Provisions Group

Responsible for leading and growing the marketing function for the organization.

Chief Marketing Officer

Providing strategic branding services including: Positioning, Value Prop Development, Competitor Research and Storybranding

Sr. Strategic Advisor

Sketchwell

I create simple visuals to communicate complex ideas. Work with authors, speakers and small businesses to help clarify their messages with sketchnotes.

Owner

Ramsey Solutions

Member of executive leadership team responsible for driving sustainable business growth for $36M+ B2B division of Ramsey.

Regular guest and content contributor for The Entreleadership Podcast, a top 50 business & leadership podcast.

Responsible for driving thousands of quality leads for sales teams to sell out multi-million dollar exclusive events.

Increased brand awareness through SEO, Paid, Social & PR Media hits by 40% YOY.

Leader of multiple marketing squads responsible for driving leads and digital product trials.

Executive Marketing Director, Entreleadership

Lead cross-functional website team of creatives, marketers, developers and content creators responsible for the global website that boasts:
6 Million Average Visitors
12.3 Million Average Pageviews

Led 18 month consolidation project of 23 domains into one. 

Oversee global marketing, technology, creative and optimization efforts for the website.

Member of branding committee responsible for ongoing development of the Ramsey brand.

Lead cross-functional group responsible for the technical health of website including platform, SEO, design system & CMS. 

Direct global acquisition & engagement strategy for company newsletter list with nearly 2MM subscribers.

Developed onboarding assessment providing personalized results increasing conversion rate from 0.1% to 12%.

Sat on Executive Marketing Leadership team guiding marketing department of over 150 team members.

Executive Marketing Director

Sr. Director of Marketing

Marketing Director

CSS Industries, Inc.

Responsible for all the online efforts for CSS Industries and its brands: C.R. Gibson, Paper Magic Group & Berwick Offray. My team handles all ecommerce and informational websites, email marketing, seo, ppc and social media efforts. Some of our latest brand sites include:

B2C 
http://www.crgibson.com 
http://www.eurekaschool.com 
http://www.offray.com 
http://www.spoolofribbon.com
B2B
http://www.lionribbon.com
http://www.berwickoffraywholesale.com
http://www.crgibsonwholesale.com

Key Project & Accomplishments:

Management of teams responsible for merchandising eight corporate ecommerce websites, omni-channel marketing & social media strategy.

Drove YOY topline revenue growth for owned ecommerce websites in 2014.

Strategic business plan development for both consumer and b2b online growth initiatives.

Focus on consumer experience and customer service to create return and life-long customers.

Integral part of product development team with a focus on extending product experience online.

Leveraging Amazon Marketplace to extend awareness and increase online revenue.

Branding lead for baby soft goods new product line launch
.
Principal for researching technologies for implementation company-wide.

In process of enabling drop shipping for major retailers.

Website Analytics tracking, testing, optimization and reporting.

Launch and optimization of online growth programs including affiliates, retargeting and personalization.

Director of Ecommerce

PureRED

As the Interactive Marketing Manager I led a team of 4 agency personnel onsite with a key client, Dollar General. PureRED was responsible for managing portions of the main websites, dollargeneral.com & rexall.com, ecommmerce, email programs, social media sites including Facebook, Twitter & Foursquare, mobile program and various sponsorship related marketing. Also, key responsibilities included agency relationship management and new business generation. 

Key Initiatives:
- Helping Facebook Page surpass 1 Million Likes.
- Launched mobile SMS program.
- Launched Rexall email marketing plan and social media outreach.
- Part of team responsible for the successful launch of ecommerce on dollargeneral.com
- Part of team included in the rebranding efforts of my agency to the new PureRED.

Interactive Marketing Manager

The Buntin Group

Provide strategic thinking and input regarding client target audiences and groups including their usage of the online/interactive/digital media world; and how the brand may communicate effectively in that space. 

Integrate digital media into broader communications plans as strategies and objectives warrant along with planning individual digital programs as needed.

