"What kind of editor do I need?"
(2 min read)

Excellent question! It depends on what stage of the process you are in and the needs you identify. It likely also realistically depends on your budget.



There are four generally accepted types of editors:

• Developmental Editors
• Line Editors
• Copyeditors
• Proofreaders

What is a Developmental Editor?
This is your "big picture" editor and the first line of editors you may hire. This person reviews your story arc, chapter organization, and offers suggestions about your genre or ways to tighten up your story line.

What is a Line Editor?
This editor works more at the paragraph and sentence level to ensure smooth flow of your work. This is where language and style improvement happens. 

What is a Copyeditor?
This is often who you think of when you think "editor." These editors look at grammar, spelling, punctuation, fact checking, and general consistency.

What is a Proofreader?
A proofreader is your final check to make sure there are no typos, double words, incorrect words (to, too, vs two), or punctuation errors. They even check typesetting to be sure headings are consistent and there are no "orphans" or "widows" - words that hyphenate poorly across pages or paragraphs. Proofreading and Copyediting are two distinctly different services but often blend together for authors. Many such editors ensure they're proficient at both levels to offer both services. 

Extra Book Assistants

• A ghostwriter writes on your behalf. You may have a story burning inside you but have no time or talent to actually write the work. A ghostwriter would partner with you to get your voice on paper and into the world.
• Alpha or Beta Readers are an audience guide to help an author be sure the work resonates with readers. They help catch any jarring transitions or inconsistencies in characters or plot that weren't necessarily addressed by editors who more deal with the words on the page. These may be paid or free services. 

"Aunt Suzy" is Not a Good Editor
Whoever you ask to assist you in the editing process of your book, it really is worth spending at least some money for fresh, unbiased eyes to review your work to make it the best it can be. "Aunt Suzy" may have been a high school or college teacher, but she loves you dearly and will read as if you're absolutely brilliant. 

It is not unusual for humans to "read" words that are not actually in print. As the author, we know what we mean to say so may "read" words that aren't on the page. It's also easy to more quickly skim the work rather than see every dotted "i" or crossed "t" for errors in words or punctuation. In writing the work, you've reviewed and looked at the work so many times, you become a bit "blind" to how it may flow or read to others. 

I've added a couple of resources for your reference.
This post summarizes and touches lightly on the differences between the types of editors. The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) offers publicly available resources to help guide you including a more extensive Guide and a Rate Chart to help you budget for editors.

You've poured your heart, soul, and time into this work - doesn't it deserve the best treatment with editing services optimizing it? 

I provide a number of services - including proofreading and copyediting - for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors. I look forward to discussing ways to Engage your customers - Let's Chat!

Q: "What's one thing you wish more authors knew before handing over their manuscript for proofreading?" 
(3 min read)

What an amazing question! I actually have three ideas for you to consider to streamline the process and maximize your budget.

Get familiar with the publication process
There is A LOT to know ABOUT publishing before you get serious about writing. 

• How long can you expect it to take to have a finished product once you're done writing? It can be as long as a year with a publishing house or a few months if you're doing it on your own with guidance.
• How will you publish - through a publishing house or independently? 
• What is your budget like? This will be important as you consider the number of editors to involve in your process, your marketing plan, and number of ISBN codes to purchase to name a few.
• Wait - NUMBER of ISBN codes? Yes - you need a unique code for each publication method (Kindle, paperback, audio, and more)
• Will you publish exclusively on Amazon or additional locations? Amazon has a very particular system that does not translate well to other publishers and more ISBN codes may be needed. 

Get your marketing plan in place
Books don't sell themselves! It takes a lot of work and time, by you or others if you hire assistance.

