Hey folks! I'm on day 6 of single dad of 5 kids, and we're making it! (specifically thanks to my parents' help) A couple things on my mind... 1. OpenClaw: I promise I think about stuff other than AI, but this one's too good. OpenClaw is a free AI agent that can actually DO STUFF on your computer and browser - API directly into your social media, email, you name it. My favorite use case: twice a day it scans my inbox, sorts everything into junk, FYI, and needs-a-response, I tell it what to do,...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Hey folks! Happy Friday! We made it. A couple things on my mind... 1. Claude (Again): I said it last week and I'll say it again - if you aren't using Claude and its agentic workflows, you need to start. This week alone I: wrote a 60-page highly technical newsletter drip, made design tweaks on a website that just felt "off," and re-wrote a 7-part lead magnet sourced from Zoom calls, changing the writer and tone 3x for options. The sheer volume of work I can get through in a day right now is...
17 days ago • 1 min read
Hey folks! Hope your week is going well! A couple things on my mind... 1. Claude Is Winning: About every other month or so I'll try out Gemini, Grok, and Claude to see if they can dethrone the primary use of ChatGPT. Just did it again this week and wow. Claude is winning - like no competition. Specifically the writing style emulation and deep analysis combination has got me over the edge to become my default for marketing work. Also, their new ad campaign is so good - latching onto one key...
23 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Folks! Happy Friday! Our family has been essentially snowed in since the last time I wrote this newsletter...a couple things on my mind... 1. Push It To Sales: We just ran a campaign for a client selling a $5k coaching program, and it looks like we’ll sell out. The main reason is something I learned from John Meese: if you’re charging more than $2K, skip “marketing” and push everything directly to 1:1 sales. We still emailed and posted to 100,000+ people, but the CTA was never a landing...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Folks! Happy midwestern snowmageddon Friday. A couple things on my mind... 1. Fundraising Cohort: This spring I’m running a small fundraising cohort - 5 founders, angel to seed. We’ll run a full process together: pitch, target list, outreach, meetings, and negotiation. Looking for founders who: - Are committed to raise in the next few months - Have 3-4+ months of runway - Will do daily tasks and show up for group accountability Know anyone? Reply and let me know! 2. How To Actually Read...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey folks! Happy Friday. Everett and I are competing in a jiu jitsu tournament tomorrow, so my brain is half on family life and half on getting choked by strangers. A couple other things on my mind: 1. Human Mode (Free Beta): I made a simple Gmail extension called Human Mode to help signal [H]uman-written email. It disables copy and paste while composing and prioritizes messages between people writing without AI. You can try it free today here. 2. Wordle: I'm a little late to the party on...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey folks! Happy New Year! A couple things on my mind... 1. Google Workspace vs. The World: II am seriously considering switching every piece of software I pay for at Allsmith.org over to Google Workspace. For example: Otter.ai, Slack, Calendly, ChatGPT, and Typeform would all be replaced by Google-native tools. I am curious if anyone out there has made this jump and how it went. I feel like Google is getting close enough that it may be worth going all in, especially as their agentic tools...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey folks! Happy Friday before Christmas! Godspeed to all of us trying to fit a week's worth of work in Monday and Tuesday next week - we're doing the Lord's work. A couple things on my mind... 1. Human Mode Email (I made a thing!): I get maybe 20 AI-generated cold emails a day that say things like “I saw you went to Hillsdale College...” or “I love seeing your journey from Cladwell to Jumpdocs and Allsmith.org...” followed by a pitch. As AI gets smarter, I’m finding it harder to distinguish...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey folks! Happy snowy Friday. Sending late - back to back meetings all day. A couple things on my mind... 1. Top 8 Leads: I used this a lot when I was raising venture capital and somehow forgot about it until this week. When your funnel gets big - 100+ leads - it helps to ask a simple question: who are my top 8 favorite leads right now? Not the biggest list. The highest odds. The most exciting. The ones you most want to win. Keep those 8 at the very top of your CRM and give them extra care...
3 months ago • 2 min read