk about it and be so transparent is so that I can tell you this is really possible.
01:57And like I said, I have three kids too.
02:00Yeah. Your background is amazing. And this is going to appeal to a lot of viewers who have listened to my content, but many people don't believe it's necessarily possible or within reach for them.
02:09They don't have a technical background, or they're working a full time job, or they are raising kids, and it's really hard to find the free time to do something else, to experiment with AI. So we'd love to dive into everything there. What even inspired you to get into AI in the first place?
02:23What were your first couple of steps? And how did you juggle all of this? It was such a crazy workload.
02:29Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for asking that.
02:31Well, the reason why, full transparency,
02:34I got into AI was, like, around six months ago. I knew about ChatGPT, of course.
02:40I used ChatGPT there and there. Me and my husband would talk about, this is so cool. You know, they can figure out my feature, whatever, like, ChatGPT was amazed about.
02:50But something that we thought I thought about it really heavily is I can't really put everything into one income basket, which was my full time job. Because before, a couple years ago, I used to work for this one startup company, and I used to be the highest producer when it comes to generating money.
03:08And the CEO loved me. I loved the company. I put my time and dedication, everything into it.
03:13I would work fourteen to sixteen hours a day for this specific company. And one day, they just let me go there like, Sandy, today's the last day. I'm sorry.
03:22We're restructuring the company. And I'm like, yeah. Dude, what?
03:25What's going on? I spent this much time. I was literally, you're the highest top producer.
03:30And then how come you're letting and I was really frustrated, but I realized it's not the skills. Right?
03:37It doesn't matter how good you are for your company. It doesn't matter how much time you put effort into. But if you're having somebody else hold out your , the next day you're lost.
03:48And you feel frustrated, you feel defeated,
03:51and feel like you're not worth anything, and I hated that feeling. That's the worst feeling that you can get. Yeah.
03:56Thank you for sharing that, by the way. I know it's a really difficult situation that many people out there are currently struggling with, and this is actually one of the reasons I'm so passionate about teaching solopreneurs and entrepreneurs AI.
04:08Because I've worked at a big company, guys, with, like, thousands and thousands of employees. I love my team, but at the end of the day, all of the gains that you bring, the hard work you bring, it doesn't go back to you. It goes to the investors, the shareholders, people way above you, and that's kinda just how it is.
04:26In corporate, even at smaller, mid sized businesses, it's it's very different. Like, I I wish more people would have, like, total control of their income and time, money, flexibility.
04:36So thanks again for sharing that part of it. Yeah. A 100%.
04:39And I agree with you on that. And the other thing is I wanted to be more free from my full time job. I have a full time job right now currently as well.
04:48That's part of the 48 k, which I get $1,010,000 dollars a month, full transparency. But I feel like this is, this was a for me, if that makes sense.
04:58Meaning, you just tied into some place, but with gold. Right?
05:02But you can't really go anywhere. But But I wanna make sure if something happens to me with my full time job, I am financially stable. Okay.
05:10So that was your motivation for kind of diversifying your income, making sure you're in control, you had that previous experience. And so let's talk about the 48 k. So you mentioned $10,000 of that 48,000 is from your current full time, and then the remaining 38,000 has all been from your content and AI or something else?
05:29Yes. So even with that, I have multiple income basket because, again, I don't wanna rely on just one thing. So if I were to break down specifically, let's do a little bit of math.
05:40So what I did is I went to Upwork, and after I went to Upwork, I have been starting to apply the position that I have no idea what I'm talking about. Anything related to AI and automation, I'm like, just apply it.
05:53That's amazing. I know.
05:55Like, because I had nothing that I know about SEO, by the way, AI SEO. I had to learn all that crazy stuff. You just went and asked Permanent.
06:03GPT to teach me everything about this right now. And I totally fake it until I make it, and I really made it.
06:11That's what that's what happened. I'd had no idea how to do it in eight n. I hated in eight n, to be honest.
06:16The workflow was so complicated, yeah, for me. And I that's when I had ChatGeeBT create an eight n workflow and then just put it in there, make it look like I know what I was talking about, and then I got this one client for $3,000 retainer that was SEO, like blog automation.
