The Undetectable AI Problem Nobody’s Talking About

7FL - Highlight Episode 07072026
Marc: [00:00:00] If AI was gonna get out of hand, it's probably already happened, and it's probably controlling everything you see already, and you don't realize it because if I was a super smart computer, I could hide myself in the computer that you're all accessing. So if it happened, it's probably already done
Intro - Outro: You're listening to the Seven Figure Leap podcast. We're here to leverage rich relationships and smart strategies to take your business to the next level. Here's your host, Dustin Riechmann
Marc: Like all of, all of the business problems that we have today, if you just take it back to like, "Hey, I'm providing a solution to people who have a problem, and I really care about them getting the solution," you just fixed business, you fixed marketing, you, you started eliminating all the lies that we've built over so many years to convince [00:01:00] ourselves that this is the only way to get business.
Marc: Um, and it's pretty ambitious, but, you know, I network with people like you, you're doing it already, so w- we're all... There's very, there's quite a community of people working towards this goal, and I think if I could just highlight those people and highlight that information, then, then there you go. And now the, all the new marketers coming online will say, "Oh, my gosh.
Marc: Yeah, you don't trick people into buying every- anything. You just do a good job."
Dustin: Yeah. "
Marc: Oh, fixed. That was so easy."
Dustin: Yeah. I love it. So we'll see, but
Marc: that's the vision.
Dustin: I, I love the vision, and I think as a, to bring the audience into my perspective and what I've witnessed, um, in, in, in the initial steps in this way, like Magazine Mark is, uh, so I came off the stage at Traffic & Conversion.
Dustin: Mark was there to, to greet me, and he handed me and a couple of people around me a magazine, right? Mm. And I was like, "Well, this is really, like, well done." Like, uh, very just... I have it actually behind me in a different desk. Got it. But very, um, beautiful. Like it's [00:02:00] very, it, it, very creative looking imaging and, but also informative, and there's like kinda sponsorship call-outs and QR codes throughout it, and just, it was like to me the ultimate, like, physical lead magnet.
Dustin: It's like this really high produced magazine that's Mark. And it's like, and so I could see w- like Dustin Magazine where it's like- Oh, yeah ... "Hey, here's all the things I care about. Here's my values. Here's my programs," or, "Here's my, here's my n- here's my, like, most trusted network and the things that they do."
Dustin: Like just thinking through how do you create these AI p- empowered assets that are pieces and expand- and versions of our personal brand, um, but they're also just really cool and, and the, and, and they're, they leave an impression. Like I, I know the people that I was with that didn't know you yet, that met you, they still were, they're, "Man, that, that guy that had the magazine, man, he was really, like really smart."
Dustin: "He figured all that with AI." I'm like, yeah. So where do you see, like, if, if this is getting into what you wanna teach, we can just jump to that, but, like- Do you feel like you're [00:03:00] choosing AI as an application just because it's something you really enjoy and it's fun, or do you feel like it's literally necessary now?
Dustin: Like, you're not gonna do anything without AI, so you might as well just marry it right now 'cause you're gonna be with it anyway. So where, where's the AI fit in?
Marc: Yeah. I was kind of shy about it originally because I was super into AI because I'm a, I'm a hard sci-fi fan. Like, I've read- Okay ... probably 500 books that were part of space operas, which is- Wow
Marc: uh, and I'm very, uh, you know, fond of British authors, so Alastair Reynolds and, and guys like him. Uh, and so I ... It's this instant that AI started getting good, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I've actually read 500 instances of the developments of AI." Like, they're fictional, of course. Uh, but I was like, "I have all this experience.
Marc: I know exactly the potential way that all these things could go." And so then I was super interested. And, and I, you know, I was always into marketing and I was always into content generation, but, like, the AI component, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is the key. This is the key to [00:04:00] consistent content generation and consistent marketing and consistent guidelines for branding."
Marc: And I was like, "This could fix all of these problems." And then all these ... You know, and really what you see with most brands and why you don't remember most brands, and you only remember the Nikes and the Apples and companies that have their branding done is because they're so consistent and there's a central vision that they're telling everybody about, and they're bringing people into it like a religion essentially.
Marc: Mm-hmm. Uh, and so without AI, it just wasn't possible. You have to get too many people involved. You have to get too many applications involved. It's just so much work. Uh, but now that's how I described it before. Now I'm like, no, saying you use AI is gonna be like saying you have a cell phone or-
Caleb: Yeah ...