Developing online measurement plans for appropriate campaigns along with establishing monitoring systems to collect and manage online buzz.

Key Agency Clients: O'Charley's, Papa Johns, Tennessee Education Lottery, Taxi On Demand

Digital Strategist

• Developing social media campaign for start-up - Taxi On Demand   (www.taxiondemand.com)
• Responsible for integrating social media and other online strategies into new business pitches.
• Responsible for website content management and traffic analysis for www.mychinet.com &amp; www.signaturervresorts.com.
• Developed email marketing campaign for Club Chinet that led to growth of audience from 0 to 4,000.
• Involved with branding and launch of Signature Resorts.
• Contributing member to New Business pitch to the TN Lottery.
• Coordinated the creation and distribution of FSI pieces
• Organized broadcast traffic and media placement of TV spots
• Managed the design of numerous restaurant in-store collateral pieces
• Primary client contact at agency.
• Responsible for managing client activities.
• Involved with in-depth correlation and trending analysis.
• Supervised placement of magazine and newspaper ads

Account Executive

Coordinated the creation and distribution of FSI pieces
Managed the design of numerous restaurant in-store collateral pieces
Supervised placement of magazine and newspaper ads
Involved with branding and launch of new business
Handled website content management and traffic analysis
Organized broadcast traffic and media placement of TV spots
•	Primary client contact at agency.
•	Responsible for managing client activities.
•	Involved with in-depth correlation and trending analysis.
•	Developed email marketing campaign to support new client  
        website.

Assistant Account Exec.

Red Hat Pictures

Director/Writer/Actor

We help SMBs connect marketing & technology seamlessly.

With over 18 years of experience in various areas of marketing, I have developed a deep understanding of how to create and execute effective marketing strategies that drive business growth. I have worked with different types of clients, from agencies to retailers to manufacturers, and have honed my skills in consumer research, media buying, website development, ecommerce, customer segmentation, and social media marketing.

As the Chief Marketing Officer at Provisions Group, I lead a cross-functional team of who are responsible for driving top line growth. I also lead the marketing consulting side of the business where we help our clients grow through the combination of marketing and technology.

Shoot me a DM if you are interested in learning more!

Kacy Maxwell

Brian Sykes

theBrianSykes

Harness the Power of AI to AMP + RAMP your Creative Productivity!

As a trusted AI strategist and consultant, I guide you in leveraging the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for your Creative Agency. I will help you unlock new opportunities, drive innovation, and stay ahead in today's fast-paced digital landscape.

My AI services are designed to address the unique needs of your Creative Business, whether you are a one man shop looking to leverage AI to multiply your individual efforts, or a Creative Director with a whole team on in-house Creatives you want to enhance. From AI strategy development to implementation and optimization, I provide comprehensive solutions that align with your goals - amplifying the Creative output.

With my guidance, you can navigate the complexities of the AI landscape and make informed decisions when it comes to selecting and deploying AI technologies. By integrating AI into your business processes, you can enhance operational efficiency, automate repetitive tasks, and gain valuable insights from your data. My services encompass AI-driven solutions such as natural language processing, computer vision, predictive analytics, and machine learning.

I understand that AI implementation can be a daunting task, which is why I offer personalized support tailored to your organization's needs. I will work closely with your team, providing training, workshops, and ongoing consultation to ensure a smooth and successful integration of AI into your workflows.

Together, we will future-proof your AI strategy and adapt to changing market dynamics.

AI Catalyst

HeadSpace Branding

HeadSpace Branding provides clarity to business leadership for brand transformation - solving complex business problems through Brand Strategy, Identity & Marketing.

Founder / Principal

AdJourney

AdJourney crafted effective strategies, memorable branding, targeted interactions and extraordinary storytelling - helping businesses connect with their ideal clients. With 23 years in operation, it served as a cornerstone to my creative career. At one point, you could not drive a block through our hometown without seeing something I had a hand in designing. A fantastic foundational part of my history and core to my next steps in branding, marketing and generative AI.

