This week on Should I Care? we (Sophie Griffiths & Ruthie Walmsley) get into AI, & whether it's coming for our jobs.

It kicked off with Ruthie: a client sent her copy back saying it sounded too much like AI, & it wasn't AI, she'd written every word herself.

But the more we talked, the more it turned into something every coach & service provider is living right now.

Because your clients are using it too…they're having a chat with Claude at midnight & turning up with a seven-page strategy, submitting work that's clearly landed straight out of AI with nothing of them left in it, & half-wondering if they still need you at all. We get into what's actually being devalued here & what genuinely isn't, & the odd new pressure to prove the human bit is still worth paying for.

Plus the AI agents we've both built to buy back a few hours, & the ones that ate the whole evening instead.

In this episode:

• The client who turned up with a 7-page strategy from Claude, & why the honest fix was simpler than everything the AI suggested
• Getting sent work that's clearly straight out of AI with no checks on it, & what it quietly does to the person having to review it
• The accountability coach Sophie built in Claude that got shirty with her for disappearing, & the one thing it could never get its head round
• An entire evening lost to sorting 150 client screenshots with AI, & what she had to admit by the end of it
• The discovery-call question Sophie asks out loud now that she'd have been mortified to ask 18 months ago

New episodes every Tuesday.

Follow Sophie: @sophiegriffithsco & Ruthie: @firstpersonnarrative

When you're ready, here's the next step:

Outrageous – for established women coaches and service providers who want one offer designed to hit 6 figures without them being the engine of every sale. [Join the Waitlist]

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of Should I Care?

with me, Sophie Griffiths.

Me, Ruthie Walmsley

hey, how are you doing?

I'm doing really well, thank you.

I'm gonna jump right in with something actually,

go on

really on my mind.

'cause I've actually just this morning been doing something

called the morning pages.

Yeah

So there's like this secret world of people talking about this book

called The Artist's Way, I'm sure some

our listeners have heard of it.

I hadn't heard of it.

but a part of it is doing these morning pages where you do three pages of writing.

And the reason I started doing this is because I feel like I've been

having a full-blown identity crisis,

about my work as a writer.

Okay.

to tell you about it.

essentially, what I've come to the conclusion is that it's, AI's fault.

I'm having an identity

Sure.

Yeah.

So obviously, a massive part of what I do for a living is writing.

I'm writing people's content for them, I'm writing people's copy for their, stuff.

I'm writing copy for my own business.

, So yeah, , my identity crisis is quite specifically to do with, being a writer.

obviously at the moment, I'm using AI to up the efficiency.

Sometimes at, at my client's request.

Sometimes they wanna get maximum output from me, and obviously there

is a benefit to having someone who is a good writer prompting AI, because

the quality of the output when you understand writing is better.

So on the one hand, I am using AI, sometimes at my client's

request, in my writing.

But recently I had this situation, and a fellow copywriter of mine had a similar

one, where I had just written something.

So I had written it as me, and I'd written it for my client.

she came back to me, she's so gorgeous, and was just like, "Ooh,

this just feels, a little bit too AI for me. I just think it's quite

obviously AI." And it wasn't AI.

It was me.

I was like, "Oh, okay. Could you just, point out what it is that you're seeing

that, that feels AI?" One of them, for example, is that I'd used honestly

a lot at the start of a sentence.

Not a lot, but a few times.

Honestly, if you go back into my content, you will see that

is part of the way that I write.

It's also a really nice way to draw attention to a sentence.

Yeah

start the sentence with honestly, you are articulating your audience that

this is a moment of truthfulness.

This is a moment of clarity.

So I'd used that.

I'd used, "Here's the thing," which,

Yeah.

I love to use

Yeah

transition and, again, it creates a focal point.

It's saying, "This is the moment. This is the transition moment. This is the

bit you need to pay attention to." And there was one other, I can't remember.

Oh, short sentences.

And

short sentences are, yeah, are my current, 'cause I feel this

a little bit with my own stuff.

They are my current bugbear, short sentences, because I

used to use them quite a lot.

I like a short, punchy sentence.

But now I feel like if it's not, like, long-form prose, then it

just looks like AI's written it

Yes.

So then we're in this situation, where I'm editing my own writing

that has come out of me freely

to make sure that it doesn't sound like AI, and sometimes then taking out

something that's really good and is, a tried and tested writing technique.

So short sentences, for example, every incredible persuasive

speech you will read will have a series of short sentences in it.

there's a list of persuasive devices, and one of them is short

sentences because what they do is create a punchy moment of clarity.

