How to Stand Out Without Burning Out in the AI Era

How to Stand Out Without Burning Out in the AI Era

If you’re a coach, consultant, or creative entrepreneur, you’ve probably felt the pressure: Post more. Show up everywhere. Grow bigger, faster. It’s no secret that AI has made content creation easier than ever—but with that ease comes an overwhelming expectation to keep up.

In this episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, we explore what it really takes to rise above the noise and thrive—without sacrificing your sanity or soul. Joining me is Elliott Pittman, a strategist behind some of the biggest names in the coaching and consulting world. He’s here to drop some serious truth about visibility, value, and the magic of real connection.

Content Isn’t King—Clarity Is

From the start of our conversation, Elliott challenged the all-too-common hustle mindset. “Clarity in thought and clarity in direction is ten times more valuable than hustle,” he shared. And in a space that often glorifies doing more, this perspective is refreshing—and necessary.

The truth is, more content doesn’t automatically mean better results. You can post 30 times a day and still miss the mark if you’re not leading your audience somewhere intentional. “Ask yourself: How am I stepping my audience toward a product, or a conversation about a product?” Elliott explains. When every post becomes a thinly veiled sales pitch, people tune out fast.

Instead, success comes from alignment. Knowing who you are, who your audience is, and how your content fits into a broader conversation—not just a marketing strategy.

AI Can Mimic, But It Can’t Replace You

One of the biggest fears circling the expert industry is the rise of AI. But Elliott and I both agree: AI can’t replace the human experience. It can mimic tone, replicate information, and generate posts at lightning speed—but what it can’t do is draw from your lived experience, intuition, or insight.

“Your IP—your lived experience—is the edge,” Elliott said. “AI can’t recreate that.” The nuances of human connection—empathy, challenge, intuition—are where real coaching happens. It’s not about volume. It’s about depth.

This is especially relevant for coaches and consultants who feel intimidated by larger players with bigger budgets and AI-powered teams. The game isn’t won by shouting louder—it’s won by being real, relevant, and resonant.

Why More Followers Doesn’t Mean More Success

Vanity metrics are everywhere, but Elliott was quick to separate truth from illusion. “Some of our most profitable coaches have under a thousand followers,” he said. “And they’re posting once or twice a week. Because what they post actually matters.”

It’s not about how many people see your content—it’s about who is seeing it and how they’re engaging with it. The best-performing brands focus on trust, value, and consistency—not volume for volume’s sake.

That’s a powerful reminder in a world where follower counts are often mistaken for credibility. If your content feels more like a journal entry than a deliberate conversation, it may be time to realign your approach.

The Return of Real Human Connection

Elliott pointed to something we’re seeing more and more: the return of in-person events. Whether it’s a one-on-one VIP day or a thousand-person stage, people are craving real connection.

“There’s just something magical that happens when you’re human-to-human,” he said. And that magic can’t be replicated through a screen or algorithm.

It’s a call to slow down and ask: how can you bring more presence into your brand? Whether that’s hosting events, going deeper in your content, or simply being more intentional with how you show up online—connection is the new currency.

Redefining Growth and Success

We also talked about what happens when you stop chasing the traditional markers of success. I shared a bit about how I made the decision to simplify, scale back, and focus on profit and peace over sheer revenue.

Elliott echoed this mindset shift. “A lot of coaches hit $1 million in revenue and spend $1.1 million to get there,” he explained. “Meanwhile, we see others doing $200K a year with no team, no chaos, and way more freedom.”

There’s no shame in choosing a leaner, more aligned path. Growth can still happen—it just doesn’t have to come at the cost of your energy, values, or mental health.

Community, Mentorship, and Staying in Momentum

Finally, we closed our conversation by touching on the real reasons entrepreneurs stay in the game: community and support. Having mentors, clear goals, and a circle of people who get it can make all the difference when momentum stalls.

“It’s easy to feel like the worst entrepreneur ever on the bad days—and like a genius on the good ones,” Elliott said. “But neither is completely real. It’s about showing up, staying consistent, and leaning on your people.”

Whether you’re building from scratch or scaling toward exit, this episode is your reminder that you don’t have to do it all—or do it alone.

