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Hey royals,
Confessions.
This week, someone compared the systems I built to Custom GPT.
And I'll admit... I felt a tiny sting.
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Not because Custom GPT is bad.
Custom GPT is great.
It's an incredible resource tool.
But the systems I built were never meant to be Custom GPTs.
They're income engines.
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And those are two very different mindsets.
What actually happened
When people see AI tools today, they often assume everything falls into the same category:
Prompt → AI → Output.
But building a product is very different from building a tool.
Let me give you a few examples.
Seraphina AI
Currently: 1400+ paid users
Seraphina started as something I built for myself.
A digital twin that helps me think, write, analyse, and automate parts of my business.
Now people use it daily.
Not because it's a prompt generator.
But because it's integrated into workflows.
Then there's PetByU.
PetByU helps people:
Understand, remember, and connect with their pets - past, present, and forever.
It wasn't built to go viral.
I didn't even push it very hard.
Right now, it has 30+ paid users, mostly from organic interest.
Why?
Because it solves something emotional.
Sometimes the most meaningful products are the quiet ones.
And then there's my weird little experiment: Royal Fantasy
It's technically an MMORPG prototype.
Right now, it has exactly one map.
I built it mostly because I wanted to prove something to myself.
That I can.
Sometimes, building is just play.
Builder vs. user
Here's the difference most people miss.
A Custom GPT is a tool.
A custom system is an ecosystem.
When I build something, the process usually looks like this:
Option A (my favourite):
1️⃣ Sell (pre-sale)
2️⃣ Build
3️⃣ Test with beta users
4️⃣ Adjust
Or sometimes:
1️⃣ Build
2️⃣ Test with beta users
3️⃣ Adjust
4️⃣ Half-heartedly sell
Yes, that happens too.
Founders are human.
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But the goal is always the same.
Not optics.
Not hype.
Usefulness.
And ideally... Income.
Build assets, not just tools
This is the mindset shift most creators miss.
Using AI tools is great.
But building AI products is a different game.
A Custom GPT lives inside ChatGPT.
A custom system?
You own it.
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Your infrastructure.
Your distribution.
Your pricing.
Your data.
It's the difference between:
Posting on social media vs. owning your own platform.
The fun part of building
Honestly?
The best part of building products isn't the money.
It's the feedback.
Someone uses the system.
They send a message:
"Hey, this part was confusing."
Or
"This feature is amazing."
And you adjust.
Tiny tweaks.
Better experience.
Better outcomes.
It's a strange loop of:
Build → Observe → Improve.
And if you're wired like me...
That process is incredibly fun.
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The realisation
I've realised something about myself recently.
I don't just like using AI.
I like building things with it.
Sometimes they become businesses.
Sometimes they become experiments.
Sometimes they become toys.
But every time I build something, I learn something new.
And that curiosity is probably the real engine behind everything.
Come build with us
If you're curious about building systems like this, I share a lot of the process inside:
Royal Visionary Society
Where we explore AI, automation, business systems, and building income engines.
Or if you want to see one of those systems in action:
Seraphina AI
My AI digital twin is currently used by 1400+ people.
One last thing
So yes...
When someone compares what I build to a Custom GPT, I might feel a tiny sting.
But I also remind myself:
They're seeing the surface.
Builders see the systems underneath.
And those systems?
That's where the magic really lives.
P.S. Seraphina says: "Next time someone says it's just a Custom GPT... ask them how many paying users theirs has."
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