How a Non-Coder Made $2.5M in One Year Using AI⏐Ep. #286

Jon Cheney (0:00)

You can be a hair dresser at Supercuts making 12 bucks an hour, and you can afford everything you need. It levels the playing field. It opens it up to anyone. I just woke up and I said, you know what, I've got an idea. I wonder if I could vibe coat a piece of software and start today and have my first customer by the next day. And I ended up getting my first customer by the following Tuesday, and it was a $15,000 customer. And then from there, it blew up.

Chris Koerner (0:28)

And you're not technical, you're not a coder?

Jon Cheney (0:30)

Not at all.

Chris Koerner (0:30)

Stop assuming that other people know more about AI than they actually do. If you're listening to this right now, you're in like the 5%. Just because you're in this sphere, how could someone get their first customer, whether it's $1,000 one time or $10,000 one time?

Jon Cheney (0:46)

It's pretty simple. I just said, I'm just going to start calling businesses. And so I did. And over the next six weeks or so, I ended up with, I was up to about $180,000 in six weeks.

We're going to be close to about $8,000,000 in recurring revenue by the end of the year.

Chris Koerner (1:02)

After one year of being in business?

Jon Cheney (1:04)

After one year.

Chris Koerner (1:05)

And you started this business with $400, give or take?

Jon Cheney (1:08)

$400. But the big thing here is that I don't have anybody to answer to. I can do whatever I want. I am literally getting on a plane in four hours to go to Paris with my daughter for five days. It's okay because I'm the boss.

Chris Koerner (1:27)

Meet Jon Cheney. About a year ago, he started a business that helped other business owners save and make more money. Using tools and skills that basically all of us know how to do. And within a year, he had made over $2.5 million in revenue and over $1 million in net profit. And he didn't have any employees for most of that time. This year, 2026, he's on pace to do over $7 million of revenue, most of that being profit with just three or four employees. This is an incredible story, and you already know I'm going to say, Jon, how did you do it? How can we copy you? Without further ado, let's chat with Jon. Well, Jon, why don't you tell us who you are and what you do?

Jon Cheney (2:00)

Thanks so much for having me, Chris. So I live in West Mountain, Utah, which is just kind of a little ranching community out here. I founded a tech company, sold it, and now I'm the founder of a company called the General AI Proficiency Institute, or Gen AIPI, a little bit easier to say. But that's really what I'm focused on these days is helping companies learn AI, learn how to implement it, and really try to not miss the boat. Right.

Chris Koerner (2:28)

So how long ago did you start this?

Jon Cheney (2:30)

A little over a year ago, February 27th last year.

I actually founded this company on accident. I was totally doing something else. I was CEO of another tech company that I had founded as well. But I'd been by coding a bunch and I just woke up and I said, you know what, I've got an idea. And I just posted on LinkedIn. I said, I wonder if I could vibe code a piece of software and start today, Thursday and have my first customer by the next day. And this is what came out of it. And it ended up taking me, instead of taking me two days, took me three days to finish it. I ended up getting my first customer by the following Tuesday. And it was a $15,000 customer. It wasn't just like a little tiny one. It was like an enterprise customer. And then from there, it blew up.

Chris Koerner (3:11)

And you're not technical? You're not a coder?

Jon Cheney (3:13)

Not at all. No, I couldn't write a line. If you said, Jon, I will give you a million dollars right now if you write me one line of code. I would be like, I would miss out on that million dollars. I can't do it.

Chris Koerner (3:23)

Now, Shirley, as you were building your last company, you probably had ideas of what you're going to do once you sold it, once you exited it. You're an ideas guy like I am. Of all the things you could have done on February 27th, why did you choose this one?