A.I. Whisperer | AI Business Strategist | Generative AI Expert | LinkedIn Top 100 AI Artists | Brand Architect | Keynote Speaker

Seasoned strategist in Branding and Marketing with almost 3 decades of experience, amplified by Generative AI. Leveraging my depth of knowledge, I guide Creative Pros to transform and innovate by harnessing the power of AI. As the founder of AdJourney (1999-2022), I provided bespoke Branding and Marketing solutions for SMBs in various fields, driving growth and raising brand awareness.

My commitment to education in AI extends to my role as a Teacher & Consultant for the US Small Business Administration, NC-District. Here, I develop and deliver custom Business Classes and provide one-on-one consultation around Branding, Marketing, Advertising, and AI.

As an author and educator in Generative AI, I've produced multiple books and extensive resources, including 'A.I. Explore: Prompt Fundamentals,' a comprehensive guide to AI art generation that sold over 1000 copies. My work in this domain is also evident in my YouTube channel and podcast, where I share insights on AI and its potential applications in the business world.

Notable career highlights include the growth and marketing of brands such as Sandhills Pediatrics, Tex Racing, and Longworth Industries - XGO, among others. These experiences have equipped me to deliver high-value strategies that result in tangible business outcomes.

Now, I am focusing on a new venture as an AI Business Strategist. I provide tailored AI integration solutions for Creative Pros ready to embrace the future. I'm excited to work with forward-thinking companies and help them unlock the transformative power of AI in their operations.

Most people think AI is replacing creativity.
It isn’t.
It’s replacing the parts of creativity that were never creative.

This is the uncomfortable truth no one wants to say out loud:
Skill ≠ Meaning-Making.

The carousel shows it plainly.

AI automates execution.
It accelerates style.
It removes friction from every technical task we used to consider “creative.”

But AI cannot choose what matters.
It cannot assign meaning, intention, judgment, or taste.
It can only expose the absence of those things in the people using it.

The missing ingredient in today’s creative teams isn’t capability.
It’s meaning-making.
The human layer.

And the cost of not having that layer just went up.
Dramatically.

Because if everyone now has infinite output at their fingertips…
the advantage no longer belongs to the team with the best tools.
It belongs to the team with the best discernment.
The best clarity.
The strongest point of view.
The most human operating system.

Winning designers won’t design the rules the AI follows.
Winning designers will design the meaning the AI expresses.

This is the true center of competitive advantage in the AI era.
This is the (Hu)man Element™ in action.

A Human Operating System enhanced by AI.
Not displaced by it.

If you want early access to the framework, drop “Hu” in the comments.
Or follow along — tomorrow we go deeper.

Brian Sykes  |  AI LAB

AI LAB • [Hu]man ::: 2

Creator of The (Hu)man Element™ | Equipping Creative Enterprises to Harness AI Without Losing the Human Touch | Keynote Speaker | Author

AI LAB • [Hu]man ::: 2

Most YouTube creators don’t have a content problem. 
They have a workflow problem.

That is why today I’m kicking off a 14-day experiment called -
YouTube, Upgraded.

Short lessons. Smart tools. Daily moves you can actually use.
The goal is simple.
Make better decisions. Produce faster. Measure real progress.

Day 1 is live now. Your baseline begins today.
The rest of the series will run on my Substack, and I will drop each day’s link in the comments.

If you share your YouTube channel in the comments, I will give you one month of my Substack for free.
I want you to test these upgrades on your own channel... and share your results after 1 month. I want to see what happens when creators stop guessing and start using AI with intention.

Let’s see how much better your next two weeks on YouTube can actually get.
Brian Sykes

Have a YouTube channel? Your baseline begins here. Take the first steps toward a smarter AI workflow. Start the experiment. Measure the change. Day 1.

