The Real Deal Digest Issue No. 34

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

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Us Rochester folk may not have any major league baseball, pro football or premium hockey teams playing inside our city, but boy do I love going to Rochester Red Wings games over the summer. (That's our Triple A baseball team.)

Well, at least *I* used to love going to the Rochester Red Wings games. That all changed yesterday.
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YESTERDAY I LOST IT, Reader!

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I don't know if they got a new music director or what, but I don't remember being SO annoyed at the music selections they played after

every.

single.

pitch.

Not only was the music blasting and I was unable to talk to my dad at a reasonable level, but the the music sucked, ok?

And don't get me wrong... you know I love a good tune from the 90s or early 2000s. That's my era!

But when you're playing Britney Spears' Toxic after Ball 2 or Yo Diggety after Strike 3?

There's a time and a place for those songs. And a baseball game is NOT it.

I wanna hear:

" 🎵 Dun-na-na NA nuh naaaaa... 🎵 CHAAARGE!"

and...

🎵 "Let's Go Red Wings Let's Go!" 🎵 *clap clap*

and shit like The Adaams Family and Sweet Caroline and YMCA and stuff.

NOT Wonderwall by Oasis. Or that Savage song that went viral on Tik Tok during Covid.

In this week's edition of The Real Deal Digest:

✉️ A podcaster whose choices I questioned (but also didn't because... well, you'll see why)
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✉️ That time when I caught myself being a hypocrite about AI-written content
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✉️ Hating my own podcast episode so much that I scrapped it (and what I did instead)

So ANYWAY. Back to the ball game.

In addition to the poor song selections, the volume of this music was driving me bananas. I just wanted to have a conversation with the people around me. Heck, that's why I go to baseball games. To socialize. Not to watch the game. Duh. 🙄

I pointed out these terrible music choices + the obnoxious noise level to my parents and partner, and then started to ruin the experience of everyone else sitting nearby and asking them if they noticed it, too.

Yep, that's right. I pointed out the frequency and volume of the poor music choices, which meant...

They all could not NOT hear it. And then they grew irritable toward the music, too.

Oops. 😬

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This has happened to me and — I assume — to YOU... when it comes to "AI Tells."

You know the ones:
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​"You're not broken. You're just __________."
"It's not that you're ______. Or _______. Or _________. You simply haven't _______."

Once it was pointed out to you, you couldn't unsee it. And now every time you notice the pattern, you might think:

🤔 "Hmmm... looks like they used AI."

Now, real talk 👉 These "AI Tells" used to be how us copywriters used to write, pre-AI. 🤷‍♀️ So honestly, I don't *always* think it's an "AI tell" unless it's scattered everywhere in someone's sales copy.

(I also am starting to wonder if we should even care if people use AI or not — but more on that in a second.)

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Where I did NOT expect to notice these "AI tells" was while listening to a podcast episode this morning.

The title of the episode sounded like a good one — something about how to attract premium clients with your messaging.

The intro was scripted, which is to be expected. Most podcast intros are. But when I started to listen to the beginning of the episode, I noticed those, um, "AI tells".

So even though I was gleaning some wonderful takeaways and had a few "ah-ha!" moments, the brand voice strategist and copywriter in me couldn't help but wonder if this is how she normally talks, if this is her cadence...

Or if this was AI-written.

And THEN I asked myself...

Should it even matter?

Like, I know all these ideas are hers. I know this successful businesswoman knows what she's talking about.

But then why did I find it distracting?

And did I actually find it bothersome, or is it just because I'm a copywriter that has been playing with ChatGPT since the first week it came out in November of 2022 and I'm just an obnoxious prick about it at this point, even though I try not to be because I know everyone is just doing their best and whatever, it's not something I need to concern myself with?
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Now, as life does, these thoughts & wonderings had me feeling like a hypocrite. 😬 And THAT's because...

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​Two hours earlier, I had defended a Threads user who (allegedly) had used AI to share 40 fresh date ideas for couples who want to reconnect.

She was getting ripped a new one in the replies, and for whatever reason, I felt compelled to spend approximately 30 precious seconds of my morning to craft this comment on her Thread:
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So why did I not care about this listicle of 40 date ideas, but felt judgment creep up while listening to the podcast episode about messaging?

I think I have the answer, but feel free to share with me your own opinion after you hear me out:

Regarding the Threads post — I certainly wasn't thinking about brainstorming fresh date ideas for Jeremy and I, but someone else decided to... so great! I happily scrolled through those ideas, and mentally banked a few of them to bring up with J later. Who CARES if they used AI?

But why was I feeling a certain way about the messaging strategist-podcaster who (allegedly!) read from an AI-written script for her episode about messaging?
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I think it's because she stripped her own voice from the process.

There were no asides. No showcase of her personality. It was straight to the point. Just facts.

And while everything she said was... correct... it was also, um...

Boring. 🤷‍♀️

Now, here's a fun behind-the-scenes fact:
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I tried using AI to script my own podcast episode about bartering, and I hated how it turned out — so I re-recorded the entire episode before hitting publish, and it turned into a podcast about podcasting. (Meta, I know.)
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​You can listen to it here.​

It's not polished. It's unscripted. I ramble a bit, and some might even call it borderline "unhinged," but ya know what? I'm putting in the reps. And I'm being myself! The data has shown that whenever I'm fully myself (rants and all), I attract more people who want to pay me for my expertise.

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Maybe that's why my gut told me to re-record the episode after I tried an AI-written script. And maybe that's why I get a bit prickly (and bummed out) when I notice people hiding their personality underneath generic phrases & words. 🤷‍♀️

All I *do* know is that this entrepreneur/business ownership is a heck of a journey. And I'm grateful you're willing to experience it with me, rambles and all. ❤️

Keep keepin' it real,

Rachael

P.S. Have you been wondering if your voice sounds too much like AI? Or have you completely lost touch with what you sound like or what you stand for? If so, I have two offers that help you put the spunk and spark back into your voice (and business):
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​The Brand Voice Finder Session → Your voice is yours. Let's extract what makes it unique and figure out how to use it to attract your dream clients.

The Hot Take Talk Sesh → Map out your point of view and get clarity on your positioning & messaging — so your perfect-fit clients start saying yes to you. 💫

If you're ready to feel passionate about your business again, hit "Reply" and let me know — A, B, or C? 👇

A) Your online presence feels bland and you have a secret fear that people think you're using AI (whether you are or not!) so you've noticed that your confidence is slowly fading, which is hurting your bank account.​
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B) You're struggling to find things to talk about or you've pivoted and you're too far in your damn head — so you're hiding, which is costing you clients.
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C) All of the above, Rach!

Okay, I'm done for real now. Bye!

👇 Grab a Clarity Session w/ Me ​1 hour. $97. ​ "After just 1 session, everything clicked!"​

👩‍💻 Get the Strategic Copy Coach GPT ​Find where you're losing sales / talk to a GPT Version of me for a fraction of the price 😋 →​

🫂 Do What You Want! Community ​Get support to do what you ACTUALLY want to do. ​ Free to join →​

Rachael Johnson is a copywriter and creative strategist who started Rachael Johnson Creative LLC when she realized there was something more waiting for her outside of her music classroom. Even though the kiddos were cute and her teaching was impactful, it was time to help the adults find their voice just like she helped thousands of students. Now, she specializes in helping purpose-driven service providers show up with confidence and embrace their voice so they can inspire others with their work (and make more money too, obviously). She also specializes in writing for herself in the third voice because who are we kidding, this is Rachael typing this.

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