Heather Murray

AI For Non-Techies | nontechies.ai

I believe AI should be accessible to everyone. 
So I built a business that teaches it in a simple, honest way. 

AI for Non-Techies (does what it says on the tin, really) offers: 

- AI training for teams (in-person or online)
- AI Academy for small businesses/freelancers 
- "Train the AI Trainer" courses 

Have a little look at what we do: https://nontechies.ai/

Oh, and a bit about me: 

- $75m revenue generated for clients using AI
- Working with brands such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Google, Salesforce and many others 
- AI Consultant to UK government + local authorities
- Top 5 MarTech influencer globally
- On the ISO panel for AI and cyber security globally
- Winner: AI Trailblazer at the AI Revenue Summit 2024
- Winner: Top Women in SaaS 2024
- Featured regularly in Forbes Magazine
- International keynote speaker
- 20 years in marketing and sales (legal + finance)

I'm a humungous believer in doing your bit for your local community. I run Festive Friends, which provides free social events for older people who have no friends or family.  I believe AI has huge potential to reduce digital exclusion, too. 

To book training, speaking or a chat, contact my EA, Katie, who you can access via my email: heather@nontechies.ai.

Founder

AI for Non-Techies, born from a newsletter of the same name, was launched out of a clear need for non-technical AI education.   I'm deeply passionate and enthusiastic about helping non-technical people understand and integrate AI into their work and personal lives.

From £25/mo to £0/mo
Why I'm making our AI Academy free: 


As you may or may not know, at AI for Non-Techies we do 3 things: 

1. We devise and deliver AI training
2. We train new AI trainers 
3. We have an AI Academy for individuals

Now...that last one has always been a bit of a passion project for me rather than a revenue generator (between me and thee, it made about 5-7% of our income). 

I packed as much value as I possibly could into our Academy: twice-weekly lives, library of classes, interactive courses, ready-made Custom GPTs, prompt library, loads. 

All for £25 per month - when most others charge at least £95 per month (for a lot less stuff). 

Bang for yer buck wise - I was very proud

BUT

£25 per month is still a barrier for many - especially the exact people we want to help: those tentatively dipping their toes into AI (or having their toes dipped for them at work). 

SO

...well, we're making everything FREE 🎉

The idea being that we can help a LOT more people.

Now, logistically, that means some changes...
Our stuff is moving to where people already spend time. 

So, we'll soon have: 

• Free interactive workshops, every month (on Zoom)
• Free webinars for specific roles/industries, every month (on Zoom)
• Free masterclasses and expert interviews (YouTube)
• Free "Tiny Trainings" - sub 5-min classes (LinkedIn)
• Free AI Literacy for All course (on our site)
• Free ready-built AI assistants (on our site)

...and I'll still keep posting all the prompt books, playbooks, cheat sheets and all that lovely stuff here on my LinkedIn, too. 

This way, you never need spend a penny learning AI with us. 💜

(But...if you want training for your team, or you're looking to become an AI trainer yourself - we'll be the first people you think of - that's the business model 😉)

PS All of these changes are coming in the next 6-ish weeks. 

Naturally - I'll yap on about it here as we release stuff, but if you want an email-shaped nudge: https://lnkd.in/eQ92rxBU

PPS Happy Friday everyone!

Something exciting this way comes..
It’s free, and it’s for everyone
Your kids, your colleagues, your nan

(After the horrendous £4.1m misstep by the government, I wanted to throw our AI for Non-Techies-shaped hat into the ring to actually help people, not confuse them.) 

Today I’ve been in the studio filming our brand new AI Literacy for All course. 

It’s a simple, human and honest introduction to: 

What GenAI actually is
What it’s good at (and terrible at)
How to speak to it
How to stay safe using it 

It’s designed to be shared far and wide for everyone- whether you’re a jobseeker, a student, a retiree, a freelancer or an employee. 

It needs zero prior knowledge or tech skills, and I explain everything in the most human, honest way I could think of. 

It’s designed to take about 2 hours and you get a lovely certificate at the end. 

It’s highly interactive, easy to understand and best of all - completely FREE. 

It’s coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled. 👀

PS We are offering an LMS-ready version of it too for corporates, universities and networks - if you’re interested, pop me a DM

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Here's a 24-page guide to Copilot for 365
Yours free - take it! 'Ave it! 

I used to think Copilot was rubbish. 
(And it was, for a long time.) 

BUT the Copilot folk clearly listened and learnt. Over the last 9 months or so, they've pretty radically transformed Copilot into a very useful tool that I now use daily myself.

My very non-techie guide below guides you around all 5 core features: 

Chat
Agents
Notebooks
Create 
Apps

You also get a mini prompting lesson in there too as a bit of a bonus. 

A few extra bits: 

1. You can customise how it writes your emails in Outlook (go to Settings >> Copilot >> add your greeting, sign off and tone) 
   
2. I will say Copilot for Excel is pretty poor and glitchy BUT Agent Mode for Excel is coming to the EU soon. US already have it (US friends, how is it?)
   
3. Notebooks are brilliant. The name is confusing, they're not just notes. They're interactive folders with memory, like a mini NotebookLM.

I'll do a series of Tiny Trainings on Copilot stuff in the coming weeks. 

For all the fellow Copilot haters of yesteryear - how do you feel about it now? 👇

♻️ Please share if you found this useful!

***

Looking for Copilot training for your team? 
We've built our own practical, interactive course. 
Choice 1: We'll deliver it to your team 
Choice 2: **NEW** License it for your LMS

Drop me a DM or email training@nontechies.ai for more.

A Non-Techie Guide to Copilot for 365 (5)

My husband and I have separate bedrooms.
And living rooms. 
And even fridges.

I get some very strange looks when I tell people, but it works so well.

Firstly, we have totally different circadian rhythms: 

I'm up at 5am every day, including weekends. I'm one of those PING - instantly awake and hyperactive type of people. I'm also in bed by 8pm every night.

He is more of a night owl: preferring to lie in later. A massive NFL fan, he watches games until late and goes to bed when he's actually tired. 

My dog is also massive and she established her bed space next to me before I even met my husband 😉

Second, we have totally different taste in entertainment. 

While I watch epic dramas and documentaries (and yes, very secretly have a Heyu subscription - I hate myself for it), he can watch sports 24/7, without any compromise. I like to read in total quiet, he likes to listen to podcasts.

Third, we're both introverts and need lots of alone time to recharge. I am super happy on my own and although I love people, socialising exhausts me like nothing else.

This way, the time we spend together (which is plenty!) is always by choice, and it feels so much better than being forced into the same space. 

(The fridge thing wasn't actually deliberate - we bought a fridge and then our new house already had one, so we just kept both!)

