I run my business with a team of 1.2.
(My exceptional VA helps me edit my podcast so it actually goes out, and puts my copy into carousels that don’t look like a colour-blind 3-year-old made them)
Like so many others, I’m doing the work of 7 people. And yet, we’re told we’re cheating if we let AI lend a hand.
I’m in charge of sales, marketing, growth, finances, delivery, client relations, quality control, network building, capacity planning, and everything else.
I also have 2 children (1 with additional needs), a cat, a husband, laundry, cooking, meal planning, shopping, cleaning, school runs, exercise, and a million pieces of life admin that pop up out of nowhere (you know the ones).
Business for a lot of people doesn’t mean renting an office, growing by word of mouth and investing in wider marketing when you’ve grown to a certain size and can afford to hire someone to do it for you.
Now you have to plan and organise and create daily (or more) content for at least 4 different channels, battling myriad algorithms, understand SEO, and work out funnel automation from the very beginning.
You have to be your own full-sized marketing department before you even fill your books (or pay yourself a salary).
So yes, more people are using AI to take the pressure off. Because, let’s not beat around the bush, it is too much pressure. For this new breed of business owners, who are more likely to be balancing caring responsibilities around their brand, these pressures are unreasonable. However much shiny content by people like Amy Porterfield tells you it isn’t.
Which is why I think the gatekeeping and shaming around using AI is unfair, and unreasonable.
Yes, there are ethical issues around AI – its development, regulation, use (uncompensated) of art and content made by humans, environmental impact, the fact that Sam Altman is obviously part of the Silicon Valley “I’m smart so I can do whatever I want”, and “isn’t this interesting I’m going to see where it leads, even if it might hurt people” mindset.
For example, I can’t stick around on LinkedIn or threads for more than 5 minutes these days without reading that asking ChatGPT a question is like pouring a bottle of water down the sink.
Which, fine. But have you stopped and checked what the environmental impact of doomscrolling for 3 hours is? Or your latest “it’s for the content” Amazon purchase? Honestly, the problem is less saying “thank you” to the robot living in your computer, and more all those millionaires flying around in private jets… just saying.
If you have an online element to your business, then you rely in some way on the algorithms of the various social media sites. These algorithms reward profiles that put out frequent and regular content. And, yes – even if you’ve got an email list – you need some way to drive leads to that list. If you’re at the point in your business growth when you can’t afford to outsource to a marketing team, then you are the marketing team. And, in order to be seen amongst the noise on social media, you need to come up with a ridiculous amount of content. The overriding feeling is that it’s about volume.
And I’m sorry, but the average (often female) service-based business owner cannot produce this volume in an organic, considered, handcrafted way, without burning out or neglecting the client work that pays their bills.
You telling them that they’re personally melting the ice caps and ripping off every single author out there isn’t making them reconsider using AI. It’s just layering on another coat of shame, overwhelm, and the feeling of not being enough.
Look, I’m a copywriter. I’m aware that AI has knocked out a large portion of my industry. I’m aware that it has made it harder to convince people of the value of what I do. I have lost clients who decided (sometimes correctly, and sometimes not) that they could take the work we’d done together so far, pair it with ChatGPT, and cut their marketing investment to $20 a month.
Would I prefer everyone to adopt their very own pet copywriter to handcraft every single piece of marketing and sales material they put out into the world?
Sure.
But that was unrealistic before AI, and it’s even more unrealistic now.
We laud the lowering of barriers to entry to business. How the internet has opened up opportunities, made being an entrepreneur more accessible.
This is part of it.
Why punish and browbeat the self-belief coach who can now help more clients? Or the ADHD mentor who can now find more people to support because she can use AI to organise her thoughts and combat procrastination?
Do I think that people could be creating more effective AI content?
100% yes.
Do I roll my eyes as I see brands and individuals who I rate putting out emoji-strewn captions that could be talking about any industry or offer?
100% yes.
Do I offer services for clients who want nothing to do with AI and are happy to invest in human-crafted words and strategy?
Obviously.
Am I going to continue to suggest to these brands that investing in messaging strategy and brand voice work that they then train their AI with will make ongoing content creation easier AND more effective?
Damn right I am.
But what I’m not going to do is write 53 LinkedIn posts about how I can spot when you’re using AI because of em dashes, or rocket emojis, or contrast structure, or because you mentioned cheese.
The majority of these brands aren’t putting out this content because they think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. They’re doing it because they’re fucking overwhelmed. They feel like the algorithm is against them (because it is), and they’re just trying to build a business that pays their bills and makes life worth living.
Why are we shaming people for using the tools at their disposal to make their lives easier?
I’d rather help people build sustainable businesses (with whatever tools help them do that) than add to the pile-on.
Curious how this could work for your business? I’d be happy to walk you through it.