I'm not saying we should be using them all the time, but especially on social

media where attention's short and people are scrolling on their phones, big, long,

meandering sentences one after another creates repetition and a feeling of it

being a methodical piece of reading and it's hard to create light and shade.

When we vary our sentence lengths, we create light and shade.

We create moments of intensity.

And so I was like, from this back of this, my client would be mortified 'cause she's

such a babe, I was just like, "Oh my God, what is this life?" Either I'm using AI

to write, or when I'm not using AI to write, I'm editing out some of the things

I know to be good because I'd hate for somebody to think I'd written it with AI.

So I've started doing these morning pages

Yeah

to just write freely to just try and get like, it sounds really wanky, but

like just to try and reconnect to myself as how I write and what my voice is

and what I believe to be good writing.

Now, I will say, audience at home, the writing that's happened in my

morning pages so far is utter shite.

It's not the elite writing you were hoping was gonna pour out of you

when you could just be your true self

yeah, , in like the preface of the book it was like, I had one person who was like,

"I started doing the morning pages and a novel just started flowing out of me. and

before I knew it, I'd written a book." And mine's like, "Oh my God, I'm so tired.

Life feels really stressful right now." And I'm like, yeah, no one's buying that.

, That

Ja, das…

But

nein

all this to say is that like it got me thinking about AI and If it's

doing that in my business, what effect is it having in other businesses?

how are people feeling about it?

Is it changing the face of the business world, the online

business world especially?

Yeah.

, I just think it's such an interesting topic, and I think there's definitely

a conversation around, AI and copy because I feel like it's just a really

hot thing that people are really aware of at the moment, aren't they?

the use, like you say, honestly, and here's the thing, and quietly,

and short sentences, and em dashes.

There's all these, tells, is really tough because, essentially AI is

built on large language models, right?

So what AI is doing is reflecting back to you the common ways of, getting

attention and being persuasive and doing what you're asking AI to do.

So it's not like it's coming up with this, AI language that we don't all recognize.

I guess what it's doing is it's over-relying on a few, things

which make them, for us, I think as business owners, really obvious.

And we talked a little bit, about this last week actually,

about how you can really be in your own echo chamber as well.

Because I would say my husband doesn't pick out AI copy nearly as much as I do.

So I can read something and be like, that's definitely AI." He's like, "Really?

Why do you think that?

it's really good." And it's interesting 'cause he uses AI hugely

in his work, but he uses it, he's like a real, spreadsheet geek.

So he will use AI to, like, AI does incredible support for,

insane formulas and, w- working with coding and stuff like that.

So he uses it like that, but he would very rarely use AI to write anything.

And so when he reads stuff, yeah, he has an absolutely no idea it's AI

because to him, like you say, using the word quietly and, honestly, and here's

the thing, is just normal language.

Yeah.

And,

I think that's where it's really tricky, isn't it?

Because actually, again, we're in this sort of echo chamber where we're

trying to move away from AI, but that means we're moving away from

the language that we normally use.

This is… Oh, and here's the thing

Yeah, and he's the… Honestly though, Ruthie

, So we all have idiolects, right?

So an idiolect is an individual way of speaking, and when we write, I always

encourage people to try and get as close as they can to their idiolect.

Because when you do that, you're emulating a real conversation.

It feels natural.

So when we say things like, write how you would talk to a friend, what we're,

in a technical way, saying is, make sure your written idiolect is as close to

your verbal idiolect as possible because it helps to build relationships in the

same way natural conversation does.

And so, think it is really challenging to be like, this me?

Am I writing as me?

When I strip out some of the AI tells, am I stripping out some of the ways

that I would talk?" And so it's just brought about this super self-conscious

way of writing that removes some of the freedom of expression that

I think makes incredible content.

I challenged myself last week actually to just write a post.

I was talking to, the ladies in my write club about it, which is like a

weekly call where we all just write and they were like, "Just write

it." And I was like, so I wrote it.

I didn't proofread it But I tell you what was so strange is the pull that I

felt to get AI to just check it for me,

Yeah

run it through, does this make sense?

Have I rambled too much?

Can you just… So not to write it, but to help me make sure I'm being clear,

to make sure that, I'm being accurate.

Some of those shortcuts that we often take.

And the pull that I was feeling was a bit like,

Yeah, it's a bit uncomfortable, isn't it?

I was like,

Yeah

that doesn't feel great.

so it's a really complex relationship that's emerging for people with copy

and content and the use of AI and, like we talked about in last week's episode,

some of that judgment, of thinking like, oh, I think it's less about people

not wanting to use AI and more about people not wanting to be seen to be

Yes.

