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Learnings and Missteps
The Learnings and Missteps Podcast is about unconventional roads to success and the life lessons learned along the way.
You will find a library of interviews packed with actionable take aways that you can apply as you progress on your career path.
Through these interviews you will learn about the buttons you can push to be a better leader, launch a business, and build your influence.
Find yourself in their stories and know that your path is still ahead of you.
Learnings and Missteps
Zen and the Art of Tech: Phyllis Winters on Leadership and Innovation
In this episode, Jesse welcomes Ms. Phyllis Winters, a seasoned expert with 30 years of experience across various industries like nuclear, healthcare, and construction. Phyllis discusses her journey from overcoming a challenging childhood to achieving significant milestones in the world of tech and business strategy. She emphasizes the importance of a problem-solving mindset and shares valuable insights on leveraging AI and technology for business growth. The episode covers practical tips for AI usage, the significance of strategy in tech implementation, and Phyllis’s unique approach to making complex subjects accessible and enjoyable. Tune in to learn how Phyllis became a pivotal guide for businesses looking to innovate and scale.
00:00 Welcome Back to LnM Family
00:14 Introducing Our Expert Guest: Phyllis Winters
01:45 Phyllis Winters' Background and Motto
03:55 Overcoming Challenges and Early Life
05:16 College and Career Beginnings
06:26 Navigating the Tech Industry
07:31 The Value of Life Experience
12:56 AI and Problem Solving
15:44 The Importance of Clear Communication with AI
27:21 Breaking Barriers in a Male-Dominated Industry
30:25 Breaking Through the Wall: Learning the Language
30:48 Starting a Business: The Journey Begins
30:56 From Accounting to Management Consulting
33:46 The Rise of PCs: A New Opportunity
34:51 A Business Partnership Gone Wrong
35:53 Transition to the Online World
38:02 Embracing Tech and Business Zen
46:22 Leveraging AI for Business Success
54:10 The Promise of Holistic Business Coaching
59:00 Final Thoughts and Reflections
Make yourself a priority and get more done: https://www.depthbuilder.com/do-the-damn-thing
Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books
Oh my God, you're like a real person, as opposed to what.
Speaker 2:What is going on L&M family. So glad you're back and you probably noticed there's been an uptick on the number of episodes that we've been releasing and so glad that you came back because or maybe, if you're not ready for this, hold on to your seats, because what we got today is an expert or somebody that is serving the world in a pretty unique way when it comes to AI systems and business strategy. Like you already know, you've been hearing about it. You're curious. We got somebody that knows what the hell they're doing with the thing, and I ain't that person. It is our guest.
Speaker 2:She brings 30 years of experience from all kinds of industries, including the nuclear, space, construction, healthcare, medical, legal lots of stuff here, folks. So hopefully I'll do a good job in getting some good nuggets for us. Her name is Ms Phyllis Winters and she is your guide and she will be our guide to business and tech zen, which I'm super eager to hear about this zen stuff. But before that, if this is your first time here, you're listening to the Learnings and Missteps podcast, where amazing human beings just like you are sharing their gifts and talents to leave this world better than they found it. I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we about to get to know Ms Phyllyllis. Miss Phyllis, how are you?
Speaker 1:Hi Jesse, I am great. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm ecstatic. So folks out there, if you know me, you know I'm kind of crazy and I just do stuff on a whim. Miss Phyllis is one of those super courageous characters because we're a part of another group that were doing and learning cool things, and I said, hey, if you want to be interviewed, click the link. And she signed up and bam, we're here. And so I got to read what your motto is, miss Phyllis, and I'm curious and I know that the L&M family would love to know this answer why does the impossible take just a little bit longer?
Speaker 1:Mostly because there's usually an extra step or two. My whole reason for being is to solve problems for other people and I am a master problem solver and I solve problems in business and technology and AI and strategy. I just solve problems. That's kind of my superpower and my motto is the difficult I do right away. The impossible takes a little longer and that's just because there's usually one or two steps in there past the difficult. That makes it take a little longer.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. Okay, so we're going to talk some problem solving talk, because I have a similar affliction. I take it that when you're helping and serving people with a problem and you have an idea or solution, the response is that's not possible, we can't do that. Do you face that quite a bit.
