The Coffee Shop Test: Why Your Social Media Is Failing

If you sat down with a stranger at a coffee shop, you'd never just say "art, art, buy my art" for 30 minutes. So why is that your entire social media strategy?

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In this episode, Patrick breaks down why most artists and photographers are failing on social media — and it has nothing to do with the algorithm. It's because you're one-dimensional. All art, no human. In 2026, AI can fake everything on a screen. The only thing it can't fake is you. Your story, your scars, your weird hobbies, your real life. That's the competitive advantage now.

In this episode:

• The coffee shop test — would you talk to yourself the way you post?
• Why Van Gogh's paintings didn't sell until his personal letters were published
• Brian Chesky (Airbnb CEO) on why "the opposite of artificial is real"
• The freeway analogy — why 95% of your content lands in one lane
• How to stop hiding behind the canvas (or the lens)
• Why AI makes your authenticity more valuable, not less
• "We're not anti-AI. We're just pro human."

If you struggle with telling your story, the previous episode has copy-paste prompts that use AI to interview you and pull your story out — even if you think your life "isn't dramatic enough."

Related episodes:

• 4 Prompts That Pull Your Story Out (Even If You Think You Don't Have One)
• Context is Still King If You Use It
• The Artwork Didn't Change. The Story Did.