Happy Valentine's Day to my perfect partner, Paul Upton. 
Thank you for giving me space to stay exactly who I am. ❤️

Any other fellow introvert couples happily co-existing out there?

Can AI make decent slide decks yet?
There’s one brand way ahead of others:
Let’s see what’s possible 👇

I've tested a lot of AI presentation tools over the past year and most of them promise speed but deliver very ‘meh’ results.

By far the leader is Gamma - and they’ve just levelled up by adding Google’s brilliant Nano Banana Pro image generator, built directly into the tool.

I wanted to give it a road test.

I asked it to create a generative AI training for lawyers, an intro to prompting, something practical I could actually use.

• Speed - genuinely impressive, about 2 minutes to generate a full deck.
• Control - improved substantially. You can configure audience, tone, outline, slide count and visuals before you hit generate, then easily edit after.
• Content - very solid: good structure, clear narrative, usable as a real starting point.
  
And unlike some tools, you can actually edit everything afterwards. Change fonts, re-prompt individual slides, add your own branding.

For context, NotebookLM also uses NanoBanana Pro for slides. But you can't edit the output, export options are limited, and it takes about 10 minutes, not 2.

Is it perfect? No. Nothing AI-generated is. But the time to perfect is definitely much faster now. 

If you dread the faffy slide creation process, try NanoBanana in Gamma and see what you can make in 5 minutes: https://gamma.app/

💬 What do you reckon?

#gammapartner

I get asked for my AI stack a LOT
So here it is (with real costs) 👇

(Caveat: I run an AI training business, unless you do too you don't need all of these)

GENERAL CHATBOTS

• 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: Business Strategy, Analysis, Shareable CustomGPTs, Deep Research - £57/mo
• 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼: Anything that will be read by others: socials, proposals, landing pages - £20/mo
• 𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱: Longer queries, love their Workspace integration too - £20/mo
• 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝟯𝟲𝟱 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘂𝗺: Integrated brilliantly with emails and apps- £24/mo

ORGANISATION

• 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗟𝗠: Client Hubs, Training Hubs, Skills Hubs - [cost included in Gemini above]
• 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻: My AI note taker - great security, fast, reliable and accurate - £30/mo
• 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲: Planning things visually - £8/mo

PLANNING WORLD DOMINATION

• 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆: Record long rambly thoughts while walking - £15/mo

SEARCH

• 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼: Instead of Google - £16/mo

LEAD GENERATION

• 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸: Creating interactive lead magnets and web page mock-ups + research with AI sheets + unlimited chat - £25/mo
• 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰: Analysing people on LinkedIn - I get this free from the lovely founders
• 𝗛𝗲𝘆𝗚𝗲𝗻: AI avatars - £20/mo

CONTENT CREATION

• 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗯𝘀: For client demos and experiments - £4/mo
• 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝘄𝗮𝘆: Video generation - £20/mo
• 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆: Image and short vid generation - £20
• 𝗡𝗮𝗽𝗸𝗶𝗻: Quick diagrams - free
• 𝗣𝗶𝗸𝗮: Silly videos for social posts - £8/mo

𝗧𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁: £𝟮𝟴𝟳/𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵

So there you go, folks.
That's probably about 5000% ROI at least.

And another question I get asked a lot: "if you had to pick just one tool, which would it be?" 

My answer right now is Claude. I'm using Skills, Co-Work, Projects and now it's super clever 4.6 model - it's blowing everyone else out of the water right now. 

PS If you ARE looking to run an AI training business - come and join me in our 3 day Become an AI Trainer bootcamp: https://lnkd.in/eYJWrPYB

Well, would you look at that…
I hit 80,000 followers yesterday 🎉

Now, I'd love to be like: "here's exactly how to do it too in this 12-step blueprint" but I'm afraid I don’t really have one.

But here are the things I do routinely do:

My little 3H check for my posts.  
For each one I ask is it:

H1: Helpful
Giving something useful to the person reading ✅
Moaning about stuff ❎

H2: Human
Sounding like I actually talk in real life ✅
Sounding like a weird corporate robot ❎

H3: Heather
Something I actually know/care about ✅
Talking about stuff I’ve just researched ❎

I’ve also found that: 

1. People like to see your face  - it builds trust 
2. People are busy - make your posts easy to read
3. You can’t please everyone, so don’t try to

Ooh and I believe very much in the Give - Give - Give - Give - Ask school of thought. 

That means 80% of the time I’ll give: that can be advice, prompt books, tiny trainings, playbooks - or even saving someone precious time by reading + summarising a report or attending + reporting on an event for them.

Then 20% of the time I’ll ask: remind people of the services AI for Non-Techies offer, and how they can find out more or book a call.

Sometimes that 80/20 is in one post. 
Sometimes it’ll be 4 give, 1 ask post in a week.

Final thing - only 1% of people post regularly on here, so you can stand out by making sure you get something out say 4 or 5 times a week. (I’ve tried 7-10 posts a week and it really does work, but honestly…I can’t be arsed.)

And that's basically it, really. 

I’m very happy to answer any questions anybody might have 👇

Right, 3 Hs ticked for this post. 

Now…let’s find a nice photo of when I was wearing make up and had actually brushed my hair to add to this post and we're done.

Yesterday, Microsoft invited me to their AI tour
(and they gave me a press pass)
Here's what happened:

It was a very early start with doors opening at London’s Excel centre at 7:30am. I’ve never had a press pass before, but it unlocked all sorts of wonder:

• Skip the long queues for badge collection
• Access to a lounge with coffee, food and fast internet
• First access to embargoed news from Microsoft 
• (Almost) front row seats for the packed keynote
  
As a bonus, I also got to meet the lovely Will Francis, one of my AI heroes from TikTok (hugely recommend his videos). 

The main event was a keynote from the big man himself, Satya Nadella, alongside Darren Hardman, the UK CEO. There were also live demos from Anne Krupke showing Copilot in action, including the new agent mode in Excel, and a more techie one from Marlene Mhangami around Github Copilot.

I used Letterly to record all of the keynotes and scribbled alongside. 
Here were my 5 key takeaways:

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝟭: 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁’𝘀 ‘𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸'
Satya spoke about 4 elements crucial for success: 

Mindset - approaching AI the right way.
Skillset - building core skills
Toolset - the right tool for the right job
Dataset - AI amplifies what you put in

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝟮: 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 (𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳) 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰.  
They have worked with OpenAI’s (ChatGPT) models for a while, and have just started working with Anthropic’s (Claude) too. In the more techie demo, they mentioned Deepseek, Mistral and many others, though Gemini was notably absent. 