Marketing is best if you begin creating an audience while you're still writing your work! Create your tribe as you go. Keep them involved in your process along the way. Share all the highs and lows of putting your work out there! You'll have a hungry market by the time you're ready to sell.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Consider creating a website for yourself, your upcoming book, and maybe future books!
• A website makes a great place to host your blog to journal your journey along the way and get readers interested. Give them a way to leave comments and interact!
• Social media - focus on two social media platforms where you think your audience may be. Some even feature particular zones for authors! Don't spread your time and energy too thin on many platforms. 
  • TikTok has BookTok within it - kind of a hashtag within TikTok.
  • Bookstagram is within Instagram. 
  • Goodreads has an Author Program to promote your book.
  • Create a social page for your book on any of the social media platforms.
• Email subscriber lists are a great way to involve your audience in the process!
  • Email addresses are all yours and not at the whim of social media.
  • You can include pieces of all of your other locations (blog, socials) inside one email. 
  • Emails can have interactive aspects to ask questions, create polls, and involve your audience in publication decisions like choosing a book jacket or title.

The more you can involve an interested audience along your publication journey, the more likely they will be to buy once produced and share with others.

Proofread BEFORE formatting
Finally to tackle proofreading in particular! Proofreading is the FINAL step in your editing process! You should have at least 1-2 other editors involved prior to proofreading. 

• Developmental editor - If you need a hand before you really even start writing, this is the best place to start. This editor helps you formalize your book outline and flesh out some character or story development. 
• Alpha or beta readers - These are readers to provide feedback on your story, whether they were carried away in the work, or if they felt gaps. These can be paid or unpaid roles, but choose folks who are not your (biased) loving family. 
• Copy editor/line editor - These editors help you fine tune the word flow, move sentences around, cut or build sentences as needed.
• Proofreader - The final step to literally dot your i's and cross your t's! A proofreader will make sure any typos are caught or the correct to/too/two was used. They will help you adhere to a style guide. Fiction authors may be more inclined to create worlds and break rules to suit their intent rather than follow a style guide. 
• Formatting - Your publisher takes care of this or you may decide to hire someone to assist you. This ensures the numbers are where your readers expect (even pages on left, odd pages on right) and the page size is correct for how it will be published. Page structure can be radically changed with minor word changes. If at least a couple of editors have reviewed your work already, a proofreader's review after formatting isn't a crisis.

When to Hire a Proofreader? 
​A proofreader takes action at the end of an author's process, but there's much to consider before you get there. 

• Plan out your entire publication process - do your research into what's involved
• Get your marketing plan in place
• Get proofreading done BEFORE formatting but AFTER at least one other editor!

Any advice to add from your experiences with proofreaders?

I provide a number of services - including proofreading - for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors. I look forward to discussing ways to Engage your customers - Let's Chat!

Which is Best?
(3 min read)
​
As we wrap up our Human vs AI series on Read. Write. Engage, we'll look at how AI is doing to ENGAGE your audience. Our earlier editions focused on AI in (proof)Reading and Writing. 

My take on AI in proofreading - strongly on Team Human.

AI in writing - AI does better, but I still lean heavily on Team Human.

To ENGAGE your customer, there are useful AI tools available, but it all relies on human involvement and simply BEING human—interacting with other humans as a human.

How Does AI "Engage" with Customers?
To ENGAGE your customers, there are a myriad of tasks you do. Engaging is a composite of activities to ultimately connect with your customer. 

• Various marketing efforts - create a brand kit, strategy, create PR items
• Website creation and maintenance
• Emails & Blog posts
• Social media
• Meet & Greet your customers, potential clients, and fellow business leaders

What CAN AI Do?
AI may be in template-based products you use. This includes Canva for logo, flyer, or newsletter designs. AI can be in template-based website hosts such as Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress. AI is embedded to help you get creative to improve your words, images, or overall design. 

AI is amazing at analytics. AI can help you be more precise in customer messaging by reviewing your donor or sales information. AI can review your sales data to help suggest products to your customer for you to personalize your emails. (CRM or Customer Relationship Management tools such as Hubspot)

AI can help you review your Pinterest idea boards for your next event to nail your clear decorating favorites or logo design ideas. 

AI is useful in social media management to schedule posts, help you write the content, and capture the most catchy headline for your post or blog. 

