Work Smarter Not Harder: On Dishwashers, Doula Work, and Guilt-free AI Use

I’m not nostalgic for the days when managing a household (or a business!) meant doing everything by hand. I do love a good home cooked meal, and my homemade cookies are obviously superior to store bought (at least according to my children). I have been making our own bread for sandwiches for almost ten years! So, when our dishwasher stopped running, of course we hand washed everything for a few weeks.

I’m not against doing the work.

But if the washer stops draining or refuses to spin the load, I’m not going to be handwashing all our laundry. I will pay the toll to cross the bridge into the next town to use a laundromat. Additionally, while I have ambitions of growing more of our own veggies, we live in the Pacific Northwest, where farming is doable but conditions are not great between the weather and the soil quality and so I just go to the grocery store. I’m not hunting or fishing or trapping. I don’t sew.

So yes, I do look for shortcuts and am grateful to have access to all the conveniences I need to keep our household mostly running smoothly.

I can do all these things, and I super don’t want to go back to the days when I, the woman, primary childcare and household manager, would be responsible for all this and so much more.

But only all the things related to housekeeping. Not the things that I might be interested in. And making money was off the table, except if I made it doing household things like cooking or cleaning or sewing.

No, I am not nostalgic. I do not want to go back. I want to go forward.

The Myth of Handmade Everything

There’s a story we’ve been told:
Good work is hard work. And you’ll know you did good when you gave it your all and are exhausted afterward. 

And shortcuts are for cheaters, make you lazy, and means you don’t deserve the reward.

And yet—we count down to Black Friday every year, hoping for deals on the very things that make our lives easier, looking for things we’re not sure even exist yet that might finally usher in the age of ease that makes us feel like we’re living in the future.
So we’re comparing discounts on dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, robot vacuums, air fryers, slow cookers, and laptops. All tools that promise to save time, reduce stress, and give us a fighting chance at managing the adulting required of us every day.

Nobody walks into the room and side-eyes you and your clean clothes and asks, “Ugh, let me guess… you didn’t hang these outside did you? Even though dryers use so much electricity?”

And this same pressure for doing the work the hard way is deeply embedded in the way online business owners are expected to operate. Especially if you’re a female or minority business owner. 

Who told me that as a doula, I should introduce myself to every OBGYN and midwifery office, host coffee dates with all the other doulas in my area, network more, and also not shamelessly promote my services in Facebook groups and definitely not run ads.

I should maintain a social media presence with entertaining, shareable content, speak my values boldly, be real, and also teach, and show up consistently. 

But also don’t bother if I can’t write entertaining, shareable content myself, or if I struggle to express my values fluently, worry about oversharing my real self, and can’t teach well in front of a camera.

Who told me those things? And why is my respectability in question if I use tools to help me do these things?

It feels like there’s this unspoken message:
If you use a tool like ChatGPT, you’re cheating.
If you get support before you’re burned out, you’ve “had it easy”.
If marketing feels too easy, it’s because you paid for your leads, and that’s not admirable

Is it wrong for me because I’m a woman? Or because as a doula, I’m in a care position? Or because it’s somehow not really my effort?

No.
I reject that.

Tools to ManageYour Capacity Aren’t Cheating

You can be incredible at your work and still need help behind the scenes. You can care deeply about your clients and want your marketing to take less than two hours a week. You can dislike AI, have strong opinions about the lack of regulations around its use, and still use it to make your workload lighter.

And let’s be honest, if I had a tool that could load the dishwasher and fold the laundry and file the receipts and help me shape my rage into a cohesive message to my government representatives while the White House is being demolished… I’d use it. 

Because the alternative is doing it all—by hand, alone, indefinitely. 

And that doesn’t leave much room for rest, creativity, or community care. But I like to take long lunches with a friend, pick up my kids from school every day, and be in bed with a good book by 8:30pm. 

There’s no prize for burnout. And you don’t need to suffer to earn a life with quiet rest.

What If This Is the Shortcut?

Here’s the (slightly rebellious?) truth: tools like ChatGPT can be shortcuts.

This work makes a difference!

And while Internet strangers have scoffed at me because “real” doulas don’t use ChatGPT, my work, in collaboration with ChatGPT, also helped someone buy Christmas presents for their four kids, so I will not feel badly for that.

I know what my capacity is, and what my family, business, and my soul need from me. And I want to build a business and supports myself and others well.

You Don’t Have to Learn This Alone

I didn’t immediately fall in love with AI. It took me a while to figure out how to make it useful for my business, which isn’t built on coding, modeling, or software development.

I started using ChatGPT because I was curious, and because I didn’t want to be left behind. But I kept using it because it worked. I fell in love with not dreading my to-do list because everything no longer depended on me doing everything with just sheer willpower.

And when I realized how many birth workers were trying to carry all of this without help, just like me, I built something small but mighty: AIME — the AI Marketing Engine.

It’s $9/month and doesn’t require you to work through 12 modules in 6 weeks and join weekly coaching calls and complete each lesson’s workbook. You don’t need to do all that!

And it doesn’t require me to keep creating new material for you, check up on your work, or host 90min Q&A sessions. That’s more than my capacity can handle.

Instead, I just write you an email with simple marketing moves every week, and you can check out the resource library any time you’re needing ideas and support. 

If you’re curious about how ChatGPT can make your marketing, admin, and business work easier, come watch my free ChatGPT How-to workshop.
You don’t have to love tech or AI. If you need to figure out how to get more done while protecting your capacity, I’ll show you how.

You get to build something sustainable, to rest before you’re depleted, and to take the dang shortcut. Not because you’re lazy, but because you’re wise!

Because your capacity matters and your work is already enough.

About Me: From Doula to ChatGPT Consultant

Hi, I’m Patricia, a postpartum doula turned Marketing and ChatGPT consultant and the creator of AIME (the AI Marketing Engine). I built my online business while raising two small kids and navigating the tender, mission-driven complexity of birth work. Today, I help small business owners and birth professionals like you use ChatGPT in ways that feel aligned, easeful, and deeply human.

I’m not here to sell you on AI. I’m here to help you work with it in a way that supports your capacity and honors your values.