So this starts out at my life of the age of 32 years old working full time 80 hrs plus a pay period. Last year i brought home about 55,000 before taxes and now my wife is in the transition of changing jobs and her Income will be cut as she was more of the bread winner and fun activity creator for the house as I’m the boring dad. The thing is i like my main job as i get to experience a lot of different situations and items. I’m considered a sales loan associate. Ie i write collateral loans, sale items, and money. Can you guess my profession? It is one of the oldest and longest running carriers in the world. This is my main day job but i have dabbled in the past at part time jobs and dual time jobs as in multiple jobs at once. I have looked into the basic of part time and or gig jobs that require a 10-99 tax form these are the jobs that you have to pay the taxes yourself and withheld before the Mooney enters your bank account. These are called self employed jobs self freelance. Most common ones that come to mind are door dash Uber eats lift and so on. In the past have driven for door dash and not a big fan of the drive thru and or food delivery service.
Recently with my wife recently placed on leave for medical i am in more of a drive to pick up some of the slack for my wife. I’m in a situation were i’m almost paid up on my car loan and that would free up some money and a personal loan as well that takes up a good chunk of my pay with these taken out i would not have to work as hard to get caught up in bills. Anywho im looking to check in to these apps that i have found in the App Store and or thru other internet streamers. I don’t know any names or sources sorry as in this is from memory and an impulse to write. One app i found was the common amazon app Amazon Flex, and another package delivery app called Roadie. The first time I opened the the Roadie app on a Friday after noon around 4 their was two deliveries one for 11.30 and another for $23 i think not exact but that was end of day.
Now These delivery apps require certain parameters to work for these gig apps, like being able to drive. Need a license, a Car and or larger vehicle to transport said product/ package. I did check roadie on the fist weekend after download and their was no packages for the weekend. Now i believe the roadie app is a subsidiary for fed express shipping, so they would not run on weekends. I am going to check a few times a week and start using the app to make some money. The app is self explanatory about how it works and it goes thru how to accept and deliver the Package once delivered the pay should be sent to funds and i believe it goes thru every Tuesday. Just like door dash has a weekly pay so does this app I haven’t checked many out but I’m interested in working on these side gigs and possibly making new connections in work and career. Plus working Gigs and or side jobs allows the person to learn grow and grind away at the bills,savings, and or short term money crises.
Now I did attempt to work with these apps for a few weeks but the Amazon flex had a waiting list and i signed up and thought maybe I would get approved soon. I logged into the roadie app but for some reason i could never get a gig with them so i was starting to loose hope. These were being over flooded with workers as it was around the time the pandemic ended and their was still plenty of people working and or apply in these type of jobs. When i calculated some of the deliveries with roadie it was not worth the wear and tear on my 2016 ford expedition. I kinda just gave up on using my car and I Headed to have a 2nd form of income to help with the bills as we transition to a single income house from a two income.
I eventually ask a few friends and family about job opening for night just a part time one so i can still function at my main job in the day. My brother was working at a local grocery store as a night shift shelf stocker. I eventually was able to apply and talked to his boss and she like my enthusiasm and told them my availability and that was good to.
i picked up the night shift shelf stocker for the hours of 11pm to 4am for 2 to 3 days starting. I was able to pick up a extra shift here and their. After a few weeks of this schedule that was working with me and i had a good relation with the night manager so the schedule stayed the same.
