[#25] The Return to Real in a Post-AI World with Ryan Levesque

Last week, my friend Lauren texted me about a book online that looked exactly like mine. Same orange cover. Same font. Same little black sticker. Different name on the spine. Turns out "Dave Stone" has been pumping out AI-generated knockoffs by the dozen. I should have been furious. I wasn't. I was tired. In this issue of the Mike Kim Letter, I unpack what I'm calling visibility fatigue — the exhaustion of trying to be everywhere, all the time, all at once, while AI bots run circles around you on the same treadmill. We'll get into: Why the volume game is unwinnable (and why even YouTube and Amazon are losing it)  What the rise of AI knockoffs is actually telling us about trust, substance, and personal brand  The Shohei Ohtani question: are you trying to be a five-tool player when the lineup needs you in one specific spot? Why I wrote this issue with pencil and paper — and why it turned out infinitely better The one question to ask yourself this week: Where does your voice actually come alive? This is part 2 of a 3-part series on the forces reshaping what it means to build trust, credibility, and a body of work in the AI era. Read part 1, The Tabloidization of the Internet. Part 3, The Great Letting Go, drops next week. Get the Mike Kim Letter every Tuesday: https://mikekim.com/newsletter Take the Idea-to-IP Assessment (free): https://start.mikekim.com/assessment 📙 My WSJ bestseller, You Are the Brand CONNECT WITH ME Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikekim LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mikekimtv TikTok: https://tiktok.com/mikekimtv X: https://twitter.com/mikekimtv Facebook: https://facebook.com/mikekimtv

Watch on YouTube » In this episode, I discuss "The Tabloidification of the Internet"... my observations on mass media and how click-bait headlines influence public perception. This discussion encourages critical thinking and media literacy in a digital media landscape. 1:46 - Social media is the new supermarket tabloid 2:58 - How Buzzfeed and Upworthy created click-bait 5:18 - Not all views should count the same 7:15 - Click vs. Relationship 8:49 - A small action item to try this week Subscribe to the Mike Kim Letter: http://mikekim.com/newsletter 📙 My WSJ bestseller, You Are the Brand: https://amzn.to/40Ntc2O CONNECT WITH ME Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikekim LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mikekimtv TikTok: https://tiktok.com/mikekimtv X: https://twitter.com/mikekimtv Facebook: https://facebook.com/mikekimtv

(Watch on YouTube or read on my site ») I've been going on something called an "Artist Date": a solo outing, once a week with your "Inner Artist," to something that feeds you creatively. The idea comes from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, a book that's been sitting on my shelf for a year. I finally decided to go through with it. A few links I mentioned, all in one place: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (get the hard copy) » Blackwing video by The Wall St. Journal (great storytelling) » Blackwing's site (you can't get these on Amazon) » Doug's Comic, Wait it Gets Worse » Lauren's site, laurendaviscreative.com » Rich Relationships: Create a Million-Dollar Network for Your Business by Selena Soo »

Recently, I presented at SXSW called You Are Still the Brand: What AI Can't Do For You alongside author, Ryan Levesque. Preparing together gave me a rare look at how someone I respect does their work, and it made me rethink a few things about my own process.  Here's what I learned about preparation, deep work, and why there's a huge jump between $1,500 Hamilton tickets vs. $15 improv tickets. If you're interested in hearing about an upcoming training I'm planning to offer around writing and marketing your book, get on my waitlist below.  mikekim.com/writeyourbook CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook  

AI isn't killing books. The numbers say otherwise, and the opportunity for authors has never been bigger. In this conversation, Mike Kim (Wall St. Journal and USA Today bestselling author) and JJ Virgin (4x NYT bestselling author) talk about what actually happens to books in an AI world: who survives, who doesn't, and why your personal brand matters more now than ever. They also get into AI clones, institutional knowledge, and why JJ literally has a digital version of herself running 24/7. If you're an author, aspiring author, or thought leader trying to figure out where books fit in your business, this one's for you. CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook  

Ryan Levesque built a SaaS company, had a life-changing exit offer fall apart at the 11th hour, and then realized something that shook him:  he'd started hating his business, and as a result, he'd started hating himself. What followed was a radical reorientation: making a public confession to his audience that none of his emails over the past seven years had actually been written by him, moving to a Vermont farm, and writing every word of his newsletter without AI.  This is a conversation about what it costs to take your voice back and why the unscalable things are the only real moat left in a post AI world. RESOURCES: Ryan's newsletter » CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook  

Your emails, posts, and captions sound generic because you shut off your real voice the moment you think you're supposed to sound impressive. You don't have a writing problem. You have a voice problem. I've spent over a decade as a brand strategist working with NYT bestselling authors and thought leaders, and I've found that nearly everyone falls into one of five voice types. This post may help you figure out which one is yours, and show you how to adapt it to any platform or situation. CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » No business strategy will solve a nervous system problem. In this episode, I break down Charlie Munger's inversion principle, a powerful identity framework from mental performance coach Lauren Johnson, and why the most successful people I've worked with are always the most teachable. This is the inner game, and it matters more than any tactic. CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook    

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » Your inner voice powers everything: what you say, write, and how you show up. But most people try to force it louder instead of turning down the noise. In this episode, I cover how tracking behaviors, sorting ideas vs. notes, and building a simple capture system protects your original thinking and ensures you don't default to being a copy of a copy or a copy. CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook

Take the Idea-to-IP assessment here » Most people think voice is just what you say or write. But there's a third voice that matters more than both: the voice of presence—what you emanate when people are around you. In this video, I unpack why developing all three voices is what creates real opportunity. CONNECT WITH ME Newsletter Instagram TikTok X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook