AI Tip of the Week
Thanks to our friend and former colleague Philippe Brissaud, who shared his story with us, then wrote about it on LinkedIN.
Philippe is looking for his next PM job in tech, and wanted interview practice (since it had been a while since he’d gone through a job interview).
You guessed it – he used AI! He set up Claude Sonnet to act as his mock interviewer, and practiced by talking (dictation) instead of typing.
He told us that, for him, this helped him get reps doing the exact same thing he’d do in a “real” interview – talking out loud – but with key differences that (a) it was just “prep,” not real, (b) he could get immediate feedback, and (c) he could review his stories & responses over & over again.
Here is a link to the prompt he wrote to set up Claude to do this (you can try it out in any of your favorite AI tools).
Good luck out there!
2/25/2025
Have you ever started a small business? If not, you should. It’s FUN.
By starting your own thing, you can go deeper into ideas you care about, pick up new skills, and – if you do it right – earn a bit of extra cash. It’s a low-risk way to try things out, be your own boss, and future-proof your career. (This economy is no joke.)
We don’t just talk about side hustles. We launch them into the universe. It’s kind of a thing we do.
One of our more recent ventures is a fragrance business. On one of her trips Dona took a perfume-making class, and loved the experience. So we decided to go pro.
We call our line “Act 3 Elixirs.” Right now, only our friends and family have gotten to wear our fragrances; we’ll talk about it more once we go broader.
Today, though, we’ll tell you some of the ways we’ve used AI to build out Act 3!
Learning more about fragrance
As per usual with our ventures, Dona had the initial vision and was already an expert. Her grandmother was an ambassador and inspired Dona to dream of fragrances and travel from an early age. On the other hand, Jeremiah had never worn fragrance before in his entire life. Guess which one of us had to get smart, real quick?
PROMPT: What are fragrances, and what are some good resources on how to make them at home?
(If you’re interested, by far the most helpful resource we came across was this video: How to Make Perfume, Start to Finish )
Finding Ingredients
Once we had a good idea of the general process we wanted to follow, we wanted to come up with our very first fragrances. We had the recipes for the first perfume that Dona had made during her class. We also had a few other perfumes and colognes that we’d tried and liked. Next up: start some small expiriments.
PROMPT: “You are an expert perfumer. We like <these types of examples>. Help us come up with an ingredient list for several unisex fragrances. We especially love oud, vanilla, sandalwood, rose, bergamot, and incense. What other ingredients might we want? Give us working links to online stores where we can we buy them. Suggest a few combinations for initial ideas to try out.”
Assembling materials
After we’d ordered the raw ingredients (essential oils, fragrance oils, key accords, alcohol, and the like), we needed to combine them into fragrances. To do that, we’d need some gear to weigh, mix, and store them.
PROMPT: “What equipment do we need to start making small-batch perfumes at home?”
Designing MVP packaging
Once we had our initial fragrances, we wanted to get some atomizers full of our first fragrance to our first customer (Dona’s sister Bon, who was throwing a bridal party). How exactly could we do that?
PROMPT: “What are professional-looking packaging options for a small-batch fragrance line? What can we do for labels? How will we send them through the mail, domestically in the US?”
Naming our fragrances
The good news? Our fragrances were a hit. The, err, complicated news? Everyone wanted more of them. Plus, while we were waiting, we made a few more elixirs we really liked. All of these needed names – we were starting to get confused.
PROMPT: “Give us ideas for fragrance names inspired by storytelling, mythology, and adventure. Not boring or “traditional” perfume names. Things like main elements / codewords from “save the cat,” e.g. dark night of the soul? What about key words from Jung & Joseph Campbell? What about examples from Turkish and Mexican telenovelas?”
Full-size bottles and packaging
Once we had our initial test runs done, it was time to think about scaling up. Small sample atomizers were great for early feedback (Bon, other family members, and our friends), but we needed real bottles and packaging that looked as high-quality as our elixirs smell. We wanted something that would stand out, feel premium, and align with our overall vision for Act 3 Elixirs.
PROMPT: “We’re launching a small batch fragrance line with three fragrances. Help us think through how to do bottles & packaging. Cite sources with working links.”
Getting fragrances in bottles
Now that we had our bottles, we had to figure out the actual logistics of bottling the perfumes at scale. How exactly were we going to do this? 1 vial to fill? No problem. 50? 100? 1,000? Err, slight problem. How much fragrance oil did we need? What else did we need (including, it turned out, gloves.) How could we ensure consistency across our batches?
PROMPT: “You’re an expert at helping small batch perfume companies begin to scale. Give us a step-by-step checklist to get our perfume into 50 vials. Give us tips to measure and manage our ingredients.”
Brand story
Act 3 Elixirs isn’t just about smelling amazing. It’s a deeply personal statement we’re making, part of our own self-identity. If you wear one of the Act 3 fragrances, you’re irreverent, adventurous, fun, classy. We wanted our brand story to reflect that.
PROMPT: “You’re an expert in helping small-batch, indie fragrance lines write their brand stories. Looking at <these initial ideas we’ve uploaded>, draft a compelling brand story for Act 3 Elixirs, an indie fragrance line focused on adventure, independence, and creativity.”
Marketing plan
With some GREAT fragrances in bottles and a kicking brand identity, we want to start getting the word out. We don’t have a massive ad budget (or lots of time because – startups and day jobs and AI, oh my) – so we’ll need to be creative.
PROMPT: “You’re an expert marketer. Suggest effective marketing strategies for Act 3, which we can execute with a small budget.”
Website copy & product descriptions
Words are hard. (Try writing a newsletter each week & not being boring!) Plus, scent is such a personal and sensory experience. PLUS – on our website & product pages – potential customers can’t access digital smell (yet). So our descriptions had to be evocative. They need to tell a story. Help!
PROMPT: “You’re an expert copywriter. Have a look at our brand story and our marketing plan. Write an engaging product description for Act 3 Elixirs.”
Product photoshoot
OK, we’ve got some works, but now we need some excellent visuals. How can we do that? Lifestyle shots? Flat lays (what does that mean, anyway)? Dramatic lighting? (For this, Dona didn’t feel right calling up Annie L) So we wanted images that made people feel the scent before they even smelled it.
PROMPT: “You’re an expert photographer for small-batch indie fragrance brands. What are some creative product photography ideas for indie perfume brands?”
Closing thoughts
These are just some of the ways we’ve used AI to think through Act 3 Elixirs. It’s helped us at literally every step, from the raw basics to sourcing ingredients, designing packaging, naming our fragrances, and even shaping our brand.
This sort of thing is why we keep coming up with new schemes. It’s fun, it’s creative, and we learn tremendously.
Sometimes we fail exquisitely. But that’s also part of it. Sometimes you learn, sometimes you win (yes, we have that t-shirt too).
You don’t have to be an expert when you start. But you DO have to start.
What about you? Are you sitting on an idea? Scared of giving it a go?
Take it from us – go for it. See where it leads.
Who knows? It could be fun!
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