06:34I created started creating everything and then I quickly I realized I need some help and I got I hired a couple people to help me out, but then they didn't even know what was going on either. So they probably used my method. It's just applying for jobs.
06:47I'm like, dang. Yeah. Dude, this was like chaotic.
06:52That companies me
06:54the money? It's like, yeah. It's like, what's happening?
06:56Well, you know, for business owners, because I've hired, you know, if I need help here and there, like, we just want the thing to be done by someone. Like, if you can figure it out, great. Figure it out.
07:04You know? Like, I personally care much more about communication skills. Like, do you reply to me?
07:09Do you ask me clarifying questions? Do you understand, like, what we're trying to do here? And then, like, do do just just take care of it, learn whatever you need to.
07:16And so I can see that definitely very much working as well.
07:20Yeah. 100 1000%. Something that I do have skills is problem solving skills because I've been in sales and marketing with templates years.
07:27So I knew what businesses want. So when I jump on a like a call like this or a job offer or like asking for a job position, I knew what they wanted, what they wanted to hear, and I would talk about that. That's how I think I got the job.
07:41Anyways, I used to be three k monthly retainer, and that's when I learned Cloud Code. And I realized, oh, Dane, this is really good.
07:49ClubCode can fix my problems, and it did in, like, two days. They fixed the whole workflow, made this happen.
07:56I asked for raise the money. I asked for more money for this company specifically, and they're paying 5.5 k right now monthly retainer. So that's one of the income basket I have.
08:07This one client, and I don't have any more capability of getting more clients just because quickly I realized, you know what?
08:16This is like chasing game too. Like, if you go for the AI services, keep chasing clients, what if they don't, you know, wanna use you anymore?
08:25Then you're like wanting another client. I don't want that kind of life, to be honest. It's not necessarily recurring
08:30income, but it's great Right. For fast cash. It's great for learning if you are not sure what to do next.
08:35And so I still really recommend consulting and services as a starting point, but it's not necessarily the easiest to scale up, and it's not recurring either. So if a con if a client backs out, they stop working with you, and then you have to go get another client, you know, so it can be stressful on that side as well.
08:54Yeah. 100%. I I do still recommend that as well.
08:57Even going to Upwork, if you want some fast cash, just like what you talked about, that is one of the best way that you can go. And it literally showed me how what's possible because I've tried everything. I've tried Amazon FBA.
09:09I tried drop shipping, Etsy. Oh, wow. I didn't know that.
09:13Yeah. I tried all of that crap. Like, you know, I gotta make something work and nothing worked.
09:19I failed all of it. What do you think was the difference though between like, I personally didn't, like, jump into a lot of those because I was I was just in the startup world in Silicon Valley, but, like, what what do you think is the difference between all the ones that you tried in the past versus, like, how did AI work now?
09:34That's a great question right there because I I thought about that question a lot too. But I think one of the biggest difference is that a lot of creators out there I'm not saying anything negative about them at all, but a lot of tutorials out there about drop shipping or, like, a print on demand or Etsy, it's already in the past, but they're keep talking about their past success story over and over again, like, currently.
10:01Right? So meaning it's overly saturated market where it's really hard for us to get up there and really earn the money versus AI is something that's even right now it's new. A lot of companies don't know, and they know the importance of it, but they don't know how to use it.
10:18So right now, there's so many opportunity for you to jump in. You can actually monetize it versus the other market, it's already saturated. Even though people say it's not, but it is saturated.
10:27That's how I knew that this is not gonna work and I actually failed. I even invested so much money, thousands of dollars buying these courses and trying to make this work, but just like, no. You should've just found my channel.
10:38I gave everything for I know. I know.
10:42Right? I found your channel after that when I learned about AI. And also the interview that you had with Tony Robinson's show, I watched all of that too.
10:51Yeah. So I'm like, dang, she's legit. I gotta really see what's and then I try to find your consulting.
10:58It's like the shipping consulting thing, but no.
11:02But she has this cool app. Let me use that. So, yeah, that's how I got to know you too.
11:06Cool. Okay. Okay.
11:08So we got 5.5 k from consulting. So AI SEO consulting specifically, which you originally sourced through Upwork, which is awesome.
11:16And then the 10 k from the full time. So what is the rest of the 48 k in income?
