Armies of one
Coincidence or not, I am fascinated by how new AI-powered tools are showing up at about the same time that more people go self-employed.
The bear case is fewer people have jobs, and AI threatens to take more. The bull case is there are more opportunities to work as an army of one.
Now, some baseline principles before you grab your pitchfork:
Not everyone wants to, or is suited to, be self-employed, this is for those who are committed to this as their future professional path
Speed is not the only advantage there is, but sometimes it helps, like when clients don't want Bureaucratic Strategy (BS) processes
Never let speed be an excuse for people to pay you peanuts, if anything you being faster (and good) should come at a premium
AI can't replace our thinking (yet), but it can fuel it (thanks Joel)
I don't know yet how this will affect the development of juniors coming into the industry, I'm just exploring what works for me
Having said all this, I've been playing with custom GPTs. Because I'm a dork. I like to scratch my own itches. And these tools help me do just that.
Here's what my army of one looks like right now:
Themethy Olyphant. It's a content theme generator. But it has a terrible pun as a name. Why? For love distinctiveness, that's why.
Positioning Poseur. A tool to generate positioning options. None of them are the answer. But they're useful enough shitty first drafts.
Feel The Bernbach. A creative thinking tool for solos. The name doesn't even make sense. Until it really does. Just like a good idea.
Marshall Cultural Matters. A cultural analysis tool. Based on Marshall McLuhan's thinking. And a 00s rap pun. Bit shady but ok.
TOV-100. A hundred tone of voice attributes, in the palm of your hand. With actual choices made. No "we're human" crap allowed.
I built these tools so I can work with a portfolio of clients, at pace, with more efficiency baked in. They help me kickstart the engine of the mind.
They don't give me the answers, but they give me crazy fast first thoughts. Their job is to offer choices. My job is to challenge or craft those choices.
I don't always use them. But it's good to know the option is always there. They're not perfect, but they can be useful. For me and, I hope, for you.
