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William Smith Profile
The Man in Yellow Sunglasses

William Smith

I'm a content creator, brand storyteller, and early AI adopter.

Latest drop: Chat, Cowork, Code, and Dispatch — How I Actually Use the Whole Suite
Now exploring: My Week with Claude Cowork
Free guide: How to Teach AI to Write in Your Voice

WRITING

The AI You Never Have to Open

The AI You Never Have to Open

Anthropic is testing an always-on agent called Conway — and it points at a version of AI that's fundamentally different from the tab you open and close.

The Loneliness of Building Before Anyone Is Watching

The Loneliness of Building Before Anyone Is Watching

An honest look at what it feels like to build something before anyone's paying attention — the self-doubt, the friends who quietly disappear, and why that first person who raises their hand changes everything.

My Week with Claude Cowork

My Week with Claude Cowork

In one weekend, I went from manually managing everything to running a system of AI agents handling growth, content, and operations. Here’s how I built it—and where it falls apart.

How to Stop Abandoning Your Ideas

How to Stop Abandoning Your Ideas

Most creatives don't fail because of bad ideas; they fail because their brains move on before the work takes hold. Learn how to use AI to build an "Attention Floor" that keeps your projects alive while you explore your next hyper-fixation.

The Violent Death of SaaS

The Violent Death of SaaS

If you are a SaaS founder sitting on a generic "workflow optimizer" or a basic CRM, you should be very, very nervous.

When to use Nano Banana Pro 2 vs. Nano Banana Pro

When to use Nano Banana Pro 2 vs. Nano Banana Pro

Here's something I didn't realize until I experimented with the new Nano Banana 2. It's not the best for all situations. Sometimes, Nano Banana Pro did a better job. I wanted to know why, so I dig a little deeper.

A Website Recipe for Creatives Who Hate Promotion

A Website Recipe for Creatives Who Hate Promotion

I hate self-promotion. But in 2026, owning your room is the only way to beat the algorithms. Here’s the AI recipe I used to stand up this site without code—built for creatives who just want to do the work, not broadcast it.

The Trade-Offs of Autonomy: Closing the Freelance Chapter

The Trade-Offs of Autonomy: Closing the Freelance Chapter

The biggest lie about freelancing is that it gives you freedom to create; mostly, it gives you administrative overhead. This piece explores the exhaustion of the freelance chapter and how AI is finally acting as the bridge to get our ideas out into the world.

Creatives Say: Noun vs. Verb—Is Art the Process or the Outcome?

Creatives Say: Noun vs. Verb—Is Art the Process or the Outcome?

The loudest debate in creative circles isn't about AI stealing jobs—it's whether art is defined by the final outcome or the struggle to make it. We unpack a fiery community debate to expose why demanding "sacrifice" and "process" is often just a disguise for gatekeeping.

Toxic @Threads: You'll Never Be On My Level

Toxic @Threads: You'll Never Be On My Level

The fear around AI isn’t really about quality. It’s about authority. This post examines how “experience” gets weaponized, why gatekeeping thrives during transitions, and how real craft survives new tools just fine.

When Autonomy Changes What You Choose to Make

When Autonomy Changes What You Choose to Make

The true cost of ideas isn't money, but the cognitive load of execution. This post explores how AI restores creative autonomy, allowing you to test concepts without permission and shifting your role from solitary operator to director.

Cost, Value, and the Reality of AI Subscriptions

Cost, Value, and the Reality of AI Subscriptions

We hesitate at AI costs while spending thousands on gear to signal seriousness. This post reframes subscriptions as flexible utilities, exploring how this mindset shift buys you autonomy and speed long before it generates immediate revenue.

Letting Go of Old Tools (Without Letting Go of Yourself)

Letting Go of Old Tools (Without Letting Go of Yourself)

Letting go of old tools isn’t just a financial decision. For many creatives, it’s an identity shift. This article explores what happens when gear meant to prove seriousness starts to feel like a constraint, and how AI workflows can reshape how you think about craft, ownership, and creative freedom.

The Moment I Realized Gear Wasn’t the Constraint Anymore

The Moment I Realized Gear Wasn’t the Constraint Anymore

An AI creative workflow is a way of working where ideas are explored, tested, and shaped before heavy production begins. This post explains how that shift removes logistical constraints and lets imagination move into execution faster, without replacing creative judgment.

The Work Inside The Visual Dome

The Work Inside The Visual Dome

When The Visual Dome showed up in my Instagram feed, it felt like one of those accounts that was just suddenly there, as a fully formed idea.

Less Artwork. More Assets.

Less Artwork. More Assets.

Commercial creative work still deserves care. But it’s often built to move, scale, and be replaced. This piece explores how understanding that context changes how we think about craft, burnout, and AI.