Final Thoughts

In a landscape flooded with content, the real differentiators are clarity, connection, and consistency. The pressure to be everywhere and do everything is real—but it’s not required.

Chapters List

00:00 Introduction to Elliot and the Advertising Landscape

03:19 The Pressure to Perform in the Coaching Industry

05:55 The Human Element vs. AI in Coaching

09:02 Quality Over Quantity in Content Creation

11:53 Navigating the Mindset of Building a Business

17:32 The Importance of Community and Mentorship

21:07 Future Directions and Exiting the Coaching Business

Full Transcript

Amanda Kaufman (00:00)

There's no way faster to lose an audience that you're growing than just posting for posting sake.

Speaker 2 (00:23)

Well, hey, hey, welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. I'm so excited to have you here today. And I'm also super excited to introduce you to Elliot Pittman. So Elliot is the founder of the Michael Curtis Media, which is a prominent advertising agency that's based in Austin, Texas. And he specializes in working with knowledge-based businesses. And you know what, if you're a coach,

that your knowledge base, if you're a consultant, knowledge base courses, all that stuff, information products, knowledge base. And Elliot has worked with some of the biggest names that you've heard of in the, uh, in the space. And he decided to come join us here on the Amanda Kaufman show. And I couldn't be more delighted. Welcome to the show, Elliot.

Speaker 1 (01:07)

Thanks, Amanda I'm super excited to be here. I'm a fan of yours as well and just excited to get in.

Speaker 2 (01:13)

Yes. So good. So good. So we have talked in a few conversations before we started doing the podcast, just about the nature of the industry and, you know, where it's going and everybody, you know, all industries are being really affected by this acceleration of AI and content proliferation. And, you know, the sense that I'm getting in the expert space is that there's so much pressure to perform.

And I was so curious, like, what's your take? You've been behind the scenes in some of the, these very big brands, but you've worked with so many people over the years in your space. Are you seeing the same thing of like this pressure to perform or what are you seeing with, you know, all the AI and everything that's unfolding right now?

Speaker 1 (02:00)

Sure, and like I said, I'm super happy to be here and excited to have this conversation. I do sort of agree with you. We've got 40 something clients now in the coaching consulting space specifically. And that sense of pressure, that sense of, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? Is our content valuable? Where do we go? What's the next step? We see that across the board. And this isn't something...

I think one of the big misconceptions that people have, especially when they're starting out is, you know, I'm the only one that has this thought, you know, like what's, I shouldn't, I'm concerned about like digging in and creating like my coaching program or doing much consulting because like I don't have it all together yet. I bet I'm the only person that has this thought. I can tell you being behind the scenes of launches and consultants that are doing that.

5 million, not 10 million, but 20 million plus, they're having the same thoughts. They have the same concerns, they have the same questions. And this isn't a new thing either. This isn't like a lot of people think that this is just with the onset of AI that people are feeling this and having these questions. No, this is something that's always been there. Now they're certainly accelerated that conversation with AI and that we certainly have seen a lot more people asking themselves that more consistently.

But it's a normal question. I think it's a human behavior thing. And for us, the thing that we come back to, the thing that we really lean into with our clients is what is your IP? You've got some stuff within you that you've learned that you want to teach others that frankly, AI is not going to be able to create from scratch.

Right. It's not going to be able to, we all have different experiences. We all have different campaigns that we've launched. We all have different teachers and coaches over the years that have taught us individual things that are based on that are, that are based on their experience. AI can try to replicate that and kind of reproduce that, but it's, it's never going to fully create that experience, that one-to-one human interaction that houses me forward.

Speaker 2 (04:06)

Absolutely, you know something we've been talking a lot about at the coaches Plaza has been the things that are human and the things that AI mimics, know, it mimics empathy. It mimics what it thinks will make you happy for example, and you know that that finer distinction of just realizing like AI because it's stuck in mimicry. The best it can do is appease you right but appeasing you is not the same thing as as activating joy and activating happiness is just.