Speaker 1:I do, jesse. And not only do they say it's not possible, they say they've already been told it can't be done. And when somebody says it can't be done, that's like waving a red flag in front of a bull, and I'd like in over 30 years I have never, ever had to tell a client it can't be done, ever. So when someone tells you it can't be done, that just means they don't know how to do it.
Speaker 2:OK, and so what is it about problems? Because right now we're talking about problems generally, but what is it about problems that attracts you or motivates you to give them so much energy and effort?
Speaker 1:Well, it starts way back when I was very young. I'm the oldest of six children. I grew up in a very chaotic, toxic home and, as the oldest, I was a leader. I was the substitute mom, I was the problem solver.
Speaker 1:And the way we learned to cope was basically Phyllis learned to cope and taught the little ones that we can get through this and I would always go for what's the worst case and then we would prepare for the worst case and then if it was just bad and it wasn't worse, we would go. We have a win. That was great. So we kind of developed that mindset very young and because I was kind of the adult in a lot of situations where I should have been the child, I learned how to just do a lot of things really early. And because of that situation, when I'm the oldest and my sister is the next one, she was into dolls and she would play with dolls and she'd play house and she'd do tea parties and all that and I'm like I just changed diapers and I just did laundry and I have no interest in playing house.
Speaker 1:But what interested me was puzzles. I loved doing puzzles. So she's playing with her dolls, I'm doing puzzles and I think that was the first iteration of me realizing how good I was at solving problems. And then it just grew and as I became a senior in high school, my father sat me down and said hey, you got to get out of these college prep classes. You've got to take a typing class so you can get a job. And I just looked at him and I said, no, I'm going to go to college. He goes no, you can't, we can't afford it. And I just looked him right in the eye and said I'm going to do it, I'll figure it out. And that was like really gutsy at that.
Speaker 1:I was 17, and he was kind of an iron-fisted father. And he just looked at me and he goes okay, well, you're going to wish you had a typing class and in those days I was blessed because you could get grants and loans and scholarships and college work, study, and I was able to just cobble it all together and I'm living in a little tiny town where I had never even seen an airport before.
Speaker 1:And I'm flying to a state to have an interview at a college. I paid for the airplane ticket I had. I ended up getting scholarships and loans and grants and things and I went to college as the first person in my family ever to go to college. And then another problem was I came with the student loans.
Speaker 1:So at the end of my sophomore year my advisor said okay, so let's look at. Oh okay, so what you're in computers? He looked right at me and he goes there's no jobs in computers. And, parenthetically, what he meant was for girls. My face drained white and I went oh my God, I have school loans. Where's the money? What do I have to? Where can I make money? I've got to be able to pay them back. And he said, well, accounting. And I'm like, oh good, I'm a math person, numbers are numbers, I can do accounting. So I did a four-year accounting major in two years because I needed that. I did. I love accounting and I am a CPA. I retired from active CPAdom but you have that knowledge forever. And that was kind of how I justified it to myself. I was like, well, whatever I do, every business needs accounting, so this isn't all bad.
Speaker 2:And so that's how.
Speaker 1:I got into that. But I had majored in computer science and he told me oh, there's no jobs there. So that was two major problems in my life solved, and so by then it was just second nature to me. I didn't realize that it was a special gift.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. So thank you. Big rocks, big like life experiences that are evidence that not like other people have the same experience. Same experience, and what I mean by that is a less than supporting and motivating parent, short-sighted or narrow thinking of people that should be supporting you and helping you, and then we'll just say premature, massive responsibilities, meaning before you're even like biologically ready in terms of brain development to be caring for others. Right Like when you were a young lady you had your five siblings that you were kind of the responsible one for.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And these are common human experiences. And the reason I want to point that out is for, like the LNM family member out there listening to this, like you're not alone, the L&M family member out there listening to this, you're not alone, man. It's tough, sure, but you're not alone. Now, going back to that early, thrown into the fire, figure something out, make a decision and if it's better than worse, we're ahead. I think I love that. Right Is is it better than worse? Because some people might say, well, that's low standards, like sure, depending on where you are on. Well, I'll just go and say on the socioeconomic status, because when you're broke and hungry, better than worse is pretty damn good, exactly, exactly. And so understand, like, what was it about that helped you? I'm going to say, I'm going to call it like a callus. You kind of built a shell that helped you not get distracted without or by missing perfection, because better than worse is not perfect, but it's progress.
