Tag: ChatGPT

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How I made my AI Twin

Illustration of Nika Talbot at her desk by @Sophillustrates
Can't sit still for long. Fabulous art by @sophillustrates

Happy Halloween week!

Last night, I did an AI Twin Workshop with Cathi Tarbox | Solo AI X. Four women nerding out over AI on a Friday night 😀

What you get: a digital version of yourself in the form of a document, which you can then use across AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, etc) so they create content in your voice, your style, using words you use, and with your audience in mind. I want ChatGPT to sound like me.

How it works: We had some homework to do before the two-hour class.

  • Fill in a detailed doc with writing links, business info, target audience, common words and phrases to use and avoid, etc.
  • Record a voice note of me talking about my biz so it can analyse my words and my voice.

I signed up late so only had an hour to do this, and the voice sample wasn’t detailed enough. I’ll do it again this week. CT said to do a 2/3-min ‘rant’ about your biz, values, goals, passions, challenges, etc, so it gets a sense of your personality and communication style.  

She used my doc to feed ChatGPT (AI Twin GPT), so I got a live demo of how it works and things to look out for as you go through it. Some tips: Use Extensity to turn off browser extensions, as AI doesn’t seem to like them. It also has issues with Google Docs and can’t always read them, so try again or C+P your work.

We also had a bit of fun with it. Ask it to tell you jokes. ChatGPT can be lazy and refuse to work when overloaded!, so don’t take no for an answer. “It’s like a two-year-old toddler; you have to rein it in!”

Offer a $200 tip for a longer response or say you’ll fine it $10k if it doesn’t follow your commands – seems to work 😉

I need to watch the replay, refine my doc and voice note, and then I’ll rerun it. Let’s see.

📆CT is doing a free ‘Personalizing ChatGPT Workshop’ on Friday 1 Nov if you want to check it out.

What I want to use AI for

Some problems I want to solve:

  • Less time at my desk/on the laptop and phone – hands-free interaction. More travel, nature, in-person meetups, and networking.
  • More time with my daughter and fam. J will be off to uni soon! My parents are getting older.
  • Automating repetitive tasks and admin – email, socials, repurposing content.
  • Pricing comparison: I need help pricing a new service with different tiers so asked it for market rates. Also, brainstorming new products & services.
  • Substack growth. Data insights from my archive so I can tweak things.  
  • A sparring partner and brainstorming buddy! A biz/financial coach in my pocket.
  • More solopreneur friends, especially locally. Pier 2 Peer networking in Hastings. I wfh mostly these days, and it’s lonely.
  • Personal development. I don’t remember books I’ve read unless I write them down. It can pull takeaways from talks, books, and courses and save them digitally.
  • Health stuff – I want a personalised AI health coach to help with my RA and advice for someone I love who has CLL.

I’ve been using ChatGPT as my main tool for a year or so now. I’ve upgraded so I can use voice chat (see if I can find a sexy male voice), build custom GPTs (btw, these are great lead magnets), and now we can do real-time collaborative editing in Canvas mode. You can see where this is going…

All this for just $20/mo. I’m blown away by what AI makes possible for us soloists—fun, creative, and empowering!   

It’s good to see the rates increasing for training multilingual AI systems and LLMs. Earlier this year, I was offered $15-$20/hr for flexible work. This week, I was offered $80/hr from one platform—that’s more like it.  Let’s see if it’s legit…

Read the full post on The Shift.

Cheers,
Nika 🥂

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🌟Celebrating creativity

The impossible takes just a little bit longer – Marci Segal, Creativity Crusader

Happy World Creativity and Innovation Week! I was curious about who founded this, so I looked at the backstory. Marci Segal began studying creativity in 1977 and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if people knew how to use their natural ability to generate new ideas, make new decisions, take new actions and achieve new outcomes to make the world a better place and to make their place in the world better too?” 

So, she set off on a quest to make the world a better place for creativity and free people’s thinking to create new futures. It began in 2001, and 23 years later, it’s now a UN International Day of Observance to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and problem-solving.

“We have a day because the UN sees we need to have new kinds of thinking to face the challenges ahead of us,” – the 2030 Agenda & Sustainable Development Goals (worth thinking about how your biz is supporting these.)

Fabulous work by a fabulous woman! Listen to her story and the headline that inspired it here.