Now one thing about this company is they are always training new management and they rotate the managers and lead clerks from night to day ever couple of quarters and it was time. The Manager i had good relations was moving to day and another up incoming manager was transferring in to learn the night shift role and what a curve it was. Now with this new night manager he started to schedule me more and more hours first a few 8 hour days that was ok then it became full night shifts. I told them i can not keep this up as this is not my main job it is my second job and I’m not making more than my first so can you please fix my schedule. Now this manager was not in the business to train and or work with employees they are the type to only shoot for their accommodations and they threw a huge wrench in our flow for the crew members. I asked them multiple times a month to fix my schedule, all i got in return is you should put it in the computer. After asking how he said ask the day manager, they knew i could not come in as i was working at my main job. I stuck it out making 40 hrs a week at day and at night for a total of 80 hour work weeks plus family events. Now I can’t tell you how much coffee or energy drinks i was drinking but it was lot. My sleep was shit now and i can tell you i do not remember most of the year i worked their like i mean family events and special occasion as i was burning the candle at booth ends and no breaks. After a year and like 3 months i was burnt, my mental health went to shit and i was no longer in right mental fortitude to control where my money was going and I was not even able to save money. I don’t know where all the hours and money went, when i was barley getting even 4 or 5 hours a day to no sleep, and my attitude changed i was snapping at everyone my wife my kids and my grand kids, i could no longer afford to keep doing two jobs so i turned my alarm off for my night job and just slept after i blew up on my wife for no reason and broke down at the same time. Now not calling in or giving my two weeks was bad but i was so tired and could no longer push myself to try i was in a different type of head space my mood with depression and anxiety. I was hoping after i quite i could keep up with the bills as my car loan was paid off and i was about to pay the last 5 months of my personal loan. How wrong i was their was some lasting effects on my mental health that lasted. Trying to save money turned in to just blowing it on bad decisions, i believe that not sleeping and constantly going and going effected my judgment and my ability to plan and or focus. I believe it took me almost a year to finally get my mind in order and my head on straight enough to keep my finances in order but it was too little to late and my bills have now erupted in and huge ballon and i still can’t really explain it but i believe it is due to the fact i could not process the right way to manage it with the lifestyle creep and trying to live like i had two jobs still but only one income mentality. I got in over my head.
Believe me mental health focused with anxiety is some serious shit it is not good to consistently keep burning the so called candle at both ends. the effects of no sleep don’t seem like a lot in the beginning but over time it will creep up and one day it will take your so called head off. mix anxiety in with the fear of depression of not doing enough and feeling like your the only one their creates a evil circle. So take some time and find a day to rest, stretch walk run, hang out with friends or work on a hobby to try and level out and if it depends on it do not max out you whole mental focus and energy on someone besides you and your family, jobs come and go just got to keep focused on the long goal and keep the mindset simple as a inch by inch will be a cinch.
Tag: lifestories
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My Work life and balance??
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Part 4 of my “Learning AI for Real Results” series
Building an Audience vs Chasing Sales: What I’m Learning (Plus My Copilot Discovery
The Shift That Changed Everything
Two weeks ago, I was obsessing over sales numbers (easy to do when they’re all zeros). This week, I had a realization that completely changed my approach: I was trying to sell to strangers who had no idea who I was.
Then something happened that reinforced this lesson in the most unexpected way.
Enter Copilot: The AI Tool I Almost Ignored
While Claude was helping me fix my product descriptions and ChatGPT was being unreliable, I decided to give Microsoft’s Copilot another shot. I’d tried it briefly before, but this time I approached it differently.
What I discovered: Copilot is absolutely incredible at creating visual content and professional-looking documents.
I asked it to create some graphics for my blog posts, design templates for my digital products, and even help with document formatting. The results? Way better than anything I was making on my own.
But here’s the interesting part: The better my content looked, the more I realized that pretty graphics don’t matter if nobody knows you exist.
The Audience-First Experiment
Instead of continuing to optimize products for platforms where I was invisible, I decided to flip the strategy completely:
Old Approach: Create products → List them → Hope for sales New Approach: Share my journey → Build relationships → Products become natural extensions
Week 1 Results: Focusing on Audience Building
Blog Traffic: Up 300% (from basically nothing, but still…) Email Subscribers: Grew from 2 to 18 people Social Media Engagement: Actually got comments and messages Sales: Still zero, BUT people are starting to ask about my products
The Game Changer: People started reaching out to say my posts were helpful. Not buying anything yet, but actually connecting with the content.
How Each AI Tool Fits Into Audience Building
This journey taught me that different AI tools serve different purposes in building an audience:
Claude: Strategy and Content Planning
- Helps me think through what content will actually serve my audience
- Great for turning my messy thoughts into coherent blog posts
- Excellent at suggesting content series that build on each other
ChatGPT: Idea Generation and Refinement (when it works)
- Still my go-to for brainstorming content topics
- Good at helping me think through reader questions
- Useful for creating different angles on the same topic
Copilot: Making Everything Look Professional
- Creates graphics that make my blog posts shareable
- Designs templates and worksheets to give away as lead magnets
- Helps format my digital products so they look more valuable
The Document Creation Breakthrough
Here’s where Copilot really shined: I asked it to help me create a “Financial Reset Worksheet” to give away free to blog subscribers.
