If you just joined welcome. Last week we kicked off a nine-part series on the AI skills that actually matter. Issue 01 covered Prompt Engineering — how to talk to AI so it gives you something useful. You can find it in your inbox.
This week: Taste Curation.
This one is harder to teach — but it might be the most important skill on this list.
What Is Taste, Exactly?
Taste is your ability to know what good looks, sounds, and feels like and to recognise when something isn't there yet.
AI can generate 100 product names in 30 seconds. Taste is what tells you that only two of them would actually work in the real world. The other 98 are technically correct but somehow wrong.
In 2026, everyone has access to the same AI tools. The person who wins is not the one with the best tool it's the one with the best judgment about what good looks like.
That's taste. And unlike most skills, it compounds over time.
Why This Matters for Solopreneurs
Here's the situation most solopreneurs are in: AI gives you speed and volume. You can produce more content, more emails, more proposals than ever before.
But volume without taste is just noise.
The coaches, consultants, and service providers getting real traction in 2026 are not the ones posting more. They're the ones posting better. And the difference is judgment the ability to look at an AI output and say "this isn't right yet" before it goes out.
That judgment is taste. And you can build it deliberately.
Three Ways to Build Your Taste Library
1. Collect examples of world-class work
Start a swipe file. This is a collection of things you genuinely admire pieces of writing, social media posts, brand voices, email subject lines, business frameworks, pitch decks. Anything that made you stop and think "that's good."
When you're using AI and the output feels flat, go to your swipe file. Find something with the energy you're looking for. Paste it into your prompt and say: "Use this as a tone reference."
2. Sharpen your language
Precise language produces precise AI outputs. There's a big difference between telling AI to write in a "professional tone" versus "confident and direct, like a trusted advisor not corporate." The second produces something usable. The first produces something bland.
Start noticing words that are doing heavy lifting in content you love. "Leader" versus "boss." "Simple" versus "obvious." Small shifts in language change everything about what comes back.
3. Build your personal rules
Over time, you'll notice patterns in what you like and don't like. Turn those patterns into rules. Write them down. Some examples:
- Write at a ninth-grade reading level
- Short sentences maximum 20 words
- Open with the point, not the setup
- Use specific numbers, not vague claims
Once you have your rules, paste them into every AI session. You've just turned your taste into a repeatable system. Next week I'll show you exactly how to do that.
3 Things Worth Your Attention
1. Start your swipe file today
One folder. Notion, Google Drive, Apple Notes — doesn't matter. Save five things this week that you think are genuinely great. That's the beginning.
2. Taste is now a moat
Research from MIT shows that human-AI teams with strong human creative oversight produce 23% better outcomes than purely AI-generated content. Your judgment is the differentiator.
3. Next week: the Master Prompt
We're going to turn your taste into a document you can upload to any AI session. It's one of the highest-leverage things you can build. Don't miss it.
From My Journey
I remember the first times I asked ChatGPT for business name ideas. I typed out what I wanted to build, hit enter, and got ten options back in seconds. I thought, okay this is impressive but none of them felt right. So I asked for ten more. Still nothing. I kept going in circles and started thinking the tool just was not that good. But looking back, that is not what was happening. The AI was giving me perfectly fine names. I just could not tell it what I actually wanted because I had never stopped to figure that out myself. I had taste but no language for it. Once I started getting specific about the feeling I wanted the name to create, the kind of business owner I wanted to attract, the words I was drawn to and the ones that felt cheap, everything shifted.
Did you even know there was a skill called taste curation? Neither did I. Share with me what one rule you will add to your taste list. I am curious what you come up with.
Until next time…
Harriet,
Founder SaviteckX