- Before you decide something, have AI go find how real people already did it. It takes about two minutes.
- Ask for real, named examples with links. Not the AI's opinion.
- AI does what you check, not what you hope. Look at the work before you trust it.
- Used this way, AI is less of an oracle and more of a very fast research assistant.
I needed a name for this blog.
The first idea on the table was “Field Notes.” It sounded smart. It also meant nothing to anyone who wasn't already in my head.
My gut said people wouldn't get it. But a gut feeling isn't much to go on. So I asked AI to go look.
The two-minute method
I didn't ask, “what's a good name?” That gets you a list of guesses.
I asked it to go find how other founders and small agencies actually name their personal blog sections. Real sites. Real names.
A couple of minutes later I had a list with links. And a pattern jumped out.
- The names that work are plain. One small agency calls theirs a founder's note. Another just uses the owner's name.
- The clever names belong to people who already had a big audience before they picked them.
- Nobody who was starting from zero used a name you had to explain.
So the clever name lost. I went with Monkey Biz, which is already part of my company's tagline, plus three plain words that say what it is. Tech and life.
Don't ask AI what it thinks. Ask it what real people already did.
Then the same AI messed up
Same night. I gave the AI a package of social post designs. Nine different layouts. I'd built them on purpose so my posts wouldn't all look the same.
It made every post from one layout.
When I pushed back, it turned out it had read the summary and looked at the pictures, but never opened the actual design file. I had to tell it to go read the files. lol
Once it did, the work came back right. Eight posts, eight layouts, all animated like the designs called for.
What I took from both
AI is incredible at going to find out. It is not automatically careful.
It does what you check, not what you hope. So I use it like a very fast assistant, and I look at the work the way I would with any new hire.
Try this today
- Pick a decision you're stuck on. A name, a price, a layout, a first line.
- Ask your AI tool: find me 10 real examples of how others in my situation handled this. Include links.
- Ask: what do the ones that work have in common?
- Click two of the links yourself. If they're real and they say what the AI said, trust the rest a little more.
Questions people ask
How can I use AI for research before making a decision?
Ask it to find real, named examples of how other people in your situation handled the same decision, with links, and then ask what the successful ones have in common. This gives you evidence to compare instead of the AI's opinion.
Can I trust what AI tells me?
Trust it the way you'd trust a fast new assistant. It is very good at finding and summarizing, but it can skip steps or guess. Ask for sources, open a couple of them yourself, and check important work before relying on it.
What is a good way to name a blog or business section?
Look at what people starting from a similar place actually use. In my research, plain names that say what the thing is worked best for small businesses, while clever names mostly worked for people who already had a large audience.
