The Challenge
While applying for colleges during the 2018-2019 cycle, Dyllen Nellis didn't necessarily know what to do when applying for colleges. She and many others had to really rely on themselves when figuring out the best strategies to apply to their dream schools. By developing a structured strategy based on reading and watching a variety of sources about the college application process, she was ultimately accepted into every school that she applied to.
At the end of her freshman year at Stanford, however, the pandemic was in full swing. Undeterred, Dyllen decided to give back by creating content geared towards prospective college students about the college application process and the best strategies to use. As her content became more widespread, many people were asking her to take a look at their essays, which inspired her to start her own website, Next Gen Admit.
As AI became more commonplace, Dyllen wanted to know which tools would best serve her site. However, the majority of the AI tools that she had found were either too difficult to use or the tool itself only seemed to serve one singular purpose, such as use cases commonly found in marketing or sales.
Before implementing Pickaxe, she was relying on her old posts since she wasn't posting much on social media, getting her less than 10 new email subscribers daily. In addition, the lead magnet that she was using before in the form of a small downloadable guide was too slow. She realized people would rather have access to a resource that offered immediate results.
The Solution
With Pickaxe, Dyllen found an easy-to-use platform for creating flexible AI tools and embedding them into her website.
Dyllen took her niche expertise in the college admissions process and created a tool that helped generate ideas for college applicants. The tool didn't require any coding—it just required Dyllen to write a prompt based off her intimate knowledge of how to make college applications pop. The result, the AI Passion Project Generator, allowed Dyllen to offer a taste of her expertise at scale to hundreds of applicants seeking help.
An AI tool that lived on her website as an embed was the perfect solution. The tool could generate helpful material to her users instantly. By putting the tool behind a sign-up form, Dyllen was able to generate tons of leads.
Since then, she has also built other bots and released a full suite of AI tools called EC (ExtraCurricular) Engine. These tools allow her students instantaneous access to personalized and tailored results, making similar resources more accessible and affordable to them.
The Results
After implementing Pickaxe and using it in conjunction with her social media, Dyllen has been averaging between 100 to 200 new email subscribers a day—a massive increase from less than 10 daily subscribers before.
Dyllen's AI Passion Project Generator amassed more uses than any other entry in Pickaxe's Prompt Design Contest, winning her a prize for the most-used pickaxe in the competition.
Her TikTok video about the AI Passion Project Generator also went viral, adding over 700 new email subscribers to her mailing list in a single video. Her TikTok showed the importance of creating an independent project, and how her tool could be used to generate passion project ideas based on the student's interests.
Why It Works
Dyllen's strength is her deep understanding of the college admissions process and what makes applications stand out.
Pickaxe gave her:
- A no-code platform to turn her expertise into interactive tools
- The ability to embed tools directly into her website
- A way to offer immediate value to students in exchange for their email
- Flexibility to build multiple tools that serve different aspects of the college application process
As Dyllen explains: "I recently used Pickaxe to create the AI Passion Project Generator because a lot of students don't really know where to start on how to create a project that both satiates their intellectual curiosity and helps them stand out in admissions. AI has knowledge in every field that I can tap into and I also train it on the strategy behind passion projects and college admissions – so it's a win-win for both myself and my students."
The Takeaway
Dyllen's story shows how creators can use Pickaxe to:
- Transform slow, static lead magnets into instant, interactive experiences
- Scale expertise through AI tools that offer immediate value
- Generate leads at scale while providing genuine help to users
- Build a suite of tools that work together to serve a specific audience
If you're looking to turn your expertise into lead-generating AI tools that provide real value to your audience, Pickaxe gives you the platform to do it without coding—just like Dyllen did with Next Gen Admit.