let it rip

everyday ai

# Everyday AI — Strategy Document

_Last updated: 2026-09-08T16:40:48Z_

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## Mission

Become the go-to media property for curious adults and small business owners navigating AI in their daily lives and work. The north star is the **HubSpot / The Hustle acquisition model**: build a high-trust content brand backed by a valuable email list. Content and subscribers are the core assets.

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## Brand

### Mark
**The Chip** — the central brand identity. Simple, memorable, evocative of AI without leaning into cliché.

### Color Palette
| Role    | Name   | Hex       |
|---------|--------|-----------  |
| Primary | Navy   | `#0B1F3A` |
| Base    | Paper  | `#F7FAFE` |
| Action  | Blue   | `#2563EB` |
| Accent  | Orange | `#FF6D0E` |

### Typography
- **Headings:** Space Grotesk
- **Body:** Inter

### Voice
Warm, smart, practical. Write for someone intelligent and curious but not a tech insider. Never preachy. Explain things like a knowledgeable friend, not a vendor.

**Banned words:** leverage, delve, landscape, unpack, nuanced, robust, holistic. No em-dashes.

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## Channels

### Primary Channels
- **X:** @everydayaifun — primary social for reach and discovery
- **LinkedIn:** Jack's personal account — dedicated Tuesday/Thursday slots (see below) plus opportunistic posts

### EAI LinkedIn Operating Model (updated Sept 2026)

EAI has two dedicated LinkedIn slots each week on Jack's personal profile:

**Tuesday: Useful Thing** — Promotes a specific piece, guide, tool, or prompt from everydayai.fun. The "here's something useful" frame. First comment always links to the specific EAI artifact. ~150–200 words.

**Thursday: Behind the Build** — Founder transparency on EAI itself: subscriber milestones, editorial decisions, what the content engine taught Jack that week. Building in public for EAI. First comment links to EAI signup or specific piece discussed. ~200–250 words.

**Site-first publishing model:** every piece lives on everydayai.fun first. From each piece:
- 3–5 X posts (thread or standalone)
- 1–2 LinkedIn posts (Tuesday and/or Thursday)

### Cadence
At least one new site piece per week. Quality over volume. Tuesday/Thursday LinkedIn slots pull from fresh publishes when available; fall back to archive when not.

### Email
- **Monday Reset:** ~400–500 words. Warm, practical. Sends Monday 11:00 UTC (7am ET).
- **Weekly Brief:** ~600–800 words. Curated AI news + SO WHAT. Sends Wednesday 14:00 UTC.
- Both reviewed and approved in LIR (not the EAI admin portal).

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## Content Pillars

1. Practical AI tools for everyday people
2. Building Everyday AI in public (founder transparency)
3. AI + small business
4. Prompt craft for non-developers
5. The "so what" of AI news — what it means for regular people

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## Site-Traffic Loop

LinkedIn (Tuesday/Thursday) → everydayai.fun (specific artifact or signup page). First-comment links always go to the specific artifact, never the homepage. The goal: LinkedIn generates interest, the site deepens the relationship and grows the email list.

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## Content & Email System (Locked Sept 22, 2026)

### Monday Reset (Mon 11:00 AM UTC)

**Format:** 30-second nudge, pre-written, rotates through 4 issues.

**Source:** `~/Documents/github/ai-education-guide/content/emails/monday-reset-00X.json`

**Structure:**
- `intro` — warm opener (30–60 words)
- `prompt` — title + actual AI prompt text + 1-2 line context
- `link` — URL + one-line why
- `question` — engaging closing question
- `signOff` — warm lead-in (sign-off appended by template)

**Rotation:** KV counter `monday-reset:next-index` cycles through issues 1–4. Each issue is human-written motivation, never generated.

**Approval:** Let It Rip only (letitrip.wtf, Email tab). Status `pending_review` → Jack edits/approves → status `approved` → publisher cron sends within 30 min.

### Weekly Brief (Wed 2:00 PM UTC / 10:00 AM EDT)

**Format:** News digest, AI-generated fresh from current events, 3–4 minute read.

**Generation:** Cron runs Wed 6:00 AM UTC → Claude generates from latest news → stored in KV → pushed to Let It Rip as `pending_review` → Jack reviews/approves in LIR → publisher sends within 30 min.

**Structure:**
- `subject` — the week's headline
- `intro` — warm AI-generated opener
- `stories` array (3 items):
  - Headline (plain text, no inline links)
  - "What this means for you" paragraph
  - URL on its own line (renders as "Read more →" button)
- `prompt` — Prompt of the Week (bracketed placeholders for user variables)
- `stat` — One stat about AI this week
- `closer` — warm AI-generated sign-off

**Voice:** Morning Brew tone — warm, informed, opinionated, never listicle-y. Taught by the email's top performers.

**CRITICAL — Never hand-draft a Weekly Brief unless the cron genuinely failed:**
- Hand-drafted briefs without all required fields (intro, prompt, stat, closer, subject) render with blank sections on send
- AI-generation is the point — current news = fresh signal, which is the whole value prop
- Fallback: if cron fails, use the `lib/brief/generator.ts` locally and push the markdown to LIR manually

### Approval Workflow (SINGLE LOCATION)

All email approval happens in **Let It Rip** (letitrip.wtf, Email tab):
1. Cron generates → pushed to `pending_review`
2. Jack reviews prose in the portal (can edit title, body, timing)
3. Jack changes status to `approved`
4. Publisher cron (every 30 min) picks up `approved` items → broadcasts via Resend

**NEVER approve in `/admin/weekly-brief` or `/admin/monday-reset`.** Those are debug-only fallbacks.

### Content Model (in Let It Rip)

- `project` = 'everyday-ai'
- `kind` = 'monday-reset' or 'weekly-brief'
- `channel` = 'newsletter'
- `title` = human-readable label (e.g. "Monday Reset — Sep 23: Meal Planning Prompt")
- `body` = full markdown prose (not JSON, not raw template)
- `status` = 'pending_review' → 'approved' → 'scheduled' → 'published' (or 'killed')
- `scheduled_for` = ISO 8601 timestamp (Mon 11:00 UTC, Wed 14:00 UTC)

### Cadence Rule

**DO NOT SKIP A WEEK.** Email is the flagship. Missing a Monday Reset or Weekly Brief breaks the contract with subscribers and the sending schedule.

If the cron fails or Jack is unavailable:
1. Check Let It Rip Email tab for any stuck `pending_review` items
2. If the email was generated but stalled on approval, Jack approves + it goes out next publisher run
3. If cron didn't run at all, manually generate locally and push to LIR
4. Last resort: notify subscribers in X/LinkedIn that we're pushing the email 24h (transparency over silence)

hermes updates this doc as we learn things. edit freely.