Yeah

I had, my post, I posted online about it, that post I just mentioned.

Someone messaged me.

it out as an email to my list as well, and a woman emailed me and was like, "I

hope you don't mind me messaging," but I found this really interesting because I've

got dyslexia, and for me, the ability to suddenly be able to communicate clearly

without , that being stretchy for me,

Yeah.

changing.

Yeah

changing to be able to dump my thoughts into something and it help me make

sure it's clear and that I haven't made mistakes, has been life changing.

So whilst I hear you on some of the complexities of using AI, I think

there is a group of us out there where this has been incredibly positive

Yeah.

And I think I feel the same, with my ADHD as well.

I find it incredibly hard to get what I'm thinking in my head into written form.

You know 'cause you've helped me with my social media.

I find it, a almost painful process to be able to articulate it in

a way that is clear and concise.

I've probably mentioned this before because it's such a trauma for me, but one

of my old bosses when I was in corporate said in , one of my, year-end feedbacks

was that I'm clear but not concise.

And to be fair, I carry it because I think it's true.

And I've learnt to be really okay with that.

But I do think in the world of, we talk about with social media and with

sales pages and with being able to get your point across really clearly

and articulately, it is something that I do find incredibly hard.

However, what I will say is, I have noticed recently there's

just so much bloat in AI.

When I talk about, I'm not very concise.

AI can make it much better." Then I was writing a sales page the other day, and

I put through what I'd written and it, tripled the length. And I was like, "No,

that's not a section of a sales page.

"No, cut that down back into a third." and I think sometimes I

definitely use AI as a crutch.

I think it's gonna be faster.

I think I can't do this on my own.

I'll put my thoughts in.

I'll get it to organize it, and then I'll get it to, write

it, and then I'll edit it.

And actually, I spend so much time going through draft after draft.

No, that's not what I wanted.

No, you're missing the point.

No, go back to this.

but actually, it's not as efficient.

And I think over time, that's what people are starting to learn.

what is it that we really do want to be using AI for?

Because I have a slightly different challenge

It's not so much my clients, but I have read a few, online posts

about this as well, especially if you're doing, copy feedback where

someone has not taken the time to be the editor, to have the critical

thinking, to work with AI on something.

But they have literally just dumped a prompt into AI and then whatever

it spits out, they give to, , the coach or whatever to review.

And I think there was, like, quite a big coach who was, like,

going through clients' work.

And she was like, nine out of 10 is just literally just been dumped in from AI."

And I think she ended up, putting a ban on AI or something I don't know how you

can put a ban on AI because, to be honest, it's quite, that's quite challenging.

But I do think there is something about, like- It was taking so much

more of her time to edit these things because it had been written by AI.

And because it didn't sound like that person, she was almost having to inject

their personality in it for them,

Yeah

is obviously not their personality.

And I think for me, I find it more with, often clients… not often, but sometimes

clients will come to me and be like, "I was up all night, strategizing with

Claude," and "This is what Claude thinks I can do, and here's, a seven-page plan

that Claude has done for me." And it's quite hard when you've been working

with a client for quite a while, and you're like, no, we've got a strategy.

We actually don't need a seven-page strategy that I am now gonna have to go

through, and I'm gonna have to try and understand what you've put into this, how

, what it's basing its information on, and unpick it essentially and be like, 'Well,

look, you're in this program because I have…'" You know, not that I have to

lock people in with a certain way of doing things, but, essentially,, the trajectory

that we're going roughly is this.

This is taking you off in a different direction.

Like, why are we unpicking all the work you've done?

And actually, often my solution is way simpler than AI's.

way simpler

do you remember, I probably said this on the podcast, I built

myself what I thought was like a

Mm.

fantastic accountability coach on Claude.

Oh my God, it's so shit.

I tried to check in with it the other day it was like, "Where have you

been? You were meant to check in."

And I was like, "I thought, you know, it's because you're

shit." It completely is rubbish.

And part of that, don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's people running incredible

ones, but it just can't grasp outside the boundaries of which I had set.

Now, I had set them, so I get that, and I tried to tweak it so that

it had more flexibility and stuff.

But if I'm being coached by you or by anyone, you get

that there is ebb and flow.

That yeah, we were talking about that, but I understand that there's a need

right now for you to be focusing on this, or that actually things have changed,

and actually when we were in that conversation… So you're constantly as

the coach readjusting "Okay, what's the line we're on now? What's most important?

