Creator Leverage: Master AI. Build Systems. Grow Your Business

I started a profitable paid newsletter this year. Here's what I did. (And how you can do the same) I came up with the idea for PromptWritingStudio earlier this year. It’s essentially a paid newsletter that offers creators and business owners practical AI prompts and frameworks. I deliver these lessons two to three times a week. I’ve created courses before, but usually inside of Teachable, where customers can watch video lessons at their own pace. I didn’t want to spend hours writing sales...

I was re-reading one of my fav books about creativity over coffee the other morning: The Creative Habit by American choreographer Twyla Tharp. I’ve four game-changing insights from her book: 1 . Creativity loves routinesTharp loves a good morning routine and consistent work habits. She’s up every morning at five to get a cab to a local gym before her working day. She writes, “The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the...

Microsoft is laying off another 8,000 people on July 8th. They’re letting go of staff in middle management across its sales divisions. And they’re also cutting staff in their LinkedIn and Xbox divisions. Ouch! I was laid off from a fun journalism gig a few years ago, and signing up for social welfare isn’t enjoyable. Microsoft’s 8,000 layoffs won’t be the last big news story about AI taking people’s traditional jobs. But don’t confuse what’s happening now with the Great Recession. It’s not...

I spend $300+ a month on AI tools. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity Pro, Grammarly, Cursor… My AI tool stack is stuffed. Do I need ALL these tools? Do YOU? Probably not. But here’s why I keep them anyway: Take Claude It's my fav AI tool of choice lately. I'm in Ireland, and it works great in the morning. Around 11 am GMT, Claude Sonnet 4 slows down and starts moaning about capacity issues. That's probably my American friends in EST and PST are firing up Claude over coffee. Claude 4.0,...

I was away in Mallorca, Spain with the family for 10 days this month. One thing I love about Spain? They love an mid-afternoon siesta. I’m only getting back into a nice working rhythm today. Travelling, even shorthaul, is tiring. All the Spanish sun and late night cervezas didn’t help! Usually when I come back from holidays, I keep things simple. I call it “Restart Engine Week”. Sure some productivity boffins pontificate about “eating the frog” and “hitting the ground running” but I’d rather...

One of my favorite websites is the Drudge Report. It’s been around since the early 1990s with a bare bones design that updates once or twice per day, aggregating news stories from across the web. I love the Drudge Report model because it gets millions of page views with a simple, straightforward approach. The AI space changes every day. It’s hard to keep track of new model releases and developments with different tools. I wanted to stay updated without spending half my day wading through...

I’m back after spending 10 days on holiday with my wife and kids in Mallorca, Spain. Before I went away on holiday, I emailed my list and asked if I could write an AI prompt for your use case. I was surprised and then overwhelmed by the responses. Note to self: don’t send emails like these the day before getting on a flight. I didn’t have time to reply to every email before I went away, although I’m working my way through the queries. So here’s the deal: PromptWritingStudio is my newsletter...