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In this issue: do less, pro AND anti AI takes and the team is winning.

Opening Your Time

The last month has been excellent because there were very few plans.

Aside from a now weekly basketball game, Buffalo Traffic Jam date night (pic above) and Opening Day, we had little planning or trips.

Very few calls and meetings. I used to send thousands of emails begging people to get on the phone. Now, I’m aiming to asses 90% of the questions ahead of time and leave the 10% for a required call.

There’s been a renewed focus on having work calls being collaborative over 1:1s, trying to get the right number of heads in a discussion so we can actually make a decision (see Ringelmann Effect).

For a personality type like me, this can be a struggle. In a way, it’s calming to have things lined up. You’re maximizing time to be filled with the commitments you’ve previously made to the people and places around you that you care about most.

So while those required events will exist, open up yourself to be ready for spontaneity.

A few tactical ways to actually open up your time

• Block Open Times - as you’d put “Max & Emma’s Wedding in Aruba” down for a weekend, just write OPEN. Look, you actually are busy that weekend!

• Call Anytime - of course this sounds like the opposite approach to be open, but a 5 min call and save 9 days of semi-anxiety inducing communications culminating in a 10 minute call. Great takes on this by Jason Fried and Nick Gray.

• Ask for Price Ahead of Time - sales guys (like me) cringe, but without a sense of your cost don’t waste anyone’s time (most importantly YOURS). If they don’t have a ballpark, they weren’t serious anyways.

Get ahead of the busy summer and fall (sorry for the reminder) and make time to do, well nothing.

What Else

🙅🏻‍♂️ Mr. Wonderful’s Anti-AI Take

I’ve always liked Kevin O’Leary’s shtick and enjoyed his recent podcast appearance.

At one point, he admitted to being wrong when he previously said all the extras for Marty Supreme could be replaced by AI, why he is wrong is summarized with this quote:

“The real magic of filmmaking is the mistakes you make”

In art, this is what a computer cannot replace. The off center placement, incorrect punctuation mark, accidental brush stroke and single off beat snare can be what makes the piece most memorable. Full clip

💾 Real Life Full Stack Agentic Marketer

There is too much talk on how to leverage agents to improve your business, without breakdowns that clearly show how this actually works.

If you’re interested in practical approaches to content producing agents, check out Jen’s blog post, AI Agents for SaaS: My Setup with Claude Code and OpenClaw.

🪇 Vinyling

After an impulse turntable purchase, I’m back into vinyls and listening to my collection. With my extra time this, I vibe coded a TRMNL screen to show the latest in the collection. Send vinyl recs, I’m now tracking recently added on Discogs.

Friends Crushing It

• Congrats to Dustin and the Current Client team for their recent fundraise

• TRMNL X launched on the back of a Snazzy video, the team continues to win

• Bradley’s got a new job as a founding engineer at Punch  

• With golf season is in full swing, check out Roberto’s most recent audio series Quick 9, casual and dense conversations around the business of golf

Grandma’s Corner