What's the priority?" Whereas the Claude coach I'd built, all it could do was

think about the original I told it.

And I was like,

Yeah.

moved on.

Yeah,

Keep

catch up

So I do think , the whole problem with it, is that , it's only as

good as the input, I'm not a coach.

I'm not a strategy coach when it comes to the wider business.

And so me building it, I've got an idea, but I haven't probably

built it in the right way.

but I saw actually just what you were saying about , the editing process.

I'm gonna get all the details wrong here, but I saw this post

a university lecturer at quite a highbrow university set a question.

The question was sent via email or on a portal or something.

And in white text, hidden, put a command in for AI say randomly, I

would like you to mention… And it was something like, it wasn't this, but it

was something like the word hippo or

Okay.

So like really out of context.

out of context.

I think it was

Yeah

And, something like 30 out of the 32 students in the class, he could then

see in their answer the word panda.

But isn't that ridiculous that those students have not even, what, read it?

what?

there's one thing catching them out, but another thing, if you're

gonna use AI, guys, use it properly.

And I think that's really what it comes back to.

And I have spent a lot of time, not a lot of time, but I've spent some time looking

at things like agents and like you said, the accountability thing, and I set up,

a weekly, scheduled task that it, come- or daily, sorry, to come into my inbox

and tell me, like, what's going on today?

What's my calendar?

What's my inbox?

What's going on?

And, it just reminds me, in all honesty, of … And it's probably

'cause I'm not doing it right, and I'm sure if I persevere, there'll be some

elements I think will be really useful.

I'm not against AI at all.

But what it does remind me of is, , when I was revising for my GCSEs, and I made

the most incredible revision planners.

They were color-coded.

I made these, mind maps.

They was like … It was incredible.

But the amount of time I did doing that, if I'd have just got on with the work.

Yeah

don't get me wrong, I obviously did really well in my GCSEs.

But, the reality is, I just sometimes think, I could just check my calendar.

My calendar is not that mental that I need an AI telling me

what's on my calendar today.

I actually just open the calendar app.

I sometimes think we're just finding solutions for the sake of it, and

I do think it's making me … It's not making me less clever, but

it's making me doubt myself more.

And actually, I was with a group the other day, a few weeks ago, and

someone was talking about going on a podcast, and she hadn't been on one

before, and she was a bit nervous.

And, we were like, "Oh, you'll be fine. You're a great chatter," blah, blah.

She's like, "Oh, I know, but, I never answer anything now without, checking

it through AI. what if I get asked a question and I don't know the best way

to answer it?" And I think that is the insidious thing about AI, is that it, like

you were saying, the pull to check it.

That's why it impacts our brains.

It's not because we're getting thicker.

It's because we don't trust ourselves anymore

Yeah, I

that we could actually just do it

Yeah, I think that's so true.

And I think some of the online narrative about it of breeds

that fear into us as well.

have you seen, I can't remember the account.

It's a great account.

, The knowledge and the content in there is really useful, but it always

starts with the hook of, "Claude just killed bookkeeping." "ChatGPT

just killed photography." And you're like, there's been a professional

murder." And so then one of the questions I've been asking myself a lot

Yeah

is Claude gonna steal my clients?

Is that happening?

Is Claude gonna steal my job?

Is it gonna steal my client?

Is it gonna steal my income because people start to think they can do it themselves?

And I think there is that happening online where people are fearing, "Okay, do I

need to pivot?" Because, , everyone's just gonna use AI to do, their writing

or their social media creation.

But I do think it's starting to move into other spaces as well, like people

as we said, people are going, trying to build, coaches are trying to build.

is that something that you're seeing, with your clients?

Do you think people are… I know people are worrying about it in

the space I work in, but is it traveling further than that now?

That's a really interesting one, isn't it?

And I do think there is a difference between knowledge and results, I wouldn't

say anyone has not worked with me because they've got a much better AI coach.

But I do think people need a lot more reassurance.

So they'll They'll go to Claude at like midnight or 10:00 PM when

they know I'm not around, and they want that immediate feedback.

And it almost makes them feel like they're doing something productive.

And I think a lot of that plays on people, when they start working with me, they're

feeling quite unsafe in their business.

They're feeling like they're just, so ambitious and they just

want to do this incredible thing, but it just, it takes time.

And I think in a world of things that, are immediate, it , can feel

really uncomfortable sometimes to do something that takes quite

a bit of time to get there.

so I'm not sure that I feel like AI's gonna take my clients, but I do think,

the way that I work with clients

Hmm.

evolving.

