Hey ! 

The other week I was scrolling through Facebook, as one often does when “researching”, when I saw this ad about how to "DO UNBELIEVABLE THINGS WITH ChatGPT" that would be so incredible they would "SEEM LIKE WITCHCRAFT."

I actually tapped it. 🤣

Tapos when I checked the offer out, it was something I already knew as a huge AI fanboy nerd who lived and breathed this stuff. 

Aguy, what is wrong with me?

Nothing wrong with the hustle of the offer owner, and by the sheer duration and amount of times I kept seeing this ad, I think he really must be doing well on this campaign. Hats off sa kanya for serving this need sa market. 

This got me thinking about how our relationship with AI tools has evolved over the past couple years… (hard to imagine na NOV 2022 lang ni-release si ChatGPT, it’s barely a toddler in human years)

Parang naging dependent na yata tayo sa AI, and we're using it like crutches now.

Remember when ChatGPT’s first competitors came into the scene? I was insufferable.

Tapos sometime back, I actually EVEN created a weekly email sent to everyone in my list with AI tool updates. 

I called it the Tuesday Tools Roundup, where I share Tools and Apps that I’ve personally tested, so you don’t have to!

Here’s how this went. Every Tuesday, I shared only a couple of tools para my audience didn’t go insane.

Marami talagang basura apps out there that don’t really work and are just cashing in on the gold rush that is AI (sometimes, they're just calling it AI-powered daw kahit hindi naman.)

Ako na mag-reresearch kasi hobby ko talaga mag-discover the apps.

I checked the analytics again, okay naman pala yung open and reply rates than I initially thought, so I considered bringing it back… 

Pero I checked up on several of the apps I recommended a year and a half ago. 

Most of them have simply either been eaten up by openAI, anthropic, google and the main big players, or have been edged out, or may left-field contenders na like DeepSeek, Openthinker 32-B, Grok 3, Sonnet 4.5, O3-mini 

..and this info keeps changing every day.

Umatake agad yung stress and sakit ng ulo ko haha. All that research I did testing these tools, flushed down the drain for next week’s new winner. Deym. 

If you’re an old reader, sorry for the digital whiplash,!

Then I had another realization after wasting another 13 months (and embarrassing amounts of subscription money) on AI tools and masterclasses:

AI isn't the point. YOUR SKILLS are the point.

The freelancers winning with AI aren't the ones memorizing prompt engineering techniques or installing 17 different Chrome extensions.

They're the ones who:

1. Already have a valuable skill
2. Know exactly which parts of their workflow are tedious/repetitive
3. Use AI specifically for those parts
4. Still apply their human expertise to what matters

Example: Last week I had to create a video filming guide for a video coaching client. Instead of trying to make AI write the whole thing, I:

• Wrote the core message and hook myself (human touch)
• Used AI to help expand some technical explanations (grunt work)
• Manually edited everything for the client's voice (human touch again)

Result? Client loved it, and I finished in a fifth of the time. Now he wants me to do testimonials from his coaching clients as well.

Listen, , I've been tracking every minute I spend on client work (yes, I'm that kind of productivity nerd now). When I use AI correctly, I'm 30-40% more efficient on specific tasks.

But when I try to use AI as a replacement for my core skills? I actually work LONGER and produce WORSE results.

HOT TAKE: The market doesn't need people who are good at prompting AI (although you’ll see me back in 2023 on Tiktok ACTUALLY saying that prompting is the only future, lol). It needs people who are good at their craft and know how to leverage AI as just another tool in their arsenal.

So here's my challenge to you: instead of asking "What can AI do for me?" start asking "What parts of my work do I hate doing that AI might help with?"

That's where the real magic happens.

How are you using AI in your work? Are you still chasing the hype cycle or have you found your own balance? Hit reply and let me know - I'm genuinely curious where you're at with all this.

AI nakow,

Shoden "AI saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes AI saw the" San

PS. If you're interested in my actual non-BS approach to using AI for freelancing, let me know. I might do a small workshop on this depending on the interest. No fancy prompts promised, (well meron sa unang beses, but you don’t need to do it lagi)  just practical stuff! 😁

🎉 Pst. Don't Keep Me A Secret. refer this newsletter to your freelancer friends. This REALLY REALLY helps me a lot, thanks!