Open article: YouTube, Upgraded: 14 Days of AI Power Moves • Day 1 by Brian Sykes • 3 min read

YouTube, Upgraded: 14 Days of AI Power Moves • Day 1

SOLVED: The "2-Character Problem" in AI Video • how to create a seamless conversation between two AI characters without "glitches" or "hallucinations."

If you have tried to create an AI video with two people in the same shot, you know the pain...

You upload your script. 
You generate your characters. 
You hit "Animate." 
And then... chaos. 

The wrong mouth moves. The characters swap voices. Or, my personal favorite, the AI hallucinates a random "third arm" floating in the middle of the table.

This is the "Two-Character Problem."

Most current AI video tools with voice capabilities, are built to deal with one face at a time. When you introduce a additional faces, the model gets confused about who is speaking.

In today’s video breakdown (a small clip is shared here), I walk you through the exact workflow I discovered to fix this completely—resulting in a perfectly lip-synced, multi-character scene. 

For the FULL 20-minute tutorial, click the link to my YouTube video in the comments. Let me know what you think! 

Happy Thanksgiving.

Brian Sykes

Stop learning AI tools.
Start building a system.

The market is flooded with "tool-first" AI tutorials. 
They're missing the point.

This is what creative leaders are actually struggling with:
• "My team's outputs feel generic. How do I protect our unique voice?"
• "Clients expect 'faster, cheaper.' How do I protect our creative value?"
• "What are our IP, licensing, and QA policies for AI?"

These aren't tool problems. 
They're workflow and governance problems.

The barrier to solving them isn't skill; it's psychology. 
We're stuck in "I'll learn it later" mode. 

I've written a short manifesto on the one mental trap holding our industry back and introduced the system for "micro-wins"  that solves it. 

I'm building the framework for creative teams that moves beyond prompts and into production.

It’s called the (Hu)man Element.

Read the attached PDF. 
If you're ready for a real framework, comment "I'M IN" below to get on the waitlist for the founding cohort.

Brian Sykes  |  AI LAB
#GenerativeAI #CreativeOperations #AIStrategy #AIEthics #DesignLeadership #AILAB

(Hu)man Element • AI LAB

The human hand controlling the puppet.

These images were created for my post on the [Hu]man Element, focused around the idea that AI doesn't remove the human layer, it exposes it.

For the visuals, I turned myself into a felt puppet in various Spider-Man poses. Not to show off prompt engineering. 
To make a point about agency.

A puppet is useless without the hand controlling it. 
AI is powerful, but meaningless without human intent.
The winning designers won't just design the rules AI follows. 
They'll design the meaning AI expresses.

The most human company wins.
Brian Sykes | AI LAB



So, why the Spidey-posed puppet images?

They're a visual metaphor for my Day 2 thesis: 
I literally put yourself (as a felt puppet—already a human-controlled analog object) into dynamic, impossible poses. 

The Spidey reference isn't about "cool comic book imagery" (though it is...)
It's about power and responsibility. 
It's about the human hand controlling the puppet. 
It's about agency.

AI LAB • Using Pose References in Nano Banana Pro

Most companies think they have an AI problem.
They don’t.
They have a Human Operating-System problem.

Giving your team access to AI tools doesn’t mean you get lift.
It means you exposed your existing limitations.

This is the silent truth no one wants to say out loud:
Access ≠ Implementation.
>>> The carousel shows it plainly. 

Teams aren’t struggling because the tools are bad.
They’re struggling because tools don’t change people.
Tools only reveal them.

AI removes friction.
But it also removes excuses.

And in that exposure, you find the real competitive advantage:
The most human company wins.
The one that understands identity, judgment, taste, clarity, intention, and the psychological patterns that drive behavior.

That’s what I’m launching next:
The (Hu)man Element™.
A Human Operating System enhanced by AI.

If you want early access to the framework, drop a “Hu” in the comments.
Or just follow along — things are about to get interesting.

