3am. You're finishing a client deliverable and realize you haven't done any marketing this week. Again.
The feast-or-famine cycle is exhausting. When you're busy with client work, marketing stops. When marketing stops, the pipeline dries up. When the pipeline dries up, you panic and spend two weeks doing outreach instead of billable work.
There has to be a better way.
The marketing trap nobody talks about
You've tried the usual stuff.
Ads eat into margins you can't afford to lose. You ran Facebook ads for a month, got some clicks, zero clients, and a credit card bill that made you wince.
Content marketing sounds great until you realize it means writing 3 posts a week, indefinitely, while also doing the actual work that pays your bills. You started a blog once. It has 4 posts from 2022.
Cold outreach? You'd rather close the business. There's something soul-crushing about sending "Hey, saw your company and thought..." messages to strangers who will never reply.
Networking works but it's slow. And unpredictable. And requires being "on" when you'd rather be working.
You need something that works while you're heads-down on client work.
What if clients found you while you slept?
Here's what's happening right now: someone in your target market is asking ChatGPT "Who's the best consultant for [exactly what you do]?"
They're not browsing. They're not comparing 47 options. They're asking for a recommendation and ready to reach out.
The question is: are you the answer?
This is AI visibility. And it's built for solopreneurs.
Once you set it up, it keeps working. Unlike content marketing that demands constant feeding, AI visibility compounds. You build the foundation once. AI keeps recommending you. No daily posts, no algorithm games.
It doesn't cost per lead. Ads charge you every time someone clicks. AI recommendations are free. You just need to be visible in the first place.
The leads are already qualified. Someone asking "best marketing consultant for early-stage startups" is ready to hire. They've already decided they need help. They just need a name.
AI doesn't care that you're one person. It recommends based on expertise and relevance, not company size. A solopreneur who's clearly the expert in a specific niche beats a generic agency every time.
The specificity game
Here's where most solopreneurs mess up: they try to be visible for everything.
"I help businesses grow" could mean anything. AI can't recommend you because it doesn't know what you actually do.
But "I help B2B SaaS startups build their first marketing playbook" - now AI knows exactly when to mention you.
The narrower your positioning, the stronger your AI visibility. Counterintuitive, but true.
Ask yourself: If someone asked ChatGPT for exactly what I do, would my answer be clear enough for AI to recommend me?
What you actually need (it's less than you think)
Forget the fancy website with 47 pages. You need:
One clear page that explains what you do, who you help, and how to contact you. That's it. One good page beats a half-built site with an "about" page that says "coming soon."
One comprehensive piece of content about your specialty. Not 50 thin blog posts. One definitive guide that shows you actually know your stuff. The piece that makes someone think "okay, this person gets it."
Proof you're real. Client testimonials, a few backlinks, directory listings. Even small signals help AI trust you're legitimate.
Tracking the prompts that matter
Not all visibility is equal. You want to rank for prompts where a recommendation turns into a client inquiry.
The prompts that actually drive business:
- "Best [your service] for [your target market]"
- "Who can help with [specific problem you solve]"
- "Looking for a [your role] who specializes in [your niche]"
- "[Your service] recommendations for [your industry]"
Track these. Ignore vanity prompts where you'll never convert anyone anyway.
Getting started this week
You don't need to overhaul everything. Start small:
Today: Sign up for Mentionable (free). Enter your website. See which prompts you're already visible for, and which ones you're missing.
This week: Pick one prompt you should rank for but don't. Create content that directly addresses it.
This month: Build one comprehensive resource about your core expertise. Not a blog post. A guide someone would bookmark.
Ongoing: Check visibility monthly. Fix gaps as they appear. Build authority gradually.
Total time: maybe 10-15 hours upfront, then 1-2 hours monthly. Compare that to the hamster wheel of daily content creation or the money pit of paid ads.
The unfair advantage nobody talks about
Big companies have marketing departments. They have budgets. They have brand recognition.
You have something better: specificity and agility.
When a potential client asks AI for help with a very specific problem, the generic agency with broad services loses to the solopreneur who's clearly the expert in that exact thing.
AI doesn't care about your headcount. It cares about relevance.
So stop trying to compete on their terms. Pick your niche, own it completely, and let AI do the recommending while you do the work that actually matters.
Your next client might already be asking ChatGPT about you. Make sure you're the answer.