11:21Yeah. For sure. And so let's do a little bit of math.
11:25This just this month, I got some sponsorship deals for my YouTube. So I create I started this channel for AI, Sandy Lee AI channel, not even I think it was six months ago, end of December.
11:37And I've been a content creator since 2018. So grew my channel to 550 k across three platforms, teaching Spanish to Korean speakers.
11:47But I wanted to kinda duplicate that again and do it again because I knew how important building personal brand was. If you have a personal brand and presence, I believe that's going going to be one of the biggest differentiator.
12:00That's why I started this channel again. I grew my channel from 200 subscribers to 10 k in less than a month with AI related stuff. So I knew that was working, and after that, quickly, I've been getting a ton of inbound lead asking companies if they can sponsor,
12:18you know, like couple of my videos or I was one of them. More for them. Oh, Yes.
12:24Her full I was like, I'm happy to. Yes. And I'm like, I'm more than happy too because I literally used potato in the past, and I'm actually right now, I'm in a space where I need to expand more.
12:36So I'm actually, I just bought it again so that I can do it again. I tried to do that in towards the beginning, and it was overwhelming for me because content creation was like, this is too much with everything that's happening. But now I'm more stable.
12:48I can do it. But anyways, sponsorship is one of them and this is exactly how much I got. I got, let's see, $3,500 for the first sponsorship that I got ever, and another 3,500, and then 5,000, and 550.
13:04I'm doing doing doing the math. Yeah. 8,000.
13:08Yeah. So I'd love to dig into this a lot more because I can imagine people at this point will be like, well, she knows how to create content already. Like, she clearly had background in it.
13:17Were you monetizing at all your previous
13:21channels related to teaching Korean? That yeah. That's actually valid.
13:25I knew how to create content from 2018, but if you look at my channel, it sucks. Like me, you will be able to quickly tell, like, gosh, you did not know how to edit videos because I learned I learned, like, Premiere, Adobe, After Effects, all that crazy stuff, and I got, like, one of the, not like at all.
13:47Like, if you look at my channel again, it's like Oh, no. Mine's worse. Yeah.
13:51You didn't know how we could like, no. Mine's, like, horrible. But, anyways, when it comes to Korean content, I didn't really have a format.
13:59I was going off the script. I didn't even do any any of the competitor research analytics.
14:04I just did very random stuff. Like, I would just do, like, hey. How do you say hello in Korean?
14:10You know, like, one of those very cheesy stuff. I feel like AI is an opportunity generator for us. Like, it's giving so much opportunity, especially if English is not the native language, which my case is not.
14:23Right? So it's just very easy for people to jump in and then actually build a personal brand. Yeah.
14:29And I'd love to do a little bit before and after. So in your previous life as a content creator, what did it look like to be able to make all that content? How many hours per week did it take?
14:38Did you have a team helping with you helping you? Did you monetize that versus what does your process look like today?
14:45Um, I didn't really monetize that channel. That's part of the reason why I got burned out because I was doing all this work for free pretty much. Right?
14:54And the reason why is because I I really emphasize the importance of what does the world need before you creating content. So what I mean by that is I I follow this framework called Ikigai. It's a Japanese concept.
15:08It talks about the reason of being. Like, it's talk deep diving into yourself. So there are four questions that they ask.
15:13First one is what do you love to do? Second second one is, what are you great at? So what are you pretty much good at doing?
15:21And third one is, what does the world need right now? And the fourth question is, what can you get paid for from the world? And for me, I only focus on those two things.
15:31What do I like to do, which which is teaching other people, and then what am I good at, which is language. Because I didn't really focus on left two of how I can actually generate money. So because I didn't have a clear concept, I didn't I couldn't really generate money even though I had a good good followers.
15:47So couple ways to do it is like few sponsorships I got, maybe two, less than two, and the Seoul wanted to work for me or wanted me to work for them. Seoul, like, which is the capital city of South Korea.
16:01So that was one of the ways I could do it, but it was not sustainable at all. And your the other question is the number wise. Right?
16:08How much time it took me to create content? It actually took longer even though I had no plans whatsoever and there was a crappy content. It took me longer because editing video took forever.
16:19It would take, like, six to eight hours to get to make two minute video in the past. Wow. Yes.