And I think what they can get from AI is they can speed up

the process, so often they will.

And I generally I would encourage it, 'cause I do it as well.

they'll use AI to help them write, welcome sequences.

Like, when you've got to write seven or eight emails in one

go, that's a massive ask.

And

Yeah

I would much rather that they use AI, use my… I can put

the structuring of the emails.

I can tell them what needs to be in each email.

They can upload stories for each email that they want to tell.

AI can then, map it all out, and then they can then edit from there, which is

what I'd obviously always encourage them to do, and then they pass it to me for

feedback or you actually for feedback.

I guess there is definitely a niggle in my head about making sure that when a client

has had a conversation with, a coach, and they're all really open with me about it.

So it's, I don't think it's like they're secretly thinking of replacing me.

But I think it's like I definitely feel slight pressure to prove my

worth, prove my humanness, and that I can, see bigger picture

And often, and like I will absolutely say, there is a reasonable amount

of times where Claude and I agree.

So sometimes a client will say, "Oh, I was thinking of doing this or this,"

and I'll say, "Oh, i'd do the second one." And they'll say, "Oh yeah,

Claude said that too." so I know.

And I think if I said, "Do the first one," and Claude had said the second

one, I think they would do the first one.

So I don't think it's that they're like, "Oh, okay, fine. I'm just going with more

Sophie because I think Claude knows best." I think it's what we were saying earlier.

I think we're all feeling it, this feeling of not trusting ourselves And I think

the more that we can work with clients to help them trust themselves and use AI in

a way that doesn't undermine that trust,

I think that's the difference.

But where do you see it going with AI?

Because I've seen quite a big backlash in terms of using AI for content creation

Yeah, I have and I haven't.

I can see people talking about it,

Yeah.

not wanting to use AI, liking AI content, and then I can see that AI's probably

Besser na, content.

And so that is, I think that's really tricky.

And

Yeah

I think probably what I feel is happening is two things really.

On the one hand, I feel like it does, for certain spaces and roles, and professions,

devalue the expertise a little bit, even if it only does it for a little while.

Yeah

I could just get AI to do that," makes it harder to charge

certain prices, for example.

So there was a period of time where me saying, "I can write your nurture

sequence for you," was like the relief that would offer someone.

Yeah

someone's gonna have a 30-day, 30-email welcome sequence because that works for

their business, the enormity of that task

Oh, huge

huge.

And they're like, "I'm never gonna do it. I'm never gonna have the time." Even

if they're a great writer, just having the time to do that was impossible.

It doesn't feel like that anymore.

Even if they don't trust AI to write it, it does devalue the

skillset to know that it's not such a big deal anymore, that they

Yeah

get, even if it just got them 70% of the way there and then they had to

spend the time editing it, even if

Yeah

the planning and strategy.

So , in reality it does devalue certain things because the emotional

weight of certain tasks doesn't exist in the same way that it used to.

I think in one way it can devalue knowledge.

I also think, I've said to you before, I'm really tight when it comes

to spending money on my business.

I don't like doing it.

I know I need to.

And I've articulated loads of times recently to loads of people, I know

to move my business to the next level I probably want to work with a coach.

Yeah

feel that I need that accountability.

I can feel that I need that person.

I'm a goody two shoes.

If someone tells me to do something, I'll do, But what I did first is I've tried

to build an AI coach to do that because financially I was like, it would make

more sense if I could just do this myself.

got bills to pay.

I've got different pressures at the moment, I don't wanna

work with a shit coach.

I don't wanna work with a cheap one.

I wanna work with somebody where I see the value.

so I'm delaying what I think is an inevitability.

I think I

Yeah

hire a coach, but I'm delaying it because of finances.

And so I

Yeah

that plays a part as well.

I think sometimes , people think, maybe I can just create something in AI 'cause

I can't afford to pay a copywriter," or, "I can't quite afford a coach yet," or,

"The coach I wanna work with is pretty and my Claude subscription is only X, Y, Z."

Yeah, so I think that's some of the relationship that's happening for people

as well, rather than it just being like a simple choice of AI or the professional

I agree.

And I think as well, it was really interesting when you were talking

there, what I was thinking is like, I d- I'm- we're the opposite in this,

which is we're gonna do a fun episode on this because we're really opposites.

I love spending money.

so I do invest.

However, I would say now after many years of learning and evolving, I'm

very intentional with what I'm spending.

I try not to do too many, investments at one time 'cause I know I won't

do them, et cetera, et cetera.

