THE TRUTH: No One Gives A Damn About AI!

The problem is, the whole AI scene today is a disorganized mish-mash of half-truths, misinformation, and hype.

Strong words, but true.

AI lacks direction, clarity, and a clear path from A (where do I start) to B (I’m getting real results and/or profit).

To illustrate my point, does any of this sound familiar:

• You believe you need a computer science degree just to get started. You see code-heavy tutorials and immediately tune out, assuming AI is reserved for the “tech elite.”

• You fear your hard-earned expertise is being rendered obsolete by a single click. Every headline about automation feels like a countdown on your career, leaving you wondering if your role will even exist in two years.

• You’ve tried the popular tools, but the results have been disappointing. You get generic, “robotic” outputs that require so much editing it would have been faster to do it yourself.

• There’s a nagging fear that if you do start using AI effectively, you’re somehow “cheating.” You worry that your clients or colleagues will value your work less if they know an algorithm helped you.

• You feel like you’re drowning in a sea of self-proclaimed “AI gurus” and overnight experts. One person says AI is your new best friend, while another claims it’s the end of humanity, and the disjointed list of the 10 latest AI tools in your email this morning hasn’t helped.

I’m sure at least some of the above will resonate with you!

1. Master “Natural Language” Over Code: This is the big one for me, and the reason you shouldn’t be afraid of AI. You don’t need to learn Python; you need to learn how to communicate. The new “coding” is simply being able to give clear instructions to AI in plain English.

2. Pivot from “Grunt Worker” to “Director”: AI isn’t replacing your expertise; it’s automating the grunt work. By offloading the “doing” to AI, you move up the value chain to become the strategic director who provides the vision, judgment, and nuances an algorithm can’t replicate.

3. Use “Persona-Based” Inputting: To kill the robotic tone, stop giving short prompts. Provide the AI with a specific “DNA” - your brand voice, your past writing samples, and your specific target audience - so the output is a 90% finished draft that actually sounds like you.

4. Adopt the “Efficiency, Not Ethics” Mindset: Using AI isn’t “cheating”; it’s leveraging a high-powered research assistant. Your value to clients isn’t how many hours you spent typing, but in the quality of the final result and the strategic insight you bring to the table.

5. Implement a “Tool-Agnostic” Workflow: Ignore the weekly “Top 10” hype lists. Instead, master the evergreen principles of AI logic - like context-setting and iterative feedback * - which work across any platform. This protects you from the noise and keeps you focused on results, not the latest toys.

That last bit is worth repeating.

Focusing on tangible, monetary results is a good idea. The closer you are to the money, the better your chance of success with AI. If you want to offer a service to a business, “bringing in more qualified leads that deliver a sale automatically” will always outsell “I’ll increase your efficiency.”

* In the context of AI, iterative feedback means your initial prompt is a conversation starter rather than a final command.

Instead of being frustrated when the first output isn’t perfect, you “iterate” - you give the AI specific feedback on what to change, keep, or remove until the result matches your vision. It’s the “bridge” between a “robotic” first draft and a high-quality, professional result.

Here’s a hard truth from someone who’s been in the digital trenches for 15 years.

No one wants to pay for your “AI services.”

Clients don’t care if you used ChatGPT, a typewriter, or a quill pen.

They care about outcomes.

Don’t be afraid to sell the outcome, not the process.

To give you a personal example of “selling the outcome”, let me tell you about a copywriting job I did for a major US chemical company.

I had contracted them for $150 an hour.

I then discovered they had set their budget for 6 pieces of work, plus writing a comprehensive buyer’s guide, at just under $15,000 in total.

Now, I knew I could deliver the whole project in quite a bit less than 100 hours. So I floated the idea of pivoting from an hourly rate to fixing my charges at the figure they’d already budgeted.

The agreed - you see, it was the outcome they were interested in, not how many hours it took me to deliver the work.

It was a fantastic win-win for us both.

They knew their budget was fixed and there was no chance of an overrun. I ended up at a much higher rate than my originally quoted $150 an hour.

Everyone was happy.

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The reason AI is a “gold mine” right now isn’t because the tools are magical; it’s because the tools allow you to deliver massive value at a fraction of the traditional cost and time.

• The Old Way: Charging $50/hour to research and write a white paper (Taking 10 hours = $500).

• The AI Way: Charging $500 for a “Strategic Industry Report” (Taking 1 hour of “Directing” AI = $500/hour).

The value to the client is the same. The profit to you is 10x higher.

To do this, you have to focus on what I call High-Friction Tasks. Look for the things businesses hate doing - the things that are “a mess.” Maybe it’s sorting through customer feedback, drafting LinkedIn thought-leadership posts, or creating onboarding sequences.

When you use AI to solve those “friction” points, you’re not a “prompt engineer” (a term I personally find a bit old-fashioned now). You’re a Solution Director or Solution Orchestrator.

AI has moved on a lot from those early days when ChatGPT was seen as a magic bullet and the only show in town!

Okay, I get it. Not absolutely everyone uses AI in their writing. Fair enough.

That said, it’s an amazing tool, so you should at least explore the options before ruling it out completely.

We’re in a totally different position than we were a couple of years ago.

There’s no hiding from the fact that AI is out there and writers use it.

So, you may as well get it out of the way upfront.

If you write (copy) for paying clients, please feel free to use/model this upfront disclaimer.

As your dedicated copywriter, I believe in leveraging every tool available to deliver outstanding results. This includes the responsible and strategic integration of artificial intelligence for purposes such as initial ideation, competitive analysis, and streamlining research processes. Rest assured, AI is a powerful assistant in my toolkit, not a replacement for my creative expertise or your unique brand voice. Every piece of copy I deliver is meticulously crafted, refined, and ultimately approved by me, ensuring it resonates authentically with your audience and achieves your objectives with the human touch and the strategic insight you expect.

Whatever route you choose to take with AI, I hope this article helps you sort out the AI mess.

As I hope I’ve shown, AI really doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Stay focused on tangible outcomes (not tools), embrace AI (don’t ignore it), and be the one who uses AI to your advantage, keeping you ahead of the game.