At the end of 2024 I wanted to boost my client acquisition. 

For twenty years I've been bringing in high-value clients (experienced business owners) my own way. Personal. Word of mouth. Being present where my clients are, both online and offline. And always with attention to branding and positioning, because those reinforce each other.

Building relationships that sometimes take years before someone becomes a client, and then stays a client.

That approach worked. But it also cost me a lot. Too much time. Too much energy. Too much thinking about who to contact when with what message. My energy was draining away...

So I thought: maybe I should do it differently. Like 'normal' companies. More volume, less personal. Automate. Bulk. Scale up reach.

Honestly? I pushed through on willpower for a few months, updated email systems and set up funnels. But once that was in place, it still didn't feel right. It remained an energy drain.

Until I sat down for a day with Claude Opus 4.5. Not to write content, but to think out loud. About what I wanted. What suited me. What gave me energy and what drained it.

The insight? Why would I do something that doesn't make me happy, when my 'old' personal approach does work, it's just not set up smartly enough?

That was the turning point.

Not changing the approach. Making the execution smarter.

The result is that I now spend time with real enjoyment on reaching out to prospects and clients, creating content, writing, recording videos and going to meetings. Finally time to come up with ideas and work them out, think up a small campaign, etc.

What I also see: 2026 will be the year personal outreach comes back. Not despite AI, but because of AI. The business owners who see this too, don't use technology to create more distance from prospects, but to make relationships personal and deepen them.

My wish for 2026?

That more business owners discover that AI isn't necessarily meant to replace relationships, but that you can use it to create space for real connection and building trust.