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝟯: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲.
In an NHS trial of 30,000 workers, Copilot saved an average of 43 minutes per day. 26 minutes per day for civil servants. Barclays saved 1 million hours in a year. Balfour Beatty reported 77% less mental effort on routine tasks.

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝟰: 𝟴𝟰% 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗞 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗜.
That's from Microsoft's own new research. A year ago, that number was 40%. The gap between those adopting and those waiting is getting wider, fast. 

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝟱: 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱.
Satya talked about bringing AI to where people are already working, not asking them to learn something new. Just making the workflows they already have smarter. (Which of course fits perfectly with Copilot’s main strength - which is its integration into where you already are, not flimsy connectors). 

I also managed to grab a snap with the Premier League trophy for “him indoors”. 

***
If your organisation has invested in Copilot and are struggling to get results, speak to my team about our highly rated Copilot training programs. 

Email Sharona on training@nontechies.ai or send me a DM.

#MicrosoftAITour

We're hiring (yet again!)
Training Manager
£50k, full-time (remote, UK) 

If you're a super organised type who loves spinning multiple plates, this would be a fantastic challenge for you. 

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗲 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿

• Fully remote, genuinely flexible work (35 hrs/wk)
• 38 days holiday (plus bank holidays too)
• Free AI training + support from our in-house team
• Opportunity to work with exciting big brands

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝗯

Everything’s in the PDF below, including initial guidance on KPIs.

𝗧𝗼 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 

Send your application (in whatever form you think best represents you: slides, video, letter, song, interpretive dance) to 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀@𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘀.𝗮𝗶 telling us: 

1. Why you’re applying for this role specifically 
2. Why you think you’d be a great fit 
3. Anything that would be good for us to know  

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Wednesday 18 March 2026 5pm
𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀: Monday 23 March 2026 (PM)

We’re looking to bring someone on ASAP, so decisions will be made quickly after interviews. 

Please share with your network if you know anyone who might be interested

Any questions: drop me a DM

Thank you!

AI for Non-Techies_ Training Manager (1)

We tend to think:  
Humans = very biased
And AI = not biased 

But that's very wrong.

It's pretty obvious we humans are biased. 
We experience it, we feel it ourselves, don't we?

But is AI biased?
Most of us initially think no. 

We see AI as a sort of robot-type-thing. It can't actually feel anything, it's never been anywhere, it's never done anything. So how could it possibly be biased?

Well, it's actually VERY biased indeed. 

GenAI bias usually comes from four places:
 
1. The fact its "brain" is made up of human-written data. Think of all of those blogs, articles, books, social posts...riddled with human bias.
   
2. Design choices made by the people who built these tools. Their values, assumptions and blind spots get baked right in.
   
3. How people prompt. The way you word a question steers the answer, and most of us don't even realise we're doing it.
   
4. The real-world systems it's deployed into. A model built for general chat behaves very differently when it's suddenly making decisions about health or hiring.

I've done lots of research into GenAI bias, and this (non-exhaustive) sheet shows just how many types of bias exist in generative AI. 
 
I've separated them into 5 categories: data, design, thinking, use and impact.
 
Yes, some overlap a little, it's not perfect - but I wanted to show just how wide and deep this problem really is. 
 
Can we eliminate bias in our AI results? Not completely, no.
 
But I did create a handy mini prompt to help highlight when it happens.
 
When you've got your final response in your chatbot, copy/paste the below prompt AND attach the bias doc from this post (click + download).

***

𝘈𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘐, 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘐-𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺.

𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺, 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦.

***

As I say, it doesn't eliminate but it definitely does help shine a light on an issue so many don't realise is there. 

PS If you're into your AI and fancy becoming an AI trainer, come and join my 3-day online bootcamp, it's only £72/$97: https://lnkd.in/eYJWrPYB

The UK government spent £4.1m with PWC to create a free AI skills platform for everyone 👏 
Is it any good, though?

TL;DR: Nope. 

(Massive glaring caveat: Obviously, I'm speaking from a biased place. I own an AI training company.)

👍 The Good Stuff 

→ It’s easy to sign up
→ It’s got Andrew Ng stuff on it

Erm…honestly, I’m struggling for any more. 

👎 The Bad Stuff 

→ The design and UX is poor, it’s hard to move around
→ The learning pathway questions don’t make sense
→ There’s lots of non-AI content in there, e.g. maths 
→ It seems 70% of it isn’t actually free

In all honesty, it doesn’t feel like a £4.1m project in partnership with a goliath like PWC, it feels like it’s been made in a rush by someone who wasn't paying attention (and doesn't use GenAI themselves). 

Yowch.

Have I missed something important?

I’m sick of seeing free AI courses that promise the world but aren’t very good. Most of them don’t actually help people with the 3 things that matter: 

1. What it is (and isn’t!)
2. Real, practical use cases
3. How to stay safe using it 

…so I’m building my own. 

On demand.
Free for everyone.
Constantly updated.

It’ll have an assessment at the end, and a certificate of AI Literacy for those who pass. 

I plan to get it out far and wide to as many people as I possibly can - so please keep your eyes peeled! 👀

It’s designed to be useful for (almost) everyone - from teenagers to job-hunters to retirees and everyone in between. (I haven’t made this one proper kiddy-friendly but that’s a project for later.)

So...

Have you tried the new AI Skills Boost platform yet? 
How was your experience? Have I missed something?!

Please let me know below 👇

So there I was, in my tiny home office
Dressing gown over my clothes
Eating organic almonds (alright, alright...crisps)

..and then I get sent an email. 

And in that email is a screenshot of the Economic Times newspaper in India. 

And there on the front cover is my silly Brummy face. 

It's just one thing in an endless series of mental things that happen to me nowadays.  

A selection from the last couple of weeks: 

1. I wangled a call with (the very kind and surprisingly down-to-earth) Grant Lee, Founder of the £2.1bn Gamma, where he gave my co-Founder Alice and I some excellent business advice

2. I bumped into Will Francis, who I'm a huge fan of on TikTok (he does brilliant AI videos) - and he somehow knew who the heck I am

3. I got invited by Channel 4 to come and train a group of women in all things generative AI (that's next week - photos to come, of course)

4. The Microsoft Copilot team inviting me personally to be their guest at the Microsoft AI Tour last week and giving me a press pass

5. BBC Radio Scotland asking me onto their show next week to reassure their listeners about what's happening with AI and the job market (and my delight of being recognised as the AI person who can do that)

I know, I know - I'm meant to be used to this by now, aren't I? 

But I still often just sit and giggle to myself. 

I remember so clearly having the idea for AI for Non-Techies. Legging it into the living room to tell my husband: 

“I think this AI thing is going to be HUGE. I’m going to go all in on it! Like…obsessively!!”