Brian Sykes  |  AI LAB

AI LAB • [Hu]man ::: 1

Not a deep dive... just 2 quick samples from the Nano Banana 2 waters - sharing a bit of what it can do. 
1 • Text in Image (yeah, it is really good at that)
2 • Detail Detection & Incremental Changes

Brian Sykes

What can the great Nano Banana 2 do? Here are just a couple things... with more highlights to come. I have not gotten specific into what Nano Banana 2

Open article: Google Nano Banana 2 by Brian Sykes • 1 min read

Owning Your Audience: Why I Chose Substack for AI LAB (and What I Learned Along the Way)

After publishing 170+ editions of my LinkedIn Newsletter (and reaching over 175K article views in a year) + 588 Substack Posts (averaging 33k views a month), 100+ articles on Medium (averaging 2k views a month), testing multiple different platforms… one truth stood out: 
--- if you don’t own your audience, you’re just renting attention.

I’ve tested them all—LinkedIn, Medium, Podia, and Substack—and each plays a different role in how I teach and connect with creative professionals learning AI.

Here’s what worked, what didn’t, and why Substack became home base for the AI LAB.

👇 Read the full breakdown and real numbers:
Brian Sykes

Substack... now that is a great question, and one that requires some insight on my decision I actually tried a number of things simultaneously: Linked

Open article: Owning Your Audience: Why I Chose Substack for AI LAB (& What I Learned Along the Way) by Brian Sykes • 5 min read

Owning Your Audience: Why I Chose Substack for AI LAB (& What I Learned Along the Way)

Got another "Rajib" message yesterday.
"I can fix your YouTube SEO and grow your channel!"

Rajib's selling the wrong medicine.

SEO is dead last in YouTube's priority list. Literally. Last place.
While creators obsess over keywords and tags, the algorithm obsesses over something else entirely.

I mapped out YouTube's actual growth sequence:
1. Avatar & Value (Who watches? Why should they care?)
2. Packaging (Thumbnail + Title = Click or scroll?)
3. Hook & Retention (First 30 seconds = stay or leave?)
4. Satisfaction (Did you deliver the promise?)
5. Session Time (One view becomes three?)
6. SEO (YouTube needs context. That's it.)

Notice where SEO sits? 
After everything that actually matters.

Your thumbnail stops the scroll - or it doesn't.
Your hook keeps them watching - or it doesn't.
Your content creates binges - or it doesn't.

SEO just helps YouTube categorize your video. It doesn't make anyone watch.

I've built two YouTube channels. Run a 23-year agency. Taught this to hundreds of creators.
The ones who grow focus on Identity > SEO.
The ones who struggle chase keywords like it's 2010.

Rajib's template pitch treats YouTube like Google Search.
But YouTube isn't a search engine anymore.
It's a recommendation engine.

And recommendations follow satisfaction, not keywords.

Day 10 of YouTube, Upgraded drops tomorrow.
Visual identity - the thing that makes your videos recognizable before anyone hits play.

That's what grows channels.
Not SEO.

Brian Sykes  |  AI LAB

Link to the full breakdown in comments.

Ideate - a Nifty New Feature in the Adobe Universe of AI

We have seen canvas-based creation in the AI space before. 
Did Adobe do it better? 

I believe Adobe's potential competitive advantage is through interface design rather than just raw AI capabilities.

Dive into the product (and my perspective) in today's Substack.
Brian Sykes

Meta’s images will suddenly look very familiar.
     Turns out, they should.

Midjourney’s DNA just went mainstream—inside Meta’s free AI.
     What used to cost $30/month now costs nothing to millions of Meta fans.

The question isn’t who has access anymore.
It’s who has taste and knows how to wield it - professionally.

Get the scoop on my Substack.
     Link in comments.

Brian Sykes

#Meta #Midjourney #ImageGeneration #GenAI

I had a few people text me on the side and say they missed the interview I had with Big Al Gruswitz on The Main Event... so here it is. 

