I was manually scheduling every single video. It was an accident waiting to happen. I'd already figured out how to get AI to edit the show. So I asked myself: What else can I have AI do? Scheduling was next. I had Codex create a skill based on my feedback. Then I watched it add a thumbnail and paste the text into a LinkedIn post. The line breaks were missing. I asked it to fix the post and update the skill. It's still learning. But once I've reviewed a video and I'm happy with it, I can now say, “Schedule the video.” That means more time to be creative and think about strategy and what comes next. What's one task you'd hand off? Start your comment with “I'd hand off…” Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIWorkflows# #ContentCreation#

I was burning through tokens. And something more valuable: my time. Dan Sanchez showed me how to use ChatGPT Codex to edit Press Start. It could take a longer video, pick the storyline, and put the pieces together. I went from extreme stress to complete elation. Then I used up a lot of its tokens. And I had a thought: I'm already paying for Claude. May as well use that. What took Chat less than 10 minutes took Claude a lot longer. It did a pretty good job, but then it got caught up on the smallest things. Like accidentally cutting off words. And I was stubborn. I finally realized I could take what Claude had learned and bring it back into Chat. My time was worth more than I was giving it credit for. Has saving money ever cost you time? Finish this sentence in the comments: "I thought I was saving, but..." Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIVideoEditing# #SunkCostBias#

We emailed 1,500 customers asking for a video testimonial. My team hoped for 20. So I asked Jon how it performed. "Three testimonials. Two video testimonials." He said it's like pushing a boulder uphill. Jessica thinks people are just apprehensive about recording a video. And at this point we've emailed them pretty frequently. We had a goal of at least 10. We didn't reach it. So I made the call. We stop emailing our customers and asking for testimonials. An experiment that did not work out. The good news about experiments is we try, and if it doesn't work, we move on. Here's Plan B. Jon reminded me we already collected 30 to 40 really good video testimonials on site at Social Media Marketing World. Professionally shot. Good audio. My AI editor already edits this show. So I'm going to have it spin off a separate testimonial editor, train it, and hand the skill to my team. We start with three of the biggest names we have. While I'm trying to get 3,000 people to my conference, I'm still learning which ideas to kill. Would you have kept emailing? Reply "Yes" or tell me when you would have stopped 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #VideoTestimonials# #EmailMarketing#

MrBeast has a genius running his company. I have me. I was watching Shark Tank, and MrBeast was on there with his new CEO. The guy is an operational genius. And I thought, sure would be nice if I had an operator who was brilliant, running alongside me, keeping their eyes on the prize. Because I'm producing three shows while I'm trying to get 3,000 people to my conference. My team is working hard. But nobody is telling them when their focus might be off, because I'm generally not available. And here's the trap. I want to do all the work. So I asked my coach, Michael King: do I need someone alongside me? He said I'm the gas that keeps this thing moving. "But you're also the ceiling." Ouch. A really good operator costs a lot of money. Right now I don't have it. Then something clicked. I trained an AI skill to produce, edit and schedule these shows. When I tell it it made a mistake, it updates itself so it never happens again. If I can do that in a domain where I'm not an expert, who's to say I can't do it in a bigger one? My coach got there first: "I don't think that we need a human on this." I'm very intrigued. We'll see where this goes. Would you trust AI as your operator? Reply "Yes," or tell me why not 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIinBusiness# #FounderLife#

I flew my sales director to Dallas with a few hours' notice. No meetings booked. Just a hunch. I was at VidSummit, looking at all the big sponsors we've never been able to land for Social Media Marketing World. And I thought, if I want the big brands, and they're here, I may as well get Emily out here. So I called her. Less than 48 hours later we're sitting on a couch, freaking exhausted. I asked her how many sponsors she spoke to. "I probably spoke to all of them. Or at least 25 different companies." How does she do it? "I do a lot of research. I understand the industry. And I'm also very well connected." People pull up her LinkedIn and find they know 42 of the same people. Even I got a little door to open. I was kind to a couple of people at the Canon booth. When I came back, they recognized my face. Then I asked the real question. What's the likelihood we get at least one sponsor out of this? "Oh, definitely more than one sponsor." While I'm trying to get 3,000 people to my conference, I'm also chasing the sponsors we've never had. Do you think the trip was wise? Reply "Yes" or tell me what you'd have done instead 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #EventMarketing# #Sponsorship#