What I gave Copilot: My rough ideas about budgeting steps and money mindset shifts What Copilot delivered: A professionally formatted, visually appealing 5-page worksheet that looked like something you’d pay for
The impact: This free worksheet got more downloads in 3 days than my paid products got views in 6 weeks.
The Audience vs Sales Revelation
What I learned: People need to trust you before they’ll buy from you.
How AI helps with trust-building:
- Claude helps me write authentically about my struggles
- ChatGPT helps me brainstorm relatable content ideas
- Copilot makes everything look professional enough to take seriously
The sequence that’s starting to work:
- Share honest content about my journey
- Offer valuable free resources (created with AI help)
- Build email list of people who actually engage
- Eventually introduce paid products to people who already know and trust me
Real Numbers: What Changed When I Stopped Chasing Sales
Before (6 weeks of chasing sales):
- 0 sales
- Maybe 20 total product views
- 0 email subscribers
- No social media engagement
After (2 weeks of audience building):
- Still 0 sales (but expected now)
- 150+ blog views per week
- 18 email subscribers who actually open emails
- Daily messages/comments from readers
- 47 downloads of my free worksheet
The Visual Content Game-Changer
Copilot’s document and image creation abilities solved a problem I didn’t even know I had: everything I was creating looked amateur.
My blog posts needed graphics. My free resources needed professional formatting. My social media needed eye-catching visuals.
Example: I asked Copilot to create an infographic summarizing my “5 Money Mistakes That Kept Me Broke” blog post. The result looked so professional that it got shared on social media for the first time ever.
What I’m Testing Next
The Content-to-Product Pipeline:
- Write blog posts about topics I’m passionate about
- Use Copilot to create professional supporting materials
- Give away valuable free resources to build trust
- Eventually create paid products for people who want to go deeper
Current experiment: Using all three AI tools together:
- Claude for content strategy and writing
- ChatGPT for brainstorming and idea expansion
- Copilot for making everything look professional
The Uncomfortable Truth About Building an Audience
It’s slower than chasing sales, but it actually works.
Chasing sales felt urgent and exciting. Building an audience feels like… well, like actual work. But for the first time in two months, people are engaging with what I’m creating.
The irony: Now that I’m not desperately trying to sell anything, people are starting to ask about buying things.
What This Means for Other Beginners
If you’re in the same boat—creating digital products but not getting sales—maybe the problem isn’t your products. Maybe it’s that you’re trying to sell to people who don’t know you yet.
My new approach:
- Lead with value, not products
- Use AI to make that value look professional
- Build relationships before trying to make money
- Document the whole journey (it becomes content itself)
The Question I’m Wrestling With
When do you make the transition from free value to paid products?
I have 18 email subscribers who seem genuinely engaged. Is that enough to start introducing paid products? Should I wait until 100? 500?
What’s your take on this? When you’re building an audience, how do you know when it’s time to start selling?
Next week: “My First Attempt at Selling to My Actual Audience” – where I’ll document what happens when I finally offer something paid to people who actually know who I am.
P.S. – Want to see the exact Copilot prompts I used to create that professional worksheet, or get a copy of the worksheet itself? Subscribe to my blog updates. I’m documenting everything, including the AI prompts that actually work.
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Part 3 of my “Learning AI for Real Results” series
Using Claude to Fix My Zero-Sales Problem (Week 1 Results)
The Harsh Reality Check
Let’s start with the uncomfortable truth: It’s been 6 weeks since I launched my digital products on Gumroad, Etsy, and Redbubble.
Total sales: Still zero.
Not “almost zero” or “just a few.” Actual zero. As in, nobody has bought my 50-page books on mental health and personal finance, my todo lists, or anything else I’ve created.
But instead of wallowing in disappointment, I decided to treat this as the perfect test case for Claude. Can AI actually help turn zero sales into… well, at least one sale?
