By skyforbes I work 12×36 shifts in a psychiatric clinic and I’m trying to validate a side income selling custom chat assistants for small businesses, starting with beauty / facial aesthetics studios.
The idea is not full WhatsApp API integration (yet). It’s simpler:
- I use something like ChatGPT to build a chat tailored to each business
- I configure it with their services, approximate price ranges, tone of voice, FAQs, etc.
- In practice, the owner does this in her daily routine:
- copies the question she receives on WhatsApp or Instagram
- pastes it into the custom chat
- gets a ready, professional answer that fits her business
- and pastes it back to the client.
So it’s basically a “brain for customer replies” instead of a fully automated bot plugged into WhatsApp.
The goal is:
- faster replies
- less time thinking what to write
- more booked appointments (the chat also asks for name, phone, preferred time, etc.)
- consistent communication instead of random answers every time
How I’m trying to sell it:
- Niche: small beauty / facial aesthetics studios and clinics (500–5,000 followers, owner still doing the customer service)
- Channel: cold DMs on Instagram
- I send a message, show a short demo video of the chat working, and if they’re interested I do a quick intake (services, price ranges, FAQs, tone, etc.) and set up the chat for them.
Pricing idea (still testing):
- One-time low fee for creating the custom chat
- Optional small monthly fee if they want ongoing tweaks and improvements
Goal:
- Validate if small businesses are actually willing to pay for this
- Try to reach at least $400/month consistently if I keep prospecting every week
- If it works, then think about increasing prices, improving the offer, and eventually moving into real WhatsApp/API integration later
What I want is a cold, honest take:
- Does this kind of semi-manual solution have real market space, or is it too weak without full WhatsApp automation?
- Does it sound more like a cheap “AI freelancer hack” or can it be positioned as a serious time-saving / customer service product?
- If you were in my position, what would you change first: niche, offer, price, or acquisition channel?