AI can even help identify potential customers. You can use it to bring your customer personas to life. You can identify where your customers are - conventions to consider attending to network, appropriate businesses that fit your model, or potential contacts to cold email or connect on socials. ChatGPT and similar tools are great assistants for this.

What CAN'T AI Do?
​AI does no good TALKING to your customers. That simply can't be replaced. It's up to YOU to TALK with your customers in person, in messages, on the phone, and in emails. 

AI is supposedly able to compose emails for you and can become seemingly adept at getting familiar with your writing voice if you use it frequently. It definitely needs oversight and a final review before hitting "send" and often needs some adjustments, but it can help you make the task easier. 

AI is supposedly useful on websites and phones with "chat bots" or "AI agents." They may help in a limited manner, but I've never met a useful chat bot yet. After about three questions, I'm ready to throw the phone or computer in search of a human, except now I'm frustrated, which isn't a great way to talk with someone, and it leaves a lousy impression of your brand.

There is absolutely no replacing the benefit of human interaction at networking events, even if those events are online. AI simply can't do that.

Team Human or Team AI
AI can be a useful tool. It is no replacement for the human factor. Any use of AI should be to complement you as a human. 

The ongoing development of AI will push us to clarify and identify what IS important to us about each other and what the human factor is. 

What is the best way to ENGAGE your customers? Be human! YOU are the secret ingredient!

Where do you use AI in your efforts to ENGAGE with your customer? Love to hear your thoughts!

I provide a number of services for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors. I look forward to discussing ways to Engage your customers - Let's Chat!

Evacuation Planning
(3 min read)

Natural (and unnatural/man-made) disasters have been in the news a lot in 2024 and 2025 is not starting much better. Hurricanes, Polar Vortex, and fires to name a few large-scale recent disasters. I've been incredibly fortunate in my life, but the "prepper" is strong within me. I suspect that's a combination of being raised by Depression-era parents and being Mom of a family of four. Let's now add a business owner to the mix!

How Do You Plan
You start with the advantage of Time with no disasters in your life. (a crazy schedule does not count as a "disaster"!) On one of your "CEO Days," start with simply 30 minutes - more if you're lucky - and make some lists. Grab your favorite drink and some calming music for background noise. Whatever you do to get focus.

Start with a Checklist
There are plenty of checklists readily available on an online search. There are books on disaster planning. If you live in an area with a higher risk of natural (or unnatural/man-made) disasters, you may even have a "bug out bag" of items in the back of your vehicle to simply GO if the need arises. 

Reviewing a basic list as shown here, these are items you may have multiple copies of depending on your needs. Items may be in a fire resistant lock box and you have copies ready to be portable. You may have some items stored elsewhere deemed safer or at least in more than one location. (not all in your home) This is often recommended for external hard drives/tech back-up. The idea is chances are high that disaster would not impact multiple locations.

Goals - Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?
It's that time of the year when everyone is talking about or thinking about GOALS. It's a natural topic at a milestone like the start of a new year.

But it doesn't need to be only at the start or end of a year. Any time is good! And sometimes they need updated along the way. 



Focused or Loose Goals?
How detailed do you get?

• Do you create SMART goals? (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely)
• Do you call your goals Resolutions? (maybe less intimidating?)
• Do you prefer to keep your goals fairly general and let the winds of the world guide you? 

Quitter's Day
The 2nd Friday in January has become known as Quitter's Day! By this time, many have already fallen short of New Year's goals and just quit all resolutions. Perfectionism is a challenge for many and some decide "If I can't achieve all of them, then none of them are worth pursuing." 

No One Size Fits All
You can find a lot of "Goal Gurus" out there with a variety of suggestions for how to develop goals.

• Jon Acuff has a number of books on the subject. His philosophy is "...a goal is the fastest path between where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow. Best of all, finishing a goal feels amazing." Jon is also very data driven as a motivator for goals. He suggests  folks create spreadsheets or some sort of tracking mechanism to note progress or even number of times taking steps to achieve a goal. It IS exciting to check boxes on achievements and even count achievements!
• James Clear is more about process than goals. "Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress." A goal treats "a symptom without addressing the cause." 