And I did. 
And here I am. 
In my dressing gown.
Eating crisps.
Giggling.

***

Teaching people AI is very exciting. If you're looking into it, hop onto my next 3-day 'Become an AI Trainer' bootcamp: https://lnkd.in/eYJWrPYB

In case you missed it, Claude released a 33-page guide to Claude Skills 🔥

❓𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻, 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿? 
 
Great question, Heather. AI chatbots can't read our minds, they need context to do the best possible job. To do that, we:

1. We put lots of detail into our prompt, and/or
2. We attach documents of useful info

It's great, but it's faffy. 

Skills are like mini SOPs - a set of instructions you give Claude once, so you never have to explain it again. Teach it once, and it'll use it whenever it needs.
 
I've been completely lost in building these over the past week, and the difference is mental. 

❓𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲!
 
Bit concerning you're speaking to yourself in posts, but alright:
 
I'm building a 6-part flagship course right now.
Without AI, that takes me about 4-5 days. 
With Claude Projects, I got it down to 2-3 days.
With Projects AND Skills, I did it in 7 hours. 
 
Seven. Hours. For a full course build.🤯
 
Other Skills I'm building:
 
Proposal creation in our exact company format.
Course outlines in our signature style.
Slide notes written specifically for our graphic designer. 
Our AI for Non-Techies tone-of-voice guide.
 
And there's so much more I can dig into. 
 
❓𝗢𝗞, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱? 

A few ideas...

SME Owners
Client onboarding checklists
Quote or proposal templates
Weekly reporting templates

L&D Leaders
Training needs analysis reports 
Post-training evaluation summaries 
Learner progress reports 
Pre-training questionnaires 
 
AI Champions
AI tool evaluation reports 
Training session plans
AI policy documentation
 
❓𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘂𝗽? 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹...
 
It's not at ALL. 

There is literally a Skill inside Claude that builds Skills for you. 
 
Here's how:
 
1. Go to Settings, then Capabilities, then scroll to Skills
2. Turn on the "Skill Creator" skill
3. Start a new chat and say "Help me build a skill for [what you want]"
4. Answer its questions conversationally
5. It generates the Skill file for you
6. Download it, go back to Settings, click Upload Skill, and you're done
 
That's it. No techie knowledge needed. 
 
I've linked the full 33-page guide below, it's well worth a read. 
 
Would a video walkthrough of me setting up a Skill from scratch be useful? 

💬 Let me know below - and let me know the Skills you're building yourselves

The-Complete-Guide-to-Building-Skill-for-Claude

Fellow AI trainers, educators, course creators: 
Do you use AI to help build your courses?
I use it a LOT. 

My workflows usually go a little like this: 

Step 1: Walk the dog and record all my ideas for a course into an AI note taker (this is the gold, never get AI to think for you)

Step 2: Come back and run those ideas through one of my Claude Projects (I have different projects for different course types: traditional training, e-learning, webinars, keynotes)

Step 3: Run through the results with a fine toothcomb, checking facts, adding flourishes, removing AI-sounding wanky bits.

Step 4: [Critical] Feed that back into the Project and ask how the instructions could be amended to get results closer to that in future

I also use a range of prompts to ideate, refine pricing, create landing pages, etc.

And here they are for you. Here's what's inside:

📌 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 - stress-test your idea before you build anything 
📌 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘂𝗺 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 - logical learning journeys using Bloom's Taxonomy 
📌 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗿 - turn messy feedback into a clear action plan 
📌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿 - activities that actually engage 
📌 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿 - bullet points to proper scripts
📌 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 - write copy that sells the transformation 
📌 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝘇 & 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 - design assessments that test real understanding
📌 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 - ABCD-format objectives with Bloom's verbs 
📌 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁 - price with confidence, not guesswork 
📌 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 - get crystal clear on exactly who you're teaching

Remember - you’ll need to put good stuff in (ideas, thoughts, examples of previous content) in order to get the good stuff out. 

Here's a G Doc version for ease: https://lnkd.in/erN9yQsB

PS If you're looking to become an AI trainer, join me in my 3-day bootcamp starting 9 March: https://lnkd.in/eYJWrPYB (it's only £72/$97 - absolutely bargain)

Course Creator Prompts (1)

The question I get asked most of all: 
“How the heck do you keep up with AI?”  

First of all: I’ve just found an excellent tool for my AI arsenal: Google Workspace Studio.  

It’s Google Workspace's brand new automation tool and it’s extremely easy to use across Gmail, Docs, and other apps.  

The video shows me building my very own AI news tracker:  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲  Every day at 6am, search for AI news  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲  Write a Heather-friendly overview  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲  Check it for any inaccuracies + edit  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲  Email it to myself to read over a coffee  

And as with everything I do - there’s not a single jot of code involved anywhere. 
It’s just conversational human language and a couple of clicks.  

And it’s brilliant! Check for yourself!  

#sponsored #googleworkspacewithgemini

Forcing a proper work/life balance in 2026
Part 2: Bring BOTH parents on tour

I'm now in week 3 of my speaking tour with the lovely Timeline folk, working our way around the UK. 

With AI for Non-Techies doing so very well (woohoo!), I've been working more hours than ever keeping our standards high and our clients happy. That's meant sacrificing time with family and friends, and making myself sick and burnt out in the latter half of last year.

Ever the problem solver, this year, I vowed to myself that I'd have a much better work/life balance in 2026. I'm also actively reducing Founder dependence so we can scale properly.  

Two weeks ago, I brought my dad with me to the Belfast leg. He loved it. 

This week, I've brought mom AND dad to the final 3 venues. As you can see, they're having the time of their lives swinging in chairs, exploring gardens and splashing about in fancy hotels. They've retired and become playful kids again, and it's lovely to see.

It's been a totally different experience for me to be bigged up before I go on stage, get a big hug when I come off, and have their warm, giggly company to explore these beautiful venues.

I was a nightmare teenager, so we didn't always get along - but now I'm very lucky to say we're really close. And stuff like this makes us feel even closer. It's precious beyond anything else.

After a cracker in Cheshire and Harrogate, we have just one venue left today - in my favourite city: Edinburgh, at the very cool Hoxton hotel. 

I'm going to make it a corker.

I'll really miss what has been a wonderful few weeks. A huge thank you particularly to Georgia Beckett who has been the most cool and calm event organiser I've ever met. (You've made me feel so warmly welcome - thank you!)

Any other work/life balance tips, fellow Founders? 
And how are others reducing Founder dependence?

AI-generated LinkedIn comments. 
AI-generated LinkedIn posts. 
Bleurgh. Bleurgh.

LinkedIn is a daily showcase of how NOT to use AI.

