You know that feeling when you watch someone absolutely explode online and you think, wow, they were in the right place at the right time. We tell ourselves it's luck. We tell ourselves they must have had a team or money or connections. But nine times out of ten, they were simply early. Early to a platform, early to a trend, early to an opportunity everyone else ignored. Welcome back to Plan Like a Boss. I'm Tanya Lawson, musician, creative entrepreneur, planning strategist, and someone who has made many mistakes, waiting until things feel safe, perfect or proven. Today, we're diving into something that I believe will define the next one to three years in the online business world: being an early adopter. And I promise this is not one of those jump on every shiny trend episodes. We're talking about the strategic side of early adoption, the side that leads to massive visibility, long-term stability, and that beautiful phrase we all want: passive sales. And at the end of this episode, I'm going to invite you to a free live workshop on AIO, artificial intelligence optimization. Because early adopters always win. And this is a movement we will look back on. But first, let's dig into what early adoption actually means for creative entrepreneurs. Let's start with the early adoption advantage and why it matters. When you're early, you're not competing with a flooded market. You're not trying to stand out among 10 million creators doing the exact same thing you're doing. You're getting in while the doors are still open and the rules themselves are still forming. Let's talk about some examples because this isn't theoretical. History keeps repeating itself. Think about the early YouTubers. Those that were YouTube creators 2006 to 2012. They're sitting on giant platforms now. Millions of subscribers, deals, entire careers built just because they showed up before YouTube became the juggernaut it is today. They didn't have fancy cameras. They didn't have editing teams. They just started. And YouTube rewarded them with reach that is now almost impossible without paying for ads. Another example would be the early wave of TikTok. Think the people who joined TikTok before 2020. They are dominating today. Dancers, educators, planners, musicians, many went from zero to millions just because TikTok hadn't yet tightened its algorithm. Early means you get more visibility. And algorithms favor those creators. You get indexed first, you build authority fast. And if you're wondering why it feels hard to grow online right now, it's not you. It's the saturation of the online space. So being early isn't just an advantage, it's almost unfair in the best possible way. Now, here is something that most people miss. When you're early, platforms prioritize your work because they need content. They need data. They need examples to train their algorithms. You become the blueprint. You become the standard, and you become the creator the platform uses to say, this is what good content looks like. This is happening right now inside AI search. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity are deciding who gets visibility in search results. And guys, it's not random. They're choosing websites that have a clear structure. They're choosing creators with well-organized content. They're also choosing people who are already pushing AI-friendly formats, the ones showing up right now, not later. Right now, the internet is wide open again. It feels like 2006 YouTube or 2018 TikTok, but it's only going to be for a moment. And let's be honest, most of us don't become early adopters because, well, we're scared. We're scared of learning something new. We're scared of doing it wrong, scared of wasting time, scared of being seen as either too eager, too techy, or trying too hard. One way or another, deep down inside, there's some sort of fear lurking that's preventing us from taking that action. Meanwhile, the people who leap early don't wait for a perfect step-by-step plan. They jump in messy, they experiment, they figure it out as they go, they fuck around and find out. And the platform rewards them for it. What if the only thing standing between you and a massive audience is simply that you waited too long? If you look back, nearly every major shift online rewarded the early ones. Instagram creators in 2012 through 2015. People who posted consistently back then, they built huge followings before Instagram became pay-to-play. Think about the Pinterest bloggers in 2011 through 2018. This group created insane traffic. 20,000, 50,000, even 200,000 monthly sessions. Simply because not a lot of people were out there penning. I know bloggers today who still live off the traffic, they gained a decade ago. Think about those who created online courses between 2015 and 2019. Ones who launched before the online explosion during the shutdown. They became category leaders. Now, it is still possible to be very successful with an online course, but it's a hundred times harder than it was in 2015. Think about Reels creators in 2020, the people who jumped on Instagram Reels the moment it dropped. It gained thousands of followers overnight. Reels don't behave like that anymore. Every single time a new discovery tool appears, there is a window, a magical wide open window when the early adopters build the foundation everyone else wishes they had. And right now, that next window is AIO. AI search isn't coming. It's already here. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude are already recommending businesses. They're already citing creators. They're already linking to websites. They're already pulling answers from blogs. And they're already indexing content in ways Google never could. And the creators showing up early, they're gonna be the ones these AI tools keep pulling from for years. Imagine yourself showing up in Chat GPT answers, perplexity citations, Gemini summaries, Claude recommendations. All of these AI-powered search engines are about to replace the old ones. This is YouTube 2006 all over again. But instead of one platform, it's every AI platform at the same time. AI search is the next frontier for visibility, and I am telling you now, the early adopters will win big. So what happens if you decide to wait? Well, if you wait, you don't just miss the early adopter advantage. You inherit the disadvantages. There's going to be more competition, stricter algorithms, less organic reach, higher effort for smaller results, a harder time getting indexed, and way more noise that you're going to have to cut through. Waiting is the most expensive thing you can do for your visibility. And the I'll just learn it later mentality is where creators start to disappear. So let me say this for the loud, chronic overthinkers. You do not need to be techie. You do not need to be ahead of every single trend. You do not need a perfect system. You just need to understand how AI search works, what content AI tools prefer, how to structure your content so AI recognizes you, how to show up where people are searching now. This is not about coding. This is not about becoming a machine learning expert. This is simply about getting your content prepared before everyone else realizes they have to. And that is exactly what my upcoming workshop is for. If you're listening and thinking, I do not want to be the person who gets left behind, then this is your moment. I'm hosting a free live no-pitch workshop. It's going to be December 18th. There will be a replay available if you can't make it live, although I encourage you to come live. It's going to be 90 minutes. You're going to have practical, simple steps that you can take action on right now. No tech overwhelm. Simple, easy things to do, and no selling. I am not pitching anything. I'm not going to try to sell you into anything. This is just value. Think of this as my end of 2025 gift to you so that you can leap into 2026 ready to go. So, what we're going to go over is what AIO actually is. We're going to talk about why SEO alone will not be enough in 2026. We're going to talk about how AI search engines decide which creators to surface, how to prepare your content right now, and how to get cited, indexed, and recommended by AI Search. This is the early adopter moment of our decade, and you have two choices. You can wait and watch the early adopters take the lead, or you can step into the room while the door is still wide open. And I want you in that room. I'm going to put the link to the workshop in the comments. Spots are limited. Save your seat so that you don't get left behind. Because you don't have to hustle harder. You just have to be early. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. If this episode lit a fire under you, good. That means you're ready. I will see you in the workshop. And please share it with anybody else you know who might be ready to be one of those early adopters. Until then, plan with intention, show up with confidence, and keep planning like a boss.