What Kind of a Goal Setter Are You?

• Do you even bother with goals or learned long ago you do fine without them?
• You create and track your goals religiously along the way? 
• Somewhere in the middle with a few specifics but more go-with-the-flow?
• More process based and create systems rather than goals?

As we look to the new year, how are you setting yourself up for success? 

If you're looking for strategy or marketing assistance to create engagement for your business, Let's Chat! I provide a number of services for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors.

Networking - The Key to Your Next Job
That is not an understatement. Various sources indicate 70% or more of jobs are attributed to the power of networking. The number is hard to pin down but multiple sources agree with its importance. I've written about the value of events, volunteering, and LinkedIn. 

What IS Networking?
Networking is simply meeting and chatting with others. This can be done in person, at events, virtually, online - however you meet people. I'm at local recent events in the photos.
​
PHOTO: Three smiling women sitting around a table reviewing resumes.

WHY Network?
Many employers tend to hire someone they know personally, are at least familiar with, or someone in their organization is familiar with. It reduces the "get to know you" factor to identify a fit for a corporate culture. 

Many jobs aren't even officially posted on job boards but are shared among employees to share with contacts. Employers may even have an incentive or bonus program to encourage employee referrals! 

PHOTO: Group photo at a local restaurant.

Who is in Your Network?
Basically everyone you know, including those you only vaguely know, like those you connect with online. Anyone and everyone can become part of your network - you just never know!

• Family
• Friends
• Co-workers
• Past employers and employees
• Connections on social media
• Fellow conference, webinar, "live," or audio room participants
• Networking associations
• Fellow volunteer and club members
• Those at your child's school or extracurriculars
• The person standing in line with you!

How Do You Network?
Simply begin chatting with folks - anyone and everyone! Have a ready smile and be prepared to make small talk. Play a game with yourself to find commonalities with who you're speaking with! Indeed offers a number of ideas.

Introverts: Baby steps. Start online or wherever you're comfortable. Start with comments on socials posts. Begin the conversation by writing something - nearly anything! - about a topic that's easy and comfortable for you: gardening, something you did over the weekend, a special hobby or talent of yours. Then respond to comments. Then try it again. Attend LinkedIn events - lives or audio rooms - and simply be seen, react, comment if that's an option. 

Have business cards at the ready to continue conversations on socials or by email when you meet someone in person. 

Follow-up after chatting with someone if you have a way to reach out! That's where a business card can help provide email addresses or social profiles. 

Offer a way to demonstrate your skills and personality! Consider volunteering to assist someone or create a small free gift that fits with your business. A gift can be

• a downloadable informative pdf
• a list of resources
• a quiz to educate and have fun 
• something tangible like a tea bag or small candle that relates to your business

Offer your Time if that's better suited to your goals. Volunteer at an event related to your field of interest or job.

Get Focused!
It makes a difference! Occupational Outlook Quarterly offers a resource that remains timely.

• Webinars, courses, certification programs - focus on your career or skill aspirations.
• Use the power of A.I! Prompt for lists of potential businesses that meet your desired job criteria. 
• Social searches - LinkedIn has a robust search filter option to identify jobs or skill sets to develop a focused list to connect with or follow. 
• Find opportunities to interact with those in your focused field or business. 

Getting Warmer?
I'm a far bigger fan of the power of "warm" leads over "cold." 

• "Warm" leads are folks you have some thread of a connection with - you're in the same social media group, you're seen commenting on posts, or you've met in person or virtually.
• "Cold" leads are those you have zero recognition or connection with - straight out of the blue. You may strike it lucky with these, but they're really a long shot. Those who recommend reaching out to "cold" leads admit it takes sending messages to hundreds before getting even one response. 

Do you network? Love it? Hate it? 

If you're looking for brand marketing or communication assistance, I offer a number of services for nonprofits, small businesses, fellow entrepreneurs, and authors - Let's Chat! 

Current Fave Podcasts
Do you listen to podcasts? They're a favorite free education tool of mine! Many can also be found on YouTube if you prefer video content. This is my one-hour guaranteed daily education time while walking the neighborhood.

