Hi Reader,

As always I appreciate you being here! Here's what you'll find in today's email:

• What 7 Years Solo Actually Taught Me
• Why You Don't Need to be an Expert Today
• New & Trending Content

You read. I listen. Let me know what you think by replying to this email.

What 7 Years Solo Actually Taught Me

I left corporate America in July 2019 at 23 years old, running million dollar marketing campaigns for People Magazine, TIME, Better Homes & Gardens, and several other brands.

I'm grateful I was hired for the position, but I quickly discovered that Corporate America is the enemy of the ambitious.

I didn't quit my job blind though. I spent over a year building the replacement before I quit.

​Read My Full Breakdown of Leaving Corporate America​

Here's what "over a year" actually meant back in 2019:

• Teaching myself SEO on nights and weekends, because nobody pays you until you know your craft.
• Writing every blog post, every page, every email by hand.
• Guessing what worked, then waiting months for Google to tell me if I was right.

That was the price of leaving a 9-5 seven years ago. You had to become the expert AND do all the execution yourself, alone, before a single dollar showed up.

Looking back the expertise was maybe 20% of that year. The other 80% was pure grind.

Why You Don't Need to be an Expert Today

Now here's why I'd make that same leap in a fraction of the time today.

Everything on that list above? A $20/month AI assistant now does it at a high level. The research, the writing, the reports, even building the systems. The 80% grind is what collapsed.

What's left is the 20% AI can't supply: something you know well, ambition, and the willingness to start. That's it. That's the whole entry fee in 2026.

And the fear? I'll be honest, I was scared of the words "code" and "terminal" in January and now I run my whole business inside Claude Code & Codex.

The barrier was never technical. It just feels that way from the outside.

My friend Sandy Lee proves this better than I can. Zero AI experience a year ago. Full time job, three young kids, living paycheck to paycheck.

Now she makes around $50,000 per month through multiple revenue streams with AI.

I'm still working toward that number myself. If Sandy can pull this off with three kids and a full time job, you're a lot closer to starting than you think.

What's the one thing you know well enough to build on? Hit reply and tell me. I read every response.

Until Next Time 🫡
Ryan

P.S. Those systems I built for my own client work? They live in my Claude Skills Stack with 40+ others I use daily. I didn't build these to sell them, I built them to do my own work faster. The products were the byproduct.

New & Trending Content

Check out the latest on my website:

• ​OpusClip MCP Tutorial​
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