Monetize with AI: Building an App from Scratch Using Real Community Needs

Welcome to the first episode of Monetise with AI—a new series where I’ll take you behind the scenes, step by step, as we go from idea to execution, and ultimately monetization of an AI-powered app designed to solve a real problem in the marketplace.

This isn’t about theory. It’s about building in public—from scratch—with nothing outsourced, no code, and no tech team. Just AI, a community with a real need, and a desire to solve a problem people actually face.

The Opportunity: When AI Meets Real-World Problems

AI is the future, and the opportunities to monetize it are endless—but the real magic happens when we use AI to build tools that solve real problems for real people.

In this series, I’m building a brand-new app for one of our brands in the health and wellness space, led by Sammi—a bestselling author and community leader who’s helped thousands of people on their calorie deficit journeys.

Instead of building something generic, we’re starting with our audience first. That means listening, researching, and identifying a very specific problem that we can solve using AI—and then documenting the entire journey for you.

Step One: Tap Into the Audience & Train AI to Understand the Brand

We started by building a Custom GPT trained specifically on all things Sammi—her story, her mission, her programs, her published books, her community posts, and more. We did this by feeding in content from her website and other materials, converting them into PDFs, and uploading them to create a smart assistant that deeply understands her audience.

This instantly gave us an edge: instead of generic brainstorming, the GPT can now ideate with context and relevance, saving us time and aligning every idea with the brand’s mission.

Step Two: Go Where the People Are

Sammi runs an incredibly active Facebook group with over 250,000 members. It’s full of meal ideas, progress photos, calorie discussions, accountability posts, and encouragement. The group is thriving—but with so much activity, it’s clear there are patterns in the pain points.

One of the biggest recurring themes? People constantly share photos of their meals. They seek inspiration, post their snacks, lunches, and dinners, and celebrate staying in a calorie deficit.

It became obvious—there’s a huge opportunity here for a peer-to-peer meal sharing app, something that helps people discover, validate, and share meal ideas in a supportive way.

Step Three: Brainstorm App Ideas That Solve Specific Problems

Using AI, we brainstormed a list of potential app names and themes—from Sammi’s Kitchen, Snack Save, and Taste & Track, to Calorie Queen Planner and Craving Crusher. But the core idea we kept circling back to was simple:

How can we let users share meals, stay accountable, and validate whether their food choices support their calorie deficit goals?

The key is to solve a specific problem—not just build another “community” or a clone of an existing app. For example, we don’t want to recreate Facebook. We also don’t want to compete directly with calorie tracking apps like MyFitnessPal.

Instead, we’re looking for a new category. Something fresh.

Step Four: Think Flywheel—Build Something That Gets Better with Use

We also considered the flywheel effect—the idea that every action users take should improve the experience for others.

So we asked:

• What happens when someone shares a meal?

• Could others get inspired, copy it, or even build meal plans based on shared ideas?

• Could we layer AI on top to analyze meals from photos and tell users if it’s “deficit friendly”?

This leads to an exciting thought:

• Take a photo of your meal

• AI instantly breaks down the calories and macros

• Users can react, follow, save, and build plans from real user meals

• No logging. No tracking. Just clarity in seconds.

That’s the kind of user experience that adds value every time it’s used—and creates community through action, not just conversation.

What’s Next: From Idea to Build

Over the coming episodes, I’ll show you how we’re:

• Prototyping the app with AI tools like Lovable

• Creating a meal sharing system with photo-to-calorie AI

• Building a lightweight social layer for accountability

• Designing the flywheel and growth loops for long-term impact

• Preparing to monetize (through freemium, challenges, and community-driven features)

This is all happening live. No revenue. No users yet. Just pure build-from-zero.

Join the Journey

If you’re excited about using AI to build a real business around a real problem, subscribe and follow the journey. I’ll share everything I learn—what works, what doesn’t, and how you can apply the same principles to your own projects.

I’m even thinking about launching a 5-day Buildable Challenge where we go from zero to MVP together.

So let me know—what are you currently building? What pain points do your community face? Drop your ideas in the comments.

Until next time, keep taking massive action.