I got this breathless email from a business guru recently: “Here's where we're at with A.I. right now... We should all be doing everything we can to keep up with what's going on. Here's why... Those people who aren't keeping up are going to be the ones who have their businesses pulled out from under them. This…is changing literally everything.” Over the years, I’ve heard this about other innovations like cable television, satellite radio, the internet, websites in general, blogs in particular, social media and now AI. Also over the years, I’ve found much of this to overblown hype. For example, cable television was supposed to usher in an era of commercial-free paid television. Within 5 years cable television was as heavily loaded with commercials as broadcast television. According to some, now AI is shattering what another business leader calls the “capability ceiling”. That leader outlines how you can now deliver work to clients outside of your “knowledge and experience limits”. Just have AI spin up formulas, frameworks and ideas and sell them to clients as your own. No more reading, research and spending years developing expertise in a given field or several interrelated fields. Just let AI do the work and get paid. Perhaps it’s just me in Luddite mode, but I see a lot of potential problems with this business model. Chief among them is the potential epidemic of flabby brains in the near future. What happens when in the scramble for competitive advantage and the fear of being left behind, some humans forget their knowledge and life experience are their greatest assets? What happens when some people grow dependent on passing off scraped content as their own creation and then at some point have to prove their expertise? What then? I think such dependency can lead to flabby brains and an imposter economy. Some have embraced AI and prepared to ride this wave to shore. Others like me are thinking how can I navigate this innovation with a measure of integrity and still thrive?

2025 feels like a pivotal year in a pivotal decade. The rate of change seems to have accelerated and sometimes it feels like the ground is shifting beneath my feet. I’ve been aware of the increased rate of change for some time now. I’m dating myself here, but I remember when a co-worker first demonstrated a facsimile (fax) machine to me. It was a big, clunky piece of machinery that took up half a desktop. It was loud and so slow it took close to 5 minutes for an entire 1 page message to materialize. My co-worker beamed with pride and declared that the facsimile machine would someday replace the postal service. He said, “no need to mail a letter when you could just send a quick fax”. Less than a decade later, I bought a considerably smaller and faster fax machine for my second business venture. That crazy expensive (over $1,000) fax machine began gathering dust just 9 years later when I bought my first computer. Once I became computer literate, I fell in love with email and blogs. Partying on the Early Internet The early internet was such fun! I spent hours each night surfing from blog to blog, site to site. Sometimes I followed so many links, I couldn’t remember where I started. It wasn’t usual for my surfing sessions to end well after midnight. My husband complained half-joking that he’d become an internet widower. Within a few years, I moved from consuming blogs to writing a blog. I discovered RapidWeaver and learned the tech to start and maintain my own stand-alone sites. I learned a lot from the community that coalesced around RapidWeaver. They were a lot of early coders who used RapidWeaver as a shortcut for growing their web design businesses. Then I fell into Tumbler. It was such a blast! Tumbler had a fun and engaged community on the backend. Nights and weekends were devoted to partying online with the Tumbler community. The party ended in the early 20-Teens when I migrated over to WordPress. I was attracted by the advanced blog functionality and versatility of the platform. However, that versatility came with a hefty price.

Launched sign up for a 6-week course today with an early bird special of $597 for the first 5 to register and $697 for the next 5 (regular price is $997). I had 4 sales for $2400 on the first day. 🙌🏾 Combined with my digital products, I had my first $2500 day. I love what I do and would do it for free but it feels so good to finally feel like people really value my voice. I will pitch daily until class begins on February 8th. I've been lurking up til now but this community is so inspirational.

What is the best way to re-engage a cold email list and/or social media audience? I haven't been present in my social media in quite a bit and when I show up it's been inconsistent flashes of "here I am" followed by long spurts of radio silence. If I come back with a "I'm here for real this time" message, they won't believe me (cuz I don't believe it either LOL). I'm having a mindset block around the fact that I haven't been showing up on my email list or my social media channels, and now that I am promoting offers for revenue, nobody will pay attention OR convert/ What has worked for you?

what is the next step after champange clients?