Those awful posts littered with em dashes, rhetorical "the best part?" style questions, "if not X, it's Y" style comparisons. 

And don't get me started on those awful AI-generated comments. They don't sound remotely human, it surely can't help in relationship building, so why are they still even a thing?!  (It'll be interesting to see if I get any on this post...)

The thing is:

LinkedIn = revenue when done right
(I've made millions on here over the last 10 years)

BUT

It takes time + writing skills + ideas 
A trinity of things most of us lack at least one of

So can AI actually help - without making you sound like a really boring robot?

Yup. 
Yup, it really can. 
Case in point = me.

In just a few weeks, I'll be speaking at UpLift Live, the best LinkedIn conference in the UK.

I'll be speaking alongside a smorgasbord of LinkedIn nerds: 

John Espirian 
Gus Bhandal 
Dave Harland 
Mic Adam 
Phill Agnew 
Guy Strijbosch 
Nicole Osborne
Brenda Meller 
Tony Restell 

In my talk, I shall build...live (let us pray to the demo gods)...a LinkedIn Post Machine. Something that learns what you do, sounds like you and saves you TONS of time every day.  

I'll show you how to build one, and give you step-by-step instructions to take away after, too. 

Come and join me and this beautiful bunch in my hometown of Birmingham on Thursday 26 March: https://lnkd.in/e7QtGqJ3

Now...let's look out for the AI-generated comments, shall we! I'll mark them with a 🤖 if I see any...

Which one am I really holding? 

1. A cat
2. A pug
3. A chicken
4. A baby goat

It’s getting much harder to tell, isn’t it? 

That little CR button LinkedIn adds helps, doesn’t it? It stands for Content Credentials - and you’ll usually see it when you’re looking at an AI-generated image. 

BUT I’d say it only pops up on about 40% of my AI-generated images, so it’s far from perfect. 

We’ve also got the little Gemini star in the corner of the AI ones too, revealing I am indeed holding a pug (at the dopamine thrill ride that is the Pug Cafe in Edinburgh). But Midjourney doesn’t have these, nor ChatGPT. 

I made these in 2 minutes, on my phone, with zero design skills and a terrible prompt. Imagine what I can make in an hour. 

We simply can’t believe what we see online anymore.

So how do we deal with this? 

Some argue it’s just like the Photoshop, filtering, touch ups, the body slimming, the teeth whitening we’ve had for years - so we just need to accept it. 

Others push for proper disclosure of AI-generated imagery. But where AI detectors are disappointing (and very easily evaded by tweaking metadata and screenshots), how do we do that? 

I’m interested to hear your thoughts 👇

Yesterday's free Copilot guide did so well...
Let's do a full, free masterclass too 👇

Join me on Tuesday 17 Feb at 2pm GMT (9am EST) for one of my notoriously action-packed masterclasses: 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿.

We'll tour through the 5 big features of Copilot for 365: 

Chat - proper prompting, research, analysis
Agents - Researcher, Analyst and building your own
Notebook - your AI-powered second brain
Apps - help in Outlook, Word, Excel and more
Create - design diagrams, images + video

I cram a LOT into my masterclasses so grab your notepad and a giant coffee to keep up.

Register Here: https://lnkd.in/eu_mcWu2

❓𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 

1. Do I need the paid version to attend? 
Nope - BUT that's the version I'll use, so you can see it in action and decide if you'd like to buy. 

2. Is it beginner-friendly? 
Absolutely - at AI for Non-Techies we specialise in non-techie AI training for beginners. We won't assume any prior knowledge of AI, or prompting skills, or anything.

3. I can't make it. Will it be recorded? 
If you register, you'll get access to an on-demand recording. But we will be closing registrations at 1pm on 17th Feb. Make sure you register now so you can catch it later.

♻️ See you there and tell your friends!

Heather Murray, Kim Davies and 349 other attendees

If Carlsberg made Marketing Managers
They'd probably make our Dorota 😍

I got this Slack message last week. 

Only 6 weeks into her role, and Dorota is instinctively doing EXACTLY what businesses of all sizes need to be doing right now. 

When you're presented with a problem, make sure you're including AI in your range of potential solutions. 

In this case - we've got a beautiful new AI training brochure (and we've got space for new clients, so drop me a DM if you're looking for AI training for your team 😉). 

But a flat PDF download feels old-fashioned. It's also about 8 clicks before someone could send a training enquiry. 

"Let's reduce the friction" I suggested to Dorota. "How about one of those interactive ones, where they can click to book?"

She did some research, and found every option is either super expensive or crap. 

Then she came back having built her own, custom to us, using AI - and saving us £77 per month.

Absolute genius.

It's such an exciting time for non-techies - we can build our own bespoke stuff to solve our own bespoke problems.  In hours.

New, flippable brochure coming very soon! (In the meantime you can find the flat PDF here: https://lnkd.in/gtiT-vDb) 

💬 What have you been building?
I'd love to know about your prompts, your GPTs, your tools!

Helping B2B Teams win more clients in less time by growing an email list of buyers. Join my free workshop. Seats are limited, so apply now!

Most Business Leaders know how to deliver.

Very few know how to stay visible long enough for ideal clients to discover them.I help fix that.

I help B2B and recruitment leaders build an authority engine that increases visibility, drives warm conversations, and fills their pipeline with clients who already trust their expertise.

The system is simple: CLARITY → AUTHORITY → CONVERSATIONS (The CAC System)

1. Clarity - We nail your positioning, messaging, niche, and signature frameworks so buyers instantly understand your value.

2. Authority - I build your visibility tower — daily content, insights, stories, and a strategic narrative that positions you as the go-to expert in your market.

3. Conversations - Warm engagement, optimised profile touchpoints, and simple outreach loops that turn attention into booked client calls.

This creates for you.
⬆️ More visibility
⬆️ Better clients
⬆️ Consistent inbound
⬆️ Higher perceived value
⬆️ An easier sales cycle

Results my clients have got
✔️ 60k+ impressions in a single post 
✔️ Multiple warm client conversations booked within 30 days
✔️ £500k+ deal closed from visibility built using this system 
✔️ More replies, more reach, more opportunities, without constant grinding

Jonny Umoru

Here are 10 things I don’t really talk about on LinkedIn.

1. I'm a Sunday school teacher at my church.
2. I do most of the cooking in my house.
3. I only learned to drive officially at 32.
4. I love watching anime.
5. I’ve had three knee surgeries.
6. I can’t dance. I can just not to the level I want to.
7. I’ve felt small even when things were objectively working.
8. I used to put other people’s needs ahead of my own.
9. I don’t have a degree, unfortunately.
10. I start projects easily, but finishing them is hard.

