Staying Human In The Age Of AI

Welcome to this issue of The Austin Business Review, a weekly roundup of great local events and insights for Austin business owners (plus some other cool stuff for your life outside of work).

Calm week on the events side, but I’ve got something great for you…

Katy Ward is a friend in town, and one of the more thoughtful experience-builders I know. Her whole focus is helping brands be vividly human, as AI slop becomes more and more prevalent.

If you’re looking for a way to connect more authentically in 2026, you’ll enjoy her guest post down below. Her newsletter is a consistent bright spot in the week.

-Ethan

PS. Last day to snag pre-sale pricing on the newsletter class I’m teaching in Jan. Specifically built for operators focused on driving revenue, this is the lowest price it’ll ever be offered for again. If you want a taste of what’s inside, join me today for a free session I’m teaching.

Upcoming Events

🗓️ TODAY: Founder Coffee Tasting: For you early-birds reading this, drop by Chris Taylor’s Red Fridge Society for coffee and a chance to hang with the founders of Cold Cycle, the innovative new machine that makes cold brew in minutes rather than hours

🗓️ TODAY: Nerd Nite ATX: Like a local version of TED - This month’s theme is “Your Life, Designed and Quantified,” with talks on Wearable Tech and designing your life with purpose in the age of algorithms

🗓️ Dec. 19: Year-End Coworking & Annual Reset: Okay, there’s a lot going on here… Silent coworking. Not-so-silent networking. Plus more than a half-dozen mentors with expertise in everything from fundraising to supply chain, marketing, and finance to help you think through the coming year.

🗓️ Dec. 19: TWIB December Luncheon: Texas Women in Business is hosting their final lunch of the year at Chez Zee. Ticket fees help support grant recipients next year, so if ever there was a time to snag one for you and a friend, this is it.

Here’s Someone You Should Know In 2026…

I’ve spent each of the last few weeks introducing you to one person I think you should know heading into the new year, in order to get connected here in ATX.

They’ve come from different backgrounds – law, startups, art, etc – but the thing they all have in common is that they’re incredibly thoughtful organizers of in-person communities here in town.

Katy Ward is no exception.

One of the more skilled story-tellers I’ve ever met, she typically uses that skill to help brands connect better with their ICP.

But she also organizes these Vivid Parlor events (you’ve seen ‘em many times in this email) that combine art, music, thoughtful conversation, and always, a sense of surprise.

Be sure to connect with her here, and subscribe to her newsletter (it’s a favorite read each week). And if you’re a health + wellness brand looking to make your mark, learn more about her work here.

1. Looking back on the year, what surprises you most about what you’ve accomplished in the business? What were you not expecting? 

I’d been running a StoryBrand copywriting and strategy business for 7 years in February. I didn’t expect to realize this year that it was time to let go of StoryBrand, pivot my offers, build my own framework, and effectively launch a different consulting business with a different name and new positioning. To be very honest, it was incredibly destabilizing and disappointing for a few months. I felt sort of outmoded and lost.

The satisfying outcome has been that this new consulting business aligns with the art that I make and the events I’ve been hosting, which have all been around helping people feel more human and alive. I decided to step on the soap box that AI automations are making our businesses unrelatable and robotic, and it won’t be very long before digital marketing will just fail as customers get the AI ick. 

So now, I’m taking the stand that I’m the person to make sure the whole funnel is intentional, relatable, correctly positioned, and emotionally intelligent. I’m graduating from short copywriting projects to retainer consulting and brand direction, to be the go-to person to prepare a brand for growth. Basically, conversion and retention marketing that feels human. I’m focused on wellness brands, because I enjoy that niche and because they have the least grace for AI slop in their branding/messaging. 

It feels like captaining the resistance to dehumanization and commodification, and I like being contrary about ‘the glories of AI.’ I’m picturing doing a talk in a wickedly bright outfit for a bunch of near-siborg-level tech folk and telling this dystopian cautionary tale: “Hark! If you focus too much on AI efficiency and not enough on people and feelings in your funnel… you face doom. Doom! But I can help… some of you!”

We’ll see if it works, I’m technically still mid-launch!

2. What’s one hard or unconventional decision you made this year that worked out well? What helped you make that?

I decided to treat my arts & culture events like a second business, lean into the persona of the artist, and treat the brand like a legitimate part of my business strategy instead of as a fun hobbyists’ way to show my paintings. That event brand is called Vivid Parlor, my newsletter is called Vivid Candor, and I finally decided to rename my marketing business ‘Vivid Brands.’ 

It’s worked out well in the sense that it’s incredibly satisfying to have one message and one moniker, ‘vivid.’ That’s my thing, and it feels very authentic. Going into 2026, I do one thing: I help businesses and individuals feel more human. My contribution and about-ness is helping everyone around me feel more alive, and the idea that I can now do that through business and art is compelling enough to make the enormous amount of change worth it.

