How AI is Changing Freelance Work

If writing is all you do as a freelancer, your days are numbered. I HATE saying that. I know it makes me look like an alarmist. But I’m just reading the tea leaves. And they're spelling out a clear message: AI is rapidly transforming our profession in ways we can't ignore. The mechanical aspects of writing -- crafting sentences, organizing paragraphs, developing a consistent tone -- these are all becoming something AI can do remarkably well. And it’s getting better at it by the week! Which means you're going to have to offer something else to stay relevant and valuable. This isn't about AI replacing us. It's about AI changing our role from writers to “conductors.” Think about it. In a world where AI can generate first drafts in seconds (which, again, are getting better by the week), your biggest value isn't in the act of writing. It's in knowing which words matter. In figuring out which story to tell (and how to tell it). In the strategic thinking that happens before anyone hits a keyboard. In the creative partnership you offer clients beyond just executing their requests. The writers who will thrive in this new landscape are those who can: 👉🏼 Step upstream in the process 👉🏼 Guide clients through the fog of their own thinking 👉🏼 Identify gaps in messaging 👉🏼 Spot inconsistencies in positioning 👉🏼 Recognize untapped opportunities others miss 👉🏼 Bring new ideas to the table 👉🏼 Help them solve ancillary problems These skills were always valuable. But they’re now essential. I recently heard from a freelancer whose client asked them to step into more of a strategist role because it was clear they did "so much more than just copy." Another one just told me that she’s now doing much more idea development and quality assurance and less writing, because of her domain expertise in nutrition science, which is very specialized. This is exactly the transition we all need to make. The good news is that most of us are already thinking strategically when we work with clients. We notice problems. We see solutions. We have insights. We just haven't been speaking up or charging for this expertise. Now is the time to start. Because in the AI era, the freelance writer who only writes is a terminal position. But the marketing expert who can think, guide, and conduct will continue to thrive. The choice is yours. Fight the tide... or ride the wave to higher ground.  

Did OpenAI just kill the careers of designers and illustrators? I see a lot of these posts with this claim 👆 , so here's my take 👇 OpenAI recently introduced a new image generation model as a part of GPT-4o, combining remarkable capabilities in text and image generation. We have all tried Studio Ghibli styles at this point for our personal images (Huge fan!) Truth: It will disrupt careers and transform the creative landscape! However, claiming this advancement "kills" careers misses a crucial point: tools enhance creativity; they rarely replace it outright. This new model can create stunning visuals in seconds. It can mimic styles, generate ideas, and produce high-quality work. The speed and efficiency are unmatched. This shift has left many designers feeling threatened. Job security is at risk. Many wonder if their skills will still be valued. I call it the "Creative Disruption Effect". This powerful change impacts the art world in five critical ways: → Accessibility: Everyone can create art now. → Quality: AI produces high-quality images fast. → Variety: Countless styles and options are available. → Cost: Cheaper alternatives to hiring artists. → Competition: More creators in the market. Each of these elements brings challenges. • Increased accessibility = "Oversaturation" • Quality without effort = "Devaluation" • Endless variety = "Confusion" • Lower costs = "Reduced earnings" • More competition = "Struggle for visibility" Here’s how to thrive in this new world: 1/ Embrace technology: ↳ Learn to use AI tools to enhance your work  ↳ Combine your creativity with AI’s power 2/ Focus on storytelling: ↳ Create art with a unique narrative  ↳ Connect with your audience on a deeper level 3/ Build a personal brand: ↳ Showcase your style and personality ↳ Stand out in a crowded market 4/ Collaborate: ↳ Work with other artists and tech experts. ↳ Create something new and exciting 5/ Keep learning: ↳ Stay updated on trends and tools ↳ Make YOU + AI your personal brand! The future belongs not to AI alone, but to those who best leverage the collaboration between "human ingenuity" and "artificial intelligence"

