May 2 • 🎉 News
4 Day Founder Friday! 🤖AI Failed Us + 5 Minute Newsletter Hack
The AI-Avatar Experiment (and Exit):
Last week I went full-Frankenstein:
- Filmed a two-minute, well-lit 1080p clip for HeyGen’s avatar generator. Their tutorial promised a lifelike talking head if I didn’t move and stared down the lens – so I did exactly that.
- Cloned my voice in ElevenLabs. I fed it ten minutes of raw narration; credits drained fast but we built up 200,000 credits since I forgot to cancel my subscription.
- Merged the pieces in CapCut. HeyGen spits out an MP4; I layered B-roll, captions, and hooks there (no watermark once I paid their $30 Creator tier).
- Posted 2 avatar TikToks. The views, likes, and watch-time matched my face-to-camera clips one-for-one.
Why I pulled the plug:
Even with decent metrics, the whole thing felt like sending a mannequin to a coffee chat. The work I do hinges on trust; a synthetic Andy undercuts that. Lesson learned: speed matters, but showing up as myself matters more.
Week 2 Videos Now Live in Skool
Week 2 was messy, caffeinated, and wildly productive. If you’d rather watch than read, every daily build session is waiting for you in the Skool classroom. Here’s the short tour:
- Core-Offer Page Built: I ditched sales calls and spun up a pay-then-book funnel with Typeform → Calendly → Stripe. Visitors see the price first, pay, then grab a slot—no tire-kicker chats required.
- Email Nurture Designed: Sketched a five-day “give, give, ask” sequence that nudges new subscribers back into the community and hands out quick-win prompts and automations.
- Content Audit: My top-performing TikToks share one concrete tactic in under 40 seconds. Fluffless demos win attention; the avatar test confirmed message > messenger.
- Lead Capture Automation: Wired Leadpages to Airtable so every opt-in gets a thank-you email instantly.
- Avatar Workflow (and goodbye): Documented the HeyGen + ElevenLabs setup and why I ultimately went back to my front-facing camera.
Freedom Tool of the Week (Plus Bonus)
The One-Click Booking & Payment Flow
Why we built it
A no-show on a free consultation cost me an hour and a morning with my son. Enough. I needed a way for prospects to raise their hand, pay, and lock a spot without a back-and-forth pre-call.
What we stitched together
- CTA > Leadpages - This sets the promise in one scroll
- Typeform Qualification Form - Captures context and filters tire-kickers
- Calendly + Stripe Add On - Charges for the session and setups invite
- Confirmation page + Skool Link - drops buyers straight into the community
- If you want the step-by-step loom and duplicate templates, they’re in the Builder’s Vault section of Skool. Direct Link Here
Bonus Tool - 5 Minute Newsletter! So meta - so inception.
We drafted this newsletter with a quick AI-hack process. check it out here.
Quick Reflection
Tech tricks are fun, but Week 2 proved 2 things bigger:
- When you're stuck, ask a friend. They help you out of tunnel vision. I was so focused on TikTok analytics that my friend Dana helped me realize that my fundamentals were lacking.
- Values win again - I was really hoping to push the HeyGen AI avatar. But going against my core value of authenticity made the who experience frustrating. I know I'm losing out on a huge opportunity - but what's the point if I can't be myself?
Question for you-
Hit reply—what bottleneck is tripping up your own booking or content flow? I’ll tackle the loudest one in next week’s issue.
Later Later
🍜Andy
Founder, Studio Spark
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4 Day Founder Friday! 🤖AI Failed Us + 5 Minute Newsletter Hack
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