The decision to go all in on this direction was partly circumstance: my previous offers just stopped selling. My affinity for the business I had turned into the Sunday Scaries. Change was upon me, and even though I felt sort of abandoned at first, I realized the chaos afforded new choices that felt even more exciting to me.

I’m not a hustler. I didn’t care about working harder, climbing ladders, or ‘blowing past my revenue goals.’ The choices were intuitive and based on the day-to-day experiences I want to have, and the motivation was a bit from anger at the forced change when my plan was to keep working a steady business while I grew my art & events side-passion. 

It turns out that so much change, frustration, and stubbornness to do the things that bring me joy made me a better writer and artist. And although none of these things I’m up to are technically ‘successful’ or fully stable yet, they feel like The Right Path. For me, nothing beats inner resolve when it comes to moving forward in life.

3. What’s one book that stuck with you most this year. (DIG DEEP - looking for titles you won’t see on the NYT list)

I found this obscure and incredible novel on a trip to Amsterdam that changed my writing style. It’s called The Great Ideas by Suzanne Cleminshaw (1999), and it’s basically out of print.

The book is a mystery novel about a teenage girl whose sister dies just before she’s born. The story is fairly mundane, but the way it’s written made it absolutely riveting to me. The writing style goes between highly visual narrative prose, encyclopedia entries, mythology references, and imaginary scenes, which all layer together to give a stream-of-consciousness depth and nuance that just blew me away. 

I started copying passages this year and then journaling scenes and reflections from my own life in a similar style. It was like getting permission to write the way I wanted and break more rules than I had before. I hope the journaling I’ve been up to turns into a book about ‘living vividly’, but I don’t feel very pressured about it. Mostly I’ve enjoyed the way my inner dialogue becomes so much more poetic and appreciative when I’m writing this way.

4. What’s one use of money this year that significantly improved your work or personal life?

I have a few: I saw a trainer to help re-format my movement patterns and fully recover from an injury, and after a year with him I finally could relate to my body as capable. I think that investment prepared me for all the change that’s happened this year. A previous version of me would have buckled in overwhelm or felt too cautious of my energy to take on more events and a new business direction. 

The other one is more of a mental spend of money: I stopped thinking of my time as money. I’ve always had a project-based fee structure and avoided charging hourly rates, but the chaos in my finances this year (read: my business stopped working for months and months) had me mentally adjust. I’ve leaned farther into the mindset that if I’m on mission and paying attention, the money comes. 

When I rest deeply, I’m far more leveraged in the value I create during my active weeks. I had to take a lot of “no’s” this year, over and over and over, and I had to further decouple my sense of personal and working value from the way opportunity moved around and past me. My assurance that I’d figure things out went up significantly– even if that meant working a restaurant job while I write and paint. 

In a time when AI is making us all feel like we can’t produce enough value via just one mind and body, I finally went, “No.” That’s not how money will work for me. I am not only a commodity as a worker or artist. I’m not a unit of lagging productivity. I’m a relevant part of a community that has real human needs, and I’ve put my hand up to serve them somehow. Money will follow.

5. What’s a new question you plan to ask more often next year in your work? Why?

“What joy is in this work?”

I don’t really believe in only doing work that makes you happy or ‘fulfills your purpose.’ It’s nice to have, but it’s a bit precarious to expect that all the time. If I had to go work at a restaurant this year, I’d feel like a failure with that line of thinking. 

There is joy in work, and I’m okay with some of my work being a means to fund the things that matter most to me. I tend to think that my purpose isn’t some grandiose magnum opus in the future, dangling from an American Dream incentive stick. It’s whatever is required of me today. That means, the joy isn’t only at climax points. It’s not tied to specific outcomes. It’s now, and I don’t want to miss it.

6. What’s one thing prospective members should know about your plans for next year? Brag about the cool sh*t you’ve got planned

1. If you want to bring the humanity back into your brand and massively boost your conversions/retention (before you bust your funnel with new traffic), reach out. I just launched my hand-illustrated website all about it: www.yourvividbrand.com
   
   

2. If you want an outlet to feel human and alive with thoughtful people, come to a Vivid Parlor event. I intend to turn Vivid Parlor into a membership this year, with salon-style discussions, maker spotlights and talks, open studios to tinker, and arts and culture experiences. Subscribe to Vivid Candor to stay posted about events.

FINALLY: Look at your camera roll… What’s one photo you took this year that means a lot to you? Why?

Here are three… The birthday one is great because I really have embraced this ‘vivid’ thing this year, and so many wonderful people were there. The next one, which is better as a video, is finally setting up my full art studio to show at the Studio Tour. The last one is my latest painting, which was really putting myself out there with how whimsical and odd it is.

Be sure to sign up for Vivid Candor for more from Katy, and to hear about events you won’t forget…

That’s all for this week!

Email me here if you want to share any feedback, or let me know about an event you’re hosting.

Until next week,

-Ethan