How 4 Creators Grow their Business with Custom GPTs

Forget media giants.

If you want to see the future of content and AI, look to the creator community.

Small business owners and solo creators are building custom GPTs that drive revenue, save time and attract customers.

I talked to four who are leading the way—here’s what they’re doing.

10-Second Summary of this Post

• AI as a Revenue Stream – Creators monetize GPTs with pricing models $10/month subscriptions (Avery), or $199/month premium access (Justin).

• Specialized GPTs Win – Niche AI assistants outperform general ones— instead of one all-purpose bot.

• Content Libraries = AI Gold – Years of blogs, books, courses, and frameworks fuel these GPTs.

• Low Cost, High ROI – Running a GPT costs as little as $20/month (Jeremy), yet streamlines work and drives revenue.

• AI as Lead Gen – Free GPTs attract customers—Brenda’s “Helpful Holly” AI grew her email list by 500 in weeks.

1. Justin King: B2B Brain GPT (Monetizing 20 Years of Content)

Justin King of B2BEA built an FAQ on steroids with his AI-powered B2B commerce assistant — it’s trained on his 20 years of expertise, including:

• His book

• 4 frameworks

• 5 course transcripts

• Multiple white papers

👥 What the GPT Does: Answers real-time B2B commerce questions for his e-commerce community.

💰 How It Makes Money:

• Free: Basic access to two GPTs

• $50: 50 pay-as-you-go Q&As

• $199/month: Unlimited access

📈 Why It’s a Game Changer:

• Generates new customer leads

• Captures valuable business pain points via user questions

• Soft-sells his premium coaching services

🔍 Biggest Insight: “The data we get from user questions will be the single biggest asset on our books in a year.”

2. Avery Smith: DataFairy.io (AI Tools That Showcase Expertise & Sell Subscriptions)

Avery Smith helps people pivot into data analytics careers. His GPT platform, DataFairy (part of Data Career JumpStart), features 8 GPTs that solve real-world data problems—while also positioning him as an expert.

• What the GPTs Do: AI-powered assistants for data analysts, including tools like a LinkedIn Profile Grader that reviews and scores user profiles.

• Why It Matters: Solves real user problems while showcasing Avery’s expertise to potential clients.

• Revenue Model:

  • Free: 5 uses per GPT

  • Signed-in Users: 25 free uses

  • $10/month (starting March 1, 2025): Unlimited access

• Biggest Insight: "Custom GPTs are cheaper than 99% of SaaS tools I pay for monthly."

• Tech Stack: Uses Pickaxe ($79 on AppSumo) to connect OpenAI’s API to his website.

✅ Why This Works: Instead of just selling courses, Avery built AI tools that work as 24/7 lead magnets—proving his expertise before he ever pitches a sale.

3. Brenda Ster: Coaching GPTs (AI Assistants for Social Sellers)

@Brenda Ster coaches "social selling women over 40" and turned her decade of expertise into five GPT assistants that help her community.

• What The GPTs Do: AI assistants that give marketing, sales, and social strategy advice based on Brenda’s 10+ years of coaching content.

• Why It Matters: Helps her attract new clients and train paying members inside her Elite Social Circle community.

• The GPTs:

  • Helpful Holly (Free, public) – This chatbot is lead gen to attract potential clients. Brenda shares the Holly link online and it gets shared widely by people using her.

  • Social Stacy – Social strategy expert trained on 60–70 documents of Brenda’s content.

  • Frances Funnels – Funnel expert that calculates conversion goals and builds custom marketing funnels.

  • Patty Prompter – Prompt creation expert who teaches members how to talk to AI effectively.

  • Sally Sales – Sales expert who helps members hit revenue goals with personalized sales plans.

• Revenue Model:

  • Free: Helpful Holly on ChatGPT generates leads. It grew Brenda’s email list by 500 since recently launching.

  • Paid: Member-only access to the four other GPTs via Brenda’s Elite Social Circle on BrendaSter.com.

• Biggest Insight: “My community is mostly older women with little AI experience. I created simple chatbots to help them build confidence with small wins.”

• Tracking & Optimization: “I can see what they're asking, which helps me make the GPTs better.”

✅ Why This Works: Brenda’s GPTs act as "AI training wheels"—lowering the barrier for non-tech-savvy users while driving engagement and revenue inside her membership.

4. Jeremy Mura: Design GPTs (Automating Creative Workflows)

Jeremy Mura, a brand designer, built six private GPTs to streamline his client projects and speed up his workflow.

Jeremy did a nice Youtube video here on how to create a custom gpt

• What The GPTs Do: Automate brand strategy, content creation, and design processes using AI.

• Why It Matters: Cuts down time spent on research, brainstorming, and drafting—letting Jeremy focus on high-value design work.

• The GPTs:

  • Brand Naming and Strategy GPT – Generates strategic brand positioning and name ideas.

  • Design Brief GPT – Automates the process of structuring design briefs.

  • Landing Page Copywriter – Writes effective landing page copy.

  • Instagram/Twitter Content Creator – Generates social media posts.

  • Logo Critiquer – Evaluates logos and provides feedback.

  • Mood Board Generator – Creates visual inspiration boards.

• Revenue Model: Private—built for internal use to increase efficiency in client work.

• Biggest Insight: “Custom GPTs speed up your workflow and help you generate ideas faster.”

• Key Learning: Jeremy found that specialized GPTs outperform general AI tools:
  “You don’t want one GPT to do everything. You want multiple GPTs that each do one thing really well.”

• Cost: $20/month for ChatGPT Plus.

✅ Why This Works: Jeremy’s AI-driven workflow saves time, enhances creativity, and improves client deliverables—without hiring extra help.

Big Wins

Jeremy uses his GPTs to streamline client projects.

"When I do a brand workshop with a client, I summarize it in a PDF. Then I upload that to my GPT to generate the strategy."

"Custom GPTs speed up your workflow and help you generate ideas faster"

His Biggest Insight

Jeremy's biggest insight is how much better custom GPTs are than generic prompts:

"You don't want one GPT to do everything. You want multiple GPTs that each do one thing really well."

He pays $20/month for ChatGPT Plus to create GPTs (the free version of ChatGPT doesn’t allow creation of GPTs).

He thinks it's worth every penny.

3 Tools Creators Use to Create GPTs

The four content creators above used a combination of these tools:

1. OpenAI's API: For more advanced setups, especially in Avery's case. This gives more control but needs more tech knowledge.

2. ChatGPT Plus ($20/month): All four creators use this to build their GPTs. It gives access to the best AI and custom GPT tools.

3. Pickaxe (around $79): Justin and Brenda use this to put GPTs on their own websites. It lets them control who uses their GPTs and track how they're used.

Final Takeaways

For Content & Media Pros:
Your content is an AI goldmine. Turn your blogs, courses, and videos into 24/7 AI tools that attract customers & drive revenue. Big media co.s: imagine the wealth of content you have to bring to bear.

For AI Pros:
Regular business owners are building real-world GPTs that solve problems and drive sales. Make AI easier for non-tech users—that’s your biggest market.

Thanks for reading!

Rob Kelly, Creator & Host of Media & the Machine

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