What would you like? Yes, sir. You know, here you go. And that's a very different dynamic than when you're, for example, in a coaching relationship, where there could be some challenge in there and compassion in there and, you know, being able to read, read the room, you know, read the tonality and all of those kinds of things are very human skills that have a lot of value. And they've had a lot of value for a long time. And in my view, they're going to continue to have a lot of value. but I think and I'm curious about your take.

I think that the competitive edge is not so much what you know, right, or even the information that you have. It's more so what is that client experience that you're going to create? How do you make people feel when they're engaging with your brand? And I think that that's going to be more of a differentiator than anything. But I'm curious, would you argue with that? Would you add to that?

Speaker 1 (05:30)

I completely agree with that. That's one of the reasons we're seeing events coming back, not a little bit. Like we're seeing events, both small events and large events. some of our clients do events for one person or five or 10. We also have clients that are doing thousand plus person events that a year ago were struggling to fill up 200 person events because people are craving that one-to-one interaction or that one-to-many interaction.

And there's just something so magical that happens. I hate to put it in that language, but it's what it is. There's some type of magic or some type of connection really that happens there when you're human human that we don't get necessarily through AI and definitely not always to the screen. So the screen is still important, but that human touch is just, you just can't replicate it. It's just different.

Speaker 2 (06:19)

Yeah, absolutely. I'm getting invited to do some speaking events and things like that this year. And I was thinking, I'm like, wow, what a great opportunity to get back into the room. You know, and let's let's talk a little bit about the online experience. I think a lot of entrepreneurs feel a lot of pressure, again, that pressure to perform when it comes to, for example, on organic. Like if you're on

TikTok, example, you're not on there for three minutes before somebody screaming post 30 times a day, post 30 times a day. And there's like this really, you know, kind of aggressive and in my view, non sustainable way of just clamoring for all this attention. And the thing is, is that with with like the I feel like I'm getting a little stuck on the AI, but truly like the workflows and the priorities that people have.

It can feel a little impossible to start because if you're competing with somebody who has, you know, trained team and they've got the bots on their side and they're like doing all this stuff to be as prolific as possible, it can feel like why bother starting. So I'm curious what you would say to somebody who is maybe stuck in this loop of it's not good enough to compete. And also I can't even keep up with the volume. And also what's the point.

Speaker 1 (07:40)

Yeah, I think it's a great question. It's also a frankly, very common, right? It's a big challenge that people run into. And this is how I landed this. Cause again, we have clients truly that are that frankly fit the category, fit the mold of exactly what you're talking about. They're sending out, we have one client that's doing legitimately like 12 TikToks a day, 15 Instagram posts per day.

sending out hundreds of thousands of emails per day and they're multimillion less. Like, how do you keep up with that? And to me, and also the data also shows this, people are craving truth. People are craving real. People are craving well thought out, not just well intentions and well-meaning, but real interactions. People's audiences see through, again,

We're in a place now where people understand how prolific content can be. And your audience doesn't need to be millions. Your audience doesn't need to be hundreds of thousands. Frankly, some of our best performing coaches and consultants have a few hundred people in an email list that they had zero with last year. They have not even a thousand followers across all their socials combined. And they're posting once or twice a week, but only when they have something really valuable and real to share.

Right. They never fell into that cat, that trap of, gosh, I it's, eight o'clock in the morning. I have to post like what I'm having for breakfast. Like people are not going to follow me. Like no, the audience, I can understand where that mentality comes from. However, like your audience is actually your potential audience. And frankly, humans have kind of grown past that a lot of the novelty of posting to post has worn off in a lot of ways that can actually have negative effects for you.

Right? It's there's, there's no way faster to lose an audience that you're growing than just posting for posting sake.

Cause again, people, people become flat out immune to it. They won't want to pay attention to what you have to say. So whenever you are posting or whenever you are sharing something, make sure it's something of value or something that's humorous or something that they want to be entertained by, or they want to engage with. But just doing it for volume sake isn't going to get you the result that you want.

And I mentioned the data behind that. Again, some of our most, not only some of our most profitable, and I think that's something that it's a lot of coaches and consultants miss, right? A lot of coaches are like, I want to generate, you know, a million dollars this year or $5 million or $10 million. You know, they, if you look at the back end of those businesses, a lot of those businesses that are doing big revenue numbers. Okay, hey, I generated a million dollars this year.

