Hey everyone, 👋 My name is Stef Verheyen, I’m 34 years old and I’m from Belgium. I’m what you could probably call a multi-creator, aspiring entrepreneur and AI-powered builder. My journey is a bit different from the typical entrepreneur story. For almost eight years, I’ve been working in a production environment. Before that I spent years trying to figure out what direction I wanted to take with my life. I’ve had different interests, different projects and quite a few attempts at building something online. And honestly, I’ve learned a lot from the things that didn’t work. I reached a point where I realized that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life simply trading my time for a relatively small monthly income. I want to build something of my own. Not because I expect some overnight “get rich with AI” result, but because I want to create financial independence, freedom and resilience. What am I building? Right now my main focus is e-commerce. I’m currently rebuilding a one-product Shopify store and experimenting with using AI agents to accelerate almost every part of the process: research, product selection, website building, copywriting, design, marketing preparation, workflows and eventually optimization. I’m deliberately trying to build the business differently this time. In the past, I spent a lot of money on courses, coaching and different online opportunities. I learned a lot, but I also learned a painful lesson: More information doesn't automatically create more results. At some point you have to stop preparing and actually build. That’s where I am now. I’ve moved from being primarily a student to becoming a maker. AI is becoming a major part of that transition. I’m not interested in AI simply because it’s the current trend. What fascinates me is the idea of having a small “digital team” working alongside me. I’ve already been experimenting with multiple AI agents that can take over parts of my workflows. My goal isn't to have AI replace my creativity or decision-making.

Happy Monday AIA family! I want to share something that happened on a ski trip with my family that I keep coming back to. We took the wrong lift and ended up on a slope way above our level. My wife in tears, my daughter terrified, nobody wanting to move. My friend looked at us and said: sometimes the only way to do it is to do it. We went. We wobbled. We made it. And the rest of the day was incredible. I keep thinking about how much that applies to this AI journey. And honestly, to most things worth doing. You're not supposed to have it all figured out before you start. You build the foundation, you feed it, you ask for real feedback, you take it one step at a time. And when it gets noisy and overwhelming, you go back to the roots of what you already know and start from there. The shiny objects will always be there. The new tools, the new releases, the next thing. I feel it too, trust me. But what actually moves the needle is coming back to the foundation when it gets loud and just keep going. What's one thing you've been overcomplicating that might just need you to take the first step?