The First 100 Posts

The First 100 Posts

Once he accepted that ideation matters, he started questioning how it might fit into his work.

Why Does Vince Gilligan Hate AI?

Why Does Vince Gilligan Hate AI?

Ultimately why Vince hates AI really is irrelevant. The biggest question I care about is which new creatives will step forward to carry the pro-AI mantle?

Portfolio or Personal Brand?

Portfolio or Personal Brand?

If I were starting my creative career today, the first thing I’d do is to go all in on building my personal brand.

Meet ChatGPT Atlas

Meet ChatGPT Atlas

When your browser can write, research, and post for you, “going online” starts to mean something new.

Sound Isn't Song

Sound Isn't Song

AI music can fill the silence—but not the feeling. But we're in the early days.

AI Broke Rick Beato's Brain

AI Broke Rick Beato's Brain

In a recent video, Rick Beato revealed something less flattering—not about AI, but about how humans use their authority when they feel it slipping.

Directing Sora

Directing Sora

It wasn’t just about describing a scene; it was about orchestrating one.

The Slop About Slop

The Slop About Slop

Scroll long enough, and you start to feel like you’re watching a single mind rehearse its lines in a thousand different bodies.

First Hours With Sora 2

First Hours With Sora 2

In my first hours, I’ve found brilliance in Cameo’s character consistency, frustration in its limits, and the sense that we’re only just scratching the surface of what prompted video can become.

OpenAI Announces Sora 2

OpenAI Announces Sora 2

When OpenAI announced Sora 2, I didn’t immediately jump for joy. I’ve learned to temper expectations.

AI at NYFW

AI at NYFW

This season’s New York Fashion Week didn’t just showcase clothes. It showcased a future.

Is Prompting Holding You Back?

Is Prompting Holding You Back?

Discover why your AI tools aren't delivering the creative results you want and learn the CRAFT framework that transforms frustrating prompts into precision-engineered creative instructions.

iPhone 17 Pro: The choice for AI creators?

iPhone 17 Pro: The choice for AI creators?

The iPhone 17 Pro has revolutionized creativity with AI capabilities, offering unprecedented privacy and performance for creatives. Let's dive into what this means for our workflows and the future of storytelling.

Behind the Prompt Playbook

Behind the Prompt Playbook

I didn’t set out to make a digital product. I just had a deck — forty-two slides of “AI basics” that I’d put together for the Western Hardwood Association.

ABOUT

I’m a brand storyteller. I’ve spent my career learning how to build brands from the ground up, then getting my hands dirty actually making the things—the videos, the photos, and the design assets—that make those brands work.

I help people communicate their complex ideas in a way that’s relatable and understandable, handling the technical side so you can focus on running your business.

Any Industry, Any Challenge

Whether I’m working on a complex technical project, a physical space, or a person’s life story, I’m always up for a challenge. My goal is to find the interesting parts of what you do and turn them into something people actually want to engage with.

I specialize in:

  • Finding the Story: Taking a complex idea or a dry set of facts and turning them into a narrative that feels human and approachable.
  • Making it Happen: Handling the actual production—from camera setups to design workflows—so that high-quality content becomes a regular habit for your brand, not a one-off event.
  • Getting Found: Making sure the work is built correctly for how people actually use the internet today. I ensure your brand shows up where your audience is already looking.

PROJECTS

The Geode

Positioning a SE Portland creative hub as a premier destination through cinematic storytelling, strategic property promotion, and active leasing coordination.

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Art at The Geode Fine Art Gallery

Helping a master sculptor with a 40-year legacy in bronze pivot his brand to popularize a new, space-inspired era of epoxy resin fine art.

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The Daring Creatives

I am the founder of The Daring Creatives, an ecosystem where I demonstrate how multimodal creatives—from designers to storytellers—can leverage AI to regain autonomy and amplify their human voice.

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Bourbon Lore

I helped Bourbon Lore translate luxury live events into cinematic digital stories, acting as an embedded strategist to capture the raw, behind-the-scenes moments that define the brand’s craft and community.

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Noctel Fiber

I helped Noctel Fiber build 'Fiber to the Forgotten,' a brand advocacy campaign that clarified their story and successfully positioned their rural network as a mission-driven alternative to big telecom.

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Lincoln Design Co.

Source: Lincoln Design Co. Icon Poster v2 (Mama's Sauce)

Produced the first 50 episodes of "The Chop Up" for Lincoln Design Co. Elevated raw agency energy into a pro YouTube series by blending cinematic production with a run-and-gun style.

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Cardone Ventures

Ground-floor access to a startup that became a $11M/year e-learning platform. Built the content engine — live shows, podcasts, YouTube, studio management — while documenting three founders creating an empire in real time.

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CONTACT

Interested in working together or just want to say hello?

Send me an email

I typically respond in a few hours.

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