The REAL cost of DIY-ing your AI Strategy

You're spending hours watching AI tutorials, paying for tools you don't use, and feeling behind. But have you actually added up what DIYing is costing you, @name?

Real talk: the gap between dabbling and strategy is bigger than you think.

Episode Summary

• The hidden costs of DIY AI: time, money, mental load, and opportunity cost
• Why saying "I already use ChatGPT" isn't the flex you think it is
• What actually changes when AI gets embedded in your business (spoiler: you get real time back)
• How to build custom systems that compound over time, not just tools that save 20 minutes
• Why most people are using AI like a smarter Google when they could be using it strategically

What Happens When It Clicks

• You recover 5–15 hours a week (that's a whole workday)
• Your content gets sharper, not faster
• You stop chasing every new tool and the mental load lifts
• Your systems become tighter than your competitors
• Everything compounds — each system frees up energy for the next one

✨ Connect With Brooke

DM me on Instagram → @wright_mode

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• Connect with me on Instagram → @wright_mode

Transcript

0:23

I wanna talk to you about something today that might sting a little bit, but I think you need to hear it. So if you've been trying to figure out AI on your own, watching YouTube videos, trying free tools, saving prompts from Instagram, playing with chat GPT, I want you to add up what that's actually costing you, not just in time, but also. Money, energy, mental load, and opportunity costs because here's what I see all the time. Capable founders spending months, sometimes years in this cycle of, I'll figure it out myself. And they're not getting anywhere. They're just busy trying things and feeling behind. Starting over. And then there's this other thing that I hear constantly, which is, I already use chat GPT, I'm using it so I am good. And look, if that's working for you, genuinely working, then amazing. Keep doing that. But if you're being honest, is it actually embedded in your business? Is it saving you real time? Is it making you money? Are you seeing the ROI on this or are you just using it? So today I wanna break down what DIYing AI is actually costing you. Why I already used GPT isn't the flex you think it is. And what changes when this stuff actually clicks? Because the gap between dabbling and strategic, it's bigger than you think. So first up, the real cost of DIOI. So let's talk about the cost of figuring this out yourself. And I'm not just talking about money here, though, we will get to that. So there's the time cost. How many hours have you spent? Watching tutorials, reading threads, trying to understand what tools do what and what you should use. How many times have you sat down to like actually figure out how to leverage AI and end up being more confused than when you started? I see people spending 5, 10, 15 hours a week consuming AI content, trying to keep up feeling like they're learning, but not actually implementing anything that sticks and that's not learning. That's procrastination, dressed up as productivity. If you've added up all those hours over the last six months scrolling on social media, what could have you done with that time? Instead, how many clients could have you served? How much money could have you made? The next thing is tool cost. So how many subscriptions are you paying for right now that you don't really use? Or the tool you signed up for because someone on Instagram said it was amazing. And that other tool that you tried last week that you saw someone talking about that said this was the game changing tool and you've forgotten about it. So I've talked to people paying for eight different AI tools, and they're not actually using any of them properly. Even if chat GPT is open every day. And that's hundreds of dollars going nowhere every month. Not to mention that time cost that we just spoke about. There's also the mental load costs, so this one's invisible, but it's huge, especially for my neurodivergent girlies, when you don't have clarity on what you're using and why AI becomes another thing. Taking up. Space in your brain. Another thing that you're probably doing wrong, another thing that you should be better at. And that low grade anxiety, that feeling of being behind, that's a cost. It's draining your energy even when you are not actively thinking about this stuff. Finally, opportunity cost. This is the big one. What's it costing you to not have AI working properly in your business? I want you to really think about this. If you had systems that actually saved you 10 hours a week, what would you do with that time? If you had a client facing tool that wowed people and helped you close more of those sales, how much money would you be making If your content workflow was automated and you weren't starting from scratch every week, and you know, you could show up on multiple different platforms in different formats, but you focus on creating one good piece of content a week, how much easier would your life be? The cost of DIY isn't what you're spending, it's what you are not gaining. And that number is way bigger than most people realize. So when you say, I'll just figure this out myself, I want you to really think about the costs here, because it's not free. You just kind of delaying stuff or it's hidden. So the next thing I wanna talk about today, I feel like this is a bit of a harsh episode, but sometimes we need some tough love, right? Why you saying, yeah, but I already use chat. GPT isn't