Marc: you sent an email on a computer.
Marc: Like, it's just base technology. It's just there, and you have to have it. Like, you gotta drink water. And so that's why, like, I only put the AI part of the branding boot camp because yeah, we're doing a ton of AI stuff. Like, I'm teaching 10 different applications and how to apply consistent AI branding to it.
Marc: [00:05:00] Uh, but it's really just because it's a thing right now, and- Yeah ... 90% of the population doesn't even understand how significant it is, so you have to say, like, "This is AI powered", or whatever. But yeah, it's just a tool. It's just another ... It's an awesome tool. And honestly, you know, we both went through the development of the internet, uh, and we saw- Mm
Marc: how powerful that was, and it was like, man, this is at least as big and probably bigger because what it's gonna do is completely transform the way we consume information. Because if you think about the way you get information right now, you go to Google, you type in some crap, you get 300 million results, and then you do another search.
Marc: But it's, it's, it's walking through a stupid warehouse full of boxes. That's what data collection is right now. But with AI, now we could get good at data, and we can make, you know, 'cause really the, the whole concept behind everything I do is actually surrounds databases, where it's like you don't want to make- Yeah
Marc: you know, for so many years, especially with SEO or, or social media marketing, we were only worried about viral content, right? Like, oh, how do I get that one [00:06:00] piece that just triggers a million hits and blah, blah, blah. It's like, no, forget that. Those are, those are unicorns again. You can't make a unicorn.
Marc: That just happens sometimes. Yeah. But what you can do is make a useful resource of information on your website on a topic that your customer, you know, your potential customers would find useful. And so for me, when I started doing marketing, I, I had a fitness magazine and I literally made it because my friend, who was a trainer at the time, sent me a workout and it said, "Do this many push-ups, this many squats, this many Hindu squats."
Marc: Okay, what the heck is that? Uh, this many arrow push-ups. And you're like, "Oh, crap, I don't even know what these terms are." So I went to YouTube, looked it up, and got 500 different answers from a bunch of jerks who wanted to talk for five minutes rather than just showing me the exercise. And so I was like, "I just want a list of exercises.
Marc: Like, what the hell?" And so, so I was like, "I guess I'm gonna make it." And so I came up with a method of making 15-second videos just demonstrating an exercise, and that's all it was. And then we made a post for every single exercise. [00:07:00] And then what I started doing, 'cause I'm neurotic, is I made a syntax for how the exercises are named.
Marc: 'Cause when I looked up push-up, do you spell push-up with two words? Is it one word? Yeah. Is it push dash up? And so how do you name it? So I was like, "Oh, well, I'll be the authority that decides how these things are named." And so I came up with a method for, okay, I'm gonna look up which one people look up the most, and that's how we're gonna spell it from now on because that's how most people are spelling it.
Marc: Very simple things. Uh- Mm ... but so then I developed a list of exercises, then I said, "Okay, well, I want workouts too, so I'll do the workouts and I'll connect them to the exercises, so now I don't have to explain every single exercise in the workouts, and then I'll make a workout plan And then I'll gate the workout plan so people could see the exercises, understand the value, see the workouts, understand the value, and then want the plans that puts it all together, and then I need your email for that.
Marc: Uh, so it was actually like an early form of like, I think, modern content marketing. Uh, and but it's all based on very [00:08:00] simple aspects. Just build lists of information, decide how you're gonna style that information so it's unique to you, and then just keep doing it. It's, it's not rocket science. Yeah. Just keep doing stuff, and then everything else happens.
Marc: And so that's, uh, that's kind of the, the core philosophy of behind both AI and image gener- or, you know, AI generation. And really my theory for what's gonna happen in regards to like, are we gonna have websites in the future? I don't think so. I think what you'll have is a central database, they call it the organizational knowledge interface, an OKI.
Marc: And so the OKI is essentially all of the information from your company, all the public-facing and probably the private-facing information in one spot, and it's all licensed. So literally nobody could use this information but your company, and it's powered by your AI, which the customer queries. And so the only place to get your unique flavor of content would be from your AI.
Marc: And so now what I also think is gonna happen is we'll all have AIs [00:09:00] on our phone. Those two AIs will interact. Your information will, you know, be seen by the customer, and then now it's a much more organic process of finding the information and how you could find information that you'll like, but don't not necessarily know where to get it, which is now curated by the brands that you follow.
