Beach Shack Productions

What a privilege to help bring Talk To Me with Charlie McCarron to life.

Episode one with Dan Withers had real goosebump moments.

One line stayed with me:

“I didn’t actually want to be successful. I wanted to be happy.”

That’s the kind of conversation this platform was built for.

Honest. Human. Worth listening to.

Episode one is live now on YouTube: Search, Talk To Me with Charlie McCarron.

If you want to bring a video podcast idea to life, DM podcast for the full breakdown of this setup!

12 months ago I tried two things to solve my editing backlog: a video editing agency and a direct hire.

Both times I found myself redoing the work anyway. Weeks lost. Money gone.

Fast forward to today, and I’ve realised something without even setting out to: I’ve already replaced what would have been an entry-level VA or junior editor with AI agents and automations.

Not intentionally. It happened because I kept testing, kept building, and kept asking, “Can this be done better?”

Now the heavy lifting is handled. The repetitive tasks. The drafts. The scheduling. The research.

That changes the hiring equation.

Because if AI can take care of the repeatable work, the real value of a human hire is no longer cheap ex*****on. It is judgment, ownership, and specialist capability.

I can teach editing decisions to AI. I can build automations around admin. But I cannot hire for a skill I do not have and somehow expect a mediocre operator to solve it.

That means the bar is higher now.

If I hire, it needs to be an A-player in an area that genuinely expands the business. Finance. Sales. Operations. Strategy. A person with depth I do not already have.

That is the uncomfortable part for business owners.

If you are not actively testing AI in your own workflows, you are not just falling behind. You are making it easier for a competitor with lower overhead, better systems, and sharper hires to outpace you.

The opportunity is not about replacing people. It is about protecting margin, buying back time, and making better decisions about where human talent actually belongs.

The question worth asking today is not, “Who should I hire next?”

It is, “What should AI take off the table first, so my next hire is a true force multiplier?”

If you’re not sure where to start, drop a comment or send me a message. I’m happy to share what’s actually working in a boutique creative business.

Rowen Franklin
Founder, Story-Driven Growth Partner
Beach Shack Productions