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CJ Chilvers

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I was wrong about AI

I updated my principles for creating with AI to find out if anything’s changed since I wrote it in 2023. I got pretty angry about a prediction I got totally wrong — never make predictions within a principle — lesson learned. I go in-depth about it all in an upcoming episode

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Principles for Creating with AI (update)

Back in April 2023, I posted a list of principles for creating with AI, attempting to separate fact from fiction and find some universal truths about working with AI. How did it hold up?  For the most part, I think it stood up well. But there’s one thing I

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Personal brands to the rescue

Let’s close out summer on a high note — a business doing it right. My wife signed us up for this summer camp-themed dinner at a local restaurant. We were greeted with Old Fashioneds, served with the chefs’ high-end interpretation of camp food, and read a ghost story from the

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Can personal brands save big business?

NP Digital asked 200 companies about their employees’ personal brands. If you’re guessing that most companies said, “Huh? what?” you’re probably right. Over 80% of the companies didn’t support their employees’ personal brands. Only 18 of the companies reported that they both supported employees with personal brands,

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The best things in life don’t scale.

The best things in life don’t scale. I wrote this past week about how the same is true in marketing. I’ve come up with a list of examples since writing that post, but I’d love to hear yours. Feel free to respond and I’ll share the

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Do shit that doesn’t scale.

I get questions from marketers all the time about what to do as more and more of their work is eaten by AI. They see their clients happy with AI content, even if conversion rates and sales go way down. Why? The amount of cost-cutting involved is so massive, the

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Blogs aren’t quite dead yet.

According to long-time content strategist (and 2025’s YouTube viral breakout) Pat Flynn, SEO is dead. According to newsletter guru Matt McGarry, ad-based newsletters are dead. So, what’s alive? If you’re an AI company, it’s the lowly blog. According to NP Digital, blog posts are the #1

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Keeping a daily journal since 2010

I went on the Day One podcast to talk about my daily journaling habit. I've been journaling every day since 2010, and in Day One since...day one of the app, I think. Every Single Day: C.J. Chilvers on Journaling as Reflection and MeditationC.J. Chilvers has

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Stop asking me if I exist.

Is this true for you? I keep getting emails from newsletters asking me if I’m still around. Maybe it’s because I use Apple products, which emphasize privacy, and mask a lot of opens and clicks that newsletters (still?!) use to determine engagement, as if we were living in

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Be weird. Save Lives.

We don’t deserve dogs.  So, I got a new puppy. I figure the lack of sleep and constant cleanups will eventually get me close enough to deserving this dog.  This past week I wrote about how the rest of the newsletter world is waking up to the fact that