Most people build their brand around strengths.

But the edges are more interesting.
- The insecurities.
- The constraints.
- The habits you had to outgrow.

That’s where your actual voice comes from.

And if you’re building a business that depends on trust, that part matters more than the polished version ever will.

I help exec search and recruitment firms build authority that turns into client calls

Growing an agency is brutally hard. I poured myself into this while life was heavy.

I started the business at the most mentally demanding point of my life.
Right when my wife and I found out we were having our first child.

What I learned quickly is that the buck stops with you, no matter how tired, anxious, or overwhelmed you feel.

If I’m honest, for the last 2 to 3 years, I treated the business like a part-time job.
That was a choice.
I chose to be the present father my kids deserved, even knowing it would slow the business down.

It did.

I didn’t hit the goals I wanted because I wasn’t building with full intent.

2026 has made something uncomfortably clear.
If I want a serious business, I have to treat it seriously.

My wife and I now have a rhythm that works.
The kids are settled.
I have the capacity to commit properly.

I came from nothing. Raised by a single mother with five kids.
Oldest child. Working as soon as school ended.
No degree. No corporate runway.
Just 15 years in sales and a responsibility to perform like it.

If my 14-year-old self could see me now, he’d be proud.
Married to my best friend. Two incredible boys. Home owner.
A business that genuinely gets results for its clients.

But I don’t think he’d want me to get comfortable.

So I’m done carrying my goals quietly.

Here are the targets I’m setting publicly:

• £200k revenue by the end of December
• Hiring 3 roles: Ops Manager, Content Manager, CSM

These aren’t new desires.
They’re old ones I’m finally backing with structure, focus, and standards.

If I hit them, it won’t be because I worked harder.
It’ll be because I stopped treating this like something I fit in around life.

I don't usally do posts about my life, but I realised that it is because I have been scared of the judgment of others.

I'm not anymore.

You need to start treating your email list like a major part of your business’s future-proof plan.

Every year, more and more people complain about how effective their LinkedIn reach actually is.

But the group of people who are usually not as bothered are the people who build an email list.

Why is that?

Because when you have an email list, you are in control.
Not the algorithm.
And you are not chasing likes.

You are connecting with an audience who have chosen to be there.

It’s a humbling experience, and it’s effortless.

You don’t need to perform to get attention here.
You already have it.

I got on a call with a new client last week, and I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed.

They didn’t want to implement an email strategy because they thought email didn’t work.

They said they had tried it for a few weeks and didn’t get any sign-ups.

So I asked them what their strategy was before.

They couldn’t tell me.

And if I’m honest with you, that infuriated me a little.

I told them email is where I make most of my revenue in the long run.

And if they want to stay relevant with the right people, they need an email strategy.

They agreed, and we started the process.

Within three days, they got their first sign-up, who then booked a client meeting with them.

That would not have happened if we’d gone with their plan.

The moral of the story is simple.

Use email.

When a recruitment CEO tells me,
“I’m just lazy on LinkedIn.”

They’re usually wrong.

And it’s rarely laziness, it’s friction.

Most CEOs I speak to don’t lack opinions, insight or experience.

What they lack is a system.

They post once.
Then delivery gets busy.
Then BD takes priority.
Then a big assignment lands.
Then visibility disappears for six weeks.

Not because they don’t care.
But because it’s not embedded.

Consistency that relies on willpower will always lose to revenue pressure.

Honestly, why would you choose to be more visible over finding candidates for an active role?

That’s the real reason most leadership visibility fails.

It’s not a confidence issue.
It’s not an intelligence issue.
It’s not even a time issue.

It’s a workflow issue.

If showing up online depends on.
- Remembering to post
- Writing from scratch
- Chasing approvals
- Logging in manually

It will collapse the moment the business gets busy.
And recruitment businesses are always busy.

The firms that make it work don’t “try harder.”

They install a repeatable system
→ Capture
→ Creation
→ Approval
→ Distribution

Once it’s embedded, it runs alongside the business instead of competing with it for attention.

That’s when visibility starts compounding.
And that’s when founder dependency begins to reduce.

If you’re a CEO who knows you should be more visible, but it keeps slipping…

It’s probably not laziness.
It’s architecture.

DM “SYSTEM”, and I’ll send you the monthly capture structure we use inside 10 – 50 head recruitment firms.

Client Acquisition Systems for Recruitment Directors

For a long time, I thought being useful was the same as being valuable.

So I made myself useful to everyone I came across.

I'd say yes.
I'd solve problems.
I'd be dependable.
I wouldn't complain.
And I wouldn't ask for anything in return.

And guess what, it worked.

My teachers liked me growing up.
My managers trusted me with a lot.
My clients relied on me for everything.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped asking a harder question.

If I’m not being useful… who am I?

That question used to make me uncomfortable.

Because if your identity is built on being needed, you end up exhausted the moment nobody is asking.

You start overextending, over-delivering and overthinking.

Trying to stay indispensable, which is just unsustainable.

So I decided that I would prioritise myself also.

At first, I thought people would hate me, but something amazing happened.

The more secure I became in who I was, the better my work actually got.

I set clearer boundaries.
I gave stronger opinions.
I focused less on how I came across.
And more on my conviction.

Most people build their brand around competence.
Very few build it around identity.

And if your business runs on trust, identity carries more weight than tactics ever will.

Katie is a consultancy client of mine who was sitting at £10–15K per month and blaming the inconsistency in the market for unpredictable revenue.

The real issue wasn’t the market.
It was the absence of infrastructure.

Revenue depended on effort.
When outbound slowed down, so did growth.
There was no acquisition engine behind the business.

So we built one.

1️⃣ We installed a structured cold email system that put her in front of thousands of relevant prospects consistently.

2️⃣ We tightened her positioning so the right people moved forward instead of circling.

3️⃣ We implemented follow-up that didn’t rely on willpower or reminders.

And within 90 days, she generated an additional £25K in revenue from a £2K investment, with an average deal size of around £5K.

Nothing about the industry changed.

What changed was structure.

Most founders don’t have a lead problem.
They have a discipline problem disguised as a strategy problem.

When acquisition becomes infrastructure instead of effort, revenue stops being emotional and starts being predictable.

I’ve been going down a rabbit hole looking at recruitment agencies’ content strategies.

And one thing keeps confusing me.

Why are so many of them just reposting other people’s content?

Genuinely asking.

Is it actually helping you win clients
Or does it just feel like doing something without having to think?

Because from the outside, it doesn’t signal authority.
It signals hesitation.

And in a market where trust and judgement matter, that’s a risky message to send.

Cold calling works.
That’s exactly why most recruitment founders never move beyond it.

