Walking Barefoot During the AI Apocalypse
(Plus One Hundred More Humiliations)
Dear Permission-to-be-Powerful reader,
For two years, I’ve lived what other professions are only beginning to understand.
I’m broke.
And my way of life…
That I depended on for 15 years…
Is gone forever.
I was patient zero.
Millions more will follow.
And yes — AI made me obsolete.
You want to know what’s going to happen?
Then pay close attention…
Because I’ve already seen your horrible fate.
I survived it.
Barely.
Will you?
You think AI won’t replace you…
You’ll be fine.
You’re smart enough…
Loyal enough…
Indispensable enough…
It won’t wipe you out…
The rules don’t apply here.
This won’t hurt like a bite from Jaws.
You won’t see devastation worse than the Great Depression…
And yet, I’m from the future…
Yes — your sorry future...
I experienced the carnage first-hand…
And lived to tell about it.
I was there…
At the very beginning of…
⚡💀The AI Apocalypse💀⚡
I was standing on the Titanic…
The deck tilting like a seesaw…
People sliding into the frosty ocean.
Screams everywhere.
Water gushing everywhere.
I could see it as if I were there in the flesh.
And I thought what any sane person would think:
"Get me off this fucking ship."
Fast…
No more procrastination.
No more imposter syndrome.
No more wondering if I was good enough.
No more waiting for someone to anoint me.
I had to haul ass.
Or die.
To evolve…
Or go extinct.
But wait — is that really true, Tony?
Aren’t we exaggerating a wee bit?
I knew:
The transition might cost me everything.
Every last cent.
And then some…
Three maxed-out credit cards later…
I’m so behind on payments...
Collectors are ringing off the hook.
Was it worth it?
Here’s what I know:
I had been a copywriter for 15 years.
For some of the biggest names in the world.
I'd already spent years writing as New York Times bestsellers...
Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs...
As Tony Fucking Robbins.
And in all my years, I’d never seen anything like it…
ChatGPT showed up.
And not only did it change the game overnight…
Clients Couldn’t be Happier.
They’ve always had a love/hate relationship with copywriters.
Love the incredible results a good copywriter can produce.
Hate having to depend on some schmuck who just strolled in.
AND a truly great copywriter was a rare find.
Nine out of ten stink.
That’s why they dreamed of replacing us for years.
Then it happened.
Everybody’s scrambling…
Because the old freelancing model stopped working.
They expected me to slash my prices.
Compete with the machine.
Decades of experience down the drain.
I saw this sinking ship…
And I decided to do something that terrified me.
Something that I had tried and failed at repeatedly.
I swore off freelancing completely.
Cold Turkey…
I could have rebuilt my freelance career after Tony Robbins.
But into what?
One client destroying my income with one decision?
Years of hearing:
“Why should I hire you when AI can do it faster and cheaper?”
I could have kept digging my own grave…
Begging people to value my skill in a changing market…
All the way to the bitter end.
But I don’t believe in swimming upstream like that.
A Copywriter’s #1 Job is to See Where the Market is Going.
I saw it.
Clients had decided AI was good enough.
I did not want another Tony Robbins.
I did not want to spend my life asking powerful people for raises.
I needed my own ship.
That is how I ended up here.
What followed was a two-year nuclear winter.
One Humiliation After Another…
Tony Robbins fired me.
My old girlfriend robbed me.
My new girlfriend dumped me.
I burned through my savings.
I gave up my apartment to cut costs.
I ate from food banks to save money.
I joined a clinical trial for extra cash.
I moved into a Zen Center.
I became a janitor.
I cleaned toilets.
Washed dishes.
Mopped floors.
Worked in the hot sun.
And in the pouring rain.
Every dirty job imaginable.
Every job nobody else wanted to do.
At 3:30, I hung my hat up…
And I spent every spare minute building this publication.
Working 2 jobs 7 days per week.
BOTH without pay - like some lunatic.
I had spent 15 years becoming an expert copywriter.
Now I was scrubbing toilets.
It was humiliating.
I gave up my autonomy.
My privacy.
My identity as a dancer.
I missed every salsa congress.
I could not travel.
In fact…
I was on the verge of being deported.
Because apparently, I collect struggles professionally.
I worked seven days per week for more than a year.
Then, because my life had not reached its comedic potential, I became a fucking Buddhist monk.
Now I’m down to the cash in my wallet.
I destroyed my finances.
Meanwhile, the debts remain.
And through all of it, I blamed myself.
The thoughts swirling through my mind are not pretty.
How could I end up cleaning toilets with no money at 38?
After writing for the biggest self-help celebrity of all time?
AI made Persuasion Cheap.
It wasn’t A-list copy.
But close enough for the market to shift.
The ship was sinking.
Staying would have meant certain death.
Yet, Starting Over Cost Me Everything.
I built an audience I owned.
Infrastructure I controlled.
And a publication nobody could fire me from.
We’ll see what happens next.
Tony V.
Editor-in-Chief
Permission to be Powerful
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