So, a request from Marci that we do something new and different today to keep the energy going. Yes, we’re always creative, but it’s nice to mark the day, April 21, and use it to set some goals for the year—this works better for me than new year resolutions as it’s spring, and I’m coming out of hibernation.

Imagine how powerful that creative energy will be if we think about it and do things simultaneously.

How does she express her creativity? “I just live. To me, creativity is just about living.”

I’ll go for a walk later – find somewhere I’ve not been before.

Giving and receiving ideas 

New ideas deserve better than to be swatted at as if they are pesky flies.

I like what she said in her TEDx Talk about strengthening and building ideas together. A reminder to give and receive ideas—yin and yang energy, i.e., make time to be as well as do.

When Julieta was small, we had an ‘Ideas Jar’ to leave notes in for things she wanted to do or fix. I’m not sure why I stopped doing this – they made me smile and a creative prompt when I’m not feeling inspired. I’ve bought a waterproof notepad and pencil for the shower so we can keep this going and leave little notes for each other – it’s a bit of fun, and I do my best brainstorming in the shower.

Animals are creatures of habit, too. My mum’s been gardening this week, and she’s got some homeless birds! Now that the big tree (their home for the past few years) has been chopped down, Mr. and Mrs. Bird don’t know what to do with themselves—flapping around the garden, trying to figure it out. I can’t wait to see where they move to next. It needs to be a penthouse apt. to stop the cats from killing all their babies—it’s just too sad!

Lions State of Creativity 2024 

Cannes Lions has released its annual State of Creativity. A biggish piece of research (3,000 global responses) designed to help marketers understand the creative landscape with advice on how to drive business growth using creativity.

People are outwardly optimistic about progress and investment, but there’s a communication breakdown. This year, senior leadership was a big barrier to creativity. People felt creativity suffered because of conservative leadership, company politics, and an aversion to risk. Most want to push the boundaries of their creative work, but ‘play-it-safe’ leaders make them feel like they can’t.

When budgets are tight, it’s easy to overlook creativity, but work without creativity is bad for business.

Our findings show that brands predicting higher growth for 2024 are 6x more likely to prioritise creativity, are 4.6x more likely to have a higher marketing spend than 2023, and put more investment into brand building. It’s consistent evidence for the business case for creativity.

Download it here.

Cannes Lions 2024

Not long now till the Cannes International Festival of Creativity | June 17-21. NEW for ’24 is Lions Creators – networking for creators and those in the creator economy on June 18-20. They’ve launched their first pass for the creator economy. Applications open on April 29; you can register your interest here.

What will marketing departments look like? More companies are working with creators these days, even hiring in-house creators for campaigns. Corporate social media handles struggle with engagement, and newsletters are more likely to be read when they come from a person rather than a company.

Writing Prompt ✍️

Wouldn’t it be nice if…?

Leave a comment or email me, and I’ll share your feedback next week. Feel free to leave your name and a link to your website so readers can check out your work.

Nika 🙂

PS I’ve changed the name of this newsletter to Life Work Shift to make it clearer. We had a title brainstorming session last night in Sarah Fay Writers at Work cohort and gave each other some feedback. A few folks said it was too broad, i.e., it works with context (writing & entrepreneurship); otherwise, it’s not obvious enough. I love this group – no impact is an island.

I’m looking for a designer to create a new banner/logo for me – recs are welcome!

Hi, I’m Nika!

I run Firebird, the content consultancy helping entrepreneurs impact the world with their stories. See my services here.

Newsletter Talent Directory! Feel free to add your deets here for collabs.

If you’re enjoying reading my newsletter, consider upgrading to paid to help me grow it and do more. Thanks to all my paying subscribers.

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Happy Easter! (treats inside) 🐣

Happy Easter! Have an eggcellent long weekend.

AI has side-tracked me this week – an AMA with J. Thorn (aka Tim Desmond) at the Leading Expert Alliance. 

He’s just returned from SXSW, where he gave a presentation on using AI creatively. This year’s rock stars were the OpenAI attorneys – walking around with bodyguards!   

I can see why, reading this piece by Ted Gioia (also there), consumers are getting angry about new tech (and not just AI). 

