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For young adults

You don’t need a degree or a big budget. You need follow-through.

Pick one kind of business, like roofers, plumbers or landscapers. Learn to run their marketing with AI. Start with one client, often your family’s business, and prove it with phone calls.

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$7,500 one time or skip tuition if you can already show public proof

Dennis Yu with young AI builders in matching red shirts on an evening patio
Dennis Yu with young AI builders

The work

What you’ll actually do

None of this needs code. We work in plain English, not Python. If you can give clear directions to a person, you can give them to an AI.

Make videos

One-minute videos with real business owners. We turn each one into posts, articles and ads. We call it the Content Factory: Produce, Process, Post, Promote.

Run AI agents

You talk to Claude or ChatGPT the way you’d talk to a teammate, then turn the work you repeat into skill files the agents can run.

Get them found

Google Business Profiles, Local Services Ads and Dollar a Day ads that put a client’s best videos in front of the right people nearby.

Report every week

A short Metrics, Analysis, Action report. It’s how we coach you, and how your client sees the phone ringing.

Your edge

Why you have the advantage

You can start clean. No other business to run, no habits to unlearn. You can put 100% into one industry and get good at it fast.

  • Owners want someone young to handle this. Many are over 50 and nervous to start.
  • You already live on social media and use AI. Applying it to a business is a short step.
  • We have more work than people to do it, in HVAC, roofing, landscaping, fencing and more.
  • Builders who stick to one industry refer work to each other, so you don’t have to cold call.

“We have seen 14 year olds with incredible follow through, and we have seen people triple that age who cannot get stuff done.” Dennis Yu, in who this program is not for

Dylan Haugen and Dennis Yu speaking on stage at the ALIGN Volleyball Summit
Dylan Haugen started at 17. He knew nothing about AI. Within a year he was speaking on stage next to Dennis.

People like you

They started where you are

No phone. No degree. A dad’s struggling business. A first €500 invoice. Watch how they told it.

Jeff Pebley

Apprentice, Local Service Spotlight

Jeff joined in October 2025 with a school-issued Chromebook and no phone. He showed up, did the work and asked for help when he needed it. That’s how he earned a company iPhone and MacBook, as tools he’s trusted with.

His advice to others: “If you get the opportunity that I’m in, please take it.”

In his words, his job is the most basic job in our Content Factory: turning long videos into articles for local businesses.

Video, Oct 2026 jeffpebley.com

Leo Pohlmann

AI builder, Cologne, Germany

At 19, Leo left Germany to see the world. Instead of going to business school to learn business, Dennis told him to start one. Leo built an AI video editing business for local companies like plumbers and roofers.

Set up his payment systems and sent his first invoice: €500, a little over $500

The one promise Dennis asked of him: before you quit over criticism or a mistake, talk to me first.

Video, Apr 2026 leopohlmann.com

Jacob Hastings

Co-founder, Growth Ring Media

On his first day, at 23, Dennis told Jacob he wasn’t an employee. He was an owner in training. Days later Jacob was on stage interviewing the CEO of the National Speakers Association.

Co-founded Growth Ring Media, a tree-service marketing company, and writes a newsletter for about 1,850 tree-service owners

One of his tree-service clients grew from $1.21 million to $1.66 million in a year, up 37%.

Video, Mar 2023 jacobhastings.org

Dylan Haugen dunking at the DunkMan event in Atlanta

Dylan Haugen

AI builder · co-author, How to Get a Google Knowledge Panel

Dylan was 17, a pro dunker who had made videos for years. He says he knew absolutely nothing about AI. Within his first year he was setting up AI for real businesses, earned his own Google Knowledge Panel and launched his personal brand site.

Built Cam Hazzard’s personal-brand website

At 18 he competed in Shaq’s DunkMan League. He gave his first conference talk next to Dennis at the ALIGN Volleyball Summit.

Watch: Secrets to building a personal brand with Dylan HaugenMar 2025 dylan-haugen.com

Dennis Yu, Dylan Haugen and Jack Wendt on stage at DigiMarCon

Jack Wendt

Founded High Rise Influence

Jack started reselling watches at 12. He never went to college. He learned on church camera crews and in an unpaid internship, then learned digital marketing in about 18 months.

Went from zero experience to running his own agency, then founded High Rise Influence

He joined the Army National Guard at 18. In basic training he shared his food with everyone, and his platoon went from second-to-worst to the best.

Watch: The easiest way for young adults to start in digital marketing, with Jack WendtApr 2025 jackwendt.com

Roanin Podkin, in an Avoca pullover, recording his first podcast with Dennis Yu in Broomfield, Colorado

Roanin Podkin

Sales, Avoca · Santa Barbara

Roanin grew up in Vacaville, California, studied economics at UCSB and taught himself AI. He took a job at a country club to meet people. In his words, it turned into mentors, golf, a consulting contract and the path to Avoca, an AI company for home-service businesses.

