Hey friends,
Starting today, Thursday newsletters are a new series: AI Is My Co-Pilot.
The goal isn’t to turn you into a “tech person.” It’s to help you use AI in a way that actually helps your business, without the slop, the cringe, or the wasted time.
Here’s the mindset we’re building this series around:
AI is great at polishing. It’s terrible at guessing.
You’re still the pilot. AI just helps you fly better.
We’ve all seen the slop
Social posts so generic you know a computer wrote them
Replies that are even worse—same idea, reworded three different ways
Marketing that sounds “fine”… but doesn’t sound like anyone
That’s what happens when AI is guessing. And when it guesses, it defaults to generic.
Why it happens
AI is trained to continue patterns. If you don’t give it something real to work with, it will:
rephrase
generalize
sound confident
and still say nothing
That’s not strategy. That’s polite filler.*
*When you see this line, you know it was written by AI, so make sure you edit it out.
The fix: give AI a job + enough info to do it
From here on out, we’re treating prompts like instructions you’d give an employee.
The Co-Pilot Prompt Formula
Role: Who is AI being? (editor, brainstorm partner, copywriter)
Goal: What are we making and what should it do?
Context: Who’s the customer, what’s the offer, what’s happening right now?
Inputs: Give it raw material (notes, details, FAQs, examples)
Constraints: What to avoid + what must be included
Output format: 5 options / short + long / captions + hooks
Review step: “Ask me 3 questions before you write.”
When you do this, AI stops guessing and starts helping.
Copy/paste this into ChatGPT (or whatever tool you use):
PROMPT:
Act like my marketing assistant for a local business.
Before you write anything, ask me 6 questions so you don’t have to guess. At minimum, ask about:
what I’m promoting (offer)
who it’s for (customer)
one specific detail that makes it real (location, price range, time, availability, etc.)
what I want people to do next (call, book, come in, DM)
my tone (plainspoken, friendly, funny, direct, etc.)
anything to avoid (buzzwords, emojis, hype, claims)
After I answer, write:
5 Facebook post options (each with a different angle)
each post under 80 words
each includes one specific detail and one clear call to action
no generic lines like “That’s not strategy. That’s polite filler.”
write like a person talking to a neighbor
Quick “polish it” follow-ups (use after you pick your favorite)
“Make it 15% shorter and punchier.”
“Add one more specific detail that proves it’s real.”
“Rewrite in my voice: practical, friendly, no hype.”
“Give me 3 headline options for the first sentence.”
“Remove em dashes”
Important note about this series
We’ll definitely use ChatGPT-style tools, but we’re not stopping there.
Over the next few Thursdays, we’ll also cover:
Agents & automations: AI that can take steps for you (with guardrails)
AI inside tools you already use: email, docs, calendars, CRMs, POS reports
Simple code/no-code helpers: making the computer do the boring part
Projects / saved context: so you don’t have to repeat yourself every time
Same rule every week:
Use AI to upgrade what you do…don’t replace what only you can do.
Co-Pilot Rule #1
If the output feels generic, it’s missing inputs.
Reply and tell me what kind of business you run and what you’re trying to post this week: sale, event, new product, schedule change, hiring, whatever…
I’ll help you run the prompt and tighten the final version.