And there's always things I want to do, but they're not my top

priority to invest on right now.

I might be working with a coach, and let's say I'm working

on, my funnel or my webinars.

On the other side, there's still, maybe I wanna work on my social media, when maybe

I wanna do some PR, maybe I want to, sort out all my legal contracts I don't know.

Do you know what I mean?

There's all these things that are also important that I need to do,

they're definitely on my list, but they're not the top priority

for me to invest in right now.

And I think, like you were saying, that's where AI is so tempting because

it's like, well, maybe I could just build a, I don't know, whatever, a

PR agent that can scrape this website and write me a PR or whatever it is.

You can tell I'm not doing it.

write me a press release or whatever it is, a pitch, and send

it out, and maybe, I could get AI.

Because it's not my top priority, but if I could move it forward in some way,

maybe it doesn't have to be perfect, maybe it's okay that AI is doing it.

I'd probably do it and then realize, this is really pointless.

it's not pulling out, I don't know, the right people or the right opportunities

or, I actually do need someone who's an expert in PR to help me.

Is it worth me actually paying for a membership or

is it one-to-one or whatever?

And then maybe I'd go into it.

But I do think there is something about the things that aren't our priorities

but we still want to do, AI does give us that level of access, whereas maybe

before it's just not available to you, so you'd either wait, or you'd invest

I think that's the thing.

I think it's like fast food, isn't it?

It's

Yeah

And don't get me wrong, I do know that there are people, and I work with some

people actually, who are using AI in extraordinary ways to an incredible level.

I think the operator and the knowledge and understanding that the operator

has plays such a huge part in that.

And so sometimes when I'm trying to build stuff, I'm like, I haven't got

the right knowledge to be able to build anything that's good enough.

And then there's such a amount of content out there that it's hard to

wade through to think, if I'm gonna do a membership, which one should I do?

Or if I'm gonna

Yeah

on building agents, which one should I do?

And it's the time and energy and all of that thing.

So I think what feels like a shortcut sometimes isn't, but I

Yeah

that appeal of I could just get it done.

We're all so pulled into this idea of super productivity, and

I think AI has accelerated that,

at the moment I'm building a quiz for somebody, one of my

Yeah

and I've built a quiz for them previously and for other clients using a well-known

like quiz piece of software, and it

Yeah.

weeks of work.

Yeah

Working out the dynamic scoring, making sure that the right people

were getting the right results page, thinking of the question

logic, the weighting, all of that.

Ages.

I built one yesterday afternoon.

and so it can be done really well, but, the only reason I could do a good job

of building that quiz really quickly using Base44 Claude, a combination of the

two, was because I had the preexisting knowledge of it needing to look at dynamic

content and, know, logic and weighting.

If I hadn't have ever done that first bit, I wouldn't have

been able to do a good job.

Could have done it still, but it probably would've taken me a lot longer.

So I dunno.

I just think it is that kind of fast food mentality of can

I just get it done though?

Could I

Yeah.

I think that's exactly it.

Last night I was trying to get… I've got, hundreds of screenshots

from clients and stuff in Canva.

My Claude is connected to Canva.

And so what I wanted it to do was instead of having them all in a folder

that says screenshots, I wanted it to organize them into, ones that

were about, financial wins, ones that were about, lifestyle wins.

just so that when I was trying to look for something specific, I didn't have

to scroll through all hun- 150 of them.

And it was like, "Yeah, I can do this," and, got the API connector

and it could read them all.

And then it was like, "Oh, I can't…" It could identify them all, and it

could categorize them all, but it couldn't move them unless it wanted to

go into my browser manually to do it.

And it kept timing out.

It kept not doing it.

honestly, I must have spent an hour.

It was in the evening, so we were watching TV, and I just had it next to

me 'cause I had to keep the laptop on.

I kept, refreshing it, and I had to do it again, and I had to keep the

computer on, and then it timed out.

And then I was like, "Is there a better way?" We went backwards and

forwards, and backwards and forwards.

Oh my God, and it's still not done.

I think actually could probably just spend an hour and organize them myself.

And I think it's just that I just wanted it to do something

while I was watching TV.

I wanted to just be productive.

I just wanted it to be like, "Oh, I'll just set this off, and then I can sit

by, on the table while I'm watching TV, and I can just make sure it doesn't

time out, and that'll be great." And actually, it was a real pain in the arse.

I didn't actually get any of it sorted in the end, so I'm still going to

have to do it anyway if I want to.

but I just think it's that idea of, super productivity is so tempting

Yeah, it's addictive, isn't it?

