Dear Techies,
Last Sunday we ran the first ever Build with AI workshop.
And here's something I want to be honest about. Most of the people who signed up had no idea what they were walking into.
Some had been following the brand for months. Some had only just found us. Some had never used an AI tool beyond a casual ChatGPT conversation. A few had tried building things on their own and got stuck somewhere along the way.
What nearly all of them had in common was a version of the same feeling: I know AI is important, I know I should be doing more with it, but I don't really know where to start.
That's not a knowledge problem. That's a guidance problem. And it takes something very different to solve.
What changed when someone showed them the way
Here's what I noticed during the session.
The people who came in feeling unsure didn't stay unsure for long. Not because I dumbed anything down, but because when someone who's already been through the process walks you through it step by step, the thing that felt overwhelming fifteen minutes ago starts to feel manageable.
That's the difference between watching a tutorial and being in the room with someone who can say "yes, that's the right instinct" or "try it this way instead" at the exact moment you need to hear it.
Most people don't need more information about AI. There's no shortage of that. What they need is someone to sit beside them and say: start here. Do this. Now try that. Good. Keep going.
That's what the workshop was. And it's why people who walked in nervous were building things by the halfway point.
What preparing to teach forced me to figure out
Here's the part I haven't shared anywhere else.
Getting ready for this workshop changed how I think about my own content.
When you make a video or write a newsletter, you're talking to an audience you can imagine but can't see. You make assumptions about what they know, what they need, and where they'll get stuck. Sometimes you're right. Sometimes you're not. You rarely find out either way.
A live workshop doesn't let you hide behind assumptions.
I had to ask myself hard questions. What does someone with zero experience actually need to hear first? What about someone who's already tried a few tools but hit a wall? How do I structure a session so that both of those people walk away feeling like it was built for them?
That forced a kind of clarity I wasn't expecting. I had to strip everything back to what actually matters, organise it so each step builds naturally on the one before, and make sure nobody got left behind regardless of where they started.
The result was a structure that meets people where they are. Not one pace for everyone. Not a beginner track and an advanced track. One experience, designed so that each layer adds to what came before. If you already knew the basics, you got depth. If you were starting from scratch, you got a foundation that made the depth accessible.
That was harder to design than I expected. And it made the whole thing significantly better than if I'd just taught what I know without thinking carefully about who was in the room.
What people are saying
One review that came in after the session summed it up better than I could:
"You patiently taught the steps and made it easy for any novice to catch on super fast." — U.O.
That's exactly where I hoped this workshop would land. Not "I learned about AI." But "I caught on." That's doing, not just learning. And that's the difference guidance makes.
What this confirmed for me
There are a lot of smart, capable people out there who have been circling AI for months. Reading about it. Watching videos about it. Meaning to get started properly.
What's stopping most of them isn't ability. It's not having someone to walk alongside them through those first steps.
That's the gap this workshop fills. And based on what happened last Sunday, it fills it well.
Three things to do this week
Watch this week's video. It's a short companion piece to this newsletter, covering the workshop and why staying curious in this space matters more than knowing everything.
If you've been circling AI without diving in, pick one small thing this week. One prompt. One tool. One experiment. Starting is the hard part. Everything after that gets easier.
Want first access to the next workshop? Stay on this newsletter. You'll hear about it here before anywhere else.
Before you go
If you know someone who keeps saying they'll get around to learning AI but hasn't started yet, forward this to them. Sometimes what's holding someone back isn't motivation. It's just not having someone to show them the way.
Until next week,
Ijeoma | Tech Savvy Starts Here
P.S. Preparing this workshop taught me more about how to teach AI than a year of making content did. More workshops are coming. And each one will be better than the last.
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🧠 Keep learning. | 💬 Keep questioning. | 💥 Keep growing.
