The Playbook for Getting Rich in 2025
How AI Destroyed the Creator Economy’s Old Playbook
If you’re over 45 and working in biotech, ignoring AI might be the biggest mistake of your career.
The creator economy has undergone a revolutionary coup in the last six months.
AI isn’t just disrupting everything—it’s rewriting the rules for people.
Introduction
In 2000, Naomi Klein wrote about the freedom of freelancing:
“This is a legitimate way to work—it isn’t some poor laid-off slob struggling to find his way back.”
— No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
Klein was right. Freelance life can mean freedom—freedom to work in your pajamas, freedom to design your day.
Fast-forward to 2024, and I’ve taken that freedom a step further. Using AI, I built a system that automates a book launch across social media.
I’d never written a line of Python in my life. In 3 weeks, I had a fully operational agentic AI system that I called NextPageAI - because it helped me with the classic problem a writer has - “what do I put on the next page”!
Generated social media posts from my book.
Included a literary critic agent to refine content.
Integrated a human-in-the-loop approval process.
Integrated a content management system (Sanity)
Connected seamlessly with X (formerly Twitter).
Tracked analytics to identify which prompts performed best and when.
You can watch NextPage in action here -
Freedom isn’t just about leaving a 9-to-5. It now means freedom from the high costs of hiring freelancers or agencies that charge six figures for something you can build yourself—30x faster, 100x cheaper.
In this essay, I’ll walk you through how the creator economy has evolved—and why AI is your key to creating a one-person, profitable venture.
I’ll survey the past, present and future of being a creator.
The past: Freelancing and working in pajamas.
The present: Coaches coaching coaches.
The future: Turning expertise into cash with AI.
The Past: Working in Your Pajamas
Twenty-five years ago, Naomi Klein wrote that free agency is a legitimate way to work.
By 2010, the creator economy had exploded, powered by platforms that enabled individuals to monetize their unique voices and expertise.
Here’s how it unfolded:
2007: YouTube’s Partner Program enabled creators to earn ad revenue.
2008–2012: Facebook and Twitter allowed creators to build audiences and monetize indirectly through ads and sponsorships.
2010–2015: Instagram became the go-to platform for influencers in fashion, fitness, and lifestyle.
2016–2020: TikTok democratized content creation, opening the floodgates for a new generation of creators.
By 2022, the shift was complete. The world embraced the idea that anyone could monetize their expertise, passion, or even quirks.
The Present: Coaches Coaching Coaches
Welcome to 2025, where the creator economy feels like a feedback loop of newsletters, courses, and cohorts.
Everyone’s selling a course.
Everyone’s calling themselves a coach.
Everyone’s regurgitating the same recycled advice.
By 2022, the creator economy was a $250 billion industry, with over 200 million creators worldwide.
A middle class of creators emerged, earning $50,000–$150,000 annually. Meanwhile, top-tier creators on platforms like OnlyFans make millions.
But for most, the path to monetization was steep:
Build an audience.
Sell a course.
Launch a cohort.
If you lacked technical skills, you were stuck in a never-ending cycle of social media marketing and coaching.
Until now.
The Future: Turning Expertise into Cash with AI
When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, it quietly destroyed the creator economy’s old playbook.
That old playbook looked like this:
Start a program.
Write a newsletter.
Call yourself a coach.
Build a course.
Launch a cohort.
Hope for profit.
The problem? When everyone runs the same playbook, it stops working.
AI changes everything.
Today, AI tools allow you to turn your expertise into a real product:
30x faster than traditional development.
1000x cheaper than hiring a team.
If you’re over 45 and working in biotech, this is your moment.
AI lets you bypass gatekeepers, ditch the coaching hamster wheel, and create profitable, one-person ventures.
Using tools like ChatGPT and Cursor, you can:
Build expertise-driven products that solve specific problems.
Launch without waiting for permission, funding, or resources.
The best part?
99.9% of people in biotech haven’t realized there’s been a revolutionary coup.
They’re still stuck in the old system of courses and cohorts and LinkedIn posts.
The earlier you adopt this new playbook, the more opportunities you’ll unlock.
Conclusion: Why I Focus on Biotech Professionals Aged 45-60
Here’s why:
I focus on biotech professionals aged 45-60 because I know the industry firsthand, and this group is often overlooked.
At this stage of life, you’re at the peak of your expertise and maturity, yet many don’t realize you still have 25+ years of achievement ahead.
Despite rampant ageism in tech and biotech, AI provides an unprecedented opportunity to break free from outdated systems and create something entirely your own.
With the right tools, you can transform your knowledge into profitable ventures and build a unique product that’s truly yours.
So, where do you start?
Use AI every single day. (I rely on Claude Sonnet and ChatGPT 1o daily for code development)
Download Cursor and start building.
Share your story online to attract the right audience.
The earlier you adopt this new playbook, the more opportunities you’ll unlock—while 99.9% of others remain stuck behind the looking glass.
Follow this playbook, and your entire life could change.
My thanks to Alex Finn for hearing the wakeup call first and inspiring me to write this short essay.
I help people aged 45-60 in biotech turn expertise into freedom with one-person, AI-driven ventures.
DM me and I’ll tell you how.