🧠 Creativity crisis
Jim Hamilton
June 20, 2025
In partnership with
Happy Friday! This is the Freelance Gig, where we share news, tools, tips, and tricks to help grow your freelance business.
Mentioned in today’s email: ChatGPT, Amazon, Trump, TikTok, Sam Altman and Meta. Plus revenge of the Anonymous Alligator and the harsh truth about AI some freelancers won’t admit
Read time: 3 minutes and 27 seconds
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Because marketing shouldn’t feel like guesswork. And you shouldn’t have to dig for the good stuff.
Working With Clients
Revenge of the Anonymous Alligator
“CLIENT has left 36 comments inside your document.”
Seeing the above alert from Google Docs hit your inbox can sometimes lead to a panic attack.
Especially if it’s a new client.
There’s nothing worse than firing off a first draft, thinking you nailed it…
Only to see Anonymous Alligator appear and start tearing up your work (not to mention your ego) like a stray dog lost in the Everglades.
But the truth is…
Learning to receive feedback well is the mark of an elite freelancer.
Now you may not always agree with it…
(and you don’t have to!)
But you should always be prepared to adapt and iterate based on what the client has to say.
Here are a few examples of how to respond:
“Got it”
“I hear you”
“Totally understand”
“Let me address these comments and then circle back”
The goal is to take their feedback in stride without getting defensive.
Because, don’t forget…
Your job as a hired professional is to share your expert opinion, but ultimately, it’s the person signing the invoice who gets the final say.
Making the Rounds
Study shows ChatGPT’s creativity gap and why AI ideas all sound alike
Young graduates are facing an employment crisis
Amazon CEO says it will cut jobs due to AI’s ‘efficiency’
Trump to delay ban on TikTok again
Sam Altman says Meta tried and failed to poach OpenAI’s talent with $100M offers
Remote work has created an "infinite workday"
POLL: How often do you use AI tools? |
Working For Yourself
The Harsh Truth About AI Some Freelancers Won’t Admit
Let’s face it:
The topic of AI shows up a lot in the newsletter these days.
It’s quickly reshaping the entire freelance industry…
Bringing with it plenty of pros and cons.
Yet despite the flood of new tools and use cases for this transformative technology that have been unleashed since ChatGPT came out in 2022…
We know plenty of freelancers who still don’t engage much with AI.
Whether it’s because the learning curve is intimidating…
Or because they’re clinging to the notion that what they do can never be replaced.
Either way, we feel compelled to share a harsh truth:
Becoming AI literate is no longer optional if you want to build a successful freelance business in 2025 and beyond.
As today’s leading story reveals, AI agents will soon enter the workforce.
These aren’t just chatbots who can answer trivia questions…
These are autonomous agents who can pursue an objective without direct oversight from a human…
Which will fundamentally shift the calculation every business owner makes before hiring a freelancer.
In our view, it’s a classic case of:
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
Now, if you’ve already carved out a position for yourself in the market as a premium service provider…
You may be able to escape the AI revolution relatively unscathed.
But if you’re a newer freelancer…
The only way you’ll be able to compete is by integrating the plethora of AI tools out there into your workflows.
Whether it’s for ideation, planning, creation, productivity, or something else.
The game has changed…
And the gap is about to widen between those who’ve harnessed AI and those who have not.
Don’t get left behind.
AI Prompts For Freelancers
Prompt of the Week: The Polite Decline
This AI prompt is designed to help you politely turn down a freelance project that isn’t a good fit.
Here is the prompt:
Provide a script to politely decline a freelance project that isn’t a good fit, while leaving the door open for future collaboration. Keep the language casual and conversational.
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Tool of the Week
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Bonus Points
💼 Careers: How to say no at work (link)
💻 Tech: Six-month-old, solo-owned vibe coder Base44 sells to Wix for $80M cash (link)
🎧 Work Beats: Slo Rise vol.3 | Soulful Morning DJ Set by JLiu at Slo Coffee - This Moment (link)
What'd you think of today's edition? |