I spent $1.1 million this year. Meanwhile, we see a lot of coaches that are, they started last year, they started a couple of years ago. They've got this business that they've grown to maybe $100,000, $200,000 a year in revenue. But also there's very little cost in it, right? Where it's like, hey, I generated $200,000 since my second or third or fourth year doing this. But the only cost I have is I don't have a big team, right? I don't have a lot of things to support and I don't have a lot of

big expenses behind this business. And it's not like profitable, but it's causing them to live the life that they want.

Speaker 2 (11:01)

Yeah, it's costing you your sanity is probably not worth the worth the investment, right? Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I've been on the on the both sides of that, you know, of just like high spend in or high, high revenue in high spend out high, higher risk, more chaos, bigger team, more to oversee. And, you know, I ultimately decided to like pull it way back. So we are now very lean.

very streamlined and like not only is the team a whole heck of a lot happier, our clients are happy because we're happy and there's just sort of like this, this whole vibe and our monthly revenue came down considerably, but our profit went way up and even more, you know, exciting for me as a business owner is we were able to start rolling out things that are more like subscriptions or monthly recurring. we were able to stabilize cashflow.

and go even like lower in price point, increasing accessibility, but actually made more. Right. And a lot of that came down to just, was the lifestyle behind it and just kind of going, okay, there may be a season when I want to grow that big again, but I don't want to grow like that. Like I want to grow the right way to get there. So yeah, couldn't agree more. You said something that really sparked something in me about content, like the quality.

the quantity quality argument. And one of the mistakes I made as a marketer and as a coach is I used to treat my social posts like journals, right? So they were like an extension of my journaling practice, except they were like public entries instead of a post. Can you talk to me a little bit about like, if I'm only posting...

say twice a week or even daily, but I'm not doing the mad posting strategy. I'm doing something that's much more deliberate. How do you look at quality? How do you know it's like a really quality post? And I think I've learned my lesson about not posting my journal entries, but what's your take on that? What makes it quality?

Speaker 1 (13:03)

Sure, I think it comes to a few different things. And I think that all spans from clarity on who you are and who your market is and what you're trying to get out of it. You mentioned something there about, you've changed the way your approach. You had a bigger business that was doing more revenue and you've scaled back and now you're doing so much better with profit.

You know, for a lot of years, like my background was, I was a startup guy. I worked with a bunch of VCs and private equity. was in that, know, hustle, hustle, hustle, like mentality for a long time. Like do more, do more, do more, do more. I've learned that clarity in thoughts and clarity in direction is 10 times more valuable than hustle, frankly. And that's my approach to people's, to my people's socials as well.

Like, hey, what is the, whenever you're going to post, know, again, it's social media. It's okay to be frivolous from time to time. Like I never said, that's not the case. You need to be engaging and you need to create an enjoyable experience that your audience is going to follow. When it comes to those quality posts, it becomes a question of like, Hey, what's the through line that I'm trying to build to, to, right? How am I, how am I baby birding or how am I, sorry, how am I stepping my audience towards either a products

or a conversation that I want to have with them about a product on the line, that's going to lead to that. Also, frankly, is this something that I would enjoy and I would appreciate reading, right? That's the other thing that we've really learned with audiences as well is if only if what we're writing every single time is purely like a CTA to buy something, again, your audience is going to turn on you very quickly.

and they'll either unsubscribe or will stop paying attention to you. So again, what is that long-term through line based on the clarity of your market and the clarity of what you're trying to sell and who you are is what's gonna get you there.

Speaker 2 (15:01)

So good. So good. You know, I like to say that when you're posting to social media, you're basically just using media to be social. So like, if you're the kind of person who would make a fart joke, you should probably somehow make a fart joke on your on your social media. Like, that's basically what I'm getting. Like, you know, it is using that media to be social, but also like social in a direction. know, there's so much again, getting

back to kind of that pressure, you know, that pressure to have really big accounts and huge follower counts and, you know, all these these I think a lot of people can kind of dismiss it as vanity metrics. And I'm like, I don't know. Like, I kind of look at it as like there's a level of social proof that does come with having a larger audience or more engagement on the things that you do post. I'm actually really curious on your take about that as well. You can be very successful with a smaller audience.

