This is a podcast titled "The UNEXPECTED Gift That Saved My Business & Sanity" recorded in July 2024. It features Jim Carter III as the sole speaker sharing a personal and motivational monologue about his journey of starting a weekly AI newsletter, overcoming business and personal challenges, embracing grace, and celebrating his one-year milestone of consistent content creation. The episode focuses on themes of faith, perseverance, and the value of showing up consistently.
Welcome to the Prompt. I'm Jim Carter. This show guarantees tech news and updates that shape your life and future. Since it's essential now to stay on top of AI, we'll figure it out together so you don't fall behind. I'm here to explain it, offer some deep insights, and spark a little curiosity along the way. If you're a techie like me or just AI curious, hit that follow button for the advantage you deserve. Let's dive in. Hey there. Welcome back to the Prompt. I'm your host Jim Carter, and today I want to take a moment to celebrate something that's really important to me. It's been one year since I started my weekly AI newsletter. A little over a year ago, I shifted everything. At the time I was running a digital marketing agency and mastermind with my business partner. We were giving it everything we had and it still seemed to not be enough. To be honest, I was burning the candle at both ends, low on energy and and at a loss for creativity. Plus I had more financial stress than I'd wish on an enemy. I wasn't being the husband and father I needed to be, and overall just in a shit position. I got to the point where I knew something had to give. But let's be realistic. You can't always just commit to a full change of who you are and what you do overnight. But I remember the moment I made the decision. Can you relate to ever feeling that way? When I finally committed to the changes I knew I needed to implement in my life, one of the first things I did wasn't immediately to find more work or new things to do. Even even though it made logical sense, I gave myself something intangible. I gave myself grace. I'm going to go a bit religious for a moment, but stick with me because grace is an interesting word. We use it liberally in conversations like it's okay, give yourself grace. But it wasn't until I heard my pastor speak to it as a full Sunday service topic that I realized what it really meant to me. Basically the unmerited favor and love of God. He went on to explain the biblical definition that grace is a gift from God that is not earned or deserved. It is freely given out of his love and mercy. And as a Christian, we believe in the concept of salvation, however, not by merit, but by the grace of our faith. That was the mic drop moment when it all came together. For me, as someone who lived most of my life earning, pushing, iterating and needing to do the work, this was the clarity I needed to remember that it's okay to have grace and a pause and be at peace with quitting something that no longer served me. Not because I failed, but because I believe in what's next. So why am I telling you all of this? Well, I knew in order to test my faith in myself, I had to do something for me consistently and with joy. I decided to disconnect from all the follows data and metrics and focus on one thing at a time, making it fun and reminding myself I can do what I commit to On May 23, 2023, I sent the very first edition of this newsletter and committed to covering what I love every week without fail. It just so happens that the first newsletter topic was about what I happened to cover on my podcast in the same week, one year later, and serendipitously on a topic I've spent a decade and a half working on. Here we are, 52 editions later, and I've seen that promise to myself and to you through with excellence. It's interesting. When I look back, I think about the weeks I wrote the whole thing an hour before hitting send, the weeks I just wanted to act like no one, read it, and ignore it entirely. And weeks where I got tired of the format and reminded myself I could change it up and evolve no matter how I felt. I did it anyway. But you know what's most important to me? It's that every week of my life I'm delivering value with 50 to 60% open rates and still getting those of you who tell me you read this every week and love it. At the end of the day, I realize I just needed a bit of grace to refine the joy in the process. If you've made it this far with me, I'm so damn grateful for you. Together, we're celebrating a year of showing up for both of us. When I sat down to write this week's newsletter, I didn't think it would turn into this. But as entrepreneurs, we're always focused on that finish line and sometimes we forget to stop and celebrate the wins along the way. So here I am, celebrating the win. Thank you for being here. Whether this is newsletter one or fifty plus, I only ask of one thing today. If there's something I've covered you remember that added value to your life. Hit me up on Instagram oz hacker and let me know. Shoot me a DM and share it with me. Here's to issue 100 and beyond. As always, thanks for tuning in. Let's keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI and human connection one prompt at a time.
