You're not behind.
Everybody else is bluffing too.
I'm Brian. I'm 55, I work in sales, and I decided to actually figure out what AI does instead of nodding at every post that mentions it. Every Sunday I report back on what I tried, what worked, and what I broke.
No jargon. No course to buy. The unsubscribe button works on the first try.
Live online class: three hours, hands-on, $29. Beginner Sat Oct 17, Intermediate Sat Oct 24.
Two Saturdays in October. Three hours each.
Beginner and Intermediate — Beginner Sat Oct 17, Intermediate Sat Oct 24 — 9am–12pm ET, online. $29 each, or $49 for both.
Brian
TriesAI.
Three segments.
Every issue.
Four to five thousand words, and I used to promise you the opposite. Turns out the long ones are the ones you actually read, so I quit apologizing for them. No filler, no affiliate links to courses I've never taken. 23 volumes in and the three segments haven't moved, because they work.
This Week I Tried…
Something I actually used AI for, with honest results. Sometimes it works beautifully. Sometimes it tells me to leverage cross-functional synergies and I want to hide. You get both stories — plus one thing you can copy and paste.
Sites I Can Actually Handle
The beginner-friendly places I learn from that don't make me feel old. Real people, real explanations, no assumed knowledge. I name names and link out every time.
Sites That Scare Me
The ones I've bookmarked and quietly closed again. I work through them one per issue so you don't have to be the brave one. Next issue always opens with how it went.
It's Only a Test
The one where a robot would only drive a real Corolla after somebody told it the car was pretend.
What AI actually shipped this week, one industry at a time
Four weekly sections on the same free Substack: restaurants, retail, small business and corporate America. Primary sources only, and every number comes with where it came from.
A Hundred Thousand Dollars a Restaurant, and Ten Drive-Thrus
McDonald’s put a price on the modern restaurant. The AI is inside the price, not next to it.
Read on SubstackSomebody Finally Turned One Off
What retailers actually deployed, what it does to your receipt, and what it means if you sell things for a living.
Read on SubstackYour payroll company shipped something last week that can prepare a payroll run for you.
What the tools in your stack actually charge, what they actually do, and what it means if you run the place.
Read on SubstackRead the Footnote
A company that sells software by the seat told the SEC its AI means customers will need fewer of them. It's on a slide, under a footnote.
Read on SubstackWho this AI newsletter is for — probably you, if any of this lands
This is for you if…
- You're 40, 50, 60-something and tired of pretending you understand half the AI posts in your feed
- You work in sales, marketing, ops, or management — a real job where AI is supposed to help but nobody says exactly how
- You tried ChatGPT once, got a weird answer, and quietly closed the tab
- You don't want a course. You want a friend who'll tell you what's worth it and what's nonsense
This is not for you if…
- You're an AI engineer or have the word "founder" in your bio
- You already say "agentic" out loud without flinching
- You want hot takes, stock tips, or thought leadership
- You need code samples and API docs
There are great newsletters for those folks. This isn't one of them.
I teach a live AI class — next up, October 17 and 24
Three hours, online, hands-on, nobody watches slides. There are two of them. Beginner is using the tool. Intermediate is building the system that runs when you don't — and everyone leaves with a real automation running on their own account.
The beginner class is the one where everyone leaves having done three real things with AI: a week of dinners, a family schedule, a budget on their own numbers. Beginner is Saturday, October 17. Intermediate is Saturday, October 24.
$29 each, $49 for both. 9am–12pm ET, online. A free Claude account and a laptop is the whole supply list.
Steal my stuff
Every issue ships with something you can print, clip to the fridge, or paste straight into Claude.
One issue a week. That's the whole deal.
Free forever. Longer than it has any right to be — I have tried to fix that and stopped trying. You'll know one thing you didn't know before.