The AI World: Creation Is Easy, but Attention Is Expensive

A friend of mine was recently gushing about how easy it's become to build things in the AI era.

"You can create content, build an app, or spin up an entire brand in a day," she said. "It's like making things out of thin air."

She wasn’t wrong.

Tools like Lovable, Midjourney, Sora, and countless GPT-powered apps have dropped the barrier to entry to almost zero. Build a website? Drag-and-drop. Make a reel? Prompt it. Launch an AI bot? Connect two APIs.

She went on excitedly listing AI ideas; everything from a newsletter concept to a mental health journaling app. But somewhere between Canva mockups and ChatGPT scripts, she noticed I wasn’t quite matching her energy.

In fact, I had a smirk on my face.

Not because I didn’t believe in her. But because I knew the truth:

In this new AI world, the hardest part isn’t building. It’s being seen.

Everyone has access to the same tools. What they don’t have is distribution.

Distribution Eats Prompt Engineering for Breakfast

Let’s kill the old myth once and for all:

❌ “All you need is an idea.”

❌ “Ideas + execution = success.”

✅ Now, it’s distribution or nothing.

As discussed in The Diary of a CEO podcast, one of the most underrated moats in today's world is your distribution leverage—your ability to reach people at scale. Without that, your AI startup, newsletter, clone app, or automation tool might as well live in a vacuum.

Let’s be honest. Some YouTuber with 100K subscribers creating “brainrot” content can spot your idea, replicate a low-effort version of it, and still win. Why?

Because when they hit upload, 10,000 people watch it in the first hour.

You? You’re lucky if five friends and a confused Reddit bot check it out.

This isn’t cynicism. It’s reality.

The New World: Where Creation Is Easy, but Attention Is Expensive

There’s no need to get discouraged.

It’s incredible that we can now create so much from so little. We finally have the magic lamp. But now comes the tougher question:

What do you do after making something?

Gone are the days where building a great product and launching a decent landing page were enough.

Now, you need to think like a media company. You need to build distribution moats as intentionally as you write your prompts.

So What Should You Do Instead?

Here are 4 unfair advantages to focus on beyond just building:

1. Audience > Algorithm

Build your own email list, LinkedIn network, or community.

Don’t be at the mercy of TikTok's or X’s mood swings. Own your traffic.

2. Become a Distribution Partner, Not Just a Maker

Collaborate with creators, newsletter owners, or micro-influencers who already have trust and eyeballs.

They have what you lack - ACCESS.

3. Turn Personal Branding into Business Infrastructure

You don’t need to be viral. But you do need to be consistent.

People trust faces more than landing pages now. Build in public. Share experiments.

4. Package the Idea, Not Just the Product

Learn how to pitch, frame, and story-tell.

Sometimes the same product fails under “AI Resume Assistant” and blows up under “LinkedIn GPT Career Coach.”

Welcome to the Solopreneur AI Wave

With mass tech layoffs and the collapse of "stable" white-collar jobs, thousands of people are waking up to this:

You're not just an employee anymore. You're a distribution engine in disguise.

And if you're smart, you’ll start treating yourself like a brand—before someone else eats your lunch with your own idea.

The AI wave isn’t just about what you can build.

It’s about who’s paying attention when you launch it.