Marc: And so essentially, marketing in the future is gonna be a war between communities and, uh, data centers. Who has the best information? Who delivers that information the best? And then you get into content structure and a bunch of other, uh, more... They're not- So you- Nothing I say is complex. It's just a lot.
Dustin: No, that's really fascinating actually. I've never heard that description. Um, I, I would say I'm not resistant to AI at all, and, you know, I use like ChatGPT and basic stuff, but, um, I also would probably fall more in the bucket of like a little fearful of it 'cause like, you know, sounds like it could get out of hand quickly.
Dustin: If I can control that- Well, I'll, I'll- ... might as
Marc: well use it ... I'll relieve you. I'll relieve you of that concern. If AI was gonna get out of hand, it's probably already happened, and it's [00:10:00] probably controlling everything you see already, and you don't realize it because if I was a super smart computer, I could hide myself in the computer that you're all accessing.
Marc: So if it happened, it's probably already done
Dustin: My own experience, you know, like Everything we do is based in a community. Our flagship program, you know, the podcast, Podcast Profit Accelerators, cohort-based. I've had a lot of pushback, I guess maybe is... I don't know if that's the right word, but I've had a lot of advice from, you know, people, "Hey, you can't scale cohorts."
Dustin: And I've resisted that, 'cause I'm like, no, I, I see the magic in the cohorts. I- we've done 14 of these cohorts. Now, is cohorts the only way to drive value? No, but I think it ain't broke, like I don't wanna fix it. You know? It's like this is really working. And the things you said are totally part of that, like the accountability, the structure, the, the insights from the leader, you know, like they get Caleb or they get Pat or whatever, like direct insights.
Dustin: Like, that's all good. And then the two things that come up a lot [00:11:00] for us, I'm sure you guys get this especially in your like thrive level of your community, is clarity and connection, right? It's people like, "I didn't really wanna be in a group, and I didn't think I needed a group, and I don't need any more Zoom calls in my life, but oh my gosh, I've got so much clarity, you know, by...
Dustin: from the other people in this group. Like, they, they've provided me this kind of 360 feedback that I could've never got anywhere else." And of course, connection. Like, I've got friends in here. I have people who really understand what I'm going through. Someone referred me to a client or, you know, a, a podcast opportunity in our case.
Dustin: And so I'm viewing this, and it feels like you guys are too at SPI, like I don't know who knows what AI's gonna do to my business in a year or f- three years, but I think community is my best hedge. I think it's like the best way to actually serve the people now, and it's the best hedge against AI-ification of all my stuff.
Dustin: It's like, you know, you can go right now really into ChatGPT and have Dustin write your podcast pitch and do the more mechanical things, but you can't yet replace what it's like to be in a group with 200 other people who think and share your values and care [00:12:00] about you and collaborate with you and hold you accountable.
Dustin: And so I, I love- Yeah ... in other words, that you guys are using community as like a primary part of your value. And, uh, I'm doing the same, and I think that's gonna be good as we get into the more AI stuff and the, the fakery and all the, all the things we talked about. So any, any closing thoughts on that, and we'll move on to, uh, another topic.
Caleb: Yeah, I mean, I think we saw it. I feel like we keep bringing up- Yeah ... COVID. But y- we saw it during that timeframe, where people seek the human connection when everyone was supposed- Yep ... to stay home, and they found a way to, um, connect with other people. And we did see cohort-based stuff take off a lot. Um, you know, a lot of our peers as well as, um, the SPI community was kind of launching in COVID to, to help, you know, foster that request from, from people in the audience of like, we wanna be, get connected to people that are at our level so we can have c- certain conversations that we can't just have publicly- Yeah
Caleb: on Reddit or Twitter or Instagram or wherever else. So it's, it's the equivalent of [00:13:00] whatever would've been your local village or your local like college campus or whatever. But now it's just- Yeah ... online. And I think that in the age of AI, people are going to crave that even more. Yep. Because when I go to scroll social media and everything is, I can tell- AI created and feels, um, like soulless or not, not a person.
Caleb: Have you heard the dead internet theory? No,
Dustin: no.
Caleb: That nothing on the internet is even real anymore. It's just AIs and robots reposting the other things. That's, like, eventually that's the point we'll get to, where there'll be no original thought and everything will just be regurgitated by AI- Yeah ... to, to each other, and the AI will start talking to each other, and it'll just...
Caleb: Yeah.
