Now the part that I don’t like - talking about myself!
But it’s important so you know where I’m coming from.
Online business and working for myself saved my life 15 years ago and I sincerely believe running your own ship can be life changing for everyone.
I’ve always been naturally entrepreneurial - starting my first “business” at the tender age of 11 selling pirated video games on Yahoo Auctions. Until I got in trouble. I’m proud of my pre-puberty cease and desist letter!
My first actual business was co-founding Vietnam’s first private television station.
Fresh out of university I was young and stupid enough to not realise this was quite a big deal.
And with that (somewhat misguided) mindset it actually got done. Like Henry Ford once said: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t - you’re right”.
Within 9 months we were on air. A little later I sold my portion of the company and moved from Vietnam to NYC.
In New York I decided I should probably learn about this whole business stuff properly and so headed off to get my MBA at NYU Stern.
I quite quickly realised that MBAs weren’t very useful for the sort of business I wanted to start. Instead MBAs are great for people climbing the corporate ladder or those raising millions in VC cash.
It was a great experience and the academic knowledge from one of the top ten business schools in the world was top class. But it wasn’t very “helpful” for starting businesses that allowed me to keep control of my life.
After New York I had a bit of breakdown - depression. Not New York’s fault - I love the place. My marriage broke down and I moved out to China as I mentioned above. That’s when online business became a reality and I realised the power of being able to transact globally, anywhere in the world, from a laptop.
Since then I’ve lived primarily back in my hometown of London, interspersed with lots of travelling.
Work has been building companies, buying companies, selling companies, consulting and educating - all in the realm of online business and digital marketing.
Until AI reared its head end of 2022 - especially ChatGPT.
It’s hard to describe the potential impact of AI, more so because we’re in the midst of the transition.
But to compare it to the advent of electricity, the computer or more recently the internet is not hyperbole.
AI will change everything. It already is.
This is very true in the world of online business and digital marketing. These information based fields are already highly online and so are most ripe for disruption by AI technologies.
Seeing the writing on the wall I threw myself fully into the study and application of AI tools in business.
I now write the Prompt Entrepreneur newsletter, publishing around 10,000+ words of AI business guides per week.
I’ve also written 8 books (as of the time of publishing this - it changes rapidly!) that have all become Amazon bestsellers.
This course specially focuses on finding your niche and is pulled from a combination of my decades in entrepreneurship, teaching online business and the new AI tools now at our disposal.