Creator Leverage: Master AI. Build Systems. Grow Your Business

Your first draft is going to suck. Your second draft will probably suck, too. Mine certainly did. And if you wait until it stops sucking before you publish it, you'll never publish anything. I only built a business writing online after I got over my fear of lousy first drafts. Here's the painful truth about perfectionism: It's not protecting your reputation. It's preventing you from building one. One creator told me: "I hate the idea that my draft from the start will suck." I get it. Nobody...

You have projects inside you that deserve to exist in the world. That manuscript you've been working on for years. The community blog you've envisioned but never launched. The portfolio of published work that would finally attract your ideal audience. But here's what's stopping you: You're waiting to feel inspired before you create. You're polishing drafts that never see daylight. You're letting perfectionism convince you that "not ready" means "not good enough." Meanwhile, your insatiably...

My old calendar had more meetings than a corporate middle manager. Client calls. Workshop planning. "Quick chats" that last an hour. By 2 pm, I was fried. The Irish monk's hairline wasn't helping with the stress either. But here's the thing nobody tells you about building a creator business:. Your calendar can become an enemy. Every yes to a meeting is a no to creating. I learned this the hard way after a fierce week where I said yes to everything. Seven Zoom calls. Three "Can I pick your...

If you're serious about creating... If you're serious about doing the work... But you want some accountability... You'll love this...

I missed a week or so writing this newsletter. That’s down to the course's workload. I’m doing an MBA at Trinity College in Dublin. I wanted to do one for years, but I either didn’t have enough time or resources. Now, with all the changes happening in the content space, the time felt right. MBAs aren’t cheap, though. Here, I break down my costs I’m already using some of the frameworks in my business. One of them will directly affect PromptWritingStudio, my prompt engineering course. So, don’t...

Last week, I cracked open my MBA strategy textbook after a hiatus. Some MBA frameworks are the corporate equivalent of watching paint dry. But I stumbled across one that’s actually useful: the McKinsey 7-S Framework. And no, you don’t need an MBA or a six-figure consulting gig to use it. This week, I applied it to my local newsletter project. The one about events in Leinster that I wrote to you about earlier this month. The framework helped me spot gaps I’d been ignoring—like the fact I had...

You know that project? The one you’ve been thinking about for months (or years). The manuscript, the course, the passion project that keeps showing up in your late-night thoughts. You’re not creating it because you’re lazy or untalented. You’re not creating it because you don’t have a system for protecting your creative time from the noise of daily life. I’ve spent years studying how prolific creators work. Robert Heinlein. Brian Eno. John Cleese. They don’t wait for inspiration. They build...