Dustin: Yeah, I mean, that, that- I know ... just does feel like there's, you know, uh, shades of that already. And then I always like to think, like, "Hey, in that reality, what am I really gonna wanna do? I'm gonna wanna go, like, literally stand around a campfire with other humans and tell stories and, you know, share a favorite beverage or whatever."
Dustin: It's like, yeah, it's like how we did before we [00:14:00] had the internet, you know? It's like that, that is a primal- Yeah ... thing that we want. We like tribe- we're tribal, and we wanna, like, be around people and, and, you know, have each other's back and all that. And I hope that there's still a great place to do that, uh, virtually, and it'll get even better, you know, with, with AI being a, a positive add to that.
Dustin: And, uh, but no, the dead internet thing, that, that's a thought I didn't need today. So thanks, Caleb, uh, for ruining the internet.
Caleb: You're welcome. Yeah. I mean, I feel like, I feel like part of the internet- Yeah ... already there, you know? Yes. Even, like, Twitter replies and LinkedIn comments- Yes, LinkedIn ... it's like someone hit the AI generate and send, and they did that 20 times, and that's their engagement.
Caleb: And it... Yeah, so.
Dustin: Yes, for sure. All right. We're already close. So I, I think we've got to extract a lot of value there on, like, what SPI is doing and what your role is there, uh, your perspective through all your entrepreneurial journey. We haven't really talked yet about what you do outside of SPI, 'cause one of the cool things about SPI, um, you know, Matt has his own projects, Pat has his own projects, Caleb has his own projects and businesses and things like that.
Dustin: And I know in, in being there a year, this has [00:15:00] been a, a fertile time for you to kinda, like, try out some new things and have some new constraints on your time, but also some new opportunities and access and freedoms. So I'll let, I'll put, let you put it in your own words between what you and what your wife are up to, like, what...
Dustin: We know the intrapreneur Caleb of your role as the CEO at SPI, but, like, what's the entrepreneur Caleb still doing today outside of those, uh, those times?
Caleb: Yeah, a lot of who I've serviced, like, at a, as a video production company over the past 10 years are people at a certain level in their business, and I targeted people that could afford, you know, a five-figure video project- Yeah
Caleb: for me to fly out, film with them for a few days to record something that they would then would sell and make even more money off of. And so essentially what I'm doing now is on the side of SPI is working with people at that level in the, like, mid to six-figure, low seven-figure range that are looking to either scale beyond themselves, maybe they have, like, a handful of contractors, or they've [00:16:00] started to hire some teams, but there's, you know, systems or missing pieces essentially in their business.
Caleb: And I essentially come in like a mechanic to determine what parts of their businesses are, are weak or could be fixed, and figuring out what those systems are that we can make better. So typically, someone's either really good at content creation or marketing, and that's why they're able to grow an audience or grow a business, but they might not be so good on You know, building a team, or operations, or f- their finances might be a mess, or wh- whatever it is.
Caleb: There might be leaky parts of their funnel that they're not really seeing, and those are the things that I can come in and kind of assess, and then, kinda like an architect, kinda put a blueprint together for, like, okay, this is what this part of your business should look like. Yep. And so it's, it's helping creators that kind of reach a plateau or a scale issue, where they either wanna scale beyond themselves a bit more, or scale their revenue, uh, higher than they've been able to.
Caleb: That's
Dustin: awesome. And I know there's definitely people [00:17:00] listening to this that are experiencing it now, uh, or will experience it, 'cause, you know, you become a victim of your own success in a positive way. I've experienced it. In some ways I'm experiencing it now. And so first of all, I love that, like, that emphasis, 'cause again, with like, you have a very unique perspective.
Dustin: Like, you've been in all these different business types. You've got the ... One of the, I think, the huge advantages you have as the CEO of SPI is not only the paycheck that comes with it, but, like, the access you have to see all the other creators, right? Like, y- you're, you're the creator serving creators, and therefore you see the spectrum of people, um, who are experiencing scale, um, opportunities, and pains in different ways.
Dustin: So if someone's sitting here, I know we're gonna talk about how they can, like, have your personal brain on their business to do this, but just in a more general sense- Are there like a list of levers? I'm kind of picturing an analogy- Yeah ... you know, like a car, you, you mentioned that, or an airplane or something.
Dustin: Are there, are there like, these are the five key things, one of these is screwed up and you need to fix? Like, are there like key categories that [00:18:00] everyone has to address when they're scaling a business, let's say from six figures to seven figures?