16:25It was pretty bad. It was like yeah.
16:27I was I was seeing all this crazy stuff. I was like at one point, was dancing just to see if that works, and I'm like, dude. Oh my gosh.
16:35I'm actually gonna do some dance videos soon, but you guys will see. There may be a robot involved, but remember my very first TikTok, I was just like running around in multiple rooms, like pulling stuffed animals and putting them in the camera and, like, waving my arms.
16:54And it was, like, four hours to edit my very first TikTok video, which was, like, one minute long. And, of course, it flopped.
17:01So I was just, like, depressed after that because I just spent four hours, like, being, not myself, just being, like, crazy to try to get views, and then nobody watched it.
17:10Know. That was me too. That was me too.
17:13Like, I would put, like, this crazy makeup on and then, like, do be so not real, like myself, me dancing or, like, talking crazy or, like, fucking out. And I'm like, dude, being authentic is so important.
17:26Like, you just gotta show who you are instead of trying to copy other people. I do think copying their format is is important to be successful towards the beginning especially, but eventually, you have to be authentic. I mean, being original, you can hold that a little up towards later because I think copying the format is very important in my opinion
17:45just because you need some views towards the beginning to be there. Yeah. That's exactly what I teach, you know.
17:51People blast me all the time. It's like, you're teaching people to copy other people and I'm like, well, I'm trying to solve for the problem of quitting and burning out because that's the most likely scenario for most people who try to create content. They're going to burn out, and then they're going to quit.
18:05So how do you solve for that? Get them to their first successful piece of content as fast as possible.
18:10Once they kind of feel the dopamine rush of like, woah, this is my I made this, and people are actually interacting with it, engaging with it, then they're much more likely to like stay consistent making content. And it takes time anyway to like develop your own voice, figure out what you enjoy talking about, especially if you're brand new to content creation, like, don't really know up from down yet.
18:30And so, yeah, it's really cool that you've had those two experiences side by side, because I I know a lot of people will listen to this and think, well, she was a content creator before, that's why it's, like, easy for her now. But it was actually really hard to make content before and wasn't successful monetizing it consistently.
18:46But now with AI, you can take some of the skills and some of the mindsets and do it, like, 10 times more easily now. Um, I'm sure a lot of people would love to hear, like, did you like, what was your process to go from zero to your first 10,000 subscribers on YouTube?
19:01Yeah. That's a let me actually show you one thing, one of the videos that I posted.
19:07So this is my channel, right, in the past. And when I first created content, I was creating some random stuff. It's like, is AI safe for kids?
19:16I mean, it's, like, such a random stuff. I have no idea. Google for any and then.
19:21You know? But then I realized, you know what? I gotta really start copying other people to see what's working, and that's exactly what I did when when it comes to vision claw, and I got some views towards the beginning.
19:33I had no idea what the vision claw was, but I know. And, yeah, I'm like, what the freak is this? But then in x, right, they all talk to a vision claw.
19:41So I'm like, okay. Let me talk about this, and they got some views. I'm like, okay.
19:45I guess this is kinda working. Then they went with the clawed route, and this is the first video that really popped up, which is the AI website.
19:54The the how I did it is I copy other people's format. I'm talking about the topics, the ideas behind it, but I made it my own using my own experience. That's the most important thing.
20:06You have to I don't recommend somebody to be original, honestly, but I recommend them being authentic. There are two main differences, being original and being authentic.
20:15You're being yourself, but you're getting inspired by other people's topic and what's been working.
20:22That's exactly what mister beast does as well. He's the biggest creator. He how can he possibly create like, copy other people's format when he's the biggest.
20:30Right? But he does that. Anyways, I look at one of the content and then read through their comments and then found this opportunity that a lot of people don't really talk about how can they sell AI website, and that's how I got the views over here.
20:44Outlier score is pretty good. And then I just started talking about random stuff, but this is the content that really got me that got a lot of attractions. So after I get this content right here, I was able to grow my channel to, like, 2,000 subscribers to, like, 4,000 subscribers.
21:01That was it. But then this, as soon as I posted this content, which is how I automate 90% of my social media content using Cloud Code, this is the combination of getting inspired by other people, but also being original with my story a little bit.