Marketing Focus
There are a few on my current "Can't Miss" playlist that I catch as soon as they're released. As I developed this list, I realized there are a number of marketing shows I listen to fairly regularly. This does not include a few others I'm looking forward to testing, but I won't make recommendations if I haven't listened. 

I was originally going to also cover LinkedIn and A.I. podcasts, but the list for all became far too long. Future content!

General Marketing Podcasts
All of these podcasts are easily searchable but a link is provided to find them. You should be able to find nearly all on whatever your podcast player platform is. 

Names are linked predominantly to the host's LinkedIn profile for your following and connecting convenience - one prefers Facebook/Instagram over LinkedIn. 

• This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose: These guys are a fun hour to catch up on the marketing news of the week, perfect on your next walk or gym session! They're long-time, experienced marketers and published authors. 
• Marketing Mentor Podcast with Ilise Benun: Ilise covers the gamut of marketing topics. Most episodes run from 15-30 min but there are outliers on both sides. 
• Content Inc with Joe Pulizzi: These episodes are very short - 5 minutes weekly is Joe's goal. These are bite-sized nuggets of actionable marketing. 
• Distribution First with Justin Simon: Justin shares weekly how to produce once and distribute in multiple formats to maximize your marketing energy.
• Do This Not That with Jay Schwedelson: Jay is a fun listen who keeps testing new focus concepts on his show. He also posts generally 3 days/week, roughly 10-15 minute sessions. His shows are a mix of marketing and random pop chat. 
• Easy Email Marketing with Yael Keon: Yael is focused on email. If you're aiming to get into or improve your email delivery, from content to tech topics, Yael's an amazing resource. 
• Enthusiastically Self-Employed with Brenda Meller: Brenda covers a variety of business topics that really all come down to marketing in a very personable, friendly way. She regularly features LinkedIn audits she does for clients for all to learn from.
• Deliberate Freelancer with Melanie Padgett Powers: Melanie's been featured here, here, and here on prior podcast blog posts. She's very good to listen to for content and style. She's on a summer break at the moment, but I'm looking forward to her getting back in front of a mic. Melanie covers marketing and business concerns for all solopreneur/freelance businesses. 
• Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield: Amy has a treasure of marketing resources on her website! Her episodes are more often 45-60 minutes in length (perfect for your exercise session!). 
• The Marketing Book Podcast with Douglas Burdett: If reading is your jam, this podcast is focused on book reviews and author interviews on strictly marketing books. How he can power through a book each week is beyond me! I'm regularly adding items to my Audible Wish List when available. 

Any Favorite Marketing Podcasts?
Do you have any favorites to share that we missed? Love to hear what you find useful in your marketing education!

If you're looking for strategy or marketing assistance to shine a spotlight on your business, Let's Chat! I provide a number of services for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors.

What is Co-Working?
​Co-working is meeting with other individuals to share work time while increasing focus and productivity. 

According to Merriam-Webster: "being, relating to, or working in a building where multiple tenants (such as entrepreneurs, start-ups, or nonprofits) rent working space (such as desks or offices) and have the use of communal facilities."


History of Co-working
Co-working is said to have begun as early as 1995 in Berlin, Germany. The term is credited to Bernard DeKoven in 1999. The first "official" co-working space is considered to be in San Francisco in 2005. These references can be found in many articles. A solid history is available thanks to a LinkedIn article by Matthew F. February 2024. Another good history is brought to us by coworking resources in April 2021.

Where Can You Co-Work?
As of 2017, Focusmate has been offering this concept online. I discovered it June 2024. They offer some great science behind why co-working works, complete with footnotes. They also have a great pricing structure - free for up to 3 sessions/week, roughly $7/month for unlimited sessions, and they offer business plans. 

I've been participating in a weekly co-working session created by a few editing friends from a Facebook group. One person has created a recurring weekly zoom-style link and added weekly Events on Facebook as a reminder. There's a related discussion group to let each other know if the leader will be taking the week off and to communicate for someone else to manage the link or motivate each other. 

