Ideas Are Free. Love Is Work.
AI can give you a hundred startup ideas by lunch, but it can’t choose your partner, stay in the room, or say “I’m sorry” for you. This week we move from leverage to love.
A Thought on Ideas
We used to say, “Ideas are cheap.”
Now? They’re practically free, and AI just turned the tap wide open.
You can wake up, open a chat window, and ask for 100 startup ideas by lunchtime. AI won’t just give you ideas, it’ll give you names, branding, market research, pricing models, and a half-decent homepage draft in 30 seconds.
The bottleneck used to be creativity.
Now it’s execution.
And here’s the thing: Ideas still can make you rich.
Not all of them. Not by accident. But if you know how to sell ideas, package ideas, and ship ideas, there’s no shortage of leverage.
Here’s one right now:
Startup Idea: AI Deal Mapper
A Chrome extension that scrapes newsletters and shopping sites for daily deals, filters by category, then drops personalized summaries into your inbox.
Revenue model: Freemium + affiliate commissions.
Market: Busy parents, professionals, and discount bloggers.
How to build it: Use Puppeteer or Playwright to scrape, OpenAI or Claude for summaries, then plug into SendGrid for delivery.
Build in public.
Monetize on day one.
And just like that, you’ve got an idea worth building. Not because it’s sexy. But it solves a real need.
The real skill now? Building your idea machine.
Here’s the framework:
Collect Prompts: Save the ones that spark interest (personal pain points, frustrations, obsessions).
Run AI Iterations: Ask for 10 variations. Refine the angle. Challenge the assumptions.
Check Viability: Use tools like Exploding Topics, Google Trends, Reddit, and niche forums.
Brand It Fast: AI can name it, logo it, and describe it in seconds.
Wrap It in Content: Launch on X, YouTube Shorts, or a blog. Show your work.
Ship It Small: Use Carrd, Gumroad, Stripe, Replit, or Framer. No excuses.
Listen to Responses: Signals over silence. Feedback over perfection.
A decade ago, the hardest part was getting an idea out of your head and into the world.
Today, the hardest part is being honest about whether you’re going to do the work.
100 Ways to Live a Better Life by Jacques
We’ll mark off the topic we covered the previous week.
Finance
Love
Family
Health
Lifestyle
Community
Spirituality
Philanthropy
Adventure
Discomfort
This week, we’re moving on to Love. An uncomfortable subject for some, not so much for others. Here are a few thoughts I have to make loving easier.
Love.
1. Be Fully There or Don’t Be There at All
Love doesn’t need fireworks. It needs presence.
We live in a distracted world. Notifications. Deadlines. Background noise. But the people you love can feel when you’re half-there.
I’ve sat at dinner tables where everyone had great intentions, and no attention.
The body’s present. The mind’s already at tomorrow’s meeting.
When you love someone, give them your bandwidth.
Not just your time. Your attention.
That’s what they remember. That’s what they crave.
2. Stop Outsourcing Emotional Labor
Too many men pride themselves on being providers, but shut down when it’s time to feel.
You can close deals, hire teams, and lead companies, but ask you to talk about your inner world? You freeze.
And your partner ends up carrying the emotional weight of two people.
You don’t need to be a poet. But you do need to show up emotionally.
Sit in discomfort. Name what hurts. Learn to ask better questions.
The people you love aren’t mind readers. And they’re not therapists either.
Pull your weight.
3. Say the Things You Think They Know
We assume people know how we feel. We wait for perfect moments.
But the truth? Most people are starving for clarity.
“I’m proud of you.”
“You’re beautiful to me.”
“I’m still in.”
These words don’t get old. They get deeper with repetition.
My grandmother used to say “I love you” every time she left the house.
She wasn’t dramatic, she was deliberate.
Say the thing. Then say it again.
4. Keep Your Word Like It’s Gold
Trust doesn’t collapse. It erodes. Slowly. Quietly.
It’s the “I’ll be there in 10 minutes” that becomes 40.
The “We’ll talk later” that never happens.
You may think it’s small, but to the person counting on you, it matters.
