A personal story about using AI as a guide, not a replacement for human judgment.
Long before AI existed, I was learning what it meant to be self-employed and responsible for every business decision I made. Looking back, those experiences eventually helped me understand how AI could become a useful business tool rather than something to fear.
My journey started when I became a Real Estate Sales Representative. Once you get your license and find a Real Estate Broker looking to expand its sales force, you become a self-employed person from that point on.You pay for your listings advertisements, gas for your vehicle, what you wear, phone calls and the list goes on.
Now if you were a person like I was, this was sort of a shock, seeing I had a job at one time, but now was going through a divorce, and wanted to start fresh again. I also had a child that I needed to spend time with, so this route seemed to be the right way, but scary also. If you wish to find out how that turned out go to here. (niche)
When I first started exploring ways to earn money online, I saw a lot of advertisements promising income from posting ads, working from home, and building an online business. Like many beginners, I tried a few programs and found out that all they really wanted was your money, as they did not provide you with instructions, people you could ask questions. It was sort of you are on your own.
I did find one that seemed to show that they cared if you progressed. There were videos you could view, live zooms to be part of, and there were always training sessions that you could join to see how it was done. Over time, I realized that I was spending money and putting in effort without always understanding why I was doing certain things. Some methods worked better than others, and some expenses did not seem to fit the direction I wanted to take.
I later joined a community RRR247 and was introduced into affiliate marketing, they had a plan, systems that worked, people to help you along the way. Also had many zoom meetings, training sessions to help you keep on track. Didn’t leave you in the lurch. When I first joined this community, I did what they said to do because I was fresh and it was a proven method of doing things.
But there were parts of “what to do” that just didn’t fit me, so I concentrated on other parts of the process. Worked on writing and rewriting pages in the website that was given to me at the very beginning. The pages had the same content in them that any other beginner in this community was given. But, that was a place for you to start, you were told to put these in your own words. Well, to me that was hard as I didn’t know anything about what was on these pages, never mind putting that in my own words. So I did the best that I could.
As time went on new products, services were added to the site, which meant you had more pages to put into your own words. Now for some people this was easy, they did some research and were able to put what they read into their own words. In my case that still seemed to be a little harder. Another leg of this is to write some pages of your own. Well, that may sound easy, until they got into a new service, Real Estate, which was a subject that I had some experience in.
This allowed me to write a page on my experience in that line of work. How I went from a residential sales person to a commercial one. Within the commercial was able to become a partner in a business in that line of real estate. We started looking for sites, for some major players, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid just to name a few.
What I liked doing this was, they knew what they wanted, where they wanted to be, and they didn’t work on the weekends! This allowed me to have more time with my son. But in the process we found that there was a niche within Real Estate that made our company unique, and to have a specialized service.
They showed you how to rewrite pages, and you also learned about the different products, services offered and this made it easier to rewrite some of the pages to your own words. In doing this you began to feel confident enough to write some of your own pages along the way.
I learned how to post ads, and these would help get my site out there along with the products, services that we offered. Was told over and over that you have to post ads, use several free sites, you didn’t want to spend money if you didn’t have to. I was given samples to ad content for suggestions, only had to put into my own words.
This Is Where AI Came Into the Picture
Then, as time went on, AI came into the picture. We were taught how to use AI for research, and possible ad content and catchy headers for ads. AI could eventually help you write things in your own words, if you interacted with it and it got to know you better. I used AI this way for a while, but then I saw another way to use it. AI did not build my business for me. It did not make decisions for me. What it did was help me organize my thoughts, compare options, and evaluate whether my time and money were being spent wisely.
Instead of asking, “What does everyone else say I should do?” I started asking, “What is actually working for me?” and what surprised me was how AI helped me look at my business differently.
By looking at my website content, classified advertising, other online business, and opportunities, that I have been a part of over the years I began to see patterns. I learned that I enjoyed building content from my own experiences. But because of my experiences I now have material that I can have interesting pages, that can tell a story, but at the same time allow me to bring trust, return readers, and with that potential customers, maybe not right away, but like me I don’t buy the first thing that comes along, I need to see proof that something can work if you put the effort into it.
Because of my past experiences, I always had content that would lead to a way to refer readers to the products, services that we offered, even to join the community and start their own online business. After some hard soul-searching I discovered that some expenses were not producing results and could be reduced. I found that creating useful content could continue working long after it was published.
AI helped me ask better questions, and because there is no emotion involved, it would often give me an honest answer—sometimes not what I wanted to hear.
Some Questions AI Helped Me With
- Is this activity producing results?
- Is this expense necessary?
- Is there a simpler way to accomplish the same goal?
- Am I building something that can continue growing over time?
The answers did not always lead me down the fastest path. Sometimes they led me toward a slower approach that seemed more sustainable and reliable.
AI can be that sounding board to bounce things off of. And when AI gets to know you better (and that may sound silly) it will know how you write, sometimes think and why you think that way, thus giving you answers based on experience, knowledge you have and how you can use that to your advantage, where to use it. It can show you how you can track how things are or aren’t working and how to put that knowledge to good use. It can even ask you questions in regards to what you are doing, that may make you look at things differently in regards to your business.
Today, I still believe success takes effort. However, I also believe that AI can help people avoid wasting effort on things that do not fit their goals. Sometimes a small change in direction can produce similar results while requiring less money, less stress, and a stronger long-term foundation.
At first I was one that thought AI would take away jobs, and was afraid of it, but with my experience I can see where it might help produce more productive ones. For me, AI became less of a tool for creating content and more of a tool for helping me think clearly about the direction I wanted to take. Yes, AI will be used for both good and evil, but if you use it wisely, and with an ounce of caution it can and will be a very useful tool.
If you’re new to artificial intelligence, the introductory resources available from OpenAI can provide a good starting point for understanding how AI tools work.
Looking back, AI didn’t tell me what direction to take. It helped me discover the direction that already fit my experience, interests, and goals. Instead of following what everyone else was doing, I began building a business around what made sense for me.
If you have questions or would like more information about anything you see here, please feel free to contact us. We’re always happy to connect.
A Note from Nina: Many of the photos used throughout this site come from my own collection and are connected to the experiences, places, animals, projects, and memories I write about.