And but some of that I think also comes down to what is your definition of success. Yeah, so what's your take on the whole vanity metric argument? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:55)

and

I certainly think vanity metrics are a thing, but I think that most people that are concerned, how do put this? If you are considering the fact that you're, if you're concerned that you may be focused on vanity metrics, then your head is probably in the right place. Meaning like you're not, if you're genuinely thinking like, okay, am I doing this because I just, or am I,

Am I buying followers? There's lots of business that buy followers. I don't ever do that. Why am I doing this? Like what's going on there? That's not a thing. However, if you're doing things and posting to drive engagements for your audience, that to me is the most important question. And the reason engagement is important is because again, we're trying to have people take a step towards us. I love your analogy there around it being social and you're just being social online.

Right? You're having people take a step towards you and you're extending your hand as well. So they're able to do that. So that's my approach to it.

Speaker 2 (17:04)

I love that. love that. You mentioned that you have had that pivot or that transition from the hustle, hustle, go, go, go kind of guy to somebody who's more deliberate around accessing your clarity. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Because lately I've been getting a lot of questions in my coaching program. So this is a very selfish question. I'm getting a lot of questions in my coaching program around

You know, how do I navigate the chaos and the mind stuff that's going on while I'm building? How do I stay centered? How do I stay in momentum? I'm hearing a lot of people are basically well intended. They've got a plan. It seems like they're clear, but then they're hitting some kind of a wall and they lose motivation and they kind of turn away from the project for a bit. And then when they turn back, they're like, no.

I've got to do this big lift and there's like more resistance in that. So I'd love to hear, you know, what your take might be or what your philosophy is around balancing the intensity level that is required for any strategy, but not flipping into that place where you're either in blind hustler or flipping into burnout and got you got to shut it off. Like what, what's your take on that? How do you approach that?

Speaker 1 (18:25)

think there's three different aspects of this for me that really touched us, that are the most important of it for it. The first is, and I love to hear that you're dealing with this and hearing this in your one-on-one coaching sessions, because to me, the number one thing to get past that and focus on that is make sure you have coaches and mentors in your life that are helping hold you accountable, both to your long-term vision and to your metrics. It's so much easier.

for somebody to be standing outside of our situation to help us to be able to see like, okay, they're actually able to take a look at this full path and they see that it's a long windy path. And there's gonna be lots of different turns and twists. And there's lots of things that we're stuck on in this moment that they're not focused on the day-to-day of our business. Like they're not focused on, crap, did I post on Instagram at 747 this morning to get 17 people to like my post so I can have three phone calls.

They're not focused on that. They're focused on helping you like on the long-term journey. That's why I think mentorship and coaches are so important is to help you be that. And they can also help pull you up when you're getting stuck, right? That to me is number one. Number two is again, I hate to sound like a stereotypical marketer, having clarity on your data and what your long-term objectives and your long-term goals are, and then letting yourself be driven by short-term milestones.

And then when I say short-term milestones, we like to do yearly planning, then we would like to do quarterly goals, and then we have weekly and sometimes daily milestones. Just like, are the little things? What are the small wins or small tasks that I need to do today? Not a thousand of them, give me like two or three, because I can feel like I'm staying in momentum and staying on top of it, so I can continue to move forward. And the third piece,

this is frankly community. And community can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. For me, I find where I am able to stay focused and stay aligned is not only having a mentor that's helping me, and I've got several mentors that I talk to on a weekly basis, but not only having a mentor that allows me to help have that long-term vision and having my goals and my numbers that if you were in my office right now, you'd see my numbers right in front of me.

But then also having a couple of communities, really one core community that I'm able to like ask questions and frankly talk with other entrepreneurs that are in the same place that I am, other coaches that are in the same place that I am, that have some more struggles and knowing that, hey, hey guys, some days we're gonna have good days, some days we're gonna have challenging days. At the end of it, we need to know.

