Complete editions of The NTA Journal
Read past issues of NTA's free weekly publication for practical business thinking, useful AI guidance, and honest lessons from doing the work.
Published issues
The NTA Journal, issue by issue
Browse the published issues and follow the Knowledge Library lesson behind each one.
Browse by topic. Existing lessons are available now, and future Journal issues will be added to these same topics.
Latest Issue
From Ideas to Finished Work
A practical lesson from Rick’s own work: preserve ideas, agree on useful tasks, make progress visible, and check what actually got finished.
"I want to keep pouring in my ideas. I also want the work that comes out of those conversations to get finished. That has become a very practical question for me. I have been working across open tabs,..."
All Issues(10)
When Does AI Help You Tell the Truth—and When Does It Mislead?
Rick Hesse explains how AI can truthfully represent ideas without inventing evidence, and why human review must consider the audience's understanding.
Show Me Before You Sell Me
Rick Hesse shares how the Appliance Outlet conversations, demonstration, scope, costs, and next steps shaped a useful proposal.
A Better Way to Buy Advertising
Rick Hesse draws on both sides of the advertising dollar to explain a better buying conversation: understand the business, ask five useful questions, and remain free to decide.
Start With the Work, Then Choose the AI
Rick Hesse traces how an ongoing conversation became the NTA AI team and a more useful way to preserve business ideas. His practical starting point for a small business: understand the people and the work, then choose a specific job for AI.
Your Business Already Knows More Than You Think
One of the greatest values of AI for a small business may be helping the business use what it already knows. Before automating, learn how the business works, capture its knowledge, find the gaps, improve the process, and then automate what actually makes sense.
Are You Building a Business—or Just a Website?
This week, Rick Hesse asks whether a business is merely building a website or using the website to build the business. NTA’s work on question-first doorways reinforced a practical lesson: answer the visitor’s question now, then make the next appropriate step clear.
AI Finally Taught Me How to Multitask
AI did not make Rick Hesse multitask. It gave him a way to capture, contextualize, and direct multiple streams of worthwhile work without having to carry every detail in his head. This Journal issue shares what that idea can mean for a small-business owner.
Build With the Budget You Have
This week at NTA, Rick Hesse reflects on a practical lesson for small businesses: the first dollars you invest in marketing should strengthen a foundation that keeps working, not disappear into another one-time campaign.
The Free AI Guy Comes to Life
Rick Hesse shares why bringing the Free AI Guy to life is not about making New Tech Advertising an AI-only company. It is about using new technology to make advertising more approachable, while connecting the channels and customer experience that help a business grow.
What I Learned About Making Complicated Things Simple
This week’s NTA Journal looks at a lesson Rick learned configuring copiers and is applying again while building NTA: simple results usually depend on thoughtful setup. The work behind a website, form, dashboard, or AI experience matters because a good system absorbs complexity so the owner does not have to.
Tools vs. Systems: What Advertising and AI Cannot Do Alone
Business owners are sold tools every day. But access to another tool is not the same as having a system that makes it useful.
Read the Flagship Article →Want the Journal in Your Inbox?
Visit the Journal subscription page to see what each edition includes, read the first issue, and join the free Tuesday morning email.
Learn More & Subscribe