Speaker 1:And I don't even Jesse, I didn't even look at it as progress. I looked at it as we got through another day. So it wasn't even like I had a specific goal. The goal was to get us all through today with nobody getting beat up, nobody getting hurt, nobody having no clothes to wear to school tomorrow, nobody going hungry and, when they were young, no babies in dirty diapers.
Speaker 1:So it was like a day by day thing I did not have a long term plan at that point, when I was seven, I was the oldest of five and so it was, my days were full and I was going to school and I'm pretty smart cookie, so I was doing really well in school and luckily it's kind of faded as I gotten older.
Speaker 1:But I had a photographic memory in smart cookie. So I was doing really well in school and luckily it's kind of faded as I gotten older. But I had a photographic memory in those days so I could just read the book and I knew and I didn't have to study. I didn't have a lot of time to study, but I didn't realize it was a thing, jesse, until I got older. And then everybody's saying, like, how did you do that? I'm like, how would I not do it? Because I felt so much dependence of my siblings that, like, somebody's got to drive this bus and you're the older one, so it better be you. It was their attitude. So it wasn't a long-term plan at all, it was just a daily survival.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, and I think that's ultra, ultra important because I know and where you're at today in this universe is evidence that sometimes day by day is what it is. But it's like the value of that, it's an enormous number of reps, repetitions to discover and we'll say, embrace the fact that you can figure it out. And so then, looking back and I'm sure this wasn't what was going through your head, right, because similarly you and I have very similar paths but I can look back and say, hell, I've worked through tougher stuff, like I figured it out. Then, when I kind of had that realization, then it was like, okay, I can be thinking more than just today, I can think about the next three days, I can make decisions that have broader impact for a week, for a month, for a year. But the foundation is the evidence that I can overcome the challenge we want to do.
Speaker 2:The LNM family member shout out, and this one goes to my buddy, mr Jim Gontorius. Jim, you've been a massive and fierce supporter of a lot of the things that I get my hands into and I appreciate you taking the time to make this comment. Jim says I don't know how you do all the things that you do. We can't thank you enough for what you have done, not only with the last event but over the last couple of years. Without the do the damn thing thought in my head Breakthrough Builders may have never happened. Your ripples of impact travel a lot farther than you may think.
Speaker 2:Mr Jim, I'm getting allergies over here. I'm getting a little teary-eyed. I appreciate you leaving that comment. I appreciate you letting me speak into your life and also for you speaking into my life and folks L&M family you already know. Leave me a comment, send me a DM. It doesn't have to be positive and lovely. It could be something that bugs you. All of them are signals to me that at least one person is listening and it gives me the opportunity to shout you out in a future episode.
Speaker 1:And I have. It's not just that I can, I've done it. Yes, the one thing I'll say that I ever even considered of the future was when things were really bad, and I remember feeling this very young. I would say am I even going to remember this in five years? And if so, I better pay attention, it's just noise, let's just get through the day. So there were, so that that realization came to me more around like age 1011, where I was like, hey, like all this stuff, like I just I can't deal with it at that level. And I so I learned to say, if this is something I'm going to wish I had attended to five years from now, then I'm going to do it, but if I won't remember it, I'm not going to stress.
Speaker 2:It's static. I love that Solid, solid mental model to like focus on what's important. Now you mentioned puzzles. Guess what I love puzzles, like absolutely. I haven't touched one in years because I can't stop. It consumes me because I'm obsessive, I got issues, anyways.
Speaker 1:But they clearly serve you well, your issues, so I wouldn't kick them out. They do.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, a hundred percent. They are beautiful, glamorous, glorious issues, and I got plenty of them, and they have issues too. So it's all good In terms of like puzzles. What is the? What did you see? Is there a thread between the puzzles and computers, or technology for that matter?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yes, you just hit the nail right on that. Yes, absolutely, because a puzzle is looking at something that looks horrible it's a mess and then straightening it out and making it be something. And I loved programming from high school. Our first computer in school was in my senior year and I started programming in high school and I was like that geeky, nerdy kid like everybody else was like and I was very excited about it and what it is.
