This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Debugging a modern business idea. Welcome to the podcast. We're going to hear today from a side hustler who built his business on personalized tech tutorials and code reviews, only to find these services rendered obsolete by the rise of AI in particular Microsoft's co-pilot. If you are a coder or a programmer, or otherwise working in a technical field, you probably know all about co-pilot. It is one of many AI tools, but it's probably the most popular for coders.
It just makes their life so much easier. It writes their code for them in a lot of cases. It does code reviews, it suggests different approaches and alternatives, basically saves people a lot of time, and it can also teach you along the way. This is not a sponsorship, by the way. This is just an actual story of how this guy's business was affected by the popularity and strength of this app/software/tool.
We're going to tell it in the context of Failure Friday, which is a collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, things that don't go so well, or things that happen where you have to adjust, which is exactly what happened here in today's story from Eric. Eric is from Nebraska. As you might guess, his business had a couple of challenges, specifically this whole thing about how what he was doing is now actually easier, cheaper, immediate. You don't have office hours with AI tools, 24 hours a day. You can go and check in.
It's funny, sometimes when I use Chat GPT or another tool, there's a previous conversation from a few days ago or something, I will go back and I'll be like, "Hey, are you ready to continue?" I actually ask the AI app that question because I feel like I should, like if I was having a conversation with a person, it's like we were talking about this a few days ago, but can we go back to it? Obviously, you don't actually need to do that because it's just always there. It's a tool, it's not a real person. But because these tools are so conversational, that's just how we tend to feel like we should talk to them. Anyway, let's hear the story from Eric about his business struggle.
I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap-up. My name is Eric and for the longest time, I prided to myself on being the go-to guy for tech tutorials. Especially when it came to debugging complex code. My whole business model was built on personalized tutorials and code review sessions. I offered something I believed was invaluable, a human touch in the logic-driven world of programming.
Then came the rise of AI in the tech tutorial space, specifically Microsoft's co-pilot, and it fundamentally disrupted my entire operation. At first, I watched with a mix of awe and apprehension as co-pilot began to gain traction. It promised instant accurate code reviews and programming assistance, something that took me hours of painstaking work to provide. I reassured myself that there would always be a demand for the nuanced understanding and personalized guidance only a human could offer. But as co-pilot's capabilities grew, so did my unease.
It wasn't just about reviewing code anymore. It was about teaching, fixing, and even writing code on a level that rivaled experienced programmers. It was available instantly and either for free or a very low cost. I remember the turning point vividly. A longtime client who had been with me since the beginning, called to cancel his upcoming sessions.
"Hey man, it's incredible," he said. His voice, a mixture of excitement and apology. Co-pilot suggested fixes for my code that I didn't even realize were issues, and it did it in seconds. I just can't justify paying for tutorials anymore. Calls or emails like this became more frequent, and with each one, my livelihood slipped further away.
The real kicker was trying to compete with something that didn't just offer a similar service, but did so on a scale and speed I couldn't possibly match. It was a sobering realization. No matter how much effort I put into my tutorials, I couldn't compete with an AI that had the backing of Microsoft, and the collective knowledge of the programming community at its fingertips. However, the disruption wasn't the end of my story. It was a pivot point.
I realized that while AI could teach and fix code, it couldn't replicate the human experience of learning. So I shifted my focus from mere tutorials to creating a mentorship program, emphasizing the journey of learning together, sharing frustrations and celebrating breakthroughs, something no way I could replicate. This journey taught me a valuable lesson about innovation and adaptability. The rise of AI in education, especially in fields as dynamic as technology, is inevitable. However, the need for human connection, empathy and shared experiences and learning remains irreplaceable.
My business may have started with tech tutorials, but it's growing into something far more meaningful, a community where budding programmers can find not just answers, but also encouragement, understanding and have a sense of belonging. That story will ultimately be a big success. Well, obviously, AI tools can be helpful in lots of ways. They're definitely changing so many industries. Perhaps you use them in your work.
If you don't use them yourself, probably somebody else at your workplace is using them. Pretty much every company is using AI in some form or fashion. In programming, in particular, tools like Copilot definitely make things easier, but of course, they then affect somebody's business like Eric's. What do you do? You could complain about it or you can adapt and just find a way to do something else because you're smart.
You have a lot of ideas. Sometimes the best thing to do is to let go of one idea and pursue another one. As I often encourage you, nothing wrong with changing your mind or as I said, just accepting reality. In this case, I want to thank Eric for sharing this story, and I want to remind Eric and everybody out there, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. sidehustleschool.com, we got some resources there, show notes for every episode, free tools and such.
You can ask a question. This has been episode 2,687. I'll be back again tomorrow, 2,688 coming up. It's always completely free. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School.
From the Onward Project.