I've headed to a local Panera on my own or with a colleague or two for years to work on projects related to an organization, each doing our own thing or sharing ideas on a certain collaborative project. I didn't realize I  was "co-working!" 

How Does This Work?
The appeal is primarily to those who work from home who would like the accountability of committing to showing up at a particular time and place (productivity method + goal strategy) or who want a bit of social resemblance to a work site. 

Whether you meet at a physical location or online, the general concept is you arrange to meet at a certain time - someone is counting on you as an accountability partner. You show up with a brief introduction and your goal(s) for the session and you get to work. You reconnect for a few minutes at the end of the session as a check-in on goals and success of the work session. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Focusmate tends to have 50 min session blocks that start at the top of each hour giving you a 10-minute stretch or bathroom break. You can schedule as many as close together on your calendar as you wish. You may be part of a group on Focusmate to find partners within that group, or you can partner with anyone who is a Focusmate user from around the world.

There are desk sessions and active sessions (exercise or clean together). It's tricky to find particular people until you've had a session with that person or send someone an "invitation" to find your calendar to collaborate.

Once you collaborate and it seems to work well, you can "favorite" someone to more easily search for sessions on the calendar. Focusmate has an active Facebook group where members can seek and respond to others with similar interests to partner in these sessions.

Is It Useful?
I've become a big fan of these co-working opportunities! As a solopreneur, my home is my office. Scheduling these sessions helps me focus on work activities with someone else who is working. It does improve my productivity and keeps me accountable - I promised to show up. 

It's also a fabulous networking tool as you meet others from around the world, in your affiliated field, potential clients, or completely unique individuals! It's useful to get out of your own space and interact with others. 

Have you had any co-working sessions using Focusmate or some other platform? Love to hear how it went for you - likes and dislikes. Looking for a co-working partner to make progress on your goals? Let's chat!

Amazing Business Networking
If you haven't tested out LinkedIn and you're a nonprofit, solopreneur, business leader, or simply looking for work, you are missing a bet. LinkedIn is the go-to resource for your business connections!




​Just Another Social?
I suggest this platform is different than the others available.

• The focus is really on business interactions.
• This is networking at its best!
• You may develop friendships on LinkedIn, but it's just not as casual as Facebook, X, Instagram, or others.
• The focus is on building connections and following those you admire or are in your career field.
• There are a number of events - video and audio - you can attend as webinars. 
• There is a lot of education going on!

How Often Should I Post?
The short answer - as often as you have time for. 

• It doesn't need to be daily, but often in a week helps the algorithm find you and place you more in feeds!
• At least 15 minutes/day. I haven't figured out how to spend only 15 minutes once I'm on the platform, but the idea is any interaction is good. 30-60 minutes seems more realistic, which also means daily isn't critical.
• Something beats nothing. There are stats out there indicating for all of the billions with LinkedIn accounts, more lurk and don't post or don't show up at all. Stand out - say something!
• Commenting is king. You don't have to create new content, although that is always useful and stimulates conversation. Offer thoughtful comments of more than 4 words or even repost content with your thoughts. This gets you noticed, the original post noticed, and you become part of a conversation. This organically builds connections and followers. Fresh content at least once/week is great.

Ring the Bell
LinkedIn recently changed how this little gem works.

Whenever you Follow someone on LinkedIn, a bell appears at the top right corner of their profile. You now have options to decide level of notifications when someone updates their profile, similar to Facebook levels of interaction on groups or pages.

• One bell = Highlights or "Most Relevant based on your activity" (whatever that means)
• Two bells = All content
• None = effectively unfollow someone or no longer receive notification of posts

Company Pages - Followers
I heard a magic number recently on a Gillian Whitney podcast with her guest Aoife Noone.

• 100 is a magic number of followers to alert LinkedIn's algorithm that you're a solid page to pay attention to.
• 150 is a magic number to be able to host LinkedIn Lives and to be considered for a LinkedIn newsletter.
• 1,000 is often recommended before you begin a newsletter on LinkedIn. For your very first newsletter, LinkedIn will send a copy to all of your followers so they can choose to opt in to be notified of your news! 

