Onward!

AI might be improving every day, but I think "team human" isn't so shabby. Every day I receive roughly 100-150 emails and each one teaches me more about AI and the human experience I never knew I needed to know. We're all becoming AI detectors whether we want to be or not. We're all getting more sensitive, day after day, to the beige, generated emails full of em dashes—and in the wrong places (like that last one) and "whether statements". A "whether statement" is this thing I noticed that AI...

I just had a lovely brunch with my step mom. She came to my town for a visit and we did lunch at cute little café nearby. We sat outside, they brought a bowl of water for the dog, and then the food... So. Good. They even brought us a plate of homefries on the house! When it came time to pay it was my treat and I handed over my credit card. Our server squinched her face, "Cash only." Seriously? I honestly had to take a box breath to not lash out with, "Do you know what year it is?" And by some...

So, most product-based businesses are burning out writing more emails when, honestly, they could get better results sending less at a time. But for some reason, it's still hard to convince some business owners that it doesn't have to be this way. I think many solopreneurs, especially, are really tied to their weekly newsletter, like a 2010s blog where they overshare the story of finding a rescue cat that changed their life. So I recently took another approach and looked at a weekly email...

I can't believe that I had this major blindspot with branding. I taught English as a Second Language for over 10 years, in Toronto and Mexico. Now I'm a copy strategist telling people how important it is to have a brand voice in all communications, even to your team. So when I recently met a CEO at a networking event and heard a story where his team, all of whom are in The Philippines, was almost scammed over email, I was listening intently. His team was receiving emails ordering his staff to...

AI is great at being ‘catchy’. But while ‘catchy’ gets the job done, it doesn’t target your customer. There’s a reason why we get hours on targeting and demographics in business school. Yet, nowadays, it’s pretty clear everyone is ready to just skip that part and get to ‘good enough’. And the thing is, the ‘good enough’ AI copy can still get some attention and some sales. But in the long run? Well, there are lots of implications, especially when it comes to building loyalty and trust with...

In my early twenties (so, a million years ago), I worked in a paint store. Actually, my aunt bought a shop and gave me a job. Pure nepotism at its finest. But it turns out, I was pretty good at it. I learned customer service pretty quickly and I discovered a knack and love for interior design. My job was mainly to help people colour-match all kinds of household items to a coordinating paint colour. I saw everything from door jambs, favourite toys, and a lot of curtain fabric. And one time,...