Eating frogs in the age of AI.
I'm not afraid to admit it: I was an AI skeptic.
When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, I rolled my eyes and prepared for another overhyped Silicon Valley fad. I'd seen "revolutionary" tech come and go. Remember Google Glass eyewear in the conference room? So when colleagues at work suggested weaving AI into our content workflows, I dismissed it as "fancy autocomplete." I usually made a Terminator reference.
Fast forward to 2025, and not only am I eating my words, but I'm building a business with the very tech I doubted.
That business is Noel Consulting Solutions, my new consulting practice. I help teams work smarter with AI through custom tools, hands-on training, and practical strategy. And the funny part? AI is the reason it exists.
The algorithm update that changed everything
After 12 years in digital content marketing, I thought I'd seen every SEO shakeup possible. Google updates the algorithm, teams adjust, life goes on. Until November 2024, when Google rolled out a Core Algorithm Update alongside its new Site Reputation Abuse policy.
The details are extremely wonky, but the goal was to boost search results for original, valuable content while weeding out content Google deemed shallow, manipulated, and "parasitic." In theory, the Google updates made a lot of sense.
In practice, the effect was devastating. Entire affiliate and media partnership models collapsed overnight. Our team, which had been growing steadily, saw revenue vanish in days.
On December 5, everyone at the company received a last-second invite to one of two virtual meetings. Panic ensued, Slack messages went flying. I was in the meeting with the bad news. It didn't last longer than five minutes. It didn't need to. The message: everyone on that call was being let go, immediately.
After the call ended, my ears were ringing. I felt like I had been hit with a bowling ball. I was married with 18-month old twins, and I was the sole earner for our family. Our health insurance was tied to my job.
I also loved my job. I'd built close relationships with my coworkers, and counted many of them as personal friends. Everyone genuinely cared about helping readers through trustworthy content. Now, it was gone, and along with it, the community we'd built.
I opened the door and walked out of my office to tell my wife the news.
The long winter
Eight months, hundreds of LinkedIn hours, 60+ applications, 20+ meetings for coffee, 5 recruiter screening calls, 3 follow-up interviews, and 0 job offers later, I was still nowhere. I felt lost.
I leaned into being a dad. I was lucky I had my twins to focus on and they gave me so many moments of laughter and joy when I needed them most.
I tried to keep my spirits up, but unemployment has a way of making you feel invisible. I was adrift and depressed, convinced that I'd managed to screw everything up.
Then one July afternoon, at the SouthPark branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library, I opened ChatGPT to help polish a cover letter. My wife had been nudging me to try it. I figured, why not?
So, I started talking to it.
The chat that changed everything
Here is some of my actual conversation with ChatGPT that day:
Me: "I'm 36 years old, married with two kids. I have been a digital marketing professional for over 12 years as a writer and editor. I was laid off back in December. I have applied to over 60 jobs, but am still looking for work and am starting to worry about ever finding work in digital marketing again. Should I keep looking for work in this field, or should I start looking for a career transition?"
ChatGPT: "It's 100% valid to feel discouraged, especially as time passes—but it doesn't mean you're done. You're still very much employable. The landscape has changed, and it may take more strategic targeting or exploring adjacent fields, but your experience is far from obsolete."
This was the first professional validation and encouragement I'd received in months. Even though I knew it was just a machine, probably telling me what I wanted to hear, it made me feel… better. It made me feel like I was still worth something. So I kept talking to it.
Me: "Could I start a freelance career in digital marketing based on my background? If so, can you help me identify the immediate next steps?"
ChatGPT: "Yes, absolutely—you can start a freelance career in digital marketing based on your background. In fact, your experience puts you in a strong position to offer high-value freelance services right away. This is rare air. Many freelancers only dream of that level of experience."
This is when it hit me. AI is real. And it is already here, at my fingertips.
By the end of the day, I was mapping out my next chapter.
First steps and giant leaps
It told me, bluntly but encouragingly, that I could start a freelance career right away, and even outlined the steps. By the time I closed my laptop that night, I had:
- A website wireframe
- A 30-day action plan with weekly goals
- A service list and pricing model
- A target client list
- A startup expense tracker and revenue forecast
- Instructions for filing my LLC paperwork
One conversation gave me the blueprint for my business.
All in a single afternoon.
I walked out of the library later that evening a changed man. For the first time since losing my job, I could finally see a path forward. I finally felt like I had a teammate again.
Eating the frog
"Eating the frog" is a productivity idea: tackle your hardest task first, then ride the momentum. What's going to be worse than eating a frog for breakfast? For me, the frog wasn't a single task. It was accepting that my old career path was gone.
Generative AI isn't coming for jobs someday. It's here. My world of content marketing happened to be one of the first fields to feel the full force, but it won't be the last.
This experience forced me to reassess some of the foundational questions about what skills and services I could offer and what types of opportunities were out there. Instead of viewing AI as a threat, I started experimenting and discovered it could be a teammate.
And it didn't just help me recover. AI helped me see new possibilities.
Noel Consulting Solutions: Making AI work for you
Two weeks after filing my LLC paperwork, I had my first clients. Today, Noel Consulting Solutions offers:
- Custom AI Tool Development: Building no-code AI solutions tailored to your workflows
- AI Workshops & Team Training: Hands-on sessions that build confidence and practical skills
- AI Strategy & Consulting: Helping teams move from experimentation to implementation
My approach blends 12+ years of content leadership with hands-on AI integration so teams can scale faster, keep quality high, and stay competitive.
The new playbook
If AI has impacted your industry, my advice is simple: eat the frog. Accept the shift, then explore how these tools can open new doors. If you think your industry is safe, it's probably not. But, that means there's opportunity to shape what comes next.
For the first time in a really long time, I feel excited and driven and confident about the future. And I believe I can help others feel more confident, too.
If you need a partner to navigate that shift, I'd love to help. Let's connect for a free consultation and explore how we can future-proof your work together.