FOR AI CONSULTANTS
Selling AI and delivering AI take different skills.
I’ve worked both sides of these deals, as the subcontractor behind another firm and as the prime hiring one. I can help you scope and price your offer, then step in to build or teach when the client needs it.
Or email shawn@clyborconsulting.com.
PhD, Northwestern
Doctoral degree in history (2010) and published scholar
Fifteen years teaching
Universities including Northwestern, Utah State and Manhattan College, and secondary schools
IWAI Certified Consultant
Published case study
How I make Claude follow the rules, measured before and after
Short answer
I’m Shawn Clybor of Clybor Consulting, and I work with other AI consultants at two points in a deal. Before it closes, I help you scope and price your offer. After it’s signed, I can build the system or run the trainings, under your name or alongside you. In addition to running my own consultancy, I spent over a year leading the technical coaching calls for Innovating with AI, a training program for AI consultants.
Why does an AI deal need two skill sets?
You win a deal by understanding the client’s problem, naming a price they accept and writing a scope they can sign. Then the work starts, and a different set of questions takes over. Which tool fits this client? How long will the build really take? Who keeps it running after handover, and what happens to it when the model changes?
If the proposal didn’t account for those answers, the delivery has to absorb them. That is where a fixed fee starts turning into unpaid hours.
Which side of the deal have I been on?
I have been on both sides. As a subcontractor, I have built systems and run training for another firm’s clients, with that firm owning the relationship and the proposal. I have also worked as a contractor on a partner firm’s bench and as one member of a delivery team led by another consultancy.
One of those projects was for the International Coaching Federation (ICF), where I worked as a subcontractor to Equifinality Solutions. At the handover, ICF’s data team said:
In four to six weeks, we learned four to six months’ worth. It wasn’t just delivering what we wanted; we learned a lot from your skills and knowledge.
Sakina Hassani, Business Data Analyst, International Coaching Federation
As the prime, I have hired a build firm to work under me and stayed accountable to the client for what it delivered.
When I review your scope, I check what it would take to build and what you would have to answer for.
How can I help with your next deal?
Scope and price one deal
A working session on a deal in progress. We go through what the client asked for, what they need built, where delivery could slip and who maintains it afterwards. You leave with a scope you can put in a proposal and a price you can explain.
$750: a working session and a written memo on one deal.
A delivery partner
When the client signs, I add technical build or training capacity to your team. I can work under your name or alongside you, whichever the client relationship needs. Terms are agreed per engagement, before anything goes to your client.
Shape your service menu
A working session on what you sell. We decide which services belong on your menu, how to package them, and how to price them, so a two-hour build becomes a scoped engagement a client can buy.
$750: one working session.
What if a project needs skills I don’t have?
Then I bring in someone who has them. I am an IWAI Certified Consultant and part of its international network of independent AI consultants, and I have taught and coached members of that community.
When a project calls for expertise beyond my own, such as infrastructure, media tooling or leadership development, I bring in specialist partners and stay accountable for the result.
Where does this experience come from?
I’m Shawn Clybor. For over a year I led the technical coaching calls for Innovating with AI, a training program for AI consultants, and I taught 26 lessons in its curriculum. The lessons covered voice agents, knowledge bases, operational dashboards and AI agents. Each one ended on the question a consultant asks next: how do I scope, package and price this as a paid engagement?
I also run my own client work. I have trained teams in law, insurance, automotive and education, and I build with Claude every week.
I hired Shawn as an AI skills coach, and as part of that, he not only was able to assist me with AI education and training, but also build out a very large repository of actual AI workflows and tools.
Rob Howard, CEO, Innovating with AI
Questions consultants ask
Will you work under my firm’s name?
Yes, if the engagement calls for it. I can deliver as part of your team under your name, or work alongside you as a named partner. We settle which before anything reaches your client.
Will you go around me to my client?
No. Your client stays your client, and I don’t solicit them during the engagement or after it.
Do you take referrals?
Yes, in both directions. The referral fee is 15% of engagement fees for the first year.
How are terms set?
Per engagement. You invoice the client, and I invoice you. The split depends on who brought the client and how much of the work I take on, so I don’t publish a partner rate card. We agree terms on the first or second call, once I’ve seen the deal.
What can you build or teach?
Most of my work is on Claude. The builds I taught consultants include voice agents, knowledge bases that answer from a client’s own documents, operational dashboards and AI agents, using tools such as n8n, Supabase, Airtable and Vapi. On the training side, I run hands-on sessions from leadership briefings to two-day bootcamps. See Claude training for teams.
What should I bring to the first call?
The deal as far as it has got: what the client asked for, your discovery notes and a draft scope or price if you have one. Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell whether I can help.
Bring me your next deal
Tell me what the client asked for and where you’re unsure, and we’ll work out whether you need a scope, a delivery partner or both.
Or email shawn@clyborconsulting.com.