Speaker 1:It's a different kind of puzzle. It's that you look at, well, what is it you're trying to do, break it down into the steps that it takes to get there. And now how do you tell a machine how to do that and that the puzzle part of it is? There was trial and error and in those days debugging was like a nightmare. Nowadays debugging is really simple, but in those days debugging could be like literally an all-day thing. So all of my puzzle-solving skills made me have less iterations when I was programming. I didn't have to go through as much debugging because of my puzzle mindset. I was able to get it organized and make it clear before I started doing the actual programming. So that really paid off my puzzle skills.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I mean, looking back, you can see that. Right, you couldn't. You probably didn't say man, I'm great at puzzles, I should do computers. No, what was it about tech or computers that captured your attention?
Speaker 1:My dad was a lineman for the telephone company and his job was climb up the poles and run the lines, and so he was always do and he was splicing and this and that. He was always doing and he was splicing and this and that and he would talk about it and then at home he would. He was funny because when he would fix something it was kind of really funny. And this is where I think some of my puzzle skills came in. If, let's say, the toaster broke, he would take the toaster apart, go, oh yeah, I see what it is, and he'd put it all back together and there would be parts left over and I would look at him and go dad, what are these? And he'd go ah, you don't need them, that's not important. That's not important, exactly. So I watched that and I was like, yeah, I'm pretty sure those are important. And through that I started looking at that type of physical and electrical things. That type of physical and electrical things.
Speaker 1:And I just naturally, for some reason, had an ability to do cabling of all things. So when computers first started, I was the one that ran the cables. And even before that, like in grade school, I was that weird kid with the AV cart that brought in the overhead projector and everything. Because I was the only one that could figure out how to hook it up. It was so simple, and yet. I would have thought it was rocket science.
Speaker 1:So that kind of just came into my life because and like I was the only one that raised my hand and said, the teacher said, does anybody know how to fix this? And I said, let me take a look. And I did figure it out. So now all of a sudden I'm the expert. So that carried with me. And then I got that confidence that I can figure out like electrical things and AV things.
Speaker 1:And then in the computers I was doing the programming. But then I got to the point where I started doing way back when they first started computer networking for PCs, where somebody had to run those cables and it was me, and somebody had to set up the those cables, and it was me, and somebody had to set up the server, and it was me. And so I actually just started doing those things because nobody else knew how. And that was when I started my first business. I was 27 and I was freaking out and I said to my husband I said but I don't really. I said I only know a little bit. And he goes Phyllis, it's so much more than anybody else knows. So what you?
Speaker 1:think is a little bit to them. They think you're a genius and he was right. He was absolutely right. So it just kind of flowed from my curiosity with puzzles, watching my father not fix things correctly, thinking that I'm pretty sure those parts really do need to go in there, and then just taking that forward into the AV card, into programming cabling. And now I take that skill and I use it with AI and integrating systems to use AI and helping my clients connect things that other people have told them can't be done. And, like I said, I've never had to say, oh no, we can't do that. So it's all been now that I look back, as you said, I didn't know it then but looking back I can see the through thread.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it's been progressively stacking skills in a particular path, maybe not on purpose, but that's what happened. So you said a couple of things. One you undervalued or maybe you couldn't see the value in your knowledge and experience, because it's you, you're living in it, you're swimming in it. We make these assumptions, everybody knows that. That's basic. Nobody wants to hear that, but they don't know, they just don't know. And so, coming to terms with that, I want to say it this way, like for the listeners out there you have if you have an idea or something stirring within, doing it for a fee because it's extremely valuable and it may be so valuable that other people will pay you for it. Just something like it's super general, but for real, we are not great at understanding the value of our own life experience and it is important. So you talked about I love the words you said was physical and electrical, because in my head, like oh, that is a great way to describe what it feels like to, or what it felt like when I first started using a stupid computer Like I. Everybody knows I.