Love doesn’t require grand promises. It requires follow-through. If you say you’ll do something, do it.
That’s how safety is built. That’s how love lasts.
5. Don’t Weaponize Distance
Silence isn’t power. It’s cowardice dressed as control.
There’s nothing strong about shutting down to prove a point.
Withholding affection, dodging conversations, and punishing through absence, it doesn’t fix anything. It just builds resentment.
The strongest move is staying in the room. Even when it’s tense. Even when you’re hurt.
Say, “This is hard, but I’m not going anywhere.”
That’s real love.
6. Love in Their Language, Not Yours
You might think you’re showing love, but are you showing it the way they feel it?
Some people need physical affection. Others need words.
Some feel most loved when you take out the trash.
It’s not about what’s convenient for you.
It’s about learning them. Studying them.
Love is translation.
Speak in a way they can hear.
7. Choose Them Daily
Love is not a lightning strike. It’s a discipline.
You’ll wake up some days and not feel it.
You’ll be annoyed. Tired. Frustrated. Bored.
And in those moments, you don’t wait for the spark, you choose the commitment.
This isn’t Hollywood. It’s real life.
The most loving thing you can do?
Wake up. Look across the table. And choose them, again, again, and again.
8. Protect What’s Private
We’re addicted to sharing. But some things weren’t meant for the timeline.
Your fights, your affection, your process, it doesn’t all need to be public.
Love is sacred.
The more you expose it, the more you weaken it.
Build a world they feel safe in.
Not a brand the world applauds.
9. Forgive Without Keeping Score
Real forgiveness doesn’t live in your back pocket, ready to be pulled out in the next argument.
If you’ve forgiven them, let it go.
Scorekeeping turns love into a courtroom. “Who’s hurt more?” “Who messed up last?”
There’s no winner in that game. Only two people too proud to move forward.
Don’t forget what happened. But stop using it as a weapon.
That’s love with teeth.
10. Be the Safe Place
Life is loud. Love should be quiet.
Not empty, quiet. Not cold, quiet. Safe quiet.
When they walk through the door after a brutal day, do they feel like they can breathe or brace?
The world already expects them to perform.
Don’t be another performance space.
Be the one place they can fall apart without fear.
2 Things Worth Sharing
1. Anduril and Meta Team Up to Transform XR for the American Military
Anduril announces that they’re partnering with Meta on a range of integrated XR products designed specifically for the warfighter.
"My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.” – Palmer Luckey
“We’re proud to partner with Anduril to help bring these technologies to the American service members that protect our interests at home and abroad.” – Mark Zuckerberg
Seems they’ve finally been able to bury the hatchet and move forward on advancing defense tech that will make a big difference in the field.
2. Jbay Surf Fest Incoming in July
42 Days 9 Hours 34 Minutes and 15 seconds till Jbay Surf Fest kicks off.
The JBay Surf Festival is set to electrify Jeffreys Bay from July 11–20, 2025, blending world-class surfing with a vibrant mix of music, sports, and community events.
Witness the WSL as it returns to the legendary Supertubes. Top surfers, including South Africa's own Jordy Smith and Matthew McGillivray, will compete on one of the world's most iconic right-hand point breaks.
Question I’m Pondering
What version of love am I modeling for my children?
Not what I say love is. What I show in the way I speak, react, hold space, and show up. Because whatever they see, that’s what they’ll repeat.
Until Next Time
Love isn’t the highlight reel.
It’s the quiet decision to stay.
To listen.
To soften.
To show up when it’s easier not to.
Next week, we move into Family.
Where love becomes legacy.
The patterns we pass down.
The stories we rewrite.
And the people we build it all for.
– Jacques
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share it with someone who thinks like you.
Check out other things I’m busy with:
We Edit Podcasts — A full-service B2B podcasting agency that helps brands turn listeners into customers.
Hunting Portal — Your next hunting adventure starts here. Outfitters, taxidermists, gear heads, and more.
Halalisana — We help township-based businesses grow, scale, and thrive in South Africa. We offer conferencing, co-working, and a coding academy.