You call prospects and book meetings.
Then you win a role and make a placement.
After that, the cash lands in your account.

It's a smooth process which feels productive.
It feels controllable.

Then you get more jobs on, you need to find more candidates, and you have more interviews.

That is the trap, as you drop everything that will not immediately make you money.

So you stop calling prospects and slow down your outreach.
The visibility you worked hard to get drops

Two months later, the pipeline looks thin again.

So you go back to the phone.

This is the feast and famine cycle:

1️⃣ Outbound creates revenue.
2️⃣ Revenue creates busyness.
3️⃣ Busyness kills outbound.
4️⃣ Pipeline dries up.
5️⃣ Panic restarts outbound.

Cold calling is not broken.

It is simply linear.

When you stop, it stops.

There is no compounding effect. No residual visibility. No market memory that works in the background while you focus on delivery.

Every week resets to zero.

That is fine when you are a solo biller.

It becomes a ceiling when you are trying to build an agency.

The founders who break out of this cycle do not abandon outbound.

They reduce their dependence on it.

They build visible authority in a specific niche and stay present even when they are busy.

Cold calling gets you meetings.
Authority changes the quality of those meetings.

If your entire pipeline depends on how many calls you personally make this week, you do not have leverage.

You have a high-performing job.

And that distinction matters once you try to scale.

One of my clients wanted more replies and more meetings from email.

I told him to focus on five things.

The next month, his replies tripled.

If you want more responses to your emails, read this carefully.

1️⃣ Accept that not everyone is ready
→ Some people will never buy, and that is fine.
→ Email is not about convincing everyone.
→ It is about finding the ones already leaning forward.

2️⃣ Make sending emails normal
→ Sending when you “feel like it” will never build momentum.
→ Sending emails should feel like brushing your teeth.
→ More volume creates more surface area for replies.

3️⃣ Stop hunting for the perfect template
→ There is no magic framework.
→ Connection principles matter more than scripts.
→ Optimise the inputs, not the ego metrics.

4️⃣ Most people obsess over meetings booked.
→ Track: Open rate, click-through rate and reply rate.
→ Positive response percentage is your North Star.
→ If the inputs improve, the outcomes follow.

5️⃣ Always send yourself a test email
→ Broken links can make you look bad.
→ Formatting errors and spelling mistakes.
→ Small mistakes quietly kill credibility.

Email is not complicated.

But it does require emotional maturity, consistency, and attention to detail.

Most people are missing at least one of those.

"I can do it myself." Then why haven’t you started?

We always tell ourselves we’ll get to it.
But let’s be real—most never do.

Life happens, and business gets busy.
Suddenly, months have passed.

No content was posted.
No emails were sent
So no momentum was gained.

You think email marketing is “easy enough”
To handle yourself.

But you haven’t started. Let’s break it down:

1️⃣ Overwhelm
Too many tools, templates, and tactics.
Where do you even begin?

2️⃣ No Clear Strategy
Without a plan, emails become noise.
They fall flat instead of driving growth.

3️⃣ Perfectionism
Waiting for the perfect moment or copy?
Spoiler: that time never comes.

4️⃣ Inconsistent Effort
Sporadic emails bring no results.
Consistency is what builds traction.

Starting is the hardest part.
But with the right system in place,

Content becomes your easiest way to.
→ Build trust
→ Nurture leads
→ Drive sales on autopilot

It’s time to stop waiting.
Start now and watch your business grow.

We are constantly being told we need to post, or we need to send that email, or we need to show our face more.

And I agree with all of these.

But we need to be honest with ourselves.

The correlation between revenue in your business aligns with these three things.

If no one knows about you, then guess what?
No one buys from you.
That is not a made-up notion or a bald-faced lie.
It’s just reality.

So why are we all so resistant to it?

It’s because we know we are not as good as the people already doing it.

And that is OK.

Do you think they started off thinking they were going to be listened to?
Or did they think they were going to be ignored?
Or did they just not care about other people’s opinions?

At the end of the day, whether other people judge you or not, if no one knows about you or your business, then no one buys from you.

So you might as well do the thing and get judged for being bad at it, but have a good chance of getting more of an audience, more revenue, and more confidence.

And not let others decide your destiny and live with regret.

Instead of just feeling sorry for yourself.

Too many recruitment businesses focus on the whole instead of the individual.

Their online presence tells people more about the company and its accolades than the people actually driving the revenue.

But there’s still a problem.

What about the individuals who want to bill more?

If you don’t show up for your audience as yourself, you get forgotten.

This is something I see many recruitment directors and top billers go through.

At first, they think showing up online is pointless.

Then they realise they should be visible, but convince themselves they don’t have the time.

Then they get trapped in the cold-calling cycle.

Where the only way to grow revenue is to cold call all day, and each year the returns get smaller.

It’s time to shift the focus.

Encourage individuals to build their own authority online.

It benefits the company.
It benefits the individual.

The uncomfortable truth is this.

Many recruitment businesses don’t encourage personal brands because they’re afraid of losing control.

But if your top biller can only win because of the logo, you don’t have leverage.

You have a fragile business where revenue walks out the door the moment someone leaves.

And if your growth depends on keeping people small, you don’t have a scalable model. You have control disguised as strategy.

Most recruitment businesses focus on the company.

The logo.
The website.
The awards.
The job posts.

But clients don’t buy logos.

They buy your experience and judgement.

This is where most agencies quietly dilute their authority.

The business posts.
The page shares updates.
The reposts.

The marketing manager schedules content.

But the senior leadership team are silent.
Or just inconsistent.
Or posting randomly without alignment.

Everyone is going in different directions.
From the outside, it creates noise.
From the inside, it feels like “we’re doing marketing.”

But authority doesn’t compound at company level in recruitment.
It compounds at the individual level.

Clients don’t say.
“I chose that firm because of their banner.”

They say:
“I’ve seen what he writes.”
“I’ve followed her insights.”
“I trust how they think.”

When five leaders show up with different messages, different tones, different positioning…

You don’t get leverage.
You get fragmentation.

The firms that scale properly align leadership around one north star.

Different voices.
- Same direction.
- Same positioning.
- Same commercial narrative.

That’s when visibility turns into leverage.
And that’s when founder dependency starts to reduce.

If your brand is visible but your leaders aren’t…
You’re missing the multiplier.

DM “SYSTEM”, and I’ll send you the monthly capture structure we use inside 10 – 50 head recruitment firms.

For years, most agency owners relied on three things.
Referrals, LinkedIn posts, and outbound.

But the game has changed.
The algorithms changed.
The buying process changed.
The attention span changed.

And the founders who keep waiting for inbound luck instead of building inbound systems are getting left behind.