Dennis has been mentoring him. In August 2026 they recorded podcasts for each other, and Dennis was the guest on Roanin’s first episode.

That weekend they hiked Mt Bierstadt with Jason Amato, after Jason’s workshop for home-service operators, where seven companies booked an Avoca demo.

Source: Dennis’s write-up roaninpodkin.com

Ethan Van De Hey and Dennis Yu sitting on a couch during a conversation

Ethan Van De Hey

Marketing strategist · host, Encourage Mindset

Ethan reached out to Dennis cold in 2018, as a college student, asking for mentorship and feedback. He kept showing up, earned his MBA while working full time, and joins our weekly office hours.

Our team’s write-up reports he helped grow Infinity Exteriors, a large Wisconsin roofing company, by $20 million in a single year

He hosts the Encourage Mindset podcast, with more than 100 episodes. Dennis has been his guest.

Watch: Dennis Yu on Ethan’s Encourage Mindset podcastPodcast Source: our write-up ethanvandehey.com

Ethan Murphy smiling at the beach

Ethan Murphy

AI builder, Louisville, Kentucky

Ethan started with his dad’s landscaping and Christmas-lights business. He used AI to run its Facebook ads, Google Business Profile and Local Services Ads, faster than doing it by hand. He wrote down everything he did, so his AI agents could repeat it.

Ran ads for 12+ Christmas-light installers: more than $500,000 in booked installs in one season

Leads cost under $20 each across seven Georgia markets. He also co-wrote the book Mow Money with Anthony Hilb.

Source: case study, Nov 2025

Jack Allard and Dennis Yu working on laptops over dinner

Jack Allard

Owner, Roof Launch Marketing

Jack, a journalism grad from Arizona State, met Dennis at Dunk Camp in Salt Lake City. In his words, “a conversation about marketing changed everything.” He sent his one-minute video like everyone else.

Now owns Roof Launch Marketing in Tucson, helping home-service businesses win on Google

He also built Anyone Can Dunk, a coaching brand with 15,600+ Instagram followers.

Watch: Jack Allard’s one-minute AI Builder Program videoOct 2026 jack-allard.com

Your first months

One client. Prove it. Repeat.

  1. Week one: set up and record

    Accounts, tools, and your first videos. The first week is mostly setup.

  2. One real client

    Usually a parent’s business, or one we assign. You measure phone calls, not likes.

  3. Prove it

    You’re done when tracked calls show up for a live client at a good cost per lead, not when time runs out. Coach Dylan Haugen’s estimate: maybe six weeks of testing and tuning, maybe twenty.

  4. Repeat and specialize

    Do it again for the next client in the same industry. That’s how Ethan Murphy went from his dad’s business to running ads for more than a dozen Christmas-light companies.

Diagram of the Metrics, Analysis, Action cycle: measure, learn from the numbers, act, repeat
Every week: Metrics (what happened), Analysis (why), Action (what’s next).

The one promise. Dennis asks everyone he mentors to make one promise: before you quit over criticism or a mistake, talk to him first. Watch him explain it to Leo.

Two ways in

Pay tuition, or prove you don’t need it

If you already teach and practice this work in public, you can apply for a paid seat instead. If you can’t show that yet, you take the program.

We’re looking for more builders like Jack Wendt. Jack went from no college and no experience to founding High Rise Influence. Ideally, we pay the next one to co-found and run one of our agencies. Prove you can do the work in public, and that seat is yours to earn.

  AI Builder Program Hire path
Who it’s for You want to learn the standard and qualify You already meet the bar and can link to public proof
Cost $7,500 one time, not monthly. Parents often pay. No tuition. It’s a paid seat.
What you send A one-minute video, posted on YouTube The video, plus links to public articles, videos and work where you already teach and practice this
What happens next We review it. If approved, you pay and start with one real client. A practical task and a round of feedback. See the hiring page.

This is for you if…

  • This can be your main focus, not a hobby
  • You’ll record a one-minute video this week, no excuses
  • You reply to people quickly and finish what you start
  • You’ll follow the system before you try to change it
  • You’re okay with risk. This is harder than a job

It’s not for you if…

  • You want a class to show up to every Tuesday
  • You need to be chased to get things done
  • You want to travel the world working two hours a day
  • You’re just curious about AI as a hobby
  • You’d rather argue than try

Not sure? Then the answer is no for now. The courses are free. Come back when you’re sure.

Ready to prove it?

Take the two-minute fit check. If it’s a fit, you’ll know exactly what to send.

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