Caleb: I think that in general people know the thing that isn't working- Yeah
Caleb: in their business. There's a mixture of like, I feel r- like I'm really good at something, and then I feel like I'm really bad at something, so I'm gonna outsource the bad things like accounting or legal or, you know, finances or handling my email or whatever. You know, like, the things that people really don't like doing, they're quick- Yep
Caleb: to hand off. It's the things that they're mediocre at that they're afraid to hand off that are the things that are- Yeah ... the opportunities to, to grow and to scale. And so what, what I end up finding is when I, when I talk to someone at a certain stage, they, they are smart, they are successful enough.
Caleb: They've gotten to a certain point where they're full-time on their business. They're been able to scale it to a certain level. They bring in help on things they don't wanna do, but there are still these mental barriers or bottlenecks in their business that they're kind of afraid to take the next step on.
Caleb: So it's kinda different for each person. It could be maybe platforms they don't wanna spend the time to be on, but they know [00:19:00] they should be on. Like, maybe they should really be on Instagram and put together a short-form video strategy and use ManyChat and do things to scale their business there. But they, they really don't want to or they're afraid to.
Caleb: Or it could be they really need to hand off a part of their business that they used to do but maybe they shouldn't be doing anymore. Yeah. So, like, for me for example, that would be like, I probably shouldn't be editing my own videos- Right ... anymore, but I know how to do it. I did it for 10 years. Like, why would I wanna hand this off?
Caleb: You know? So it's like the things that people are used to doing but they probably shouldn't be doing, those are the typical levers you try to come in and- That's good ... help 'em with.
Dustin: Yeah. And I was, I was writing them down and I'm not, I, I'm usually in the marketing seat, right? 'Cause, like, the work I do is mostly on marketing.
Dustin: But thinking through my own business, I wrote down marketing, sales, uh, fulfillment or operations, right? Like, how do you actually deliver the thing that you're gonna sell. Uh, finances, and then, like, admin. And, and maybe I'm missing something in there. But if you're listening to [00:20:00] this and you're kind of walking through that, I think as Caleb said, if you've had some level of financial success so you've got some cash flow that's a little bit more than what you need to eat, you're going to pretty quickly, like, spend money on the thing you really hate.
Dustin: You know ? It's like, "Oh, man, I hate my email. It's a mess." Yeah. Or, "I don't even f- I don't know anything about accounting. I'm gonna get a bookkeeper." And so I think what you said is totally accurate. Like, we're pretty good at, like- Triaging the really bad stuff. And then there's the- Yeah ... the what's left though, I think gets into this, like, mix where there's probably the thing, probably the thing with the biggest upside for you to scale or to either put a system or a person or, you know, um, some energy behind.
Dustin: It's probably the thing you're pretty good at, but not, like, world-class at, right? So, like, Caleb's great at video editing, but, like, there's some probably better video editors who would be less effective hourly rates than what he should be demanding of his own time. I'm good at lead generation, but does that mean I should be writing all of my own content and being the person that follows up on it and [00:21:00] be the one that actually creates landing pages for the funnels?
Dustin: No. Like, I could be the strategic architect over that, but, like, someone else needs to be doing that work. And so that's gonna be personal for everyone listening, like, but it's kinda like kill your darlings, right? It's like probably the thing that you're pretty good at that you kind of like is probably the thing holding you back.
Dustin: Do you think that's, like, a fair way to summarize that?
Caleb: Yeah. Typically, it's something that seems scary to- Yeah ... hand off. Ends up being the thing that, uh, people really need to let go of, and also tends to be things that actually don't make them money. Yeah. But they, but they sten- they tend to hang on to those things for whatever reason.
Caleb: So, you know, you, you do exercises of determining, you know, their personal hourly rate, and if they could hire someone for less than that, they should probably hand it off. But that's still kind of a mental barrier for people to, to unlock of whether they think, like, can I... Well, can I... It... Let's say my rate is $500 an hour.
Caleb: Can I really go make that in an hour or not? Like, I should. I'll just do it, you know? Yeah. I'll just take care of it. And, you know, you, you can take it too far, where you just have everyone doing everything for you, and you just [00:22:00] essentially sit around. But, you know, Dan Martell, his book- Yeah ... Buy Back Your Time.
Caleb: Yeah. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but he's talking, you know, he's talking about that problem specifically.
Dustin: Yep.
