Fixing Pipes by Day, Building a Website by Night: My Complete Story
I'm not a developer. I do electrical and maintenance work at a hot spring hotel in Hualien. This is a full account of how I used AI tools to build easyknowai.com from scratch.
My name is Chuan-En Chiou. My day job is electrical and maintenance work at Tiger Hot Spring Hotel in Hualien, Taiwan.
No computer science background. I studied at China Medical University — not an engineer, not a designer, not a marketer.
But in the hours after work, I used AI to build a website from scratch: easyknowai.com.
This is the complete record of how it happened. If you want to build something with AI but feel like you're "not qualified," this is written for you.
Why Did I Want to Build This?
At the end of 2025, I started getting into AI tools. At first I was just using ChatGPT to help write emails and organize notes.
Then I noticed a problem: a lot of people in Taiwan want to use AI, but have no idea where to start.
The AI content out there was either too technical (tokens, fine-tuning, RAG) or too shallow ("AI is amazing!" and then nothing).
The gap in the middle — "tell a normal person what tool fits their situation and how to actually start using it" — almost nobody was filling.
So I decided to fill it myself.
What Did I Have? Nothing.
My situation at the time:
- Coding experience: zero (I'd run maybe a few lines of Python in ChatGPT)
- Website-building experience: nearly zero (I'd made one very simple booking page for a friend's barbershop)
- Design skills: zero
- Marketing experience: zero
- Available hours each day: 3–4 hours after work (and I was already tired)
- Budget: close to zero
But I had one thing: AI.
What Tools Did I Use?
| Purpose | Tool | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Writing code | Claude Code (AI CLI) | Subscription fee |
| Web framework | Next.js + Tailwind CSS | Free |
| Hosting | Cloudflare Pages | Free |
| Domain | easyknowai.com | ~NT$300/yr |
| Analytics | Google Analytics | Free |
| Newsletter | Beehiiv | Free |
Total operating cost for the whole site: under NT$300 a year.
How I Built It: AI as Engineer, Me as Product Manager
My development process was unusual: I didn't write code. I told the AI what I wanted.
The whole thing felt like having a conversation with an incredibly capable engineer:
Here's roughly what I'd say to the AI 👇
"Build me an AI tool recommendation website. The homepage should have a big headline that says 'AI confusing? Let me help you find your starting point.' Below that, two buttons — one to take a quiz, one to see learning paths."
Then the AI would generate the code. I'd check the result, tell it what to change if something was off, and we'd go back and forth.
Like that, one exchange at a time, the first version of the website was done in one evening.
What Features Does the Site Have?
1. AI Tool Quiz
Answer 5 questions (who you are, what problem you want to solve, what format you need, your experience level, your use case), and the system automatically recommends the 3 best tools for you.
The logic behind it is a weighted scoring algorithm: each tool has a different score for each tag, your answers get converted into tags, and those tags are matched against all the tool scores to surface the top picks.
Sounds technical? I didn't write any of it. I just told the AI: "ChatGPT is good for beginners and writing tasks, Midjourney is for advanced users and image generation," and it built the whole scoring system for me.
2. 15 AI Tool Profiles
Each tool has its own page with: a 3-step getting-started guide, use cases, free tier details, and a direct "try it" button.
I also included tools specifically for healthcare professionals (Consensus, Glass AI, Elicit, Nabla) — because my university background was medically related and I know their needs are different from the general population.
3. Learning Paths
Three tracks: complete beginner, boost your productivity, and start a side business. Each path recommends 3 tools plus a first action step.
4. Blog
What you're reading right now. AI tool tutorials, personal experience, beginner guides. The goal is to rank on Google and build long-term organic traffic.
Mistakes I Made Along the Way
Problem 1: My GitHub Account Got Locked
For some reason, my GitHub account got flagged. I couldn't push code the normal way. OAuth kept failing, Personal Access Tokens kept getting auto-revoked.
The fix: I used Cloudflare's CLI tool to deploy directly, bypassing GitHub entirely.
Problem 2: Site Deployed but Showed Blank
First time I deployed, I opened easyknowai.com and saw "Nothing is here yet." Turns out Cloudflare Pages was set to look at the main branch, but I'd deployed to master. One wrong setting, almost an hour of debugging.
Problem 3: Free Tier Info Kept Changing
AI tool free plans change almost every month. I'd finish writing a tool's info and then find out Consensus had changed their free limits, or Elicit had overhauled their credit system. This means a site like this needs ongoing maintenance — you can't build it and walk away.
Total Cost
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Domain (easyknowai.com) | ~NT$300/yr |
| Cloudflare Pages hosting | NT$0 |
| Google Analytics | NT$0 |
| Beehiiv newsletter | NT$0 |
| Total | ~NT$300/yr |
Under NT$300 a year — about the price of one coffee.
What I Did After Launch
- Joined affiliate programs — Make.com, ElevenLabs, Gamma, Descript, Murf AI. If someone clicks through from my site and pays, I earn a commission.
- Set up Google Search Console — Submitted the sitemap so Google knows the site exists and starts indexing pages.
- Added JSON-LD structured data — Makes it easier for AI search engines (Perplexity, Google AI Overview) to cite my content.
- Started writing SEO articles — Targeting long-tail keywords to bring in people who've never heard of me through organic Google search.
For You, If You Want to Do Something Similar
If you're finishing this article and thinking "I want to build something too," here's my advice:
1. Don't Wait Until You're "Ready"
When I started, I knew nothing. If I'd waited until I "finished learning React, Next.js, and Tailwind," I'd still be watching tutorials.
2. Let AI Be Your Technical Co-Founder
You don't need to know how to code. You need to know what you want, then describe it clearly to AI. AI handles the code; you handle the direction.
3. Ship First, Improve Later
Version one of my site was ugly and had barely any features. But it was live. Then I improved it a little every day — from 3 tools to 15, from a 3-question quiz to 5 multi-select questions, from no blog to the article you're reading now.
4. Your "Not Qualified" Is Your Advantage
I'm not an engineer, so I know what non-engineers need. I'm not an AI expert, so I know where beginners get stuck. Your background isn't a weakness — it's your biggest differentiator.
What's Next for Me
- Continuing a 90-day daily AI tool challenge
- Writing 1–2 SEO articles every week
- Helping more small businesses go digital with AI
- Heading to Australia in August — bringing this site with me
If I could do it, so can you.
I'm Chuan-En (Jason), doing electrical and maintenance work at a hot spring hotel in Hualien, Taiwan. After work I taught myself to code, built online booking systems for a massage clinic and a barbershop, and now help small businesses save time and get more customers with AI.
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Browse first? Join the EasyKnowAI Community to see how others are using AI · Further reading: ChatGPT Beginner Guide