Why Taste Is a Career Advantage in the AI Era

Amber Guyton, an Atlanta interior designer and founder of Blessed Little Bungalow, has built a career by trusting her taste—and helping clients trust it, too. For millennials considering a creative business, her experience offers a practical lesson: distinctive judgment can be valuable in an era when generative AI makes competent, generic work easy to produce. Guyton still finds it a little strange that people pay for her opinion. “I’m not a doctor. I’m not a lawyer,” she said. “I’m just out here figuring it out and picking things that spark my joy.” That opinion is the product. As “good enough” becomes a commodity, the choices people recognize as someone’s own may become more valuable. Bain & Company found that more than 70% of U.S. readers are less likely to engage with content they know was made entirely by AI. Researchers at East Carolina University found consumers consistently value human-made art above AI-generated work. This preference can create what might be called a taste premium: people may pay for a point of view they cannot get from a generic output. Many millennials are considering independent work, but leaving a steady job can feel financially risky. In a SideHustles.com survey of 1,004 employed Americans, 46% said they were already building a side business they hoped would become their full-time income. The same survey found that 37% of millennials would need to earn at least $100,000 a year before feeling confident going out on their own. Guyton, a millennial who founded Blessed Little Bungalow and published her first book, Soulful Maximalism, on Oct. 6, offers an example of how to build toward that decision. Find a client who does not already know you Guyton launched Blessed Little Bungalow in 2016 as a blog about decorating her own house in San Antonio. She posted a different room each week alongside her latest HomeGoods finds. A few months after the business started, a dentist relocating from Albuquerque heard about Guyton in a local moms’ Facebook group and emailed her. The family wanted a change from the beige-and-tile look common in Texas homes. “That was the first time I felt like, wow, you have no idea who I am,” Guyton said. The client was not Black, which surprised Guyton, who expresses her identity through the art and patterns she chooses. More important for testing a business, the client was a stranger. Friends may offer encouragement when they buy from you, but someone with no prior relationship provides evidence that your judgment can attract paying customers. Keep your paycheck while you build proof Guyton did not leave her job immediately. She developed the design business on the side for years while working in corporate financial services and later in tech. She went all in during the pandemic, about four months after moving back to Atlanta. Her work earned trust one room at a time. For an Atlanta couple’s guest room, she chose marigold paint—a color the husband said he never would have picked. After the navy-striped drapes, olive velvet and statement art were added, he told her it had become their favorite space. Client design work still brings in most of Guyton’s revenue, she said, with brand partnerships making up much of the rest. Blessed Little Bungalow marked its 10th anniversary this year. For someone worried about needing to earn at least $100,000 before going independent, her path suggests that keeping a salary while building a business can provide a longer runway. The income helps cover the years needed to show that clients will trust your eye. Protect what makes your work specific Selling taste also means deciding when not to compromise it. Guyton acknowledged projects where she diluted her work to meet a client’s needs, saying that was “not necessarily something I’m super proud of.” Brand partnerships can bring similar pressure. One partner’s early samples leaned on obvious African motifs, she said. Guyton prefers more specific references, such as the sweetgrass baskets artisans still sell around Charleston, where she grew up. That influence appears in her Lowcountry Sweetgrass wallpaper for Mitchell Black. Her book aims to share her approach without making it generic. It has eight chapters built around four principles—joy, culture, layers and intention—with homework at the end of each chapter. Her color lessons describe hues as cousins, including a “play cousin,” a way of explaining color that she wanted to feel more palatable for her community. Guyton is direct about the crowded field of familiar styles and do-it-yourself inspiration. “Between ChatGPT and AI and all the DIYers and Pinterest, there is enough beige and farmhouse, modern farmhouse, neutral, palatable things for people to consume,” she said. “I didn’t quit my job, my good-paying tech job, to do this, to be like everybody else and to blend in.” For millennial professionals building a creative business, the next steps are clear: test whether strangers will pay for your judgment, use a paycheck to support the time it takes to build trust, and pay attention when clients or partners ask you to become more generic. Guyton’s guiding principle is simple: “If you’re for everyone, you’re for no one.”