And, at the moment as well, I think in certain parts of my business, AI or , the

idea of using AI is slowing me down.

So for example, I know, and have known for some time, that every time it comes

to me doing my accounts for my accountant, as in, sending my receipts and, I'm

just not in a good process with it.

Yeah。

to the last minute.

I've never got them in the right place, and I deeply resent doing it every time

'cause I'm like, "God, if I think about roughly what I charge for an hour,

this is such a waste of my time. If I could spend this hour thinking about

my business." Anyway, so I have this conversation with myself every time.

The thing that's stopping me from doing what I need to do, which

I just need to hire somebody and pay them to go into my emails

organize my receipts and stuff for me, 'cause that's where they all are.

Chase me so that when the accountant messages me, they're just there,

ready to go, jobs are getting done.

But I'm not, because I think, "God, there'll be something

I can do with AI there."

Yeah, AI could do that for sure.

But yeah.

Oh my God, that's such a toxic thought, isn't it?

It

Yeah.

is.

So I as well sometimes we are thinking AI could do it for productivity, but

We haven't got the time or energy or inclination to then search out

and learn how to train AI to do it.

And so

Yeah

in this locked state of not being done, not paying anyone to do it, and, yesterday

I had to spend some time trying to find receipts in my emails again, which

is like wading through swamp water.

yeah, I think it's complex, AI, that we know that the truth is

that it can be really productive.

We also have this experience of sometimes not being very productive

with AI, and we also sometimes don't make decisions when we perhaps would

have because we convince ourself that maybe there's an AI solution for it

And I just think the biggest part that plays under all of this is this,

it just makes you doubt yourself.

Sometimes I'm like, "How did I run my business two, three years ago

when there was no AI?" it blows my mind that I didn't have any AI, and

I wouldn't say I'm a prolific…

I use it, but I wouldn't say I'm, , on it 24/7.

So when you cast your mind back to pre-AI,

yeah

and obviously we all believe that AI , is making things easier for us,

Mm.

any less busy now?

No.

No.

I don't think AI makes me feel less busy.

I think it makes me be able to say yes, maybe it makes me able to say

yes to more things because I know I can get through more things, maybe.

I think one of the challenges is that pre-AI, we were all pre-AI.

So sales pages were all written either by a copywriter or by

yourself or whatever, social content.

it was all, a level playing field.

The challenge, I think, now that AI has come in, is that you've got businesses

utilizing it, being faster, being able to turn things around quicker,

being able to be more competitive.

whatever it is, you've got businesses , that are using it, and therefore

to completely remove it or not use it puts you at a disadvantage

in some ways, and you're not on a level playing field anymore.

it wouldn't make sense for me to , spend a whole day writing a sales page now

because I know I could do it a lot quicker if I use AI in conjunction with my brain

It's just hard, isn't it, to find…

It's hard

really hard about AI is just the balance

Yeah, I think that's exactly it.

It's the balance and it's a little bit of, it just leaves a lot of open loops for me.

That's what I find really annoying.

Could I be doing this quicker?

Should I be doing it?

And I also endlessly wonder, am I doing stuff that AI could be doing?

I don't know what I don't know.

Maybe I should build agents, but maybe that'll be another thing

I just build and then never use.

All the time I'm like, "Ooh, I tell you what you could do with

AI." I even message one of my clients like really late at night.

It's fine.

She likes it.

she might not actually.

and I was like, "Oh my God, I've just had such a good idea for

AI." And then she messaged back and was like, "That's genius.

Do you think you could do that?" I'm like, "Yeah, I think I could." But is

it pulling me… Is that important?

you remember that… Oh, it's probably got a name.

I'm sure you'd have used it in corporate, and maybe even in your work now actually.

Is that, four, quads, and you have, urgent and important,

urgent, not important, not urgent, and you've got the different what

AI does is make you think everything is both urgent and important.

Yeah, 100%.

I cannot tell you how many things I've saved that are AI

things I think I should be doing

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like the carousels of "You could be doing this," and all I do is record

a podcast, and then, this agent does this, and this agent does this, and

this agent does this, and then it just does… And nobody has to touch it.

And I'm like, "Oh, that would be amazing." And then I'm like, "Would it?

Would it be amazing?" I think for me, I have a little bit of distrust and

I'm obviously not building it properly.

I feel like there's always gonna have to be some human intervention or "Oh, that

process doesn't quite work this week," or, "That's not quite how it goes."