enough. When people say this, what that usually means is I'm good, I don't need help. I've got this covered. But what I've noticed, when I ask people. How they use it. Here's generally what I hear. I have it open every day. I use it for captions. I use it for brainstorming. It helps me write emails. I'm playing around with it, but I probably could be using it better. That is using chat, GPT. And I did a full episode on AI's first AI strategy last week. And that's not having AI work for you chat, GPT is like saying, I have a gym membership. When someone asks if you work out, cool, but like, are you actually going? And if you are, are you seeing results? Do you have a plan? Are you, doing progressive overload or whatever it is in the gym or are you just kind of going to the gym on the days that you remember? Or maybe it's Monday, Wednesday Friday, but every time you go, you just kind of doing the same stuff. Or in fact, you might even just try different stuff every time. That's kind of the same. So here's the thing, what most people are doing with chat, GPT. Is the tip of the iceberg, maybe 5% of what's possible, you are using it like a smarter Google. You ask a question, you get an answer, move on. That's it. You are not creating custom tools trained on your business, your voice, your processes. You're not creating workflows where AI handles that repetitive stuff automatically. You are not using it strategically with intentions, with systems and with that actual ROI in mind. And look, I get it. How would you know what you don't know if you've never seen what's possible? Of course. You're just gonna think, oh, well I have it figured out, I'm good. But I've had people come to my workshops, people who use chat GPT and have set up automations every single day, and within the first hour they're like, oh, holy shit. I had no idea that any of this was possible. And it's not because, they're not smart enough. It's because nobody showed them. If you are watching, tutorials on Instagram, YouTube, they teach you the basics. They don't teach you the strategy or the practical applications for your business because using a tool and leveraging a tool are just completely different things. So if you are sitting there thinking, I already used chat, GPT, I'm fine. I'm just gently pushing back on you today because are you fine or are you just using it? Because there's a massive gap between those things and staying in that gap is costing you even if you don't realize it yet. So what changes when it actually clicks? What does that actually look like? When AI works for you, not just something that you use, but it's something that's embedded in your business. Let me paint you the picture. Time comes back. That's a huge one. So the stuff that used to take you hours now takes minutes. Content that used to drain your whole morning can be handled. That client onboarding, that's a mess of manual steps, systematized meeting prep, follow up admin. The stuff that eats your week is streamlined. I'm not talking about shaving 20 minutes off something. I'm talking about getting 5, 10, 15 hours back every single week. That's a whole extra workday. What would you do with that? As an example, and I've talked about this before, but this podcast is recorded. The transcript gets taken and then show notes are automatically created. An email with all of the links are included and like drafted. Carousels are made from this transcript. Threads are made from this transcript That is, just one way I leverage. AI and automations in my business. All of my talking head reels that you see on socials, they also get a branded carousel made and auto posted with that content with the key points from the talking head reel and posted to TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn. So I can focus on creating one solid piece of content, and then it gets distributed across all of the channels. So that in itself saves me 10 plus hours a week. So that's what I want for you to, because imagine what you could do with that time. You could be working more, or you could just be hanging out with your family if that's what you want. The next thing that changes when this stuff clicks is you stop feeling behind. Because when you have a strategy, you are not chasing every new tool. You're not second guessing yourself, and you're not drowning in AI content trying to keep. You know what you use, you know why you use it, and you know how it fits within your business. New tool comes out, cool. Does it fit my strategy? Does it solve a problem in my business? Nope. Moving on, that clarity in itself is worth so much like the mental load of that just lifts. Another thing that. Happens when this clicks is your work gets better. And this one surprises people. They think AI is just about speed, but it's also about quality. Because when you have a GPT that's trained on your voice, your frameworks, your content gets sharper. Or I've had clients who've built bots and then they've finally been able to hand that across to a marketing person because they're confident the content they're gonna create Now. Is aligned with their voice and their values and now they can outsource that. You know another example, when you have a sales call prep system, you can show up sharper. So I have one set up for when I have consulting clients book in. It takes their. Intake form, researches them, has a look at their answers and preps me for that consult, which means I can show up ready and, you know, already with ideas on opportunities for them without me having to spend two hours reviewing that, thinking about it. It