What working with an AI assistant actually looks like
No magic. It's closer to having a sharp new crew member who never forgets the checklist.
The real setup
How it works
Every project is a maintenance card, like on the boat: what it is, what “done” means, where it stands, the next three actions with an owner, and what repeats. 30 active cards right now.
A small crew, each with one job: a general manager (picks the day's ONE thing), a seller, a clip poster, and a builder for SSBC products.
The 80% rule: anything at 80% or more gets reported every week as shipped, blocked, or shelved. Nothing quietly dies.
I approve, it drafts. No post, price change, purchase, or deletion happens without my OK.
Numbers come from real sources. Guesses get labeled. Old versions get saved before anything changes.
Behind the scenes
Wins you don't see
844 Evernote notes exported into plain files I own (Oct 9, 2026).
My PC scanned and mapped: about 72,000 files, 902 duplicate copies. The folder move waits until after taxes.
Getting caught up on three years of back taxes, with the paperwork organized into one packet.
Stories captured through Q&A interviews in my own voice, instead of me staring at a blank page.
Lessons learned
Fewer moving parts
An earlier setup ran about 42 automated jobs and got tangled. The current plan has about 15.
Automated doesn't mean resolved.
What it doesn't do
It's not the boss
It doesn't decide for me.
It doesn't post as me without approval.
It's sometimes confidently wrong, so I check anything that matters.
Free community
Learning AI after 50?
Come learn it with me in the free Skool community.