One template. Deployed 43 times. Generated $247,000 in revenue. THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM Local accounting firm, 2018: "We're drowning in client invoices. 4 hours daily data entry." Built simple workflow: - Email monitoring - PDF extraction - QuickBooks integration - Error notifications Charged $800 setup + $400/month. Took 6 hours to build. THE TEMPLATE EVOLUTION Version 1 (2018): Basic invoice processing - 6 n8n nodes Version 2 (2019): Added vendor learning - 8 nodes Version 3 (2020): Multi-format support - 11 nodes Version 4 (2021): AI validation - 13 nodes Version 5 (2022): International currencies - 15 nodes Version 6 (2023): Advanced reporting - 18 nodes Each version tested with paying clients. Each improvement funded by revenue. THE DEPLOYMENT EXPLOSION Year 1 (2018): 3 deployments Year 2 (2019): 7 deployments Year 3 (2020): 12 deployments Year 4 (2021): 8 deployments Year 5 (2022): 13 deployments Total: 43 deployments of same core template REVENUE BY CUSTOMER SEGMENT Small accounting firms (15 clients): - Average fee: $600/month - Total: $9,000/month Mid-size businesses (18 clients): - Average fee: $400/month - Total: $7,200/month Large enterprises (10 clients): - Average fee: $250/month - Total: $2,500/month Monthly recurring revenue: $18,700 THE ADAPTATION STRATEGY Same core template, different positioning: Accounting firms: "Invoice automation for client services" - Multi-client processing - Detailed reporting per client - Integration with practice management Small businesses: "Eliminate invoice data entry" - Single company processing - QuickBooks/Xero integration - Simple setup and maintenance Enterprises: "Accounts payable efficiency" - High-volume processing - ERP system integration - Advanced analytics and reporting TEMPLATE ECONOMICS Original development: 40 hours Total deployments: 43 Revenue generated: $247,000 Average deployment time: 45 minutes Total deployment effort: 32 hours Revenue per development hour: $6,175

Microsoft's Copilot is making news, and it doesn't look so good... -- WebProNews ran a piece titled “Microsoft 365 Copilot Faces Commercial Failure Amid Low Adoption”, citing high pricing, user frustrations, and weak performance vs rivals. -- TechRadar and Bloomberg report that even companies that bought Copilot licenses struggle to persuade employees to switch — many prefer ChatGPT-like tools. -- Internal doubts are growing over Microsoft’s Copilot branding strategy. Employees say users can’t tell multiple Copilot-branded tools apart. 🧩 I warned Microsoft two years ago about Bing Chat. And Copilot is proving the lesson still stands. I once called it “the banana in the machine” — after Bing Chat inexplicably pulled a line about bananas and Mount Everest from another user’s conversation into mine. Absurd, yes--and also a bit unnerving... but also a glimpse of how fragile AI privacy really was. Back in 2023, I wrote two pieces — A Tale of Two AIs and Bing Chat Lays Another Egg. On September 8, 2023, I begged: "Microsoft should shut down Bing Chat at once on a global scale." Bing Chat had two fatal flaws: - It leaked user conversations across sessions. - And it couldn’t get college football scores right (I mean... what else is there, right?) Fast forward to today: Copilot is Bing Chat with better branding and the same problems. Accuracy still wobbles. Privacy still feels like an afterthought. And people still don’t trust it enough to use it. The irony? Microsoft keeps chasing “AI transformation” while missing the basics of trust, context, and credibility. You can’t market your way around broken fundamentals. The same six lessons from 2023 still apply: 1️⃣ Trust first. No adoption without it. 2️⃣ Accuracy matters. One bad answer can kill a reputation. 3️⃣ Don’t overpromise. The hype hangover is real. 4️⃣ Fix privacy optics. People remember. 5️⃣ Test empirically. Data beats demos. 6️⃣ Earn users. Don’t just license them. Having AI isn’t enough--you have to make it worth trusting.