Can I make an uncomfortable observation? ... [🐝U]

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🎧 Wanna listen along to the audio 🎧

It's me reading ...  uncaffinated stutters, stumbles & all.

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If AI's stealing marketing & copy contracts...

Why are my clients excited when I show them tips & tricks on how I use AI?
Why aren't they just firing me & doing it themselves?

& here's the one that really should stop you...

Why are AI companies hiring copywriters & marketers to help them grow their own business?

Maybe it's not about AI.
Maybe it's about your mindset... & how you're positioning yourself.

That's a hard sentence to hear when your income depends on clients saying yes.

& if you don't change that... you really are going to lose.
Not because AI's coming for your job.
Because it keeps evolving & you're stuck in the same rut.

Here's where it clicks together

I had a check-in call this week that started with 1 sentence.

"Have you seen the latest numbers?"

Before hello.
Before how's the weather.

Spam complaints & unsubscribes down 99%.

Their eyes popped. Jaw dropped … like a scene in a cartoon.
Mine did too, the first time.
I ran the math twice because I didn't believe it either.

Truthfully... when I got started, I'd have assumed she just needed better emails too.

It's not because of the emails.
I could've rewritten every email they'd ever sent.
That wouldn't have mattered.

People weren't leaving because of bad copy.
They were leaving long before the copy ever had a chance to work.

That took asking questions, understanding the fundamentals of her audience, & explaining that the "thing" she thought she needed... wasn't the thing that was broken.

Oh … & asking AI to help troubleshoot where the biggest drop-offs were happening.

The bakery that never got a 2nd email

A mentee of mine's been thinking about talking to a local business owner for about a year.

Finally started the conversation, then got the meeting.
Sent 1 email first: "I have some ideas for your business."

She agreed... then canceled.
Said let's reschedule.

Never heard from her again... ghosted, same as always happens when the ask comes before the questions.

My question … How do you give someone ideas if you don't know what they actually need?

More new customers?
Repeat customers?
Higher prices for better margins?
Fewer products going in the trash?

Yes, everyone wants to grow their business
But what does that look like?
Where’s the biggest pain point?
What have they tried before … & how?

He skipped the diagnosis and prescribed the treatment before having a single fact about the problem... which is always going to look like step 1, when it's really sitting a lot further down the chain.

& here's what I keep saying...

It's probably not that Instagram or her website "doesn't work."
Chances are she's using it the wrong way for where her business is right now.

Somebody sold her a “thing” without ever asking if that thing made sense for where she's actually at.

It's not about the “thing”. It's about results.

Write that down on a Post-It & stick it on your monitor if you need to.

Results come from understanding the problem.
Understanding the problem comes from asking what's been tried...
& what worked, & what didn't.

That's it. That's the whole fundamental.

Results = value. 
Deliverables = commodity.

& that's exactly why "AI's taking my work" keeps showing up in group after group right now. 3 posts, 3 different groups, all in the same day.

People are seriously thinking about giving up on businesses they've spent years building.

AI can write the email.
It can build the website.
It can produce the thing …
It may not be great at it right now but it'll keep getting better.

That 99% didn't come from better emails.
It came from finding the real problem first.

This gap’s only getting wider
AI's only going to get better at producing deliverables.

That means the people selling deliverables instead of outcomes will feel the pressure first.
& get hit harder.

Now here's the weird part

& it should stop the panic cold.

Anthropic, the company behind Claude.ai that’s supposedly partially responsible for stealing all these jobs?

They've got a “Copy Lead”, “SEO Lead”, & “Head of Copy” roles open right now. There’s 17 open spots in Marketing & Brand … all paying a premium … all for people, not the AI they developed.

Those companies are still hiring humans because strategy beats output.

Here's the funny part

My clients have literally asked me to teach them how I use AI.

That has yet to cost me a single contract.
It actually gives them more confidence in hiring me.

Because the fundamentals are already there.
AI didn't replace anything... it just made things faster.
The results still came from asking the right questions first.

1 thing this won't fix

Fixing your mindset & positioning isn't going to solve everything.

It's going to help. A lot.
But it's not magic.

Because even if you lead with results... even if you show the value of human intelligence over artificial... some people still aren't going to buy it.

Some people still think the earth's flat.
Some still think the moon landing was staged.

You're not going to persuade everyone, no matter how good your positioning is.

If you've done the work... you know your results, you know your value, you're asking the right questions... & it's still not landing?

You're not failing.
You could be confidently standing in the wrong room.

That's not a reason to discount yourself down to their level.
It's why you need to find the room where the people who already get it are standing.

So if you're panicking about AI right now

Stop staring at the tool.

→ Name what you're actually selling. Be honest.
Is it the thing (the email, the website, the post)?
Or the result (more customers, fewer no-shows, a number that moves)?

→ Count your last 3 questions to a prospect. 
How many were they about the deliverable vs what they've already tried & what happened when they did?

→ Find where you're leading with "I have ideas." 
That's presumptuous before you know the problem. Lead with the questions instead.

But stop blaming AI for it.

Look at how... & who... you're actually approaching.

What's 1 thing you're currently selling as a deliverable that should really be sold as a result?

Make it a great "real-intelligence"kinda week!
EG

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