avatarMichael Lim

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How To Survive The Artificial Intelligence Revolution (Get Ahead of 99% of People)

Build on the internet with your 9–5 job

Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

I’m terrified of the future.

Society is on the edge of a new revolution. The advancement of AI in the last 18 months has radically changed business. I’ve halved my workload by delegating my work to ChatGPT and building a team that can leverage it.

This revolution won’t make people ineffective; it will make people economically irrelevant.

Here’s what you can do about it.

Focus on building an evergreen skill stack

Specialization is for slaves.

Doing the same thing day in and day out with basic skills and no progression of a skill stack is the definition of slavery. Anyone can learn your job. You are replaceable. You have no unique value proposition.

Don’t stress. You don’t need to change your life drastically.

Invest 30–60 minutes per day building an evergreen skill stack.

This includes:

  • Funnels.
  • Sales and marketing.
  • Audience building on social media.
  • Content creation (writing, video, or audio).

60 minutes of learning over 6–12 months will put you ahead of 99% of people. The average person doesn’t invest anything in their skills. They repeat what society taught them to do every day. I emphasize that’s slavery.

You have an advantage if you’ve got a technical 9–5 job.

Leverage your skillset, but add the skills mentioned above. You can learn them for free or cheaply via YouTube or online courses. Start applying them to projects like writing on Medium or building a podcast.

Skill breadth > skill depth.

Build on the internet (with your 9–5 job)

Never rely 100% on a full-time job.

A 64-year-old who reads my newsletter emailed me. She just got laid off from her job after 24 years of service.

She didn’t expect it. She was planning to retire soon, and she thought her job would take care of her, given her length of service. Nope. She woke up one day and was informed she was made redundant, effective immediately.

She is now scrambling to figure out a Plan B while planning for retirement.

While I no longer advocate for people to recklessly go ‘all-in’ on a one-person business (like I did), I teach people to start building one alongside their 9–5 jobs. I work a 9–5 job now.

But I’m always building something on the side.

This gives me the freedom to quit whenever I want.

I have three diverse sources of income that collectively make me more than $7,000 per month. While I couldn’t fully retire, I could take 3–6 months off without taking a loan, remortgage, or changing my lifestyle.

I chose to work this 9–5 job because I like the people and purpose of it.

My newsletter subscriber has yet to build any additional sources of income. She relied entirely on a 9–5 job to fund her entire life. Now, she finds himself in a tricky situation. Learn from her story.

Start by building an online audience (or be left behind).

By now, you’ve got a 9–5 job with a growing one-person business.

Now, it’s time to build a business backend.

An influencer with over 250k+ Instagram followers reached out to me. She had recently quit her job to become a full-time influencer, but she relied solely on brand deals to fund her business.

She had a ‘business’ built on a house of cards.

Brands and sponsorships can disappear at any moment.

I’m not against brand deals or sponsorships, but they should never make up 100% of your business revenue—at most, 20–30%. Everything else should be your products and services.

Sadly, this is a common situation.

But you can do something about it. What exactly? Build an email list and start email marketing. You have rented an audience on social media. You are one algorithm or cancellation away from losing everything.

Your email list is a business asset you own forever.

You already have a one-person business.

You’re selling your skillset to one customer: your employer.

This is excellent news. If one employer (or customer) is willing to pay you, you can sell to other employers. You need to learn how to package your offer.

Learn to build your own products and services.

Start with a minimal viable offer. What service can you provide that someone will pay you for? This isn’t as hard as it seems. People have already DM’d you or asked you questions. Start there.

Offer to work for free to get experience, feedback, and testimonials.

People will pay with their time before they pay with their money. You might realize you’re not very good or don’t like delivering this service. That’s okay. Move on to the next thing. You can always change.

It took me over 12 months of experimenting to create my own niche.

I combined my writing, audience building, entrepreneurship journey, content creation, and email marketing into a package I can deliver to others. I am the case study because I’ve achieved these results for myself.

You can either take action or be scared of the future.

It’s hard to do both.

I’ve laid a roadmap to get ahead of 99% of people. It’s simple but not easy. If you’re willing to invest 6–12 months of effort into future-proofing yourself, here’s exactly what you need to do:

  1. Focus on building a skill stack.
  2. Build a one-person business on the Internet.
  3. Learn to build a business backend for monetization.
  4. Build your products and services. Learn to iterate rapidly over time.

Revolutions happen regardless of whether you think it will or not.

This is your chance to get ahead of the majority or be left behind.

It’s 100% your choice, so choose wisely.

👉 Grab your FREE copy of my NEW one-person workbook (and mini-course) — How To Start Your Next Six-Figure One-Person Business In Six Easy Questions

Business
Entrepreneurship
Self Improvement
Skills
Artificial Intelligence
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