And I just think, "Oh, I don't know. I just can't be bothered."

this is the thing.

I think we just have to follow the thread of things that are actually working.

I've got two things that work really well that are AI agents that

I don't have anything to do with.

Everything else I have created has been a, a litany of failures really,

like shit for for many reasons.

Yeah

I've got that work really well is, one, and this would be

useful for you actually as well.

one, I have an automation.

I don't think it's an agent.

What is an agent?

Do you know what I

Oh God, nej ja

it's an automation that goes into my Slack that's part of my Bloody Good Story Club,

and every time I have written a prompt, it takes the prompt and drops it into a

Notion board so that I've got a running record of all the prompts I've used.

Nice

don't have to do it manually.

I was doing it manually.

Don't have to do it manually.

It puts it all in a really nice Notion board for me.

The first time I set it up, I'd done something wrong.

I still don't know what it was, and it wasn't doing it.

And originally, the very first time I did it, I'd linked it to a Google Doc,

and I didn't realize that I couldn't get it to update the same Google Doc,

so it was recreating a new Google Doc every time, which is just messy.

Yeah

it can go back into the same Notion board.

So that works really well.

And the other thing it does brilliantly, and it really does do a good job, is it

goes into the same Slack and looks for any positivity, any testimonial potential,

anything good that's been said, it into a Notion board, and categorizes it.

So does a little category for me, and it lives in that Notion board.

Those two things work really well, and I genuinely think, "Oh, that's

good," because they're the type of jobs I'm not very good at.

I'm not very good at long-term record keeping because I can't be arsed,

Yeah.

and I'm not very good at noticing… only notice the testimonials that

are like, " Oh my God, I signed three 8K like, "Oh, I'll screenshot that."

But I'm not noticing the little wins and the little moments, and

Yeah

job of that.

Outside of that, and I probably have tried to create hundreds

of them, they've all been shit

Yeah.

those are really good ones.

I have got a couple that are relatively similar.

The one that springs to mind that's slightly different, which works really

well for me, is, every Monday it checks everyone's payment plans in my world,

and it tells me if there's any ones that have bounced or defaulted and whether

there's any ones that need canceling.

and how many, months in everybody is.

So it just gives me an overview of where I'm at with payment

plans, and make sure that we don't drop the ball on any of them.

That has worked really well, and it was the kind of thing that

I didn't really feel like…

I mean, we had, spreadsheets, like we've got it all there,, I quite like

that it's just presenting it to me.

So it sends me a Slack message with the information every Monday morning.

That's really helpful.

That takes something off my plate.

It gives me peace of mind, it makes me see where I am.

So I feel like there's those things.

But I think what we've- just talked about there is really functional admin-led

things, not coaching or sales pages or Instagram content, and I think that's

where I find it much more challenging to like reconcile, is this helping me?

Is this actually causing more issues?

that's where I find it more challenging.

And I suppose, in the whole fear of losing your job thing, I suppose even

us saying that, if you're like a VA,

Mm. Yeah.

"No,

Yeah

work." And so I can still see why there is fear around, the role.

And I see some people who are then taking the opportunity to, "Okay, I'm

gonna bring AI in." I've had to do that.

I've had to say, … When I'm having discovery calls now, I wouldn't have

dreamt of this 18 months ago, but now I'm

Mm.

to be using AI to

Yeah

efficiency?" and more often than not, people are like, "Yeah, I do.

I want more bang for my buck.

I trust that you can edit it in a way or that you're prompting it in a

way that means the outcome is still better than what I would create."

So they're paying me more to be an operator and someone who is gonna

really create the best possible output.

so I suppose for people where there'll be other industries or other spaces in this

industry where people will need to do the same, to stay, in, stay in the mix.

Yeah, 100%.

Okay.

Oh, it's really interesting.

So next week, oh, next week we're talking launching.

Ooh.

Yeah, coming up to September, we thought it'd be really good to dig into, my

launch plans and how they're very different to the previous few years.

and Ruthie's reluctance.

My reluctant launch plans I'm hoping actually that by us talking

about it next week, it will really get my arse into gear.

you know sometimes you just need to, publicly say something out loud to make it

Yeah.

Yeah

I know you've said part of the reason you'll do a live call is because you

know you've got to show up for it.

Oh, 100%.

Yeah, absolutely.

I will deliver if I turn up live.

I'm

Yeah

that if I talk about it on next week's episode, then, at some point

in September I'll be coming back talking about my incredible launch

100%. we're gonna go and actually record that now.

do

we'll see you next week.