The LINK (in the comments) is to a Substack post with the YouTube embedded - and of course, some note and takeaways from me to help lend clarity around the content shared.

1. The Pivot to “Back to Basics” • [08:26]
2. Adobe Firefly: The “Trojan Horse” of AI • [13:28] 
3. The “Ideate” Workflow • [20:23]
4. “Dirty AI” vs. Commercial Safety • [27:35]
5. The AMP vs. RAMP Philosophy • [36:19]
6. Live Demo: Conversational & Iterative Editing • [46:08] – [51:29] 


Link in comments...
Brian Sykes

If you think SEO grows your channel… you’re building the wrong channel.
And you are definitely focusing on the wrong thing.

I break the myth in today’s bonus lesson.
Short. Direct. Necessary.
Linked.

Brian Sykes | AI LAB

Creators obsess over SEO. The algorithm doesn’t. The audience doesn’t. YouTube sure doesn’t. If you chase SEO… none of my 14 Days of YouTube Lessons -

Open article: BONUS: The One Thing That Will Break Your YouTube Channel (If You Don’t Fix It) by Brian Sykes • 4 min read

BONUS: The One Thing That Will Break Your YouTube Channel (If You Don’t Fix It)

Most creators think they need better gear.
🔥 No 🔥 
They need a better system.

I just spent 14 days tearing YouTube creation down to the studs…and rebuilding it into a workflow any creator can run. If you make videos, this might be the most useful thing you save all year.

📌 SAVE THIS if you make YOUTUBE videos.

I pulled every core lesson, every prompt, every workflow, and every optimization into one place.
14 Days.
3 bonus deep dives.
A complete creator operating system.

Save it now so you don’t lose it later.
Your future self will thank you.

Brian Sykes
___

💬 Want a Video Course Instead?

If all of this feels TL:DR, and you’d rather watch a full video-based course with every prompt included, just comment “YOUTUBE” below.

If there is enough interest – I will produce it, and share details as soon as it’s ready.

Assetization • 'examines how assets are constructed and how a variety of things can be turned into assets; analyzing the interests, activities, skills

Open article: The YouTube Creator's AI Workflow: System & Assetization by Brian Sykes • 3 min read

The YouTube Creator's AI Workflow: System & Assetization

Day 2 of YouTube Upgraded (the AI amplifier). Today’s post is about the 5-tool set for “Right Ideas, Not Just More” Research Stack Creator-First Workflow.

Five stages. Five tools. Each chosen because it solves a specific part of the research process.
• Gemini for the Landscape
• Perplexity for the Precision
• NotebookLM to uncover Patterns
• Claude to Humanize
• ChatGPT for Frameworks

This is the cleanest, fastest, most reliable way to find stronger ideas, not just more ideas, and uncovering the videos worth making.

Images are from a Midjourney anchor image (with me as an OmniReference), with varying camera angles created with Googles Nano Banana.

Brian Sykes

Link to the Substack post in the comments.

Why do audiobooks sound stilted?
Why do podcasts feel robotic?
Why do videos sound 'written'?

The problem isn't the voice.
It's that we write for readers, not listeners.

Speech is messier. More rhythmic. More emotionally punctuated.

Today's article shows you 4 shifts to fix this:
1. Rhythm over grammar
2. Vocal punctuation
3. Strategic emphasis
4. Commanded emotion

The lesson isn't just about AI. It's about better writing.

[Link in comments]

Brian Sykes | AI LAB

Editing doesn’t take hours because it’s hard.
It takes hours because you’re doing it out of order.

Day 7 in my series YouTube, Upgraded: AI Power Moves, I show how AI handles the “boring 70%” of your edit.
Pre-cut your timeline. Clean your A-roll. Auto-fix your sound.
Generate the B-roll you never captured.

If Day 6 helped you film better.
Day 7 helps you finish faster.

Full breakdown inside the AI LAB Substack (link in the comments).
Brian Sykes

Comment with your YouTube channel to get featured + a free month of my Substack.

