Behind the Build: One founder's journey from basic prompts to AI that runs without me — Week 3 of 4

Remember when creating content was fun?

That's the feeling I'm chasing, and it's exactly why I'm building an AI agent to run my content department without me.

The parts of content that are a drag? The production. Research. Making carousels.

Let AI do all of that.

When the boring parts are off your plate, that's when creativity returns. When content becomes fun again. And when content is fun for you, it tends to do more for you than the posts you scrambled to get out the door just to stay visible.

I'm building my first AI agent in real time that can handle the research, the drafting, the repurposing, and the formatting without me. I approve content instead of creating it from scratch.

And when the boring stuff runs without me, creativity gets to be the priority again.

But before I can build an agent that runs my content department, I had to make a deeply boring decision: where does my content department actually live?

This week I built the architecture.

There are two keys to an AI agent that make or break the whole thing.

One: The architecture.

A good agent needs the proper file structure. (Super boring. Extremely important).

Two: Where the architecture lives.

When your agent architecture lives on your local server, instead of just inside the tool, you can set your agent up across any tool.

So when major upgrades happen, you don't have to go through the giant pain of migration (see the recent exodus from ChatGPT to Claude. But then ChatGPT just dropped a major upgrade). That is going to keep happening. File structures that you own mean you point the tool at your architecture, instead of building it inside the tool.

Here's the architecture every agent needs (and what I'm building in real time):

Having good skills files alone has saved me hours a week on content creation (and made content fun again).

But I want to take even more off your plate.

So how do you go from this file structure to an actual agent that does work without you?

That's what we'll get into next week.

In the meantime, there are 8 days left until my talk at Girl Foundry to show you how to step off the content treadmill.

This week: I'm test running the system for the first time. Newsletter research, full draft, repurposed into Instagram and LinkedIn posts.

If you want off the content treadmill too…

This is becoming a course. If you want priority access and waitlist-only perks before it opens, get on the list now.

Next week: scheduled tasks are the missing piece that take you from prompting ai, to an agent that does work without you. Learn the 3 ways to set this up properly so you can finally step off the content treadmill.

xx

Emily

💄 Anthropic launched Claude for Small Business this week, with connectors for QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, and Canva already built in. The closest thing yet to an AI operations team that lives inside the tools you're already paying for.

💄 Martha Stewart just co-founded an AI startup called Hint that manages your home before the leaky ceiling becomes a disaster, raised $10M seed, and is launching this summer. Proof that every age group can leverage AI ⚡

💄 The TAKE IT DOWN Act took effect this week: platforms now have 48 hours to remove nonconsensual deepfakes after a victim reports them, or face federal penalties. 96 to 98% of deepfake content online targets women. Stay safe out there 💜

💄 Cartier is accepting applications right now for its Women's Initiative grants: $100K, equity-free, open to women-owned businesses in any sector and any country, deadline June 16. Get that money, honey 🤑