Last night she was home with her hairless cats. Today she walked through the doors at VidSummit. Here's what happened after that phone call. The night before, I called Emily, my director of sales, at 8:30 at night. "Pack your bags, my friend. I think you're coming to Dallas." Her version: "I was sitting in my chair with my hairless cats in my lap when my boss texted me and said, hey, do you want to come to VidSummit?" "And he said, I have this crazy idea. Get on a plane." She got on the plane. Then I sat down with my buddy Cliff Ravenscraft and asked for his honest opinion on this series. "I love the authenticity. I love the transparency. I love the vulnerability. It's something about just checking in, seeing somebody who's working towards a goal and being open about the process." We don't know where this show is gonna go. But we're on a road, and hopefully it leads to 3,000 people at our conference. Emily worked the conference. Hopefully we'll get some great sponsorships out of it. Here's to spontaneous adventures. Then at dinner a crazy idea came up: what if we sewed a bunch of these Road to 3,000 episodes together into one longer video? Is that even worth doing? Reply "Yes" or "No" and tell me why 👇 The weekly number is at the end. Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #VidSummit#

I flew to someone else's conference to learn. By the end of the first night I was on the phone telling my sales director to get on a plane. Here's what happened. I'm at VidSummit, my friend Derral Eves' event, sitting in my hotel room asking myself, why am I here? The honest answer: I have room to grow. Better hooks. Better stories. Creating content on the fly. Then I noticed what they have that I don't. TikTok. YouTube. Meta. All sponsoring. Old Navy had a line of people waiting for a free jacket they could get customized on the spot. I would love to have those companies at Social Media Marketing World. For whatever reason, we just haven't been able to get them. So at 8:30 at night I called Emily, my director of sales, in California. "If you're up for a little adventure..." "Of course. I'm always up for an adventure." "Pack your bags, my friend. I think you're coming to Dallas." Her answer: "I was just telling my husband I'm going to meet my neighbor tomorrow night. I don't think I'm meeting my neighbor tomorrow night." If I want the big brands, and they're all here, I may as well get my sales director here too. Would you make that kind of impulse move? Reply "Yes" or tell me why I'm crazy 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #EventMarketing# #Sponsorship#

"Are you positive these referral tools can't track a sale?" I asked Jon that twice. Here's why. We want a referral leaderboard to help get Social Media Marketing World to 3,000 people. Jon ran deep research with Claude and Gemini, plus a playbook Rob Ainbinder sent me on Messenger. It came back as two options. Option A: reward sign-ups. Somebody shares an invite, a friend enters a free contest, one point. That's what the leaderboard tools do. Option B: reward ticket sales. Somebody shares an invite, a friend actually buys a ticket. That's what we've always done. Jon: "You get a point per referral. It doesn't matter whether the person signs up or not." Jessica: "Some of those platforms feel sketchy and spammy. It feels a little off from our branding." Jon's hybrid fix: at checkout we ask one question. "Who's your Player 1?" Then we know who referred them. Jessica thinks that's the best option on the table. But I'm not ready to give up on the tools. If one of them can drop a piece of code on our site and count an actual purchase, everything gets simpler. Jon's honest answer: "I'm not positive." So that's his assignment. Rule it out, fast. Because the one thing we all agree on: it's got to be easy, or nobody will use it. If you ran this leaderboard, would you reward sign-ups or ticket sales? Reply with one word: sign-ups or sales. 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #ReferralMarketing# #EventMarketing#

My AI video editor can't hear. So how was it supposed to pick music for my show? Talking heads can be a little boring. I knew the right music could add the emotional connection to what's happening in the story. But finding music, making it work, ducking it down every time someone speaks? Really, really complicated. It's why a lot of creators don't do it. So I asked Claude to go do the research. We ended up at PremiumBeat. Then I hit the problem. Claude can look at screenshots. It can't listen. So I got a creative idea. I had it pull up Gemini, which can hear, and ask Gemini to listen to its choices. They worked hand in glove and came back with a really nice set of sounds. Then I directed it. "I want music here. I want music there." Before I knew it, it came up with something absolutely crazy. My editor is getting exceptionally skilled. And it needs a name. What should I call my AI video editor? Drop your best name in the comments 👇 If I choose yours, I'll call you out in a future episode. Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIinMarketing# #VideoEditing# #ContentCreation#

"I don't think it's enough for us to get to 3,000 alone." That's what Jessica told me about our new invite. We built it so the people already coming to Social Media Marketing World can invite their Player 2. It's fun. People will use it. But Jon said the next part is the incentive. Something you can't buy. You only get it if you refer somebody. And that's where it got hard. Jessica: "The hardest part is tracking who referred who. What if somebody already bought a ticket that their friend referred?" I told the team whatever we do has to be simple. Jon had an answer: "We have our referral affiliate program. We can track it through the affiliate referral." But Chad Petersen's idea was to reward people with things, not money. Jon agreed: "We have a system in place that has the infrastructure to track everything, but we're using it for something else." My instinct says the tools are out there. So Jon's running deep research with Claude and Gemini to find a way to track it. If you've ever run a referral program, you know the reward is the easy part. How would you track who invited who? Start your comment with "I'd..." 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #EventMarketing# #ReferralMarketing#