😫 That Feeling When AI Has Taken Your Job (Really!)

→ And the battle against the robots has just begun

“I just sent a tough message to your personal email account. Please read it as soon as possible, and when you have time, we can speak.”

This was the text I received on a recent Friday afternoon, shortly after the workday closed. It was from my biggest client, an agency I had done digital strategy and marketing for over the past seven years.

I knew what was coming because the agency owner had never used my personal email account before. The tone, while meant to be compassionate, was hurtful.

But it was business, after all, and I had to keep that top of mind to stop the scream that wanted to erupt from my throat.

“Important Update on Our Agency’s Future - A Message of Gratitude and Transition” was the subject line.

I laughed when I saw the word “our” in reference to the agency. It was his, not “ours.” That’s the life of a freelance consultant.

He begins: “Over the years, your dedication, creativity, and hard work have not only propelled our agency to new heights but have also built a culture of excellence and camaraderie that I have been profoundly proud to be a part of.”

He’s right. With my help, the agency grew tenfold, if not more. When I started as his very first consultant seven years ago, it had just three clients, each paying around $3k monthly.

A few years later, it had ten employees/consultants and numerous high-dollar clients who were willing to pay $20k a month for agency services.

He constantly told me, “You are my most important consultant,” and “You could be the CEO of my agency.”

I believed him based on the growth I helped to facilitate and the solutions and creative strategies I brought to the table.

Apparently, I am no match for the robots.

“Don’t Be Afraid of AI, It Won’t Take Your Job”

Ever since the emergence of ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other AI tools, I have been at the forefront of utilizing these platforms. As an early adopter, I saw how they me a more effective strategist and provided my clients some amazing tools for automation, allowing them to work smarter and more efficiently, too.

But I was also keenly aware of how quickly they might (and did) replace us.

Over the past year, I’d chuckle in Facebook marketing groups when posts would debate how to best use AI and whether it was the writing on the wall for all of us.

Commenters would argue that AI would never come for our jobs, and they stood firm in their superiority over the robot realm.

I knew better, though, because I had already seen another agency I sometimes consulted for lay off an entire team of copywriters. (An entire team of writers!)

That was when the clock started ticking for me.

First, AI Came for the Writers

That particular agency explained how they could save time and money and get better quality writing for SEO, emails, blog posts, and the like.

Instead of paying human writers, who were expensive and might take a few days to turn around a well-researched, SEO-rich blog post, the robots could write it for free in just a few minutes.

The AI blog post would most likely be better researched, more accurate in the facts, and more effectively loaded with keywords. It could vary in tone based on input and would be grammatically correct.

And, best (or worst) yet, the agency could still charge clients full price for it.

Then AI came for the Photographers, Podcasters, and Actors

The robots were also able to replace creatives. No longer did you have to wait for a photographer to schedule photo shoots, pay for models, deliver products, stage photos, and edit in the light room.

Nope, any number of AI services could create the photos you wanted in just an hour or so of tweaking inputs.

Again, saving money and time was a plus. As a result, I can name two different creative directors who were relegated from creating compelling photo shoots for multi-faceted visual campaigns to simply typing words into a Midjourney prompt.

Next came the podcasters, where human voices were easily cloned. You could effortlessly create hour-long podcasts for clients by uploading a document for the AI voice to read.

Trust me, if the human voice is cloned well enough, you cannot tell the difference. The robots are winning.

Then, AI came for the videos, including the human hosts, actors, and models starring in them. In 2018, China debuted its first AI news anchor live on air.

Since then, literally thousands of streamers have been created through AI, and they have gotten to the point where when you see a live stream, you have no idea if it is a human or a robot. These robots respond in real-time to commenters and act and look human.

Deep fakes are terrifyingly real.

I was watching all of this happen and began to hear the clock ticking even louder in my ear.

We always assume that robots will dominate fast food checkouts and agricultural and warehouse jobs, but few people consider white-collar and creative jobs. We mistakenly think that we can harness the power of AI to do our jobs easier and more effectively.

Again, I chuckle at the naiveté.

The Beginning of the End… For All of Us

“It is with a heavy heart that I must share some business developments that necessitate immediate changes to the structure of our agency,” the email continued.

“After much deliberation and with great sadness, I must inform you that, as part of this restructuring, we will have to end several positions on the team, including yours.”

And what was that restructuring? As the agency owner, he was letting go of nearly every single employee and freelance consultant. He himself would use AI to fill the gaps.

You see, he recently lost several big dollar clients. Why? Among other reasons, many of those companies figured out that they, too, could utilize AI.

Those companies no longer needed a highly paid external agency to figure out their blog posts, Facebook ads, and social posts. They could create their own photos and videos. They could design their own Google ads and lead magnets.

I think back to a lead magnet strategy I devised for another client, which resulted in this note to me from the company CMO: “The guide has done more than we ever imagined in terms of driving email registrations (over 80K new people added to our list in 5 months), free trials (over 40K), and paid plan subscriptions.”

That company? They now have AI strategizing and designing for them.

Why pay $20k a month to an agency when you can pay a recent college grad $3k a month to input some data on ChatGPT and spit out the exact strategy you were just paying an agency to do?

Why employ an agency with the heavy financial burden of photographers, podcasters, models, social strategists, paid marketers, consultants, etc., when AI can do it all for you for basically zero cost? Heck, AI can even post the content for you!

If you are an agency owner, why employ copywriters when ChatGPT can write for free?

