Built 6 workflows in 8 months. Made $9,400 in setup fees. Good. But recurring revenue? $0. Then changed my model. Now: $1,200 monthly recurring.
Here’s what maintenance includes and why it works.
WHAT’S IN THE $200-400/MONTH PACKAGE
1. WORKFLOW MONITORING
– Error Trigger alerts come directly to me
– Weekly proactive health checks
– Uptime verification and tracking
– Performance metrics monitoring
– Prevent issues before they impact client
2. SAME-DAY FIXES
– Something breaks in workflow
– I get immediate Slack alert
– Fix deployed within 4 hours
– Client never knows there was issue
– Zero downtime for their business
3. MONTHLY USAGE REPORTS
– Total documents processed
– Success rates and accuracy metrics
– Error patterns identified
– Optimization recommendations included
– Professional PDF reports delivered
4. SCHEMA UPDATES
– Document formats inevitably change
– I update extraction schemas proactively
– No workflow downtime during updates
– Seamless transitions for client
– Keep up with supplier format changes
5. API UPDATES
– Services change endpoints regularly
– I update credentials and connections
– Test thoroughly before deployment
– Deploy updates during off-hours
– Maintain workflow reliability
6. MONTHLY OPTIMIZATION
– Review workflow performance metrics
– Suggest efficiency improvements
– Implement optimization gains
– Keep workflows running at peak
– Add new features as n8n updates
WHY CLIENTS HAPPILY PAY
Their workflow processes $15K-50K in value monthly. Downtime equals immediate revenue loss. Changes to forms or APIs need expert handling. Peace of mind worth far more than $200 monthly fee.
THE OPERATIONAL SETUP
ERROR TRIGGER: Sends me immediate alerts with context
MONTHLY CHECK: 30 minutes per client reviewing execution logs
DOCUMENTATION: Track all changes and updates in Notion
QUARTERLY CALLS: Optimization and strategy discussions
THE TIME INVESTMENT
6 clients total maintained
3-4 hours monthly across all clients combined
80% proactive monitoring preventing issues
20% reactive fixes handling actual problems
Effective hourly rate: $300-525 for maintenance work
THE REVENUE BREAKDOWN
SETUP FEES (one-time): $9,400
MAINTENANCE (recurring): $1,200/month
Annual maintenance value: $14,400
Client retention rate: 100% (nobody cancels)
After 12 months operating:
Total revenue: $23,800
Setup: $9,400
Maintenance: $14,400
Maintenance revenue exceeded setup fees.
THE LESSON
Setup fees pay today’s bills. Maintenance builds tomorrow’s business.
When automation saves clients thousands monthly, $200 maintenance is cheap insurance.
Build reliable n8n workflows. Include monitoring. Charge for ongoing value. Scale to 10-15 clients.
About the Author