Groups on LinkedIn
Groups here are very different from Facebook groups. There are less of them available, the interaction is often less, and vetting each is useful to filter out the more spammy or sales content groups, unless that's something you're after. 

Begin with some searches in areas or fields that interest you and expand your reach from there. It's hard to say what may pop up that interests you! 

Once you find a few interesting groups, see how the group interacts, then jump on in! It's easy to become a thought leader within a group as there is simply less commenting or activity here. The opportunity is rich for making more connections!

Developing Your Feed
The above suggestions are the best way to improve your feed or your Home page.

• Who you follow and groups you've joined definitely impact what shows up on your Home page.
• I pay attention to my Home page far less than my Notifications page. That is where the good stuff is all hidden in my book!

LinkedIn is one of my favorite platforms to connect with folks! We'll likely have more discussions on here about this powerful tool with ways you can leverage it for your own business. 

LinkedIn is seemingly always changing. Have you come across any great tips to share about LinkedIn? Love to hear them - Let's Chat! 

What Comes to Mind
When you think of A.I., what image comes to mind? 

For me, it's definitely Doris, Bowler Hat Guy's hat, in the movie Meet the Robinsons.

That's probably not ideal! 

The short premise of this 2007 movie is a time travel adventure in which a young adventurer saves the space-time continuum and the world as we know it from an A.I. robot (Doris) gone mad with power. SPOILER ALERT: Our young hero comes face-to-face with his invention and promises to never invent it. POOF! GONE, and the world is saved!

I keep wondering if we may not have similar regrets as we seem to keep racing to keep up with the advances of A.I.

Podcast Recommendation
I've caught a few episodes of The Artificial Intelligence Show with Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput. Thanks to Ilise Benum for recommending it! I highly recommend this one!

The guys are brilliant - genius level - and are incredibly knowledgeable about current A.I., the direction it appears to be heading, and how we can best prepare ourselves for this rapidly advancing technology. They offer a number of resources on their website.  

Episode 105 of their podcast particularly struck me, prompting this post. My anxiety was fortunately tempered by listening to episode 103 and their Intro to AI for Marketers program offered monthly with a limited time replay available.  

How Will We USE A.I.?
I noted a few options that seem useful in business on a prior blog post. Such options include for research purposes, content idea generation, create a model client as a reference point, and assist creating a list of potential ideal clients. 

Paul and Mike are visionaries, and they read a lot of material to stay on top of the A.I. world. They advocate a lot of A.I. literacy needs to happen to be prepared for how rapidly A.I. tech is advancing. That seems accurate to me, so I'm at least dipping my toes into what A.I. is, how to try to master it, and spread the gospel of educating yourself. 

Current Challenges
The trick at this time is A.I. remains a bit unwieldy. You need to become darned good with your prompting skills and be prepared to keep poking A.I. tools to dig deeper to come up with material that's semi-useful yet still relies on human insight to read decently. It's also useful to use the same prompt in a few different A.I. models to see how they respond as each will produce different results. 

There is a fair amount of friction or resistance on the part of the human public to actually use A.I. tools. The current percentage using A.I. remains extremely limited. It just doesn't make sense or fit in most of our worlds to be easily used - yet. 

"Apple Intelligence" 
Apple announced in June 2024 at its Worldwide Developers Conference that "Apple Intelligence" is coming Fall 2024/spring 2025. The features described on multiple Apple platforms aim to integrate many apps and accompanying info embedded within your device to better respond to your particular queries. This will likely bring us a step closer to making A.I. more "useful" with less friction for the average person. It will simply be in your everyday use.

Google and Meta are embedding A.I. into their platforms as a feature that's simply built in and you can't remove it. There are other examples of A.I. at work that we're coming to simply expect will be there to assist us - Siri is one and Alexa is another. We also all see Office, Google Drive products, and our own phones "suggest" words and material as we type. That is A.I. at work. 