While it may be small now, the list of companies that will figure this out is growing exponentially.

You Are Not Special

Again, the commenters in my Facebook marketing groups who insist AI cannot match the human brain in creativity, strategy, or wit simply have not yet heard the ticking clock.

Denial can be a beautiful yet deadly thing. We fool ourselves into thinking we are the secret sauce in our jobs.

With the right inputs, AI can be just as creative and astute a problem solver as any human. No, scratch that—robots can be even more creative and even faster at providing better solutions.

And it’s not just writers, photographers, creatives, and marketing agencies that are going to feel the pinch; it is just about every field and industry you can imagine.

Attorneys, judges, and even medical doctors are training in artificial intelligence. Artists, composers, and musicians utilize AI.

Banking and finance, insurance, real estate, mortgages, and even politics—a guy in Cheyenne, Wyoming, filed for an AI candidate to enter the mayoral race!

Think of city planners, coders, app developers, architects, utility workers, researchers, educators, counselors, therapists, drivers, and customer service representatives. Recently, somebody mentioned carpenters or builders, and I pointed out that AI and 3D printers were already at work. AI is even growing produce and printing foods and AI chef-inspired dishes fit for the finest restaurants.

Just about any industry you can imagine already has AI integrated into the workflow.

And that’s why we have mistakenly fallen into a comfortable, side-by-side existence, thinking we are working alongside the robots.

Greed and efficiency will eventually win out, and the low-cost AI will be the victor.

“But I do social media, OTT, programmatic advertising, SEO, SEM, even voice search. I do top-to-bottom, all-encompassing paid campaigns… there’s no way AI can duplicate everything I bring to a company.” This was the note I got from a colleague when I mentioned I had lost my biggest agency client. I sighed.

Blissful ignorance keeps worries at bay.

Where Do We Go From Here?

So, several weeks after the Dear John email, I find myself contemplating what I want to do next since the loss of this particular client freed up a lot of my time. It had been my biggest client by far and the workload had been substantial.

As a result, I was head-hunted for a key marketing position for a start-up in California and another in Texas.

I also interviewed to become the digital director for a local company, but they were firm about working on-site, so it would not have been a good fit for me.

The idea of focusing my energies on a single brand was tempting, but the thought of proving myself again and again to new people seemed exhausting.

And how long will it be before they realize AI can provide the same services at a much lower cost?

That’s the real rub. I am hesitant to immerse myself back into a culture where you work your ass off only to be replaced by the robots.

It’s not just the big companies employing AI, but the small ones, too.

Think back to when Windows allowed everybody (not just the computer geeks) to actually use an HP. That was the turning point for computers’ integration into our everyday lives. Windows allowed all of us to access the power of computing.

Similarly, ChatGPT, Open AI, DALL-E, and others allow us to access the power of AI. And that’s a wonderful yet absolutely horrifying thing.

While you may have your job today, check back with me next year or even five years down the road.

I’m not saying all of us will be unemployed, but the workforce will definitely look different.

“But somebody will have to actually type the inputs into ChatGPT and MidJourney,” another colleague countered recently. That’s accurate. But one person replacing the workload of an entire team? You do the math.

New Beginnings

So, as I sit here typing this first newsletter post on Substack, I think that instead of leaning into others and their companies, I will be leaning into myself and exploring what it means to be human in a world where artificial intelligence is becoming more dominant.

COVID gave me the time and space to reflect on the lessons I had learned the previous decade as the founder of two successful companies (the Florida Blogger & Social Media Conference and Florida Swim Network—both of which were acquired before the outbreak and lockdowns).

I spent that homebound time writing and publishing the Amazon bestseller Unio: The Art of Intentional Community Building, sharing the best business practices I had learned over the years.

COVID also allowed me to rekindle my love of sculpting, painting, and writing for myself. In these past four years, I've done two solo gallery exhibitions and published another book, all of which were fundraisers for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

And since that Dear John email terminating my gig with the marketing agency? The time I would have spent checking Slack and chiming in on Basecamp with their clients, I have instead spent painting and writing. I’ve discovered what’s bad for the bank account isn’t always bad for the soul.

Will You Join Me?

So, I’ve decided I can do the same now as I did when COVID first struck—reflect on and share through this newsletter what the last fifteen years have taught me in business, marketing, and relationships as we navigate this current time of transition. (And it is a time of transition, even if you have not yet been swept up by it!)

I’ll be revisiting the concepts I wrote about in Unio: the new building blocks of our businesses and communities, the psychology of our community members (what keeps our employees and staff engaged, our audience and customers loyal, etc.), and how the newest technology can work alongside us effectively.

Most importantly, I’ll discuss how we navigate a world where there will eventually be more robots than human workers and how human jobs look vastly different. It’s coming much sooner than you think!

A Special Invitation

I hope you will join me by subscribing to the tips and insights I will be sharing via this newsletter and a new podcast here on Substack.

No matter what industry or position you are in, I will be discussing topics that directly affect you: running a business, marketing, hacks and DIY tricks, trends and technology tools, and best practices for working smarter and more efficiently.

Whether you decide to join me on this journey of exploration or not, I want to express gratitude for your sticking with me this far.

In fact, I’ll borrow the final words from the Dear John email, but know that I mean it with the utmost sincerity: “You have been a fundamental part of my success, and for that, I am eternally grateful.”

Much love, friends. I hope to see you soon! (Now hit that subscribe button!)