Creator Leverage: Master AI. Build Systems. Grow Your Business

Yesterday, I wrote about balancing creating work with a business. Building on that theme, today I’ll cover managing real-world intrusions. Respondents to last week’s survey said they struggle with finding time to write or create content because of, you know, life. I’ve been working from home since 2015. I’ve three kids, aged 7–19 (okay, arguably that’s two kids and one adult!). For a few years, I found real-world intrusions stressful, such as our youngest coming into the office looking for...

I divide my workday into two different modes. I’ll explain why in a moment… Last week, I surveyed newsletter readers. Respondents submitted variations of this theme: being consistent. One reader said: I want to reach a point where I am consistent with both the business side and the creative side of writing. Did the balance come to you naturally? How did you get to the place where such things as sudden algorithm changes weren’t major derailments in your writing and business?" Finding time to...

I spent over $1,000 on AI tools for my business last month. Crazy? Maybe. But these tools are helping me save money and ship projects faster than ever. Every day I write a 500-word newsletter. I use Grammarly to catch typos and mistakes. It costs $30 per month, but its AI-powered assistant is a timesaver. I can quickly accept changes and suggestions at a click, going from draft to published much faster. Get a discount here. A year or two ago, I relied on a human editor. That got expensive...

In case you missed it, yesterday I shared a 30 Second Survey I’d like you to fill out. It should take less than a minute. I’m doing this as I want to publish content that helps you navigate writing, creating content, and using AI. I’ll share insights next week. Here’s the link (It’s 100% anonymous)

Smaller web publishers saw nice bumps in traffic over the past few months. Basically, Google tweaked its search algorithm via a series of core updates. Traffic to one of my content sites from Google is up 100% versus earlier this year. That sounds like a tasty increase in traffic, and it looks like a fun chart when I log into my web analytics. But it’s not enjoyable to look at when web traffic is down 90% YoY. A few crumbs from Google is too little, too late for most smaller bloggers and...

I’ve created a 30 Second Survey I’d like you to fill out. It should take less than a minute and it’ll help me understand what you need help with. Next week, I’ll use the results of this survey to answer your questions about writing, creating content, and using AI. Here’s the link (It’s 100% anonymous) I’ll start sharing the initial results next week.

(Thanks to everyone for their condolences and warm wishes yesterday). I went to a talk by a VC investor in Dublin last week. He asked a room of 70+ people, wondering about AI, these three questions: 1. What types of jobs are most likely to be exposed by AI?Before I set up my media business, I wrote content and web copy for small Irish companies. The work was sporadic, but I scratched together a reasonable living. The hardest part of the job was finding clients, not tech. After I set up my...