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4 min read

The Origin Story: Volume 1

I’m not an AI expert. I don’t write code. My degree is unrelated to computer science. My career path hasn’t been intertwined with emerging technologies. If all of this is true (which it is) and part of my life experience, then why am I starting an AI-powered newsletter?

The answer: education and empowerment. A guiding principle in my personal and professional life is a thirst for knowledge and understanding. I tend to dive in headfirst when a topic appeals to me and find ways to consume information to develop a better understanding. This comes from various outlets such as podcasts, articles, newsletters, and conversations with friends. There is nothing better than a fall night in Florida spent hanging by the fire pit and deep-diving on random topics with those close to you. I started paying more attention to AI developments at the end of 2024 and realized something big was brewing. I quickly prioritized and committed to building a learning plan for myself to catch up with experts and to understand how this technology works. I’ve consumed many hours of podcasts, read articles & research papers, followed social media ‘experts’, and have experimented with AI tools. Throughout this journey, my frustration has been building with narratives that seem to dominate space in the public domain:

  • AI is going to take all of our jobs soon and there is nothing you can do about it
  • AI is dangerous and will lead to a collapse of the economy and potentially the end of the world
  • AI makes me $10,000/week and here is a playbook for you to replicate my success
  • AI can automate anything, all you need to do is watch this YouTube video

I could list more, but you get the idea, and I’m sure you’ve come across headlines that fall into one of these buckets. Most content aims for engagement over substance, reflecting the extreme ends of the AI spectrum. My frustration was boiling over. I was growing tired of filtering through content to find meaningful information to aid my learning journey. This is how MindOverMoney.ai was born and why I set out to build content to help people like me - curious and motivated individuals who want to learn and understand the power of AI and how it can be implemented in their everyday life. 

I’m dedicated to building in public - offering an inside look into the process of developing the website and launching Neural Gains Weekly. This transparent approach will hopefully help you get a better understanding of what is possible and join me in building with AI. Every week, you can expect insights into my interactions with various AI tools that helped me deliver content and explain the good and bad parts of the process. Let’s dive into the first lesson and likely the most crucial concept as we begin our journey together.

Experiment, experiment, experiment! If you learn nothing else from my ramblings, understand that the best way to learn AI is by doing. And no, I don’t mean simply using ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude as search engines or to create funny pictures of your pets (we’ve all done it). I mean really explore and test the features available to everyone on the free tiers. My biggest mistake since ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022, was ignoring updates and new features being released. To compound this, over the last year, AI features and capabilities seem to be moving at warp speed, a phenomenon that seems impossible to keep up with. I only began experiencing ‘aha moments’ once I committed to using, learning, and building with AI. It was a process to get to this first newsletter release, a process that started in July 2025. My journey was not a straight line, and multiple plans were changed as I forced myself to become more efficient with AI. I finally found the right process and direction to bring this vision to life. The biggest and earliest hurdle was choosing the right tools to build with. I finalized my current tech stack, which consists of:

  • Ghost for website hosting
  • Namecheap for domain register and setup
  • ChatGPT Plus - 5o Thinking for:
    • Prompt support
    • Content roadmap
    • Content execution
  • Gemini 2.5 Pro for:
    • Veo video creation
    • Nano Banana image tool
    • Content editor
  • Github for editing my custom code for the Ghost formatting
  • Stripe for payment processing
  • HeyGen for custom AI avatars 

At first, it was overwhelming trying to navigate these tools to build out my vision. But you quickly learn that experience and experimentation are the best ways to accelerate understanding. It took me multiple prompts and hours of brainstorming with ChatGPT before I finally found clarity and direction to get moving on the right path (check out the Prompt Library —spoiler: prompt engineering will be a constant focus in Founder’s Corner). It made me more efficient because I started to understand how ChatGPT worked and adapted my interactions to drive results. I’m still learning and refining my skills to ensure the output is valuable and accurate, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without forcing myself to evolve the way I use AI and not be afraid to fail.

Sorry for the long format this week, but I felt it was important to dive deeper into my motivation and intent behind this publication. I’m thankful that you’ve subscribed and taken the time to read the first edition and the origin of my journey. My goal is to deliver valuable content and build a community of like-minded ‘doers’ that see AI as an opportunity. Feel free to share Neural Gains Weekly with friends, colleagues, family and anyone else you feel would benefit. You can also contact me directly at admin@mindovermoney.ai or connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m open to suggestions and ideas to inject into the content roadmap. Enjoy and see you next week!