Mr Rogers famously talked about looking for the helpers when something bad happens. I think when something new happens, you should also look for the scammers. AI is full of them at the moment. People who weren’t AI experts yesterday are suddenly experts today, happily giving advice, selling courses and offering to transform your business.
But there’s another scam going on too: you’re scamming yourself. You can convince yourself that chasing AI, the latest platform, the latest tool or whatever shiny thing has just arrived is the same as improving your business. It isn’t.
AI is not going to help your business if you have no fucking idea what your business is. What’s your product? What’s your service? Who are your customers? Tell me about your customers. Tell me about their daily lives. What do they do in work? What annoys them? What do they need? How are you making their lives easier or better? Build something that does that. Sell it to them. Make money from it.
If you’re constantly chasing the new thing, maybe you’re avoiding the harder questions about the business you already have. Maybe the shiny new thing feels like progress. Maybe buying the course feels like progress. Maybe trying another AI tool feels like progress. But sometimes you’re just distracting yourself.
You’re a scammer for chasing the new too. Stop scamming yourself.
Focus on people. Know your customers better. Understand their world. Understand what they need. Be useful to them. Make their lives better while, yes, also making money.
The technology will keep changing. Knowing who you’re helping, what you’re helping them with, and why they’ll pay you for it matters a lot more.