The less people need to do to A.I. to make it useful, the more quickly it will be adopted by the general public.

Job Security
After listening to podcast episode #105, and we can all see this coming, A.I. models are in the process of rapidly becoming less buggy in how they operate or even loop back on itself. Sure, there will be jobs created to oversee the output of A.I., but the number needed will be far less than the current number of employees on the job market. 

It was predicted on the podcast that current high-human roles such as physicians and lawyers will be targeted soon as something A.I. can take over in a few years.

How often do you joke you "got your degree from WebMD" as you searched the meaning of lab results or tried to compile symptoms into a disease or syndrome to "help" guide your doctor?

Haven't we all longed to have the handheld device Geordi of Star Trek uses to quickly diagnose and initiate treatments?

When sci-fi becomes real.

Paul and Mike advocate discussions begin happening soon to offset the potential sudden dramatic shift in workforce needs as a worldwide.

Wait - what?

Who's in Charge Here?
Aren't the humans in charge of the invention? Just because A.I. can do things, should it? Or does it need to? There's something of a sense that we are merely bystanders as A.I. becomes developed and it's up to us to keep up.

Plenty of concern has been raised about the use of A.I. by major super-power countries in defense. Remember the 1983 movie War Games? 

There's even a concept called "P(doom)" - "the probability of catastrophic outcomes...as a result of A.I." (Wikipedia)

Let's Step Back a Minute
My general Life philosophy is "What can I control or impact in my little corner of the world?"

I aim to trust humans will realize the benefit of humanity being involved with jobs rather than throwing everything at "digital employees." 

This sentiment is echoed by Paul and Mike at the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute. Their message is actually more hopeful than doom-and-gloom. 

Their mission is focused on education - increase A.I. literacy and help businesses develop processes, teams, and risk reduction to enable employees to use A.I. optimally to maximize human effort. 

Message of Hope
You know how none of us have enough Time or hours in the day to do the million things we'd like to do?

The idea is to focus on the tasks you do that are repetitive or that you don't like to do.

​Train an A.I. model to do those so you can focus on the human aspect needed in the job, maximizing the time and effort you put into things.

Paul has given examples of the dramatic difference A.I. has made in his team's work projects.

• He discussed the effort needed to put their weekly podcast together. What could take at least 50 hours to produce, they've gotten down to more like 10 hours with the assistance of A.I. services.
  
• He offers a similar example in his recent effort to create an online education program. As a former marketer, what would have taken at least 50 hours of skilled time to summarize the program (easily a $1,000 job) took approximately 20 minutes. Wow! He was then able to focus his energy on  other activities to promote the new program or answer emails or any number of things only he could accomplish. 

Paul sees A.I. as a way to "democratize" knowledge and skills - all of us having tools readily accessible to share our message with others.

What Makes YOU Unique?
As a hospital physical therapist, we have been challenged for years to identify how we differ from nursing, an aide, or a family member walking around a unit with a patient. 

What can YOU offer that only you can do? 

That is the crux of A.I.

Consider it a tool - a helpmate - a partner. (that's far less scary than trying to take over the world, right?)

• Let it summarize information for you.
• Let it help you brainstorm ideas.
• Let it pretend to be a customer as you poke to identify pain points you can solve.
• Let it help schedule routine tasks and manage aspects of your calendar. 

Now What?
I can see future articles revolve around the topic of A.I. It IS big!

Paul Roetzer notes "A.I." has actually been around for decades at this point, but it wasn't until ChatGPT was introduced to the world as a useful tool for all in November 2023 that it really rocked everyone to take notice. 

These A.I. models are now learning rapidly and exponentially. It's here and not going away. 

If we can think of it as a helper, a tool, a digital coworker, it will still require human input, massaging, and training to be most effective and to keep learning. 

We do need to also consider the dark downside potential and keep that in check. It's up to us to be human!

While we learn more about A.I. as a helpmate, I would be happy to help you do what only you can do best. None of us have all the skills to do all the things.

I would be thrilled to partner with you to bring your vision to life - Let's Chat!