And we're also not near as bad as we think we are. There's times where we have those days where everything's cooking and we feel like we're the smartest person in the world. That's great. But it's not reality. Like we have good days and then we also have days where we may do the exact same thing and we get stuck and we think that we're the worst entrepreneur or coach that's ever lived. That's also not real. Right? Like the same tactics can...

frankly lead very opposite directions. We just gotta understand that today's focus tomorrow's gonna be a different day.

Speaker 2 (21:38)

So gold, so good. I am really curious, know, what are you personally focused on over the next while? You know, what's the direction you're growing in?

Speaker 1 (21:48)

Sure. So I think the best way to answer that is to explain a little bit about who we are and what we do. So, Amanda, one of the stories that I kind of shared with you when you and I first got to know each other was, you know, I'm CEO of a company called Michael Curtis Media. And the first question I get, the number one question I get is, hey, who's Michael Curtis? Are you a business development guy? Like you seem nice, but why am I talking to you? So.

Michael Curtis is actually a pen name. My brother and my son's middle name is Michael. My middle name is Curtis. The whole schick behind our business is we're the brand behind the brand. So much so that we're not even led by a real person, right? We help other people be successful and we wanna partner with your brand to make you a success and help you scale the help we've brought. So as I look at the things that we're the most excited about, we're always bringing on new clients and that's always gonna be a fun thing and that's always gonna be exciting for us.

The other things though that we're looking for is we're really in a place now where we're producing a lot of our own contents, a lot of our training, a lot of our own support for people, for lot of, frankly, coaches, consultants, agency owners that are getting stuck on a day to day, that are feeling like, like everything is simple as, wow, you know, the lead generation that I did last year is not working like it is today.

Speaker 2 (23:08)

I'm hearing that a lot. You know, the webinars I used to do, the Legion, I'm hearing it a lot.

Speaker 1 (23:14)

That's

like, why, or, or, or, Hey, I see that guy. see insert famous person here doing the exact same that I'm doing. They must be seeing a lot of more successful. Not, not necessarily. So, so it's, we're, helping a lot with, those conversations. We're also helping with a lot more, frankly, I would say a lot more. We're also helping with a lot of businesses that are kind of on the other end of the spectrum. And that's, which is making me excited. Like, how do we.

How do we help coaches and consultants exit their business? Right? Like have you even considered that? What does that look like? How in the world, hey, you've got a, hey, I've got a coaching program called Elliott Pittman coaching. How do I exit that? Okay. Let's have some conversations of what that looks like. Let's lay some frameworks and some groundwork in place. So one day you can exit that business. Will it look like it is today? Not exactly, but the important thing is, is there is a roadmap for you to get there. Let's help you do that.

Speaker 2 (24:06)

So good. so so unique as well. In the space, I think that a lot of people, everybody practically talks about starting, but so few talk about the next chapter and like what happens after you no longer want to do this. And if you have it set up the right way, it doesn't have to be just like a dissolution and a wind down. The value can continue. So I love that. So good.

Elliot, what's the best way for people to follow you?

Speaker 1 (24:35)

Sure, a couple of things. You can check us out. can find most of our socials at michaelcurtismedia.com. You can also find me on Facebook or you find me on LinkedIn. It's just linkedin.com forward slash advertising strategists. Either way, you're going to find us and happy to engage with anybody that follows up with us.

Speaker 2 (24:53)

Amazing, amazing. Well, thank you so much for your time and for joining us for the show.

Speaker 1 (25:00)

Awesome, it's been a pleasure and then I hope we can do it again sometime, Amanda. You're a joy to be around and looking forward to get to know your audience better.

Speaker 2 (25:07)

Absolutely, absolutely. And dear listener, don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss another episode. And hey, when you're listening to this, if you got a golden nugget, which I'm sure you did, grab the link to the show and share it with like two or three of your friends. Just send it over on text or send it over on DM, because I'm sure they'd love to hear this conversation. And finally, like if you really want to do something awesome for us, I mean, you know, I don't say no to gifts. The most important thing.

is leaving a review. So if you leave an honest review, wherever you happen to be listening to this, we really appreciate that because it lets other people preview whether they want to come and join the show and listen as well. And we're always grateful for that effort. All right, my friends, until we meet again, make sure that you just keep going and do what matters.