Speaker 2:My career path was I was supposed to go to college. Cause why? Cause everybody said I should to go be in the like an engineer. I didn't know what the hell an engineer was. I got a summer job on a job site and I loved it. And also I didn't want to go and read more books, do more writing and mess around with the computer. So I started in construction. Well, fast forward, today in my business I don't. There ain't nothing I do without a computer. But anyways, back to when I first started playing messing around with the damn computer. It was a new engagement. It was a new dance between the physical and the electrical. Right now, computer is way more than like it's programming and all those other things. I just love the way you said that I was like well, yeah, that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1:It is and with the computers it's. It's even obviously it's electrical, but it's even more of it, almost like a mind. Yeah, the electrical has to be there, but your mind has to connect to the computer and the computer has to connect to your mind, not physically. I'm not talking about the neural chip or anything like that, I'm just talking about the way you interact with the computer and I always say garbage in, garbage out, garbage in, garbage out. Remember, even with AI it still doesn't really know anything about you or your business or your situation or your clients or your message or your offer. It doesn't know any of that stuff. So while it's brilliant at general stuff, it doesn't know you. So back when I was a programmer, way back when, we would say garbage in, garbage out, which means if you write a sloppy program you're going to get sloppy results. And now with AI, that's still true, but on steroids.
Speaker 1:Because, some people will sit down to AI and just ask a vague question, like they would at Google search, and then go. Well, I don't know what all the hype is here. This is the same as Google, and because they're not giving it good prompts, they're not asking it. And when you do a prompt in AI, it's not just a question. You have to give it context. What is the purpose of what we're doing? Give it a role, tell it you are an expert at whatever it is you're working on and you are experienced in writing, blah, blah, blah. Here's an example of one that I like. I want my output to be three pages long, or three paragraphs long, and I want it to be lighthearted, yet helpful and instructional, but not too professorial. Now you put that prompt in and you're going to get something that I always say it's 80-20.
Speaker 1:It's 80% there. So you're starting with a first draft that is 80%. You can use it. Now some people I don't agree will just take that 80%, call it good enough and use it. No, you shouldn't do that. Take it as your first draft, do your magic, put the other 20% in and then it's the finished product.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, and you kind of just described my whole experience with AI, because I was like this is stupid. And then I got clear, like I could give it context, I could give it specific direction, I could articulate what I want the outlook or the output to look like. And I was like whoa. And so, it's funny, one of my exes because I have a bunch of them, phyllis, believe it or not told me this a few years back. She's like Jess, I think you're probably going to find somebody that you can have as a lifelong partner. And I'm like, really, is it because I'm so accomplished now and I'm not a freaking goofball anymore? Say no, it's because of all the advancements they've make with AI. Ouch, that's a really good one. I just need to get the right prompt and it'll be great. Anyway, sorry for that. Well, and speaking, about AI.
Speaker 1:Jesse, if any of your listeners use AI or trying to dip their toe into the AI pool, the thing I tell my clients is remember that AI, like I said, doesn't know anything about you or anything around you, and to treat it like an assistant.
Speaker 1:If you just hired a new office assistant or a new apprentice on a job out in the field, you wouldn't just say here you go, do this. You would train them. You would tell them hey, this is the way we do it. You might've done it a different way, the last company you work for, or maybe you're just out of school and this is your first gig, but this is how we do it. This is what's acceptable. This is what's not acceptable. This is what's expected of you. This is our client or this is the job. This is our's expected of you. This is our client or this is the job. This is our claim to fame, this is what we do.
Speaker 1:And then that assistant could actually be helpful to you. You would never, ever have that new assistant. Give them that little spiel, ask them to do something and then just pass it off as your own without checking it. But a lot of people do that with AI as your own without checking it, but a lot of people do that with AI. So my main mantra to people starting with AI is think of it as a new assistant, and how would you train that assistant if it was a person instead of AI?
Speaker 2:Yeah, be explicit. I mean, for me it's that and it has whatever the intelligence or the programming that accommodates. Maybe vague and verbose description like it can distill what I'm trying to say, because there's times I'm like I don't I know what I want, but I'm going to say it this way and I'm like, okay, you understood. Good, let's keep on rolling. But you're so. There is an investment, tremendous value in it, right? And then for