The Claude Consultation
I approached this like a real business consultation. I fed Claude all the details:
- My current products and their descriptions
- The platforms I’m using
- My pricing strategy (or lack thereof)
- My marketing efforts (spoiler: minimal)
My exact prompt: “I’ve had digital products listed for 6 weeks with zero sales. Here are my current listings [inserted descriptions]. What am I doing wrong, and what would you change first?”
Claude’s Brutal Honest Assessment
Claude didn’t sugarcoat anything. Here’s what it identified:
Problem #1: My Titles Were Boring
- Old title: “Personal Finance Guide: Money Management Tips”
- Claude’s suggestion: “Broke at 30: How I Finally Stopped Sabotaging My Own Money”
Problem #2: Descriptions Focused on Features, Not Problems My original description talked about “50 pages of financial advice” instead of “finally stop living paycheck to paycheck.”
Problem #3: No Social Proof or Personal Story I wasn’t leading with my actual experience—the messy, relatable stuff that makes people trust you.
Problem #4: Pricing in No-Man’s Land My books were priced at $12—too expensive for impulse buys, too cheap to seem valuable. Claude suggested either $5 for quick wins or $25+ with more content.
The Real-Time Experiment
Instead of just talking theory, I decided to implement Claude’s suggestions immediately and document what happens.
Week 1 Changes Made:
New Product Titles:
- “The Anxiety Toolkit That Actually Worked for Me” (mental health book)
- “How I Went from Broke to Building an Emergency Fund” (finance book)
Rewritten Descriptions: Instead of listing what’s in the books, I led with the problems they solve and my personal story. Claude helped me write descriptions that sounded like I was talking to a friend, not giving a corporate presentation.
New Pricing Strategy: Dropped everything to $5 to test Claude’s “impulse buy” theory.
Added Urgency (Claude’s Idea): “Written by someone still figuring it out, not someone who’s forgotten what struggle feels like.”
The Results After 7 Days
Sales: Still zero, BUT…
Traffic: 3x more views on Gumroad (from basically none to… slightly more than none, but still progress)
Engagement: First comments/questions on Etsy in 6 weeks
Email Signups: 2 people signed up for my blog updates (okay, it’s small, but it’s something!)
What I Learned (The Hard Way)
Lesson #1: Better copy doesn’t guarantee instant sales Claude’s suggestions improved everything, but selling digital products is harder than just having good descriptions.
Lesson #2: Platform matters more than I thought Gumroad, Etsy, and Redbubble have different audiences. My personal experience angle might work better on platforms where I can tell more of the story.
Lesson #3: I need to drive my own traffic Even with better titles and descriptions, nobody sees them if I’m not actively promoting them. Claude pointed this out, but I was hoping the platforms would do the work.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Here’s what Claude helped me realize: My zero-sales problem isn’t just about product descriptions. It’s about not having an audience yet.
I’ve been trying to sell to strangers who don’t know me, haven’t heard my story, and have no reason to trust that my “personal experience” is worth $5.
That’s why I started this blog series. I’m building an audience first, sharing my actual journey, and letting people get to know me before trying to sell them anything.
Next Week’s Experiment
Claude suggested something that scared me a little: Give away one of my products for free to get reviews and build credibility.
So I’m going to offer my mental health book as a free download to blog subscribers and see what feedback I get. Real feedback from real people who actually read it.
The Theory: Better to have 20 people read it and give feedback than zero people buy it.
The Bigger Picture
This experiment taught me that AI is incredibly helpful for improving what you have, but it can’t solve the fundamental business challenge of finding people who want what you’re selling.
Claude made my products better. But I still need to do the work of building relationships, creating trust, and proving that my “learning as I go” approach actually provides value.
That’s exactly what this blog series is doing.
What Would You Do?
If you were in my shoes—6 weeks, zero sales, but some early signs of improvement—what would you try next?
Should I:
- Keep tweaking the products based on Claude’s suggestions?
- Focus entirely on building an audience first?
- Try completely different platforms?
- Give everything away free to get feedback and testimonials?
Drop a comment and let me know what you think. I’m genuinely curious about your take on this.
P.S. – If you want to see the exact prompts I used with Claude for this analysis, or get a free copy of my mental health book to help with my feedback experiment, sign up for my blog updates. I share everything—the good, the bad, and the zero-sales ugly.
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