To all of those that think AI = Slop or don't see a need to learn to use the tools...

I spent much of last two days working with AI. I know it's the future, and I've watched it evolve, but frankly I've fallen behind. It's advancing so quickly - and its capabilities are expanding so fast - that I can feel myself losing ground.

I'm not a techie. I don't code, and I still can't get Claude Code set up properly - yet - though I will. In the meantime, here's what I managed to pull off mostly over a single Saturday while balancing everything else:

What I Built in a Weekend

Dashboard Development

I built a dashboard that pulls together multiple lines of business. I can now see, in real time, how many customers I have, the net revenue they generate, trends over time, and what those customers are actually worth.

When I ran a company with 200 employees and a 40-person tech group, it would have taken two or three months to get this kind of dashboard shipped. With AI, it took about eight hours total.

During those eight hours, I went back and forth between the AI and the rest of my work. I'd give it a task, it would do the work and come back with questions or results, and then I'd test it, give feedback, and send it back out again. Once it created a solid base, it suggested improvements. Not every suggestion was a winner, but plenty were, and I added those too.

For the first time, I have a clear dashboard showing exactly how the business is performing compared to the past. And I got it without a single employee, a technology expert, or expensive software subscription costs.

Membership Site Exploration

I dabbled with creating a new membership site for Phyle subscribers.

I made real progress - it looks good and it works - but I wasn't sure how to move people over cleanly, so I've paused it for now. The transition has lots of edge cases, but I have no doubt AI will simplify most of them. So it isn't live yet, but it absolutely could be, and I expect it will be.

Saving Money

On Lark, I uploaded my American Express bill for all of 2025. I asked it to show me where I'm spending all this money and what I can change. I told it to focus on recurring charges — things I'm not using, things I should downgrade, or subscriptions I should just cancel.

Within 60 minutes, I'd reduced annual recurring charges by about $7,000.