Here’s what the best founders I’ve been speaking to are now doing differently:

1️⃣ They’re building assets, not chasing leads.
Every conversation starts with a lead magnet
→ Something that earns trust before asking for time.

2️⃣ They’re creating content with a funnel, not just a feeling.
Each post points somewhere: a magnet, a scorecard, or a conversation
→ Not just a like.

3️⃣ They’re automating nurture, not losing warm leads.
They’re turning every download, every click, every open
→ Into a tracked, re-engageable prospect.

4️⃣ They’re seeing marketing as a system, not a person.
Because systems scale
→ People burn out.

If you’re still relying on hope.
You’ll always be behind the ones relying on process.

This next wave of recruitment founders are marketers as much as they are recruiters and that’s exactly why they’re winning.

If you want to see what this kind of system looks like inside a recruitment agency.
DM me the word SYSTEM and I’ll send you the visual map.

This time last year, me, my wife and my two boys moved into our first home.

No more renting.
No more feeling like we were building someone else’s future.

Just ours.

Watching the boys run around with space to roam has been one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve ever had.

But if I’m honest, the house isn’t the real story.

The real story is what happened before it.

The year before we moved, I wasn’t in a great place.
Certain things knocked me.

It was one of those seasons where I questioned myself a lot.
- My decisions.
- My direction.
- My identity.

Growing up, I lived in a 2-bedroom flat with my mum and siblings.
Now I own a home with my wife and kids.

On paper, that sounds like a simple progression.
But it isn’t as simple as that.

It’s the result of staying in my room working when it would’ve been easier to fold.

It’s the result of rebuilding quietly when no one is clapping.

It’s the result of deciding that the next generation will experience something different.

This last year was amazing and humbling.

Because owning a home doesn’t make you secure.
It reminds you how much responsibility you carry.

But this time, it feels different.

It doesn’t feel like pressure.
It feels like purpose.

I'm grateful for the journey.
I'm grateful for growth.
i'm grateful that my boys get to grow up seeing what consistency looks like.

A lot of recruitment founders say they want more inbound.

What they actually want is less pressure.

Less pressure to chase.
Less pressure to always be “on.”
Less pressure to be the only one bringing revenue in.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth.

Most agencies don’t have a lead generation problem.

They have a dependency problem.

One person drives most of the new business.
One person has the strongest relationships.
One person is visible.
One person carries the commercial weight.

And when that person gets busy…

Pipeline slows.

That’s not a marketing issue.
That’s a structural issue.

I’m not interested in helping recruitment agencies “post more.”

I’m interested in helping them remove that single point of failure.

When 2–3 leaders in a firm are visible.
When outbound is structured instead of reactive.
When there’s an owned email list compounding quietly in the background.

Revenue stops feeling fragile.

You don’t notice it at first.

But the pressure drops.

And that changes how you run the business.

Most founders think they need more leads.

What they actually need is a system that doesn’t rely on them.

One of the most underrated skills you can build is the ability to put your thoughts into words and share them publicly.

Not because you want attention.
Not because you want likes.

But because writing forces clarity.

Every time I post, I’m pressure-testing what I actually believe, what I want to work on, and who I want to work with.

Putting my thoughts out there has helped me refine my direction, sharpen my thinking, and attract the exact people I enjoy doing business with.

None of that happened by accident.

If you never externalise your thinking, it stays vague.
If it stays vague, your direction stays fuzzy.
And fuzzy direction leads to random outcomes.

Posting content isn’t about “being consistent on LinkedIn.”
It’s about turning thoughts into decisions.

If you want a clearer life and a better business, start writing things down and letting them leave your head.

The clarity compounds.

If you stopped doing BD for 60 days, what would actually happen in your business?

Not hypothetically but realistically.

If most of your highest-value assignments originate from you…

Then you don’t just have a scaling problem.
You have a revenue risk problem.

This is something I see constantly in 10 – 30 head recruitment businesses.

They’re doing strong numbers.
£150k months, £200k months, £300k months...

But scratch beneath the surface, and growth still runs through one or two people.
- The founder who can't let go of responsibility.
- The top biller who can sell ice to an eskimo.
- The rainmaker with all the great relationships.

When they’re busy, the pipeline slows.
When they’re on holiday, activity dips.
When they’re deep in delivery, visibility disappears.

And you can’t blame the market.
Because it's a structural problem embedded in the business.

Most firms rely on brute-force outbound.
And cold calling works.

But it resets to zero every week.

Authority compounds over months and years.

When senior leadership consistently shows up in their niche, conversations warm up before outreach even happens.

Mandates come in with context.

Trust builds before the first call.

Dependency reduces.

You don’t need to remove outbound activity.
You need to reduce how much your business relies on it.

And that changes the business's ceiling.

If stepping back for 60 days would slow your firm down dramatically…

That’s the real bottleneck.

DM “LEVERAGE” if you want to see how we diagnose and fix that inside founder-led recruitment firms.

I looked at my email analytics this week and spotted a pattern.
I send 3 to 4 campaigns a week.

For every campaign.
→ I get around 5 replies.

For every 4 replies.
→ I book a new client meeting.

For every 2 meetings.
→ I land a new client.

That means just by emailing my list consistently, I’m booking roughly 4 meetings a week.

No ads.
No chasing.
No cold spam.

Just showing up in the inbox.

And here’s the part most agency owners miss.

Managers, directors and business leaders are still in their inbox every single day.

They might not even see your LinkedIn post.
But they will see your email.

If you’re only posting on social media and not building and emailing a list, you’re relying on rented attention.

Inbox attention is owned.
And owned attention converts.

Stop treating your lead magnet like the finish line.
It’s not.
It’s just the handshake.

What happens after someone downloads it.
Decides whether they become a client or a ghost in your list forever.

Most B2B founders lose people right here.
Because there’s no system to turn subscribers into buyers.

So here’s the exact 5-email framework I use to convert new subscribers into booked calls.

Email 1 - Delivery & Direction
➝ Deliver the magnet and tell them what’s next.
➝ Invite them to a short call if they want help implementing it.

Email 2 - Quick Win
➝ Show them a small result they can get today.
➝ Prove you know what you’re talking about.

Email 3 - Transformation
➝ Paint the before & after.
➝ Show the gap your system closes.

Email 4 - Proof
➝ Drop a short case study.
➝ Prove your system works.

Email 5 — Invitation
➝ Re-open the loop.
➝ Remind them of the results, and invite them to book a call.

That’s it. 5 emails. Zero spam.

All built around one goal.
↳ Move them from “subscriber” to “client.”

If you want me to share the exact templates I use for each step.
DM the word "WELCOME", and I’ll send them over.

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