Caleb: You know? So it's like, are there things you shouldn't be doing that are taking away from what you should be doing? And, you know, you c- I think you could take it too far, but I'd almost rather you take it too far than have to, you know, bring it back a little bit, o- of getting help on things that are taking time and energy away from what's, what's really valuable- Yep
Caleb: to you.
Justin: Listen, I have just as many worries as the average person, if not more. Um, you know, I, I inherited a financial mindset from my dad where like, you know, I worry about that kind of stuff. Like I think talking with, with friends of mine, talking with advisors, talking with mentors, messing around with, with AI has me feeling very confident about my lot in life and, and very fortunate.
Justin: And I can do one of two things [00:23:00] I'm sure there is a third option, but let's just boil it down to two. I can go really hard-- There's three things. I can go really hard and try and get that enough number, which, which I already said is not a good idea.
Dustin: Yes.
Justin: I can build a really sustainable business over, over the next ten years, right?
Justin: Or I could quit.
Dustin: I like that.
Justin: I like that you, you- Those are basically the three options, right? And
Dustin: I- The third option is an important one that people should realize is always an option.
Justin: Yeah. I don't wanna quit, and I don't want to go as hard as I can for some imaginary number that probably won't make me feel any better.
Justin: So to me, the only option that's left is to do something that I enjoy, and the only way that I'm gonna enjoy that is if I'm working a couple of hours a day and spending the rest of my time doing the stuff I wanna do with people I wanna do it with. So that's really sort of the, how it boils down to how I think about growth.
Justin: It might grow anyway, but i-if it doesn't- Right ... it won't be the end of the world.
Dustin: That's awesome. I love that. It's a very mature answer. Uh, it's one that I'd say I've, I've grown into adopting for the [00:24:00] most part, you know, a similar mindset. It's definitely a big takeaway for me is hearing you say that and articulate so clearly why you can choose the second option and feel really fulfilled in that decision.
Dustin: So as we kinda move to the final chapter here, because it's, you know, the time it is, AI's come up as some portion of almost every answer that, that you've given. So I'd love to just zoom in a little bit on that and talk a little more about AI's role in your business and sort of where you see that going in the creator economy and solo- Yeah
Dustin: entrepreneurship. Maybe, you know, the pros, cons, how you see to leverage it the right way. There's a lot of questions in there, but sort of, you know, Justin Welsh's- Yeah ... take on AI in the age that we're in because it's definitely not something that is going away.
Justin: Let's start with the cons, right? 'Cause I think the cons are pretty maybe common things that people will talk about is, I see it as almost potentially the death of creativity, which I don't love.
Justin: Now, I might find that that is in fact completely untrue, right? But I don't know. I enjoy listening to a band who wrote their [00:25:00] songs and played their instruments and has a journey and a, and a story behind them. I enjoy reading a writer who, who is a real person with real experiences and real unique flaws.
Justin: I worry that AI will rob us of those experiences. But on the flip side, the pro is that the more human-centric that you are, the more unique your experiences are, the more you're gonna stand out in that world. There is sort of a, an equal but opposite reaction to each one of these cons. That is my biggest concern, is that creativity becomes something that is no longer valued.
Justin: Mm. And I think creativity should be valued. I think the pros are as follows I can work a lot faster, right? Let me give you an example. If I don't know what to write for my newsletter this week, I'll just drop a voice note into Claude and chat through a bunch of things in my head and say like, "Connect these dots and help me think of something to write about," right?
Justin: I've written 200 plus newsletters, you know, and 4,000 pieces of social content, [00:26:00] you know? So usually I'm organically inspired through conversations or experiences in my life. Sometimes just like I'm staring at a blank piece of paper, I need, need that help. Claude in particular is a very strong editor. It's really strong at giving feedback.
Justin: So for example, I have a workflow where when I write my weekly newsletter, I'll drop it in there and essentially grade it on a number of criteria that make for a compelling newsletter. And oftentimes it'll come back and say, "This stinks," right? And like, a- and so then I have to fix it. But that's a lot better than like hiring an editor or trying to edit my own stuff or like my wife helps a, a little bit on that side.
Justin: But it's been able to allow me to see the errors in my storytelling, in how compelling I'm being, and I love that it's teaching me, right? Mm. So over time, as I upload my newsletters that I write, they're getting better because I'm learning [00:27:00] essentially from the editor, right? Right. Which I think is, is very, very useful.
