E-commerce Entrepreneur Monthly M07: AI Enters True Mass Empowerment

Background

Sorry I've been so immersed in new projects and coding lately that I haven't had time for anything, including sharing content. Often studying until 2-3 AM.

The first 2 months were spent on the frontend of the new project, occasionally using AI, which already felt amazing. In the last month, due to the need for batch structured data processing, I started researching coding-related fields more deeply.

What can I say—truly mind-blown.

Without further ado, let's get straight to the "information gap" (actually not really an information gap, this thing has been out for over half a year).

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Sharing

Quick Start

1. Spend 5 minutes downloading Claude Desktop
2. Spend 10 minutes researching how to install MCP in Claude Desktop (Claude Desktop just updated the connectors feature today, with more built-in MCPs, but actually there are many more)

3. Start being mind-blown: Use conversational dialogue in the chat box to let AI directly help you operate various business problems. So many, anything you can think of, anything you can't think of
4. Switch Apple ID to Nigeria, subscribe to Pro for another month of being blown away; still not enough, upgrade to Max. Continuously mind-blown

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Insights

1. The Only AI God

If you ask me which AI is the only god at this stage:

Previous me: "All AIs are pretty good, it mainly depends on the person and scenario, whether the prompt is right or not blah blah." (Actually, I also felt there was nothing to compare, after all, it's just conversation)

Current me: "Claude, Claude, Claude."

2. The Power of MCP

Previously, all kinds of garbage agents, money-making AI bloggers could blow it up with random demonstrations. Now you don't see many MCP demonstrations or hype, why?

Because this thing is really f***ing easy to use, anyone can do it, and it can really solve various practical problems, leaving no room for any knowledge monetization. You won't hear things like "I still can't use it well, is it because I don't know how, do I need to pay AI bloggers to learn it."

3. Current State of Agents

At this stage, the agents concept is still in the exploration phase in fields other than coding (you could call it the level of drawing pies to scam funding), especially those two that are hyped up domestically, I won't name them, but anyway, those who should leave have left, those who should die have died.

So besides coders, is AI still stuck in the "chat" simple dialog box? You ask, I answer? But when it comes to actually doing something, it can't?

Claude Desktop + MCP is the current answer.

4. Coding Skills Still Matter

If you want to deeply help you formulate various stable, highly automated business workflows, you still need coding skills. But really don't be so afraid of coding, because it's all solved by talking. (But it's not that simple either, you might still need to spend 1-3 months deeply studying and learning).

• Pure beginners: Choose one of Cursor/Windsurf/Trae, the free version is just for playing around
• If you're somewhat familiar with IDEs and have some coding foundation: Try Gemini CLI (completely free, but crappy)
• The endgame is still Claude Code

5. Barriers Are Dividends

"I'm so anxious, has everyone become so strong through AI?"

Don't worry, in China:

• 90% of Chinese people can't even access official Claude, let alone register an account
• Then another 5% can't use it normally due to network issues
• 1% can't figure out payment
• Another 1% can't even install MCP

What is this? This is a barrier, and this is also a dividend. AI makes some people more efficient first.

"Huh? This counts as a barrier?" "Then teach us! What nonsense are you talking about?"

6. Learning and Cognitive Curve

The approximate learning and cognitive curve is:

1. Helplessness: Facing network and regional restrictions, you'll feel particularly powerless. (Especially in the coding field, there are actually many network issues to solve)
2. Awe: After getting everything working and experiencing some small features, truly mind-blown
3. Anxiety: Immediately fall into anxiety, "What should I do, this thing is so powerful! How can I better apply it to my business! I still don't know how! I still want to find a one-click direct solution!"
4. Excitement: The more you research, the more blown away you become, so much that you can't sleep at night, studying until very late
5. Doubt: You'll find that you lack too much basic knowledge and capability in the coding field. On one side is the AI that can efficiently and high-quality solve problems, on the other side is you standing there like an idiot at a loss. You need to know a bit of various tech stacks to slowly solve your overall business needs. So you脱离业务场景, learning many things that seem useless, even wondering, is it necessary to learn this stuff?
6. Nihilism: You'll find that nothing seems to matter anymore, because everything can be solved by just saying one sentence to AI. Then why learn basic skills?

7. Focus Points in the AI Era

1. Do you really have practical and deeply dive-able business scenarios
2. A vivid and authentic personal IP

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FAQ

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Summary

Claude Desktop + MCP represents AI's transformation from a "conversational tool" to an "action agent." This is not just technological progress, but a revolution in the way we work.

For cross-border e-commerce practitioners, this means:

1. Automating large amounts of repetitive work
2. Describing needs in natural language, AI helps you implement them
3. Greatly lowering technical barriers and improving personal efficiency

Barriers still exist, but this is exactly where the dividends lie. Whoever crosses the barrier first will gain the upper hand in the AI era.

Most importantly: Find business scenarios where you can truly dive deep, then use AI to empower them. Don't use AI for the sake of using AI—make AI serve your business.