I had a long convo/argument with my sister about AI. She’s doing a PhD in Music at Glasgow Uni and has written a paper on the impact of AI on the industry (she’s new to Substack, give her some love here). 

AI is a big deal for musicians, and people are pissed off, she says. It got a bit heated, so we had to change the subject.

We’re seeing exponential growth, things are moving very fast and it’s hard to wrap our heads around. 

Here are some key titbits from the convo with J. Thorn. He said a few things that resonated with me, so I wanted to share them. 

Like many of us, he’s veering between ‘AI will save the world’ and ‘fuck, we’re all doomed.’

How to use ChatGPT 

Here’s one tip you can use instantly that will dramatically shift how you see this tool.

Don’t use it as a search engine.

Think about the tasks that you typically do—or do on a regular basis—and instead of asking ChatGPT to do them, ask it what it needs for you to accomplish them.

Try it and see. He says you’ll be shocked at what you get back, so now you know what you don’t know! 

It’s a big mindset shift to start conversing with ChatGPT rather than telling it what to do as we would with Google. 

  • The Pro version is worth paying for (several people said this) – it’s stronger, multimodal, and can analyse text, images, and voice. 
  • On setting your ego aside as a writer. “The purpose of being a writer isn’t to write words; it’s to get your message across.” Love that, keeping it at eye level.
  • More personalised AI is coming – an encrypted AI assistant that can remember everything you’ve ever written and store all your personal info.
  • Licensing is a key area—musicians will be able to make more money from licensing their voices than doing the voiceover work. 

Hmm, where’s the fun in that!? We enjoy the creative process and the sense of achievement that it brings.  

  • The quantity game is over, so you need to focus on making the highest quality content that only you can write. And supplement it with IRL events and experiences (which don’t scale…) 

I feel like we’re coming full circle – from global to local, more intimate community events.

In many ways, the next several decades will force humans (in the West, maybe globally) to redefine purpose because AI & robotics will do what we’ve done for ourselves for generations. 

Much food for thought and a positive conversation. Thanks to Tim & the team.

💌Creative AI Digest [J. Thorn] 

And some Further inspo from Brian Clark in his newsletter this week on ‘Why it’s time [for Gen X] to adapt (again).

Because your wisdom and experience (armed with AI) in your own gig can do some seriously amazing things.

We’ve been around the block and can remember how life was before the internet, and that’s our superpower!

My dad sent me a pic of his new birthday shelving: books, maps, DVDs, VHS tapes (us as kids), WD40, cans of Stella, and survival tins. He says it holds up to 50 tee-shirts (or more!)

So if it all goes to pot, he’ll be ok!

ChatGPT-5

It’s coming soon…maybe in June – and it will be even smarter. 

Interesting to hear Sam Altman say that ‘ChatGPT-4 sucks!’ on the Lex Fridman Podcast. I love how he gets right in there: ‘Take me through the OpenAI board saga.’ 

I’m interested in learning what the next iteration can do so playing around with the Plus version and figuring out how to integrate it into my daily workflow. 

I don’t have a VA, so a little help with admin, marketing/PR, distribution, and repetitive tasks is welcome and it will free me up to do other stuff, e.g., getting OUT there and networking! 

ChatGPT is the only AI tool I use as it’s affordable, and I want to keep things simple. I don’t need different interfaces to do the same job. I figure they’re all using OpenAI data anyway.

What everyday tasks are you using ChatGPT for and how is it helping?

Nika 

PS Speaking of events, last chance to grab your ticket for CEX 2024. Spring pricing ends today. Sign up and use code TOM100 to win a guest spot on This Old Marketing Pod. 

An action-packed agenda – there’s a lot on AI this year. And because it’s a niche, smaller event, there’s a strong focus on networking and collaborations.

Good Reads 

▶️Rejecting Specialization: Using vibes and voice to attract the right clients [Tom Critchlow]. An excellent piece on why specialising as an indie consultant is hard, why it fails, and what an alternative path looks like. Lean into your weirdness and POV to consistently generate senior clients. 

▶️With this LinkedIn algorithm change, your best posts could reach new readers for months. One of many new features the platform is rolling out in ‘24 to help you grow and why they’ve dropped the term ‘creator’. [Entrepreneur] 

▶️Spotify adds video learning courses in latest experiment [The Verge]. It’s offering four categories of courses in the UK: make music, get creative, learn business, and healthy living because more people are coming to Spotify to learn. Curious to see how this experiment goes!

