Two friends walked into a new kopitiam (it's a Malaysia thing).
They ordered char kuey teow.
Both take a bite.
Immediately the first friend said, "Something's missing."
The second friend, a chef, tasted it again: "No wok hei. The flame wasn't strong enough. And the noodles broke because they kept stirring instead of tossing. Used vegetable oil instead of lard, so there's an oily coat instead of flavor. And this is plain soy sauce, not the proper sweet sauce mix."
Two friends ate the same dish. Met with the same disappointment. But completely different abilities to articulate why.
The stall closed within months.
The food wasn't "terrible."
But diners kept feeling something was "missing" without knowing how to explain it.
This happens constantly in marketing.
Your prospects feel something about your content.
Your emails. Your offers.
But they can't tell you what.
They just feel that something's "off."
Or something's "right."
That's the key right there.
It's "taste".
The ability to detect subtleties.
And in the age of AI, taste is king.
Because creation is progressively giving way to curation.
Skill don't matter as much as before, since AI can write well for you.
But in return, YOU need to be the standard that your AI meets.
Unfortunately, most creators never develop taste.
They keep producing content that technically checks all the boxes but emotionally falls flat.
Like a home cook who follows the recipe perfectly but can't tell when the seasoning's wrong.
But this is going to be incredibly important moving forward because the market rewards those who can taste the difference.
An example: A client sent me his email last week for review.
Great open rate (he's built a lot of loyalty). But zero sales.
I could taste the problem immediately.
Every sentence tried too hard. Manufactured enthusiasm. Borrowed language.
The kind of writing that happens when you're performing instead of communicating.
He couldn't see it because according to the metrics, it's good!
But metrics don't buy. People do.
And people have highly developed BS detectors even when they can't articulate what triggers them.
In a battle between the conscious and the subconscious, the latter wins every time.
This is why AI content often fails despite being "well-written."
Technically correct. Emotionally hollow.
The sentences flow. The structure works. But something tastes off.
Readers feel the disconnect even if they can't name it.
Yet the reason do not matter as much as emotions.
Your audience makes buying decisions based on feelings, not logic.
They feel trust or suspicion. Connection or distance. Excitement or emptiness.
Then they backwards-rationalize why.
"The price was too high" often means "I didn't feel enough trust."
"I need to think about it" often means "Something felt off but I can't explain what."
"Not the right time" often means "I'm not excited about this."
Most people stay blind to what their audience actually experiences. They optimize metrics instead of emotions. They follow formulas instead rhythm.
But taste can be developed.
Just like a chef trains their palate through deliberate practice, you can train your ability to detect what works and what doesn't.
The Evolving Authority workshop will teach you this.
How to catch the subtle signals your audience sends.
How to know why something works, not just that it works.
How to develop the taste that separates good content from magnetic content.
Through daily reflection that sharpens your ability to see what others miss.
June 30th. Two hours that transform how you create.
3 days till we close this invitation for a year.
Details at felixtay.com/augment-then-duplicate
Next time you see this, it'll be in 2026.
FELIX