09/08/2026
Yesterday, I handed my life and my business over to AI for the day… and actually did what it told me to do. 😳🤖
What started as a bit of fun turned into a 14-hour challenge involving a last-minute trip to Mansfield, promotions, deadlines, a completely chaotic shop, a 3-hour TikTok Live and me trying to keep up with a machine that apparently thinks humans operate at Wi-Fi speed. 😂
So what actually happened? Did AI make me money? Did it nearly finish me off? And the biggest question… would I EVER hand my life over to AI again?
Grab a coffee ☕️ because this is a long one… and I’ve got a lot to tell you. 👀
I feel like a little Sunday update is due because this week has definitely been an up and down one, but somehow it has ended on a really positive note. 💚
August can be such a difficult month for retail. The schools are off, people are away on holiday, high streets are quieter and shops are quieter. When you run a small business, you can’t just sit there and wait for September to arrive. You have to think of ideas, try things and sometimes do something completely different.
And yesterday I definitely did something different. 😂
As many of you probably noticed, I decided to have a bit of fun with AI. The original idea was simple. I was going to let AI plan our Saturday evening Live from 7pm until 10pm, including the promotions, competitions and what I should do.
Well… somehow that turned into a 14 hour challenge. 😂
It actually started around 8am when I began chatting to AI about promotion ideas and what we could do differently. There are so many interesting ideas that come out of those conversations that I decided I wasn’t just going to pick the easy ones. If I was doing this, I was going to do it properly and actually listen.
Big mistake. 😂
One of the promotions needed stock that wasn’t even in Warrington, so suddenly AI had me travelling to Mansfield to get it.
And I discovered something yesterday. AI has absolutely no understanding of how long things take in real life. 😂
It answers you in about two seconds, so apparently it thinks humans operate at the same speed. Drive to Mansfield, find everything, get back to Warrington, create content, prepare promotions, set up a three hour Live and somehow eat in between.
I was rushing everywhere. I was late. I was getting annoyed with AI because apparently I wasn’t keeping to its schedule. 😂 At one point I think food basically became grab something and run.
But I had said I was putting my day and my business in AI’s hands, so I stuck with it.
I eventually got back to Warrington with about an hour to prepare for the Live. Looking back, I definitely should have given myself more preparation time because the whole thing was such a last minute decision.
But for the very first time doing something like this, I think it was actually a huge success.
Last night was crazy. 💚
And this morning I woke up thinking about it all.
It showed me something really important. People don’t just want to come online and be sold something. People want to have fun. They want entertainment, competitions, surprises, excitement and something that makes them want to be part of it.
It has actually made me look at Gonk World differently.
I’ve been looking at some really inspiring businesses from around the world recently, and I think I’ve reached the point where I’m no longer satisfied staying at the level we’re at.
I want to see how far Gonk World can actually go.
I have lots of ideas going around in my head about what the next chapter could look like, but I’m keeping those ideas to myself for now. 👀😂
I also know that sometimes you need another pair of eyes and someone with experience to help you see what you can’t see yourself.
So I’m just putting this out there. If anyone reading this has genuine experience in branding, retail concepts or helping independent brands grow and move to the next level, I’d love to have a conversation.
I’m not saying I’m looking for some huge expensive agency or committing to a massive rebrand tomorrow. 😂 Sometimes one conversation with the right person can give you a completely different perspective.
So if this is your world and you think you might have something useful to bring to the conversation, send me a message. 💚
And then there is Whatnot. 😂
Friday definitely didn’t go the way I expected with the shipping situation, but Whatnot customer service has now come back to me and there may be a way of changing the shipping before I print the labels. I’m going to sit down and look properly at what can be done.
And I also want to say thank you to everyone who placed an order on Friday and hasn’t cancelled while I’ve been trying to sort this out.
If I cannot change the shipping, every affected order that stays with us will receive an extra Gonk worth £5 as a little goodwill gesture from me. 💚
We will get through that one too.
So today it’s back to reality. 😂
We need to clean the shop, get ALL that confetti out of the way because honestly, the shop looks like we’ve had a wedding party in there 😂 completely restock after last night, and then start packing all your orders.
I think we might be finding confetti for the next six months. 😂💚
I genuinely can’t believe how well yesterday went considering how rushed and completely mad the whole idea was.
But maybe that’s what I needed.
And I suppose I should finally answer those questions I asked at the beginning. 😂
Did AI make me money? Yes, it did.
Did AI nearly finish me off? Yes, it nearly did that as well. 😂
Would I ever hand my life and business over to AI again?
Probably yes.
And the reason is actually quite simple. The approach was completely different to anything I would have come up with or done myself. It pushed me to try things I probably wouldn’t have tried, approach the Live differently and think about the business from another angle.
Would I give AI 14 hours of my life every day? Absolutely not. I wouldn’t survive the week. 😂 But would I do this experiment again? Yes, I actually think I would.
This week had some moments where things really didn’t go to plan, and then one slightly crazy idea yesterday has made me wake up today looking at the whole business differently.
I don’t know exactly what the next level of Gonk World looks like yet.
But I definitely know I don’t want to stand still.
Something needs to change, something needs to grow, and I think I’m ready to find out just how far we can take this. 💚👀
