When I think about my creative and intellectual intelligence, I’m quite impressed. When it comes to money and business acumen, though, I’m a toddler.
Toward the end of 2024, my former employer gave me two options: return to New York and work from home, or resign and live where I want. I took this issue to AI. I explained my conundrum and shared that I had considered starting my own business, but not once did AI ask if I had a backup plan.
If I’d had a more mature thought process back then, I would have asked myself whether I had a backup plan. When a former colleague suggested one, I snapped at her. I took her suggestion to mean I wasn’t good enough to do this on my own. We haven’t spoken since.
In April 2025, I left my employer and built The Plot Department, mostly with AI and with incredible help from my business coach. The Plot Department went through several versions of fiction-based branding: SaaS, HR, a combination of the two, and finally pet companies.
With an endless supply of resources, could they have worked? Who knows. All I know is that AI kept reassuring me, the whole time I was building the business, that clients would come. It never said when, but it came close to swearing the money would come.
Almost a month ago, I closed the business, and now I’m searching for work. It was one of the most heart-wrenching decisions I’ve ever had to make.
After some soul-searching, I realized that game writing could be an incredible career for me. I have a background in filmmaking, video editing, scriptwriting, and fiction writing. Recently, I’ve become quite the aficionado of epic fantasy fiction.
Breaking into game writing is grueling. It requires knowing people and understanding how the different departments work with one another.
Do I feel that I can get there? Yes.
The problem is, although I have many game writing contacts on LinkedIn, I don’t know any of them deeply. Sure, I could network with them, but I don’t want to come off as opportunistic. As a socially awkward person, I fear I might say the wrong thing and wreck my chances of going anywhere.
While I work through this barrier, I’ve been sweating bullets trying to find a bridge job, something that uses all my skills. Where have I gone for help? AI.
Multiple AI models combed through my resume, and not one of them came up with a single solid remote job that was low-bar, paid decently, and that I could do. They’d recommend something like instructional design, yet every position required a certain number of years doing that work. Another suggestion was documentation specialist. Same issue.
Now I’m more confused than ever. I’m more than willing to work. I’m excited to work. Yet I have no clear path to employment.
When it comes to career or business activities, I’m going back to people, even though my corner feels obsolete. I’ll only use AI to lightly edit my work, plus a product image here and there.
AI as my life raft? I’d have a better chance of survival drinking Windex than relying on that crap.
