3-2-1: AI Tools, Community Building, and The First Dollar

Solo Builders Club

A newsletter to help you build, deploy, and sell your dream projects ✨

Hey — It's Jerrell

This weekend Chase and I had one of those "way too much coffee" brainstorming sessions about Built Solo. You know, the kind where your Figjam board starts looking like a beautiful mind situation.

Here's what hit us: while we still firmly believe anyone can build solo (technical or not), we've been sleeping on something important. AI tools have quietly become like that reliable intern who actually shows up and does the work - especially for all that back-office stuff nobody wants to do.

So we're expanding our focus a bit. Along with our usual solo building content, we'll be sharing specific AI tools and workflows that actually help run your business. Not the theoretical "AI will change everything" fluff, but practical stuff like "here's how to automate your customer support with AI" or "this AI combo handles all my bookkeeping."

Think less "AI newsletter" and more "here's how real solo builders are using AI to get stuff done faster."

Ok, enough meta-talk. Let's dive into this week's good stuff...

Estimated read time: ~2 minutes and 58 seconds.

Three AI Tools That Actually Make Sense

I'll be honest - I'm tired of every tool slapping "AI" on their landing page like it's 2023's hottest accessory. But these three? They're actually useful for solo builders who don't want to become AI researchers just to get work done.

1/ Taskade

Here's something wild: Taskade is what would happen if your to-do list gained sentience and actually wanted to help you get things done. It's powered by GPT-4 (fancy AI brain), but don't let that scare you. I use it to turn my rambling thoughts into actual actionable tasks. The free plan is surprisingly useful, and the AI actually understands when you type things like "help me break down this giant project that's giving me anxiety." Plus, it doesn't make you feel dumb for asking it to explain things in simpler terms (looking at you, every other AI tool).

2/ Zapier AI

Zapier has been around longer than most AI startups have existed, but they've quietly added AI features that actually help. Instead of staring at their 5,000+ app connections wondering how to automate your work, their AI now suggests workflows based on what you're already using. I asked it to help me automate my newsletter publishing process, and it created a whole sequence I wouldn't have thought of. The free plan lets you try 100 tasks per month - perfect for testing whether automation will actually save you time or just give you new problems to solve.

3/ Fibery (and it’s AI sidekick)

Remember when you had seventeen different tabs open just to manage one project? Fibery is like having a very organized friend who finally convinced you to close them all. But here's where it gets interesting - they just launched Fibery AI, and it's not just another "AI-powered" checkbox feature.

Here's what happened: I described my newsletter workflow in plain English to their AI, and it didn't just create a basic template - it built an entire interconnected system with databases for content planning, subscriber tracking, and analytics. In two minutes. Two. Minutes. The regular Fibery starts at $10/month and is solid on its own, but their AI feature is like having a systems architect in your pocket. Though fair warning: watching it generate complex workflows in seconds might make you question all the hours you spent setting up tools manually.

Two Ways to Build a Community That Actually Cares

1/

The "Themed Days" magic. Instead of trying to force random conversations, I started Theme Days in a community I ran: "Demo Day Tuesdays" and "Feature Request Fridays." Every Tuesday, members share 5-minute videos of what they're building - no polish required, just raw progress. One member showed their half-working checkout page, another shared a hilariously broken landing page builder. The engagement was instant because there's something weirdly compelling about watching other people's projects evolve.

But here's the real secret: those rough demos led to natural collaborations. Someone struggling with payment processing would connect with another member who'd just figured it out. A member wrestling with email automation would get three different solution suggestions. The community basically started running itself because people were bonding over shared problems, not just random chat.

2/

The "Weekly Wins" strategy. A continuation of the Themed Days approach and a simple tradition: every Friday, members share one win and one struggle. Doesn't matter how small. Someone celebrated getting their first signup form working. Another admitted they spent three days on a logo that still looked "meh." It worked because it wasn't about building an audience - it was about creating real connections. Now these people troubleshoot each other's problems before I even wake up.

One Thought on Making Your First Dollar Online

Weeks ago, I got a notification: "Payment Received: $1.00"

Someone actually paid us for showing ads in this newsletter. One whole dollar. Less than a can of soda.

I stared at that notification for ten minutes straight. Not because of the amount - let's be honest, after fees and taxes, I made about enough to buy a gum ball. But because someone I'd never met looked at something I built and thought, "Yes, this is worth my money."

See, I spent years in product management, always building things for other people's companies. Always wondering if I could actually build something of my own. That $1 wasn't about the money. It was validation that maybe, just maybe, I could build something people want.

Now every time imposter syndrome kicks in (which is about every other day), I look at that first payment notification. It reminds me that you don't need to be a technical genius or have a fancy degree in entrepreneurship. You just need to solve a real problem for real people.

Even if it's just a $1 problem.

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And that’s it for issue #8. Thanks for reading.

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See you next week — Jerrell & Chase

P.S. — We just launched our Solo Builder Toolkit! Please check it out here. Make sure to get it now, because we’ll be updating it every week with new tools that we find.

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