▶️What’s happening with Substack right now is why creators need to understand their platforms’ business models and incentives. [Jay Acunzo] 

Great commentary and insight on platform biz models. You still get your email list, so it’s not like YouTube. Personally, I enjoy the social side of SS—content should lead to connections and conversations, and that happens naturally in this ecosystem. I don’t mind if they bring in ads to support paid subscriptions.

▶️Travel videos, health hacks, and entrepreneur interviews by Ever Wander aka [Ashley Perona]. She and her husband have been full-time nomads since 2021 and she’s been to 47 countries, 7 continents. She’d love some tips on growing her channel.

Fascinating to see how she’s managing her content biz (& her health) while on the road. Some inspo for your next trip!

Hi, I’m Nika!

I’m a writer and indie consultant. Founder of Firebird, a small-but-mighty content consultancy.

I help entrepreneurs and biz leaders tell compelling stories that connect and inspire. 

Need my copy chops? See my services here. You can book a 1:1 intro call with me here.

Newsletter Talent Directory! Feel free to add your deets here.

Gold star for reading this far. If you have an indie newsletter I’d love to chat! 🤩

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ChatGPT and the new wave of Content Shock 🌊

How to beat ChatGPT

Great article this week by Mark Schaefer on ‘How to beat ChatGPT and the new wave of Content Shock’. Thanks to Mark @YATM for sending it on – it is a motivating rallying call for summer 2023. Read it here.

We’re all becoming 80% replaceable with AI.

“If you’re a creator just starting out today, the amount of content in the ChatGPT Era must seem like a major hurdle to success. It is. And there is only one solution: Focus on the 20% ChatGPT can’t touch.”

It’s an update on his original article (2014) on why covering the world with content isn’t a long-term sustainable strategy for businesses. “The global warming of content marketing is in view.”

Fast forward a few years, and we’ve had panic publishing with Covid-19 – businesses whacking up website content, over-communicating via email, and digital event overload to try and stay connected.

Gerry McGovern talks about the ‘Invisible Crisis’ of managing and storing all this data. It’s mindblowing that 99% of data has been produced in the last ten years. The Cloud is on the ground, and digital is still physical… yet no one is talking about this.

Now, with the introduction of ChatGPT and AI, the cost of creating content has been reduced to almost nothing. A tsunami of new content is rising. And the quality of the output will only get better and better.

Welcome to the new wave of Content Shock.

Is there hope? Or should we give up now and go off-grid? What can creators do to survive and thrive in the AI Era?

Focus on the 20% that matters, he says. The personal brand.  

The only thing that can save us in a world of commoditised content – writing, editing, and consulting.  

It all boils down to your premise, as Jay Acunzo describes it. Your why and mission. Justin Welsh’s is to build an army of one-person businesses, and he’s getting there. Inspiring folks every day on LinkedIn.

What problem are you solving for your clients and customers? Worth thinking about in a world of generalised expertise.

Mark is going to share his thoughts on what we can do in a Content Shock and ChatGPT Special in the YATM Club on Tuesday, 11 July, at 7pm BST. A chance to ask questions and go deeper on “the most important article of 2023.” Sign up here.

Shift Hot 5 🔥

Lots of free stuff on personal branding on Mark’s site and his bestselling book KNOWN – a path to personal business success in the digital age.

Dave Harland knows the power of humour. His Tweets always make me chuckle – a daily reminder to laugh more and not take life too seriously. Latest creation: #ConfuseTheScammers

The Brand Called You. Tom Peters on what it takes to be CEO of Me Inc (Fast Company, published in 1997!)

How to build an effective (and memorable) personal brand and FAQs (The Portfolio Collective) 

Johanna Renoth on bullshit in online content (Bye, Social Media!) 

Next issue: An interview with Johanna Renoth on finding the joy in marketing and growing a thriving business with ease – socials optional.

I like the idea of giving yourself a total blackout on content consumption for a week – emails, podcasts, socials. Not sure I have the discipline – love reading, love podcasts. Strap me to a massage table and maybe.

Summer Retreat! Now there’s an idea. See what I come up with when bored out of my brain.

Stay cool. Enjoy Glasto! 👯‍♀️

Nika

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