STRAT@SCRAPS V163

the power of a ball and a wall.

Obligatory note:

I am currently available most of the month of October. I have been doing a lot of retainer type support work this year, but also have been wanting to introduce quick turn low cost type services as a way to broaden the range of work I get to be a part of.

Even if you don’t have a need at the moment or do but don’t have budget approval or whatever – let’s chat. I want to hear about what would be helpful and go from there.

~ N O W O N T O T H E S T U F F ~

thought:

The biggest impact of NFTs was it made people super hesitant to talk about AI with any enthusiasm.

Anyway, a couple quick words about A.I. in freelance life.

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As a freelancer, it can often feel somewhat taboo to use AI for client deliverables. It’s like “you paid me to do something you could have done”

But if you shift how you think about deliverables, it can actually be a big value add to everyone involved.

Here is how I tend to approach it…

AT THE START OF A PROJECT:

I use zero AI as I get onboarded to the project. This is where I trust my gut and experience to ask the right questions and request the right information rather than get lulled into a sense of false preparedness by auto generating some list of questions or category overview.

AT THE START OF DOING THE WORK
I use AI heavily at the start of a deliverable. Different programs have different benefits, but I pay for access to the latest of most so that clients don’t have to. 

I will immediately share what the AI generated as an outline or overview of the deliverable outcome. Typically this will be text only and delivered with the caveat; “here’s what the robots have to say about it. I plan on building from this foundation, but will be editing much of the content to be of more value than this/more relevant to this specific situation"

COMPLETING THE WORK
After the framework is agreed upon, it’s back to mostly all me. AI is used pretty much only for finding supporting data, supplemental info or making my writing more concise and clear. 


With this process, my value comes in a few ways… 

The speed with which I can get initial information back to a client. Yes they could have done it, but even if they do pay for access, they didnt have to do the initial work of the prompts, the distillation and the formatting. 

The places in which I differ from the auto generated responses. In a moment where we are all suspicious of whether or not work is being done without actual human thought, the best thing to do is show your work. 

The confidence that the AI response has been vetted for falsehoods, hallucinations, etc. 

“here’s what the AI said. But here’s where my human experience and logic disagrees or has to add”

Anyway, I also feel like “AI generated market analysis + human editorial layer is a decent flat fee deliverable?

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I answered some Qs from Ben Dietz in [SIC] – if you don’t subscribe, you should. It is probably the single most valuable source of articles and knowledge I know.

[SIC] 312: Grafitti Frog

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The easiest way to push strategy when you come in in the middle of the project?

“when we say _______, do we mean ______ or _________?”

but like, make sure to read the room.

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strategy connects the ideal to the real.

(this sounds good, but I’m not sure how much it actually is true/means anything… a strategy aphorism)

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Left to its own devices, research tends to become more specialized and abstracted from the real-world problems that motivated it and to which it remains relevant.

This suggests that a problem may be tackled effectively not my commissioning more research, but by assuming most or all of the solution can already be found in various scientific journals, waiting to be assembled by someone willing to read across specialties.

This "undiscovered public knowledge" emboldens us to question the extreme claims to originality made in press releases and publishers' notices: is an intellectual or creative offering truly novel, or have we just forgotten a worthy precursor? Does solving certain scientific problems really require massive additional funding, or could a computerized search engine, creatively deployed, do the same job more quickly and cheaply? (see chatGPT)

I cannot for the life of me find the source for this? Google says its from this Harpers Magazine article from 2007, but the text doesnt seem to be present in the article text?

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Jesus Christ, more AI stuff?

If you look at the types of things AI is being most used for, there tend to be 3 main themes for regular consumers;

1. Life management

2. Work tedium

3. Creative Expression/Play

i.e. 
Life is overwhelming, 
work is boring, 
and we just want to make things.

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This was from a client project I worked on? Not sure it’s totally true, but provocative slides are the point.

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for day to day relevance, this might be in the top 10 most important things in the scrapbook:

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“Green screen moments between filming” is a super fun prompt.

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Thinking about a job in advertising? Here’s a look at your future:

But also there are the moments it is more fun than almost anything else I can imagine.

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A few visuals I’ve saved recently, offered without comment:

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this one might be worth keeping as a printed card in your wallet. The snarky strategist version of a business card..

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A collection of ad tropes that is actually super useful as a brainstorm start point.

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When I say “the importance of a ball and a wall” – what I mean is the importance of being idle yet occupied while thinking. This is essentially what most meditation is, the function of a rosary, the reason goods ideas happen in the shower, etc.

Need to think. Go bounce a ball against a wall. (not meant for apartment dwellers)

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A few freelancer readings that I havent read….

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Making things as a way of thinking as as a way of preserving thought.

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WEEKLY MONSTER

I havent done a ton of art recently, so here is what someone claims to be the best paper airplane design. I think its more complicated than the performance is worth. Let me know if you try it. or share your fav paper airplane design. Or don’t. i dunno.

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[YOU CAN BUY MY TIME! CALL NOW!! 📞]