Today humbled me a little. I needed to get a Fourth of July post up for my e-commerce brand. I was running behind, so I did what a lot of people are doing these days. I used AI. I didn’t just type a prompt and post the first thing it gave me. I spent hours on it. I changed the truck. I changed the thermos. I changed the table. I kept trying to make it look more real. Finally I thought, “That’s good enough.” So I posted it. My loving wife looked at it and immediately said, “That looks AI generated.” Then she hit me with something I wasn’t expecting. She said, “You talk against AI slop all the time. How can you complain about it if you’re posting it yourself?” Ouch. I sat there for a minute because I wanted to defend myself. “I spent hours on it.” “I didn’t just use the first image.” “I was in a hurry.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized those excuses didn’t really matter. The truth is, I let convenience win. I was trying to get something posted instead of making sure it represented the kind of brand I actually want to build. That bothered me enough that I deleted it. Here’s what I learned today. I’m not above taking shortcuts. I guess I always thought AI slop was something other people made. Today I found out I’m capable of making it too. That’s a little humbling. I still think AI is an incredible tool. I’m not throwing it out. I use it at my job and in my businesses every day. But I don’t want it doing my craftsmanship for me. My brand was built around things that are real. Real mornings, real coffee, real stories, and real people. If AI helps me tell those stories better, great. If it starts replacing them, I’ve missed the point. So today wasn’t really about an image. It was about being reminded that it’s a whole lot easier to lower your standards than you think. And I’m glad my wife called me out. 😅 Sometimes we need somebody who loves us enough to say, “Hey… that’s not you.”

After celebrating Independence Day here in the U.S. I came across this article this morning reminding me of where we might be heading https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-governments-shocking-bid-rig-youtube-algorithm-force-feed-bbc-propaganda UK is leading the way, it seems like, in a direction where governments might control social media algorithms to have total control over what people see etc. which would affect many entrepreneurs , it might be you if what you're sharing is pushed down on social media platforms because the don't like it. This is a great reminder to build your owned distribution channels on the internet: websites, blogs, email lists, newsletters, private community groups such as this one and others on top of social media. You might even want to be involved in Physical distribution channels such as attending Networking events, Local business meetups, Workshops, create Local partnerships, Distribution through other businesses, even direct mail might make a comeback. Hope this helps!

I run a YouTube channel called "YouTube без Суеты" (youtube.com/@realsbond), where I teach Russian-speaking people 45+ in the DACH region how to use AI tools without the tech jargon and without the fear of breaking something. One of my clients, whom I worked with for a month, grew from 69 to 1700 subscribers in 10 days, and one of her videos got over 70,000 views. Right now I'm in the process of building out consulting and digital products based on AI, using Claude, Google AI Studio and other tools. I came here specifically to learn from you and from this community, I want to become even more professional in what I do. This isn't just a hobby for me, I'm building all of this with the goal of having an income by the time I retire that doesn't depend on the state pension. Glad to be here.

Hello all, on Tuesday's call with Corey Ganim, I got to working on an Ai Assessment but one thing that came up was some kind of pre-qualifying questions. I've built this quiz. If you would go to quiz.myqualityguy.com and fill it out and tell me what you think. Feedback is appreciated.

Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow AI Marketing Insiders who live in America! I hope you have a fun and safe weekend with friends & family 🇺🇸