Claude ran my business for 3 months... and I made $100k
Ellen Mackenzie handed the keys to Claude for three months and walked away with six figures - proof that sometimes the best business move is letting an AI handle the heavy lifting.
Key takeaway AI isn't just a tool anymore; it's a business partner that scales.
Ellen Mackenzie, the builder behind Dishing up Digital, spent three months running her business with Claude as her operational backbone - and hit $100K in revenue for the first time in a single quarter. The experiment wasn't just about delegating; it was about discovering what becomes possible when you remove the day-to-day friction and let AI handle the thinking alongside you. She was confident enough in the results to re-record the video's introduction, signalling this wasn't a one-off fluke but a genuine shift in how her business operates.
For New Zealand's growing cohort of digital entrepreneurs and SMBs, this is the kind of real-world case study that cuts through the hype. Mackenzie's quarter shows that the conversation has moved on from "Can AI help?" to "What happens when you actually let it?" - and the answer, at least in her case, is a lot of money.
“Turns out the best business advisor you can hire costs less than a cup of coffee.” — The Main Anchor, The 6 O’Clock News