Manus AI: The $10K Web Developer Sitting in Your Browser

In today’s email:

1. How I rebuilt my entire website in under an hour with zero coding

2. The key difference between AI chatbots and autonomous AI agents

3. Four ways solopreneurs can use AI agents beyond web development

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MAIN ARTICLE

AI Agents Are a Solopreneur’s Best Friend

I’ve been putting off this website refresh for forever…and it only took about an hour.

I just rebuilt my entire website without writing a single line of code.

No WordPress struggles. No template wrestling. No CSS headaches.

I simply told an AI agent what I wanted, and within an hour, it delivered a clean, functional site that looked better than what I'd previously published.

Check out the video if you’re interested in the full prompt-along 👇

Autonomous AI

Unlike ChatGPT or Claude, which wait for your next command after each response, the new generation of AI agents (like Manus AI) work independently once you give them a goal.

We’re starting to bridge the gap between:

• Traditional AI: "I need you to draft an email about our new pricing."

• Autonomous AI: "I need a new website that showcases my YouTube channel and newsletters."

The first requires back-and-forth guidance. The second takes your request and runs with it – planning the project, writing code, testing functionality, and delivering results while you do something else entirely.

Is it perfect? Nope. But I was pretty impressed; it’s only going to get better, and it’s already saved me time.

What Happened When I Tested It

My prompt was straightforward, and honestly, I made it more complicated initially than I should have. I gave it several sources of mine to pull info from and the first draft could have been better if I’d written less I think.

From there, the AI:

1. Analyzed my existing site structure

2. Checked my newsletters and YouTube to understand my brand

3. Created a complete redesign with working navigation

4. Added proper embedding for videos and newsletter subscription links

5. Tested everything for mobile responsiveness

Like I said, the first draft was actually too complex, so I asked for something simpler – and within minutes, it delivered a streamlined version with clean HTML, minimal CSS, and just the right amount of functionality.

Total cost? About 385 "credits" (roughly equivalent to a mid-tier project in their pricing model).

Now, a word on credits and usage and pricing…

Manus is still in private beta and as of now, beta invitees like me have gone from a daily limit of a couple projects to 1000 credits that don’t renew.

Pricing is set at $39 and $199 per month (eerily similar to ChatGPT 👀) and this purchases 3,900 or 19,900 credits to be consumed by each task you run.

Personally, it felt like pricing was too much, too soon for the private beta, but I imagine server costs etc are through the roof, so I get it.

Why This Matters for Solopreneurs

If you're running a one-person business, you're constantly trading time for impact. Every hour spent wrestling with website updates is an hour not spent creating content, connecting with clients, or building your product.

These autonomous agents certainly take a big chunk out of the time sink.

The possibilities are as wide-reaching as job descriptions or imaginations:

• Acting as a co-founder, board member, or advisor

• Creating business proposals with market validation

• Analyzing data and compiling detailed reports

• Building functional prototypes of your app ideas

• Reviewing contracts

Getting the Most from AI Agents

Based on what I've seen, here are key tips for working with these tools:

1. Be clear but not limiting - Give specific goals but avoid micromanaging the process

2. Provide context - Links to existing materials help the AI understand your brand

3. Review and refine - Be prepared to give feedback on the first draft

4. Start simple - Test with smaller projects before tackling complex builds

5. Don’t be lazy - I can code (some), and I needed to massage the results I got to get the final (for now) website that’s live here. You need to take it the last mile.

The Bottom Line

No-code tools have made technical tasks more accessible, but they still come with learning curves and limitations.

AI agents represent something different; they don't just give you better tools, they do the work for you.

That's the real promise here - not just making complex tasks easier, but eliminating entire categories of work from your to-do list.

Are you still manually building websites, creating business proposals, or analyzing data?

Hit reply if there's something you'd like me to cover in a future issue!

P.S. Are you using AI for any part of your business? I'd love to hear about your experience.

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