21:16Because I would talk about my story of how I used to create content and now using AI, how it's faster. So after this, I posted this, which is not that far away. Right?
21:26Two months ago and then two months ago, I was able to grow my channel from, like, 2,000 views 2,000 subscribers to, like, 100 10,000 subscribers.
21:38And then ever since then, it's been working, and I created actually, in this video, I talk about in this video, I talk about how I built the whole system using AI right here, right, using Cloud Code, and I actually built this system using AI right here.
21:57I don't know if you can see the screen right here. The AI dashboard. Yeah.
22:01Perfect. But the problem was this is only what I had access to. Right?
22:05This is Sandy Lee AI dashboard. So I started creating something similar and then just published it on Versal and Supabase on the back end.
22:14Like, Versal pretty much the front end. And I was able to create my full website using this, which is part of the revenue that I got.
22:26Should I show you that too? Oh, sure. Yeah.
22:29Okay. So this is the website that I built after creating the content because I saw the need and I saw the opportunity. And this is what I tell everybody who comes me comes to me as well is you create your audience first and see what exactly what they need, and then you you build your product afterwards.
22:47It's not back in the day, we used to make product first, and then we tried our best to market your product, But nowadays, it's the opposite. You build your audience first, and then you create your services or make your product afterwards. And that's exactly what I did with this specific app over here.
23:05Basically, what this is is it's giving the guidance of the personal blueprint, the ikigai that we talked about. But not only that, if you actually go inside of this creator studio, you can find your outlier videos.
23:20So as an example, I put you, Sabrina, as one of them. I put myself, Patrick, and Nate Herp.
23:27You can just add multiple different channels in here and see what kind of content is working.
23:33Did I just say I asked Claude to make my mom as much money as possible? Which one? Which one?
23:39I asked Claude to make my mom as that's so funny.
23:43Yeah, dude. That was a sponsored video. So I I like, believe or not, I thought about it a lot.
23:48This was not I didn't copy the people's well, as money much money as much as possible.
23:54Actually, you're the original for that. Right? And then I saw your video.
23:58No? Or No. Can there was a No.
24:01No. There was a ChatGPT video two or three years ago, which like all the big guys copied, like Dan Martel copied it, blah blah blah, then I copied it, and then people think I'm the original.
24:11I'm like, no. It was like some dude three years ago.
24:14That's awesome. Yeah. It's like, I've asked my mom, That was a sponsored video by RCATS, and I was like, dude, I gotta do something.
24:22Yes. Anyways so as an example, let's just say, like, this is short, so it's a little different. Let's see.
24:28Where's your? Yeah. Anyway, let's just do this.
24:32But then it's reading the title pattern and thumbnail and hook, and but then you don't want to copy exactly what he's talking about. If Nick said, let's talk about the difference between Cloud Code and OpenAI Codex. You don't wanna say the exact same thing.
24:45Right? But you wanna create your own version. So you're personalizing it from putting your personal blueprint, which is case I have it over here.
24:55And it also gives you what is the best outlier video. And then if you wanna just copy this format, then you're gonna generate your own version.
25:05And after generating your own version, it will give you specifically, like, the title and different hook.
25:12So this is what I found out in the past experience from being a content creator is the hook is the most important part. Right?
25:19Don't you agree? The packaging?
25:21Definitely. Thumbnail. Even Hormozi says spend 75% of time on the hook.
25:27Although, I didn't know thumbnails existed on YouTube for the first six months on YouTube, so that was that was not great. But as soon as I started doing thumbnails, I noticed I got more views.
25:38Look at that. Yes.
25:40The hook, I always did, Hey, guys. Well, so good. You know, my sandy, the, just heart heart, whatever.
25:47You know, it's that's the lame way to do it, but now I learned, you know what? This is what people do. And I think, in fact, I think you do it right now too, and then Nate does this too, which is the pattern interrupt.
25:59Like, you know what Mhmm. Mhmm. Like, basically interrupting the pattern, it's like, companies like Chattypiti just launched this blah, you know, like, just kinda boom.
26:07On short form. Yeah.
26:09Because you're just like a video randomly popping up in their feed, you know, you have to like stop what whatever cat video they were just looking at to watch your educational video.
