There’s 2 types of entrepreneurs this time of year:

#1 – Those who get fanatic about planning their goals for next year…

Creating detailed documents that break big dreams down into step-by-step action plans.

#2 – Those who fall into a waking sleep of mental hibernation — defaulting to “let’s circle back after the holidays” about pretty much everything.

Of course… there’s also the 3rd, egregious subset who start actually WORKING toward their 2024 goals BEFORE the holidays.

It’s highly likely that those people run marathons Thanksgiving morning with their in-laws. We dutifully ignore them and hope they don’t rub off on anyone in our immediate vicinity.

Personally – I fall somewhere in the middle of options #1 and #2.

I am a “planner” through and through. Definitely have one of those detailed docs – complete with vision-building AND quarterly milestones.

Don’t judge me. It’s how I deal with anxiety. That… and making lists of my lists. It’s soothes me.

BUT – once I’ve got a clear plan, I try not to touch anything until January 1st.

Not because of any illusion about “the right time” to get started…

But because — after 35 years on this space rock — I’m finally learning to rest.

From someone new to the whole “do less” thing…

It makes it easier for me to rest and restore when most of my clients and partners are taking off for the holidays.

(Anyone ELSE finally working through their guilt-driven hyperactivity and approval-seeking achievement drive?)

In the midst of my new-year planning — I had the pleasure of teaching a workshop for AWAI’s Circle of Success program with my friend Marcella Allison.

It was all about the biggest opportunities coming up for writers and marketers in 2024.

Some GREAT insights were shared by successful marketers like David Deutsch, Kim Krause Schwalm, Angie Colee, Brian McCarthy, and more.

Since this time of year we all tend to start marinating on “what’s next”…

I figured I’d share some of my biggest takeaways to help you take advantage of all the exciting stuff happening.

#1 – Get yo’self a robot assistant

By now it feels like the Ai conversation has been beaten to death, but I was actually kind of late to the party in embracing Ai as a writer.

Sure — I had played with Chat GPT and Midjourney just for fun…

But mostly I just felt burnt out on the whole thing.

Every marketer and their grandma seemed to be slinging the Ai angle everywhere you looked.

Whether it was “Ai is going to put writers out of business” …

Or – “YOU MUST MASTER AI AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL OR ELSE”

All of it just made me want opt-out of the whole shebang and crawl back into my analog writer’s cave with a legal pad and a cheap Pilot pen.

But now that I’ve given it a little space — and started playing with these tools more on MY terms…

I’m actually excited about how we as marketers can leverage Ai to make our jobs WAY easier.

One of the biggest opportunities is using Ai tools to produce the same work… but in WAY less time.

For example – I’ve enjoyed using it as a research assistant — helping me shortcut the process of tons of information. Example – you could research a new customer avatar by asking things like:

“What are some of the slang or jargon terms that someone in the army might use when talking to their peers about a mission they went on“

Or kickstart the planning process when starting new projects, like:

“Use Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula. Based on that format and strategy – outline an email sequence intended to launch a new coaching program for freelancers who want to grow their business”

Sure, you’ll need to prompt it further to get what you need. But it cuts hours of planning and “set up” time, so you can get straight to the good stuff.

#2 – Same work. Half the time.

Another way to level up as a marketer next year, is to dramatically speed up your writing process using Ai tools.

For example, have you’ve ever tried coming up with a name for a unique mechanism…or started writing a story…

And got STUCK looking for the perfect word, or scrolling through synonyms, or trying to find something specific, like – a word that means “success” but starts with the letter “C”

To avoid falling out of the flow when writing, I leave a quick note for myself to go back to that spot later…

Then after I’ve finished the bulk of my piece, I use Chat GPT to shortcut that search with prompts like:

“Give me a list of words that refer to reliable income, but start with the letter C”

Boom. Now it takes seconds to create something like “The Consistent Cashflow Quadrant”

Love me some alliteration.

Plus – it’s an easy way to save “thinking” time when getting started – or beat writer’s block.

It’s actually FUN to describe an avatar or ideal customer, then give it prompts like

What’s something that would break this person’s heart?
What pisses them off the most?
What makes them more excited than anything else?

Great way to kick off story ideation.

In either case — something that would normally take a lot of creative energy, now takes seconds. And YOU can focus on the parts of writing that really need a human touch.

This is also why – if you’re a freelancer still charging by the hour…

You have GOT to cut that shit out.

Time to transition to project-based rates or monthly retainers.

I mean… don’t you WANT to get paid the same amount of money for doing way less work?

I know I do.

Of course, Ai tools are only one of the ways you can level up a as a writer or marketer in the new year.

I’d love to hear from you — what do you see as some of the biggest opportunities for marketers in 2024?

Rachel


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