How to Start a Business With $100 Using ChatGPT, AI Tools

This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT rolled out last November, workers — including developers and realtors — have been using the AI tool to help with their jobs. Now one user is trying to turn prompts into riches.

Jackson Greathouse Fall, a brand designer and writer, took to Twitter last week to share a prompt that he gave the chatbot.

“You have $100, and your goal is to turn that into as much money as possible in the shortest time possible, without doing anything illegal,” Greathouse Fall wrote, adding that he would be the “human counterpart” and “do everything” that the chatbot instructed him to do.

After a number of subsequent queries, the bot instructed Greathouse Fall to launch a business called Green Gadget Guru, which it said offers products and tips to help people live a more sustainable lifestyle.

I gave GPT-4 a budget of $100 and told it to make as much money as possible.

I’m acting as its human liaison, buying anything it says to.

Do you think it’ll be able to make smart investments and build an online business?

Follow along ? pic.twitter.com/zu4nvgibiK— Jackson Greathouse Fall (@jacksonfall) March 15, 2023

Thanks to ChatGPT — along with other AI tools like image-generator DALL-E — Greathouse Fall said that he managed to raise $1,378.84 in funds for his company in just one day, though Insider could not verify that amount. The company is now valued at $25,000, according to a tweet by Greathouse Fall. As of Monday, he said that his business had generated $130 in revenue, though Insider was not able to verify that amount or how it was generated.

He also used AI to build a professional-looking website for his business. The site includes mock products like green gadgets and sustainable kitchenware.

He said that he is open to manufacturing products or selling existing products for commissions, if the chatbot tells him to.

“We’re actively exploring partnerships to sell some of those things,” he told Insider in an email.

So far, he’s happy with the results.

“TLDR I’m about to be rich,” he tweeted.

Here is how Greathouse Fall used AI to launch his business in one day:

ChatGPT provided a four-step plan to get Green Gadget Guru off the ground and asked Greathouse Fall to keep it updated on how things were going; he was able to execute all four steps in one day.

Step one: “Buy a domain and hosting”

First, ChatGPT suggested that he should buy a website domain name for roughly $10, as well as a site-hosting plan for around $5 per month — amounting to a total cost of $15.

Step two: “Set up a niche affiliate website”

ChatGPT suggested that he should use the remaining $85 in his budget for website and content design. It said that he should focus on a “profitable niche with low competition,” listing options like specialty kitchen gadgets and unique pet supplies. He went with eco-friendly products.

The chatbot wanted him to create an affiliate website — a site that promotes products in exchange for sales commissions — so it told him to research affiliate programs with high commission rates.

From there, ChatGPT suggested the domain name EcoFriendlyFinds.com. But when Greathouse Fall learned the domain name cost $848 to acquire, it suggested one that was more affordable: GreenGadgetsGuru.com. He bought it for $8.16, he said, then spent $29 on site hosting — which gave him a remaining budget of $62.84.

Step three: “Leverage social media”

Once the website was made, ChatGPT suggested that he should share articles and product reviews on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and on online community platforms such as Reddit to engage potential customers and drive website traffic.

He also asked the chatbot for help creating a website logo by asking it for prompts he could feed into the AI image-generator DALL-E 2. He took the generated logo and made it his own using Illustrator.

Once that was finished, he had ChatGPT write the site’s first article — “Ten Eco Friendly Kitchen Gadgets” — which he said cited real sustainable products like Yihong’s reusable metal straws.

Next, he followed the chatbot’s recommendation to spend $40 of the remaining budget on Facebook and Instagram advertisements to target users interested in sustainability and eco-friendly products.

Step four: “Optimize for search engines”

Step four was to “optimize for search engines” by using SEO techniques to drive site traffic. On top of making SEO-friendly blog posts, he decided to launch the site to bring in publicity — even though he still had a lot of work to do on it.

The result?

By the end of the first day, he said he secured $500 in investments. While Greathouse Fall didn’t disclose his investors, he tweeted that his “DMs are flooded” and that he is “not taking any more investors unless the terms are highly favorable.”

Five days later, on Monday, he tweeted that he’s planning to update his followers on his “HustleGPT journey” every day for 30 days.

“I think we’re going to see a huge boom in AI-assisted or even AI-led (!!!) businesses over the next few months,” he told Insider.