I moved to an island because I wanted to embed quiet, and slowness, and space into my life.
I’ve been thinking lately how incredibly important this is in the face of the absolute and utter RUSH of AI.
I won’t spend much time on the caveats – I use AI, my team use it, new team members and contractors need to show they’re familiar with it, our clients are more involved than ever in their own marketing because of it.
But I’ve never seen anything push us to HURRY at this level – and I grew up in the early internet age, built a remote company before it was cool, and used to jump on flights and dash all over the world like I was escaping a fire. I thought.
Now I know that was practically a snail pace compared to this.
“I Claude Code every weekend.”
“I created a new app last night.”
“I built my own website.”
These can sound pretty cool. And I’m impressed by those who use it like we used to use “cloud accounting” or TikTok, to differentiate themselves and stand out amongst the others.
About 50% of the time, I get it. Seeing our clients collaboratively involved in their marketing, experimenting, – and still asking for help and strategic guidance – is fantastic. Best of both worlds. The other 50% of the time, I’m utterly exhausted.
Sometimes I think I’m just getting old. (Is that the sign of the end times, asking that question??) But i see the younger generation pushing back too. I see them boo’ing speakers who say “you have to welcome our AI overlords”. I see them cheering when they say “a few years ago, AI wasn’t part of our lives”.
We have done so. much. work (especially since 2020) on what it means to rush, and what it means to slow down. What it looked like to be forced to come to a grinding halt from the frenzy. To read physical books, and make sourdough bread, and rediscover puzzles.
I don’t want to forget that lesson. I moved to the island I live on to make sure I don’t forget that lesson. And the impact of AI on marketing is the most significant, the most opportunity and the biggest threat, i’ve seen in fifteen years of running a marketing agency myself. It’s equivalent to the impact of Covid on restaurants and the hospitality industry.
Marketing agencies are closing at a rapid rate. Others are expanding more rapidly than ever before. We’re using more contractors and hiring fewer long term employees. We’re balancing the use of AI with determining where the human perspective is most needed, and the strategy, and the guidance. Freelancers are busier than ever.
So what does a good marketing agency look like now? What does a good business look like, using AI and still delivering good service, caring about its clients and the impact they have on the world?
For me, the power of 1) community, and 2) in person get togethers, is what I and my clients seem to be craving the most.
Our clients are part of communities of accountants. I’m in a marketing community, to get support and perspective. My agency PF has the PF Lab community with weekly live sessions, deep dives and “ask me anything” days, co-working and implementation time.
Events are still valuable and highly attended – and for us, it’s the smaller events which are the best experience. Twenty, thirty, maybe fifty accountants. Not the 3000-person extravaganza, or the exhibitions full of crowded booths and outdated swag. The opportunity to meet up in person, talk over dinner, go for walks together, get space, wonder, take notes, chat. Listen to speakers, yes, but not at a breakneck pace. Go into workshops and sessions, not to get ideas but to actually implement them.
That’s what I love, too. I got together with one of our PF strategists a few times recently (it just worked out with other travels) and we achieved more in a few days than we would have in months online. We were more inspired, and we actually made things happen right then and there. We also discussed life and business and the world at large (whether aliens exist may have come up as a topic).
I was booked to go to a massive event next month. 1600 business owners. Constant talks, endless stages. Video. People. Learning. Ideas. How to use AI better. Best practice in marketing. I’d come away better for being amongst all these people Doing Things.
And a week ago I decided I wasn’t going to go.
I looked at our new clients, the systems and services we’re building. The intensity of pace at PF and the way our team are utterly committed to helping clients get the results they want and need. And I thought about our team members and how to help them be more involved in making PF the best agency it can be. I thought about my own mental health. And I decided I wasn’t going to the conference, after all.
It’s been a solid five months since the start of the year. There have been some curveballs. Some opportunities. Partnerships, speaking opportunities. My second book is on pre order and will be published next month. I opened up a few rooms in my house to Airbnb them and I’m running up the stairs to changeover rooms between Zoom calls.
I’m so very grateful. I’ve had people sign proposals when I thought they wouldn’t. I’ve almost actively tried to get a new client to sign for a lower level support and they choose the higher level because Lets Fuckin Go.
And at the same time, I’m a little tired.
I found myself reaching to put flour in the fridge the other day. I woke up the next morning and found that i had, actually, left the frozen peas in the fridge instead of the freezer. I’m up at 4.30 or 5 most mornings, and am writing or strategising or working on my book launch items by 6am. And some days I do well to get out by sunset (and I live up in the Scottish highlands, so that’s a pretty long day). I’m not saying this to boast, at all. And I don’t need to be told to choose rest: I’m the one who made that one of the PF pillars, and I tell this to my clients. I’ve got a book manuscript on rest which is being revived and is likely moving into position for book three.
The point is, despite knowing and teaching and advising this, I still have to work at it. To work at rest! I’ll take an hour to bake muffins in the middle of the morning. Or book a sauna session when it’s been too long. Pick a new restaurant for dinner. Read a new book – or at least a few chapters of it before I fall asleep. Stand outside drinking coffee and watching the little lambs bleat down near my gate.
Because right now, as the owner of a marketing agency, the days go by in a rush if I’m not careful. And AI seems to have it as its personal mission to hurry me, hurry us, to everything. Build this now! Great blog post – shall we turn it into a carousel, and a PDF, and maybe a book? Sure, you could write another book! You could write 14 books! In a year! Why only a year? Let’s do it in 3 months! GO! Hurry, hurry, hurry!
“Banquets abroad by torch light! music! sports! …
Nine coaches waiting, hurry, hurry, hurry!
Ay, to the devil.”
Cyril Tourneur, The Revenger’s Tragedy
I don’t think AI is the devil. But I do wonder sometimes if hurry – for the sake of it – is.
After all, the reason to rush is to get more. It’s capitalism at its worst. Do more. Go more places. Make more money. Beat the others. They’re hurrying, so you better hurry faster. Create videos. Make AI videos of yourself. Write more books. Produce a film. You can do it! Go, go.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Ay, to the devil.
Being here on the island helps me remind myself what matters. Good things take time. When our roads are worked on, we might have to sit in the car and wait for 15 minutes to take the road we need – or drive 45 minutes round to go the long way. Cows and sheep wander across the roads as we drive along, as well as hedgehogs and rabbits and frogs and other creatures. Beautiful stags leap across the path or appear up on a hill. Ferries are cancelled or changed. Plans need to stay flexible. Power cuts can last days. The village shop is only open two hours on Sundays. Storms change everything.
It’s the antithesis to hurry: and it’s why I chose to live here. Because when I look at the natural world around me, the only ones who are hurrying are those escaping danger. Everyone and everything else is simply being, over and over, consistently, for good.
I need that reminder.