Knowledge is power.
Information control is power.

But we've reached an absurd inflection point: humans now modify and contort their language to appease algorithms and avoid censorship bots.

Technology is meant to serve humanity - not the other way around.

Scroll through social media. Notice what's missing. 
People aren't murdered - they're "unalived." 
Suicide becomes "sewerslide." 
Death is reduced to skull emojis.

We have words for these things. Real words. Words that carry weight, demand attention, force acknowledgment.

Instead, we get linguistic baby-talk and bizarre coded language where serious topics get marginalized into juvenile-sounding euphemisms. Why? Because platforms have trained us to fear the invisible hand of content moderation.

Here's 3 modified to pass the algorithm's test (revised for your safe reading):
• Shakespeare Sonnet 139: "Yet do not so, but since I am nearly 💀, / Finish me outright with looks, and end my 😢"
• Exodus 20:13: "You shall not 🚫👤"
• R.D. Laing: "Life is transmitted through spicy time and everyone eventually 💀"

There it is. Shakespeare reduced to emojis. Biblical commandments turned into rebuses. Profound philosophical observations about human mortality sounding like a teenager's TikTok caption.

Those don't bear the same weight as:
• Shakespeare - Sonnet 139  - "Yet do not so, but since I am near slain, / Kill me out-right with looks, and rid my pain".

• Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder."

• R.D. Lang - "Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent".

The essence isn't just stripped - it's obliterated. The gravity, the poetry, the precision of language that took millennia to refine... replaced by symbols and baby-talk because we're terrified of the algorithm's invisible hand.

This causes real harm:
• Trivializes serious issues ::: suicide prevention resources become unfindable
• Creates algorithmic gaslighting ::: punished without explanation
• Inverts the power dynamic ::: we serve the system, not vice versa

We're contorting human language to appease systems that were supposedly built to serve us.

This is linguistic dystopia.

The cruel irony? 
This censorship doesn't actually prevent harm. People still discuss these topics - they just do it in ways that are harder to track, harder to study, and harder to provide resources for.

What makes this particularly insidious is that it's not even transparent censorship. It's shadow bans, algorithmic suppression, demonetization - systems that punish without explanation.

--

So while I talk about technology and the beauty of its usefulness, there are topics on the converse side worth bring up. Where do you see this heading if it continues?

Brian Sykes | AI LAB

Tools for Video:
Gemini 2.5 ::: scripting lyrics
Suno V5 ::: music
LTX Studio ::: Images & Video
How To ::: I will share on YouTube + my Substack
Links in comments.

Your videos aren’t slow because you edit poorly.
They’re slow because you film blind.

Day 5 fixes that.
Repeatable shot lists.
Clear purpose.
Faster production.

Full article in today’s newsletter & the AI LAB Substack.

Brian Sykes

Over the past five days, I’ve been breaking down a creator-first workflow for making better YouTube videos using AI. Not shortcuts. Not gimmicks. Actu

Open article: YouTube, Upgraded: Days 1–5 Recap (& why today’s lesson changes everything) by Brian Sykes • 2 min read

YouTube, Upgraded: Days 1–5 Recap (& why today’s lesson changes everything)

If filming feels exhausting, it’s not you.
It’s your prep.
Day 6 shows how AI fixes that before you hit record.

This is the next step in my 14-day series, YouTube, Upgraded, where I’m walking creators through the exact workflows I use to plan, structure, film, edit, and publish videos with far less friction.

Days 1–5 took us through baselines, research, scripts, storyboards, and shot lists.
Day 6 breaks open the one thing every creator struggles with.
A-Roll that actually sounds like you.

Full article inside the newsletter.
Drop your YouTube channel in the comments to get featured and get a month free to my Substack.

Link in comments to Day 6.

Brian Sykes  |  AI LAB

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Kacy Maxwell

Brian Sykes

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The Battle

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Followers

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brian Sykes's LinkedIn Performance

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