Genuinely curious how people running AI agencies actually started. Not the polished version, the real one.

Every time I read about someone running an AI agency, it sounds very clean. “Identified a niche, got clients, scaled.” But I have a feeling the actual story is messier than that. So I want to ask people who are actually doing it: How did you really start? Like what was the actual first step that led to a paying client? Was it someone you knew, a cold DM, a post that blew up, just luck? Also curious about: •Did you pick a niche