gives me that brief and then I'm able to think about, okay, here are the opportunities, and then show up on that call prepped and ready to go. AI doesn't dumb things down. When you use it right, it amplifies what you are already good at. You also start standing out. So most people are either not using AI at all, or they're not using it very well. So, you know, we've talked about ai, lop that sounds like everyone else. So when you use it strategically, you can stand out. You content has your voice, your client experience has these really nice custom touches. Your systems are tighter than your competitors. One person I worked with built a client facing dashboard as part of their delivery, and their clients were blown away. Nobody else in the industry was doing anything like that, and that's differentiation. That's what strategic AI gives you. And finally, it compounds. This is the best bit. Every system you build frees up time and energy. Which you can reinvest into the next system, which frees up more time. Six months from now, you are not in the same place. You are operating at a completely different level because this stuff sticks and it stacks. That's what changes when AI actually clicks, not just, oh, this is handy. It's saving me a bit of time. Your whole business runs differently. So let me tell you about some real people, some real clients and real results. So I had one woman come to my training who built a client qualification tool. So within a week, she'd booked some new spots from the one GPT that she built in the workshop. And so that did the heavy lifting, it asked the right questions, pre-qualified people, and made her look incredibly professional. That paid for the workshop multiple times over in a week. Another client was spending hours every week on content and she built a system where her podcast like mine feeds into an automation that generates show notes and social posts and an email, all of it. So that's like 10 hours a week for her right there. Someone else built a strategist GPT, which is like having a business mentor in your back pocket. So every time she is kind of thinking through some decisions, she has this tool trained on her business, her goals, and the way that it is structured, it is designed to challenge her and get her thinking about, any blind spots and help her make a decision and act on it. So these aren't. Unicorns. These are like normal business owners who stopped DIYing and got strategic and built the actual systems. That's what's possible. That's what you're missing out on while you're watching YouTube tutorials and hoping it clicks or hoping you'll figure out how to apply it to your own business. If you don't already know, I have a workshop coming up in two weeks, which is the AI Dream team. And if anything I've said today has made you go, okay, I actually need to sort this out, this is where you do it. And it's not a course that you watch and forget. It's two live sessions, which are two hours each with three days in between to actually implement. What you've learned and come back. So we figure out where AI fits in your business. You'll learn how to build the actual systems, custom GPT workflows, whatever makes sense for you. And you leave with things that work, not theory, not ideas, to try later working tools. So if you come to the workshop, and I'll have the link in the show notes I want you to think, how much is 10 hours a week worth to you? Like over a year? That's 500 plus hours. Think about your hourly rate and multiply that, or how much is one new client worth? If you build something that helps you close those leads or pre-qualify those leads, so you are not jumping on calls with people who are then gonna ghost you or they hear, you know, you are pricing and they're like, oh, sorry, it's not in budget. That can all be pre-qualified with AI and automations. I want you to sit with these things and I will link in the show notes to the next workshop. Or you can jump on my website. Spots are limited because it's live and I wanna give people the proper attention and make sure that no one gets left behind. So if this is speaking to you, don't sit on it. Alright, AI confession, booth time. So I had a couple of people drop into my dms this week, giving me some amazing feedback on the podcast. So thank you. shout out to Simone from Simone May Digital. She has said for her submission for the AI confession booth. I've just got it up. I'm reading it on my phone. she's like, probably like most other people I've signed up to what feels like 200 different. AI platforms and use approximately zero of them. So, uh, we all can relate to that. if you wanna submit something for the AI confession booth, then slide into my dms on Instagram. and I'll give you a shout out on the next episode. And finally, you are not another to-do list for this week. I want you to actually add up the cost of. DIYing, your AI strategy. How many hours have you spent trying to learn AI in the last three months? How many tools are you paying for that you don't use? Or how many are you like, oh, I don't know if I need this or not? Like you've got that fomo. And what's the opportunity cost of not having your AI strategy sorted for 2026? Just get that number, write it down, see what you're actually investing in, DIY, and then ask yourself, is that working or is there a faster path? That's it. Yeah, that's all. I just want you to audit that and have a think about where you want to go in 2026. So this was a little bit harsher, a bit of tough love today but I hope you found it useful and I will see you on the next episode.