Freelancers, are you ready for what’s coming? I read something yesterday morning that stopped me in my tracks. 📰 It wasn’t about AI replacing writers (we’ve heard that one before). It was about marketing leaders replacing freelancers,  because they’ve built custom GPTs that do most  of what they used to hire out. According to the Exit Five newsletter, One CMO even cut a $50K freelancer budget completely. 🥴 How? By uploading brand guides, sales call transcripts,  product docs, competitor intel—and training a  custom GPT to do the basics: web pages,  emails, social posts. And here's the thing: it’s not just happening in one company. This is coming straight from a CMO roundtable of 22 marketing leaders. Here’s what they say is getting cut: • Junior content editing • Basic social posts • Copy cleanup Here’s what’s still safe (for now): • Strategy • Brand positioning • High-stakes content • Relationship building If you’re freelancing today and haven’t started learning  how to work with AI instead of competing against it–  You’re running behind. But here’s the good news: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. I've been investing in AI training for months, and I can tell you,  Clients still need skilled humans. But they need us to engineer,  not just execute.  To prompt,  not just polish. So freelancer, let me ask you: Are you ready to adapt? Or are you hoping you won't have to? (Want this kind of intel in your inbox? I’ll link to the newsletter below.)

Just posted a website rebuild job on Upwork an hour ago. Within 5 minutes, 6 proposals came in. Then 41 more. Nearly every one of them mirrored the job description in perfect formatting — detailed implementation plans, plugin suggestions, even line breaks in all the right places. Impressive? Not really. They were clearly AI-generated. Dead giveaways: Overuse of emojis 🙌🚀 Overpolished tone Zero personality So I planted a few trap doors in the job description — not to punish people using AI (I use it too) — but to filter out the folks relying solely on it. One test: "Tell us your favorite sea creature." Another: A buried keyword to see if they’re even reading. From 47 proposals, we did three 5-minute Zoom interviews. And we found a ringer. A developer in Lebanon with 99% job success across 268 projects. He showed up prepared. Spoke like a human. Showed empathy for our situation. And yeah, he knew his stuff. Funny how this works. Employers are now using AI to sift through people who are using AI to pitch themselves. Our AI is screening their AI. But it’s not really about beating the bots. The winners? They’re the ones using AI strategically — to save time and scale effort — while showing up human where it counts. Empathy. Communication. Precision. That’s the real edge. AI isn’t replacing jobs. It’s replacing mediocrity.

If you’re a solopreneur creative who’s rebranding yourself right now, remember - humans are no longer your only competition for clients. When we first started helping clients rebrand, we’d always do a competitive analysis as part of the process. And we still do that, because after all, human competitors still exist. But in the last few weeks, I’ve had conversations with several experienced creatives who tell me that AI is one of their biggest competitors. And some of us are understandably struggling with how to address this growing problem. As far as we’re concerned, there are a few different ways to approach it - 🟣 Make a clear case for why your creative services are better than AI. This could mean rebranding yourself as a strategist vs. an order-taker, and finding ways to quickly show potential clients the difference between a purely AI-generated product and what you’re capable of executing. 🟣 Change your target audience. If you’re opposed to using AI, consider seeking out clients who can afford to care about the ethical implications of AI including the theft of artists’ work, bias problems and sustainability issues. You could explore working with mission-driven organizations, green companies or B-corps - as well as individual solopreneurs who feel deeply committed to working with human creatives in spite of the higher costs involved. 🟣 Develop a clear position that you can live with on how you will, or won’t, use AI in your business. Some creatives we know have decided to go all-in on AI, rebranding themselves as prompt specialists or personalized bot experts. Others are offering hybrid options that incorporate AI and human-centric approaches at varying price points (which is where we’re currently leaning). And, there are still creatives who are deeply opposed to AI and don’t use it at all. So many potential clients are looking at the possibilities of using AI in their business that creatives are truly forced to answer the pressing question of our time - “why can’t people just use a machine brain to do this work?” We are not here to tell anyone to embrace AI or to reject it. But we believe that these are questions that all creatives must consider in order to survive right now. What’s your stance on AI right now, especially if you’re a creative?