Justin: Another way that I use AI in, in a way that I think is a big pro is simply data analytics. As someone who creates a- an incredible amount of content, I do about, I think 150 pieces of content a month, it's great at spotting patterns, it's great at f- helping me form hypotheses like we talked about earlier.
Justin: It's great at telling me why something didn't work generally. It's not always right, but it, it's generally, I think, directionally correct. And so I use it to work faster- To write and edit more effectively, right? So it helps me really, really take those newsletters to another level. And then to analyze all the data that I get from that.
Justin: And I think that has been a, not just a time saver, but an improver of the effort that I make is now, you know, it pays off more.
Dustin: Yeah. I love that. And what I hear there is not at all a replacement for your own creativity- Correct ... but an amplifier, an optimizer, a thought partner, in a sense, for [00:28:00] ideation and editing and review and, and analytics.
Dustin: The other thing you, the word that you said i- is story. And so- Mm-hmm ... I feel like anytime I think about AI, I sort of think of the other side of the coin as story, and that AI can ch- of course, create stories and make stuff up. Sure. But I think the thing that still attracts people to us as creators and as people running online businesses is our own story, right?
Dustin: It's our own authenticity, transparency, vulnerability, all the things that go into that. What are your thoughts on just story, and especially it's interesting to me, like, to me, n- story comes up naturally because most of my content is longer form, podcasting, podcast guesting, things like that. And so story is a natural element when you're in this format.
Dustin: You've told numerous stories, lots of great examples. But in short form, it feels like it's easy to leave out the story or, or miss the ability to integrate story. Yeah, so, like, what are your thoughts on the importance of story, especially as we look over the horizon at the emergence of AI?
Justin: Yeah. I think in short form [00:29:00] You know, stories are harder to tell.
Justin: You can tease out a story very effectively and lead someone to a piece of longer form content that does, uh, does the story better justice. But I also think if you're a good writer, you can write a short story in a pretty compelling fashion. I think, what's the famous thing? Like, write a story in, like, less than a sentence, and it's like, "Baby shoes for sale.
Justin: Never worn," I think is the, the example, right? Yeah. That's kind of a, an extreme example. But telling your personal stories is what separates you in an age of AI, and I'll give you an example. So my wife and I were in New York, and I don't know when this podcast will be published, but my wife and I were in New York early October, and she left her wallet in the back of a cab.
Justin: Oof. And she was very distraught 'cause we have a ton of cash we were paying our pet sitter. She- all of her credit cards, her license, a little note from me, like stuff she couldn't recover, and, like, she was pretty sure it was gone. It was in New York City, right? Yeah. And I [00:30:00] had, like, this really interesting thought that it would get returned from a karmic perspective of I've, I've actually returned two wallets in the last 10 years.
Justin: And I'm like, "I'm gonna get this wallet back." "I speak karma." And, like, it happened. Young guy found it, reached out to us on Facebook. We helped get the wallet back. And I was like, "That's a really cool story." And here's the-- where AI and real life in storytelling kind of bifurcate, right? So, like, I was like, "That's a compelling story," and there's something in that story as it relates to entrepreneurship.
Justin: I really struggled to figure out... I, now I'm reverse engineering, right? I'm starting with a story and trying to make it about entrepreneurship instead of being like, "This is something that happened." But I thought there was a good idea there. So the story was real, and then I started playing around with, with AI, thinking, "Here's how I think about it a little bit as it relates to entrepreneurship.
Justin: Can you help me flesh this idea out a little bit more?"
Dustin: Yep.
Justin: And AI was able to do that really effectively until I had a story [00:31:00] what was, number one, true, and number two, really relevant to entrepreneurship. And they asked me good questions, and I filled in the blanks, and I, I got the infrastructure of the story, and then I was able to write it.
Justin: And so that's a really good example of, like, how your personal experience, y- you can't forget that, but you can use AI to help you become better at pulling that beautiful story out. That's what I'm publishing this upcoming Saturday. So, like, you know, folks, if they're listening to this, w- it'll probably be published already, but, you know, that's a good example of that in my opinion.
Justin: That's awesome.
Dustin: That's a really good example. Yeah, I like that. I'm sorry for, you know, Jennifer's panic in the, in the moment- Yeah. ... but I, I like that your, your insight is like, "Hey, I've already returned a couple wallets. Like, this is coming back. Like, I put it out, it's coming back to us." Thank you for listening to the Seven Figure Leap podcast.
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