As a freelancer myself, I see a business generating only $100k a year as essentially gig work or a relatively stagnant, unsuccessful venture. With that revenue, employing someone part-time is a stretch due to administrative costs, especially in G7 like countries. At $100k, you can’t afford significant outgoing costs. I wouldn’t consider it a true business unless it generates at least $200–300k annually, employs at least one full-time person, and most importantly, aims to build something bigger. Otherwise, you’re better off with a regular job to avoid the stress, as few businesses go from $0 to $8–10k a month with just a few days of effort.<p>Yes, there are exceptions, but those people usually spend years in successful businesses or deeply know their field. They’re not simply prompting ChatGPT to create a solution and building a website around it.<p>To answer your question, I’d focus on “apprenticeship” tasks an AI agent could handle with minimal data. Businesses invest in training and hiring for specific roles, so there’s value in offering cost-effective, streamlined solutions that cut out middlemen. For example, transforming basic photos into professional headshots is a clear and valuable application. It eliminates the need for a photographer with expensive equipment and studio space in a costly location (city centre), is highly automatable, and uses customer-provided data without needing to save it.<p>As for what value is, I can’t define it precisely, but for me, it’s about providing a service that benefits everyone involved—personal growth for me (knowledge, money, or enjoyment) and cost-effectiveness for the company or customer. Of course, you could take a more philosophical approach to it.