Thoughts

Insights from the backbone

Stop Outsourcing Yourself to AI

I put a lot of time and effort into writing every blog post on my Mustard Seed IT website, but I’m tired of AI being used to copy my content. Moving forward, I’

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Face-to-Face Still Wins: Why Trust Beats Price in a Digital World

Building face-to-face relationships in this digitally saturated world is going to be the key to long-term success, especially as AI continues to dominate conver

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AI Without the Brain Fry

I read some interesting articles this week that I believe are insightful in our ongoing dance with AI.

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Marketing in the AI Age

I came across this HBR article where the author suggests that two revolutions are afoot in marketing:

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Taxpayer Dollars Squandered on Subpar IT Solutions

Queensland spent $183 million on Unify, its new child safety IT system, which was found, when audited, to have significant gaps that put kids at risk. It's also

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Why I Switched To & Recommend Microsoft 365 Business Premium for Small Businesses and Solopreneurs

There was a time when small businesses had multiple servers on premises, like an active directory server for accounts/authentication, a file server for storing

how-to

Dream. Discipline. Do.

Many come up with New Year's resolutions at the start of the year, and despite their best intentions, such resolutions don't survive the first few weeks of the

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2026 Trends for Solopreneurs and SMBs

Technology continues to change rapidly. As we head into 2026, I wanted to briefly highlight three practical trends that solopreneurs and small businesses can fo

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Not a "Managed Service Provider"

Most small businesses only think about IT when something breaks. That 'break-fix' mindset drives me crazy, because IT has so much more to offer than putting out

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AI Replacement Theory

I don't think there's a theory called 'AI Replacement Theory', I just thought it worked well as a title, though I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up becoming

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Forget SEO. Focus on UVO!

Every time Google updates its algorithm, it nukes many SEO-dependent sites. Will yours be next? There's got to be a better way, right? I believe there is.

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Organic Demand

I read an article recently and wanted to share a brief reflection on its key takeaway: organic demand.

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Alright Stop, Collaborate, and Let's Win

How many of you started humming 'Ice Ice Baby' by Vanilla Ice? Be honest.

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Preserving and Protecting Human Creativity

Earlier this week, there was an article on ABC that said that Attorney-General Michelle Rowland had rejected the proposal to amend the existing Australian copyr

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ROAI - Return on Artificial Intelligence

AI is the new gold rush. Daily, new AI startups attract investors, resulting in inflated valuations before any real value is delivered.

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Don't Wear Masks

I find LinkedIn interesting because it's clear when someone is trying to present themselves in a certain way to attract the right connections. What happens when

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How-To Use Secure Score in Microsoft 365

With a Microsoft 365 Business subscription, Secure Score is an easy way to assess the security of your Microsoft 365 Business tenancy.

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AI: Hype vs. Reality

I am sick of the hype surrounding AI.

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Beyond Ethics

Optus has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, and it's not the first time, either.

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The Lean Future

As a solopreneur, I am always working in the business and rarely get a chance to focus on my business.

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Browser Tracking

Is your browser uniquely identifiable, and is it protecting you from tracking and fingerprinting? Cover Your Tracks by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

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Vibe-Coding Hype

I've tested a few of the popular AI code editors (Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro) by trying to vibe-code simple apps, and I’ve realised that like its parent AI, vibe co

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Why I’m Your Best Investment

I was considering restarting my blog and thought I would kick it off by explaining why businesses should consider using my services.

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