26:21Exactly. That that's why they always do that. I mean, after watching like the dance video, cat video, whatever, they gotta you gotta have a good hook.
26:29So and people can copy hook. I mean, I recommend copying hook for sure.
26:33That's the most important part to create your like, grow your content. And then what do they talk about? Like, a lot of YouTubers, they talk about, oh, you know what?
26:43So you're the mirroring the viewers. If English is not your native language, blah blah blah. And, you know, like, if whatever your ideal customer person is, this is tailored towards that.
26:52And then you're revealing the opportunity. If you stay until the end of the video, I'll show you exactly how you do this. Right?
26:59And but if you don't do this, you're gonna see Oh, that's a good one. I need to say I need to add that to my skill. Yeah.
27:04That's
27:06Exactly. That's what people do. Yeah.
27:07Definitely do it. And then but then, you know what people also do? They're like, oh, if you don't know who I am, I build my channel to 550 k or like, I think Nate does.
27:16No. If you don't know who I am, I have a school community that has, like, 300 k. You know, like, just you're building your authority after that.
27:24Right? And then transition. So that's what this does.
27:28I the reason why I made this is so that everything can be in one place. You can generate the thumbnail as well. But again, I'm copying the format of what he has, and then you're generating the thumbnail.
27:40And it also has a teleprompter that you can use so that whenever the especially first timer, you gotta read the script. Right?
27:47So you can read the script and then record right away. You can also let's see. You can also have a screen share.
27:56So I do that a lot where I screen share and then I teach everything to people, and you can customize this part, obviously. But long story short, I made this app for myself and then I realized a lot of people want to use this.
28:10So I start charging people and I made $2,000 off this map off this app just this month. Okay.
28:19Yeah. Mhmm. So so
28:21just to recap, guys, Sandy has a full time job and is raising three kids. And on the side, she's also doing AI consulting for AI SEO that brought in 5.5.
28:32She's She's grown her YouTube channel from essentially zero to now over 30,000 in just a few months. Okay? And she's done multiple sponsorship collaboration deals, paying anywhere from 3.5 to, it sounds like, 5.5 k.
28:45Um, and then she's also built an app, this app, to help you find outlier YouTube videos where you can kind of copy the formats and the inspiration, and that also generated 2 k per month. And it's just the beginning.
28:58I'm sure it's going to grow significantly more. And she's doing all of this on the side with no technical background, no prior experience in AI, raising three kids with a full time job. Did I miss anything?
29:10Hey, you, like, really did. You're better than Chatuchi PTI, I gotta say. Like, you're
29:16The ultimate compliment.
29:20That would've been clubbed. Let's just say that. That's awesome.
29:23I love it. Yeah. That's that's exactly what it is.
29:26And the one k is coming from YouTube AdSense, which looks like Oh. Just YouTube AdSense.
29:31It's not a lot. Yeah. So 23 k is coming from sponsorships just this month and 5.5 k from client, 10 k from full time job, two k from the app, one k from YouTube, and also 6.2 k from I just barely launched my school community as well for, like, private memberships, but it's pretty interesting because when I first launched it, I just had a feeling that I need to just do it.
29:53I was like, just do it, Sandy. And I did it. I had nothing, but people started joining.
29:58I'm like, oh, shoot. You know what? I have no content.
30:01I have nothing in here. And people thought it was a scam. They're like, Sandy, how come there's nothing in here?
30:07I'm working on it. I promise. I just I love this general philosophy of how you just do it and then kind of, like, backfill in the rest later, because there's demand.
30:16People are enjoying it. Like, people want it. They're paying for it.
30:19So now you can, you know, you can happily spend your time creating this content instead of like the way you did it the first time of like creating a lot of content, but then struggling to monetize it. You've like totally flipped the model.
30:30Yes. I did totally flip the model. I had a huge impostor syndrome since the beginning because I was not the AI expert.
30:38I've just basically used ClawCode.
30:40I mean, I was like, how do I do that?
30:42But the one thing that I am good at, I'm good at listening to people, like listening to the need of what they have. And I genuinely love helping people.
30:53Like, it sounds so cheesy, but I really do. I feel my I gain my energy whenever I give feedback to people. And that's why the community yeah.
31:02Yeah. It's just like it just gives me some such a fulfillment whenever I do that. So but then I couldn't do it one on one because that's not scalable, meaning I can't help as many people as possible.
31:13So that's why. And then if I had a free community, then everybody will just jump in and then ask a lot of questions. I can't really find those people who are serious, if that makes sense.
31:23So that's why I charge less for the community, like, kind of low ticket, and then just be like, hey. Whoever's serious also, people need to commit some to some degree for them to get started.
31:33At least that's how I was. What's so crazy
31:36oh, I was gonna say, yeah, what's so crazy is I made a video, uh, and it was a livestream talking about nine different ways to make money with AI. And you've, like, done four of them with no background in AI.
31:47Right? Like, you did AI consulting. Right?
31:49You did AI education and did sponsorships and collaborations. You built a product that's revenue generating, and and now you have a paid community. Four, guys.
31:57She did four out of nine while working a full time job and raising three kids. Okay, so please, please, please don't tell me. Excuse me.
32:05Yeah. It's it's so possible.
32:08I'm like, when people ask me, like, if I can do it, you can do it. I'm like, it was nothing. You know?
32:13I was just,
32:14Yeah. Yeah. I I find for most peep there's a really big psychology block like, oh, this this won't or this is another scam.
32:21Like, like, you know, the information economy is kind of getting a bad rep for, like, this get rich quick scheme, like, get this get rich quick scheme. But I'm trying to communicate to people, like, people are spending a ton of money on AI, and it's a massive opportunity right now, and we are in, like, a little bubble talking to AI about each other, but there's, like, billions of people out there who don't know all the things that we take for granted, and that's why there's a huge opportunity to educate others or build products that can help others.
32:51And the but the opportunity is, like, here right right now, guys. It's not saturated at all. It's not too late.
32:58Even if you don't have a technical background, even if you don't think you can do this, like, you you truly can, but it's still hard work. Right? Like, Sandy clearly put in the hours, um, so don't expect results if you're not putting in the work, but, you know, it's definitely possible.
33:13I just love that you crossed off four out of nine income streams from all the ways.
33:18Thank
33:21you. And this time, I didn't wait because I just like you said Sabrina, the opportunity is right now. And I know if I wait it a little longer, I would have regretted that I didn't start.
33:32And I hate regretting part of me not starting because I've done that multiple times in the past. Mhmm. So yeah.
33:38I absolutely love that. And and then there's a statistics that I because I love numbers, majoring in political science.
33:44Right? But there's a statistics that talks about 82% of the people right now in the world, they haven't used AI.
33:51Isn't that crazy? They know AI, but they haven't used it. And the only few percentage they use ChatGeBT and Clod, right, or perplexity ask questions.
34:01And out of that few people, only few people know how to actually use Clod code or Clod homework. Mhmm. Like less than two people of the world.
34:08So like Sabrina said, opportunities right now, and I'm not exaggerating it, but you have to put effort into it. There were days that I couldn't really sleep more than three hours a day because I I was busy learning, executing, and yeah.
34:24Mhmm. Let's dive into that just a little bit. Like, there's so much information out there.
34:28Like, you guys are watching this YouTube, there's a billion other YouTubes, there's a billion other AI influencers. Like, what made the difference for you to be able to, like, actually absorb that knowledge and take action with it? Uh, was it certain influencers?
34:42Was it listening to less influencers? Like, what what was the secret to go from passively consuming all of these AI influencers telling you to do this, do that, check out this tool, check out that tool, and to, like, actually doing something meaningful with it?
34:54Because I know a lot of people are just drowning in overwhelm. Like, oh my gosh. All these influencers are telling me to, like, do this and do that and do that.
35:00It's really stressful.
35:02Mhmm. Yeah. I know.
35:03It's it is stressful because even now I get stressed out. It's like, influencer telling me this update, you gotta know Hermes. Is that Hermes?
35:11Hermes.
35:13I just out to get, like, Hermes, like, the bag. I'm like, no. Don't think Hermes.
35:18No.
35:20I speak Spanish. So, like, my Spanish kicks in whenever I say it. It it should be Hermes, but in my opinion.
35:26I don't know why. Anyways, like, hey, I'm nurse agent or or Hermes agent, open club, blah blah blah. I got really stressed out when I was chasing the trend game.
35:36It was like, you gotta learn this and that, and then that is the fastest way of you not executing. Mhmm. So one of the fastest way I think you said that in one of the videos in terms of Sabrina.
35:47I watched it, and you said, you you still gotta do it. You gotta execute and then actually see the result and you learn afterwards. And that really got me going a lot.
35:55And also, I had I paid a consultant for my business as well. And then once I invest money into it, I'm like, dude, I gotta take something out of it because I invest $4,000 into it.
36:05So it's just like more of a you gotta you gotta be more dedicated and set the right goal, not the goal of I'm gonna make 100 k right away.
36:16You know? Like, your goal has to be realistic towards the beginning and then create a system around that instead of just creating the goal. Like, you have to have a very specific systems that will generate or make you move.
36:28And one of the ways that for how I did it is I force myself. I force myself to do it after people pay me. It's like, dude, now I gotta create content.
36:39Like, this sponsorship is like, yeah, I got like six sponsorships, dude. I gotta actually create content. And that's
36:45how I did it. Yeah. I love that.
36:48Like, really just jumping in and once something's that you feel the pressure to actually, okay, now I gotta get it done. Uh, and also Yeah. We talked about before the podcast did, but the importance of having a system.
36:59Like, a lot of people are surprised, but, like, my only goal for the longest time was to make one piece of content per day. Like, was it. Like, that was my only goal, and if I did that, I was very happy.
37:09Obviously, I produce a lot more content than that now, but like, to in order to not stress myself out, I really just focused on that. Didn't look at analytics, didn't care that much about performance. If you look at my YouTube, for about the first eight months, I also just talked about random topics I thought were interesting.
37:25Like, I was like, oh, can chat GPT remake this picture of my docs? I was like, let's let's try five different prompts to do that. It's like completely just random.
37:36Me too. I know. That is so fun.
37:39I love that. That's what yeah. That's exactly what I did too.
37:43Like, for my daughters, like, okay. Let's make a princess out of this, you know, Google flow.
37:48And then for my son, it's like, let's make let's turn Shrek into this, like, poop monster. But that's what he wanted to do, honestly. But it's like such a random stuff Okay.
37:58That I I had no idea what what I was doing, but it gets clearer.
38:04Is that a word? Clearer? It's like it gets more clear.
38:08Yeah. Clearer. It's such a hard to pronounce.
38:10Okay. It gets more clear to after we execute.
38:14I really believe in that. If you actually publish content and put something, your path is gonna be more clear Mhmm.
38:22After, instead of you just trying to figure it out because it takes forever. Yeah.
38:27100%.
38:28Like, I I don't know. A lot of people are like, well, Sabrina, why don't you teach people to make, like, content pillars and, like, all of this stuff and create a ninety day content plan? And I'm like, well, because that's overwhelming and obvious and they also don't know what they wanna talk about until they start talking about it.
38:44Right? Like, it just takes time, but you have to be consistent and continue.
38:49Uh, most people quit. Right? So that's always a tough problem.
38:52Um, Yeah. I'd love to close out, like, specifically speaking to moms out there who are working a full time job, like, would be your personal heart to heart advice for other moms out there who are excited about this opportunity but just, you know, stressed? You know, they have very little time.
39:09Everybody's trying to sell them something. Like, what would you say to moms out there? I tell everybody it's one step at a time thing.
39:16It's not a sprint.
39:17Right? It's a long game. Meaning, if you're better than who you were yesterday, you did a great job and you have to know that.
39:25It's very easy for us to get overwhelmed and keep thinking about just the goal and then just realizing how far we are from the goal, and that's the fastest way to give up. But if you realize you are one step ahead compared to who you were yesterday, that's just success.
39:41We call that success. And just don't give up, continue to do it, and that is the best one of the best way to just put yourself out there.
39:49Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much for being here.
39:52It was great to chat. Yeah. Thank you, Sabrina.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The opening is a confession mid-sentence — Sandy Lee recounting the moment a startup fired her despite her being their highest producer. It is the inciting incident the entire 40 minutes flows from: what happens when someone decides they will never let another employer hold their income basket.
How they asked for the click.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
