I Replaced My Virtual Assistant With AI Agents
Summary
Build in Public Daily is back, and the shape of it is changing. Jethro talks through a full day of building Optimization Doc, using OpenClaw and Hermes agents to log and execute work, and the strange shift from hiring a virtual assistant to having AI assistants generate hundreds of lines of daily work history.
This first revived episode covers the Ryan Ray AI brain conversation, a Thinkering Collective partnership opportunity, updates to jethrojones.com, the new What I Built Today process, faceless TikTok automation ideas, and the early positioning for GrantMemory and Scholar Second Brain.
Chapters
- 0:00 - Restarting Build in Public Daily
- 0:32 - Daily logging, AI agents, and 646 lines of work
- 1:40 - Virtual assistants vs. AI assistants
- 2:14 - Ryan Ray and an AI brain vault prompt
- 2:59 - Thinkering Collective and podcast network opportunities
- 3:23 - AI disclosure and the What I Built Today process
- 4:09 - TikTok automation, GrantMemory, and Scholar Second Brain
- 4:55 - A full day of building and token usage
Show Notes
- Optimization Doc is Jethro's new business focused on helping companies improve operations with AI automation.
- OpenClaw and Hermes are doing meaningful background work: scripts, jobs, logging, and task execution.
- Jethro reflects on the difference between hiring a virtual assistant and building AI assistants that can actually keep up with his operating system.
- The Ryan Ray conversation led to a custom AI brain vault prompt based on how Jethro is using his own vault.
- The Thinkering Collective may bring fellows into shows on the BE Podcast Network.
- Jethro is rebuilding jethrojones.com with explicit AI disclosure and a What I Built Today feed.
- GrantMemory and Scholar Second Brain are being positioned as second-brain setup services for academics.
Added/created/modified by OpenClaw on 2026.07.27 20:15 on ombee.