The One-Person AI Video Business Making $500K/Year

Using Ai to make high production commercials

Author

Brett Malinowski
January 28, 2026

There’s a new kind of agency emerging..

One where a single creator can do the work of a full production team.

No studio.
No crew.
No bloated overhead.

Just taste, timing, and AI.

In this episode, we broke down how a 22-year-old creator is running a one-person AI video business, charging $20–40K per launch video, and clearing ~$500K/year by selling to venture-backed software companies.

For my readers here’s the core of how it works.

Why AI video is such a strong business right now

The biggest opportunity isn’t “AI makes videos cheaper.”

It’s that AI creates novelty windows.

Every time a new model drops, there’s a short period where:

  • The visuals feel impossible

  • Social media hasn’t adjusted yet

  • Distribution is cheap

  • No one else has shipped it well

If you’re first, you win.

“If we posted the GTA video today, it would’ve done way worse. The timing mattered.”

- Beechniour

The business is built on spotting those moments early — and shipping before they become normal.

What clients are actually buying

Clients aren’t paying for AI.

They’re paying for:

  • A creative concept that can’t be shot traditionally

  • Cultural relevance (not “agency-safe” ideas)

  • Speed

  • Taste

That’s why this works best with:

  • Venture-backed startups

  • Crypto / fintech companies

  • Founder-led software brands

They want attention, not polish.

And they have the budget to pay for it.

How one person replaces a full production team

The workflow looks like this:

  1. Client call + onboarding

  2. 10–20 high-level concepts (this is the real value)

  3. Script + hook

  4. Storyboard in Figma

  5. Generate stills (style, character, angle exploration)

  6. Animate with AI video models

  7. Edit, sound design, overlays

  8. Upscale + final polish

AI doesn’t eliminate work — it compresses teams.

One person can now:

  • Ideate

  • Design

  • Animate

  • Edit

  • Finish

And still charge agency-level pricing.

The actual tool stack

This isn’t theoretical — it’s what’s being used in production:

  • Nano Banana Pro – image generation & style control

  • Freepik – references & character consistency

  • Kling 2.6 – primary animation engine

  • Veo / V3 – edge cases (human expression)

  • ElevenLabs – voiceover

  • Topaz – upscaling

  • Premiere Pro – editing & sound design

The tools change constantly.
The system doesn’t.

Why pricing stays high (even with AI)

Counterintuitively, AI hasn’t pushed prices down.

It’s pushed expectations up.

Most people:

  • One-shot a clip

  • Drop it into CapCut

  • Post it

This business wins by doing the opposite:

  • Layering

  • Sound design

  • Custom graphics

  • Cultural context

  • Creative restraint

“How many layers can I stack to make it feel custom?”

- Beechinour

That’s why clients keep paying five figures per video.

The real scaling move

The most interesting part isn’t the videos.

It’s the flywheel built around the skill:

  • Done-for-you videos (core offer)

  • Consulting (teach internal teams)

  • Community / education

  • Talent placement

  • Brand authority via X/Twitter

Same skill.
Different delivery formats.

People don’t just want the output — they want access to the person who understands the system.

The big takeaway

This isn’t about AI video.

It’s about what happens when:

  • A hot market appears

  • A skill compresses an entire workflow

  • One person develops taste, speed, and distribution

AI didn’t create the business.

It removed the ceiling.

And right now, the ceiling is still rising.

  • Brett

P.S. You can watch the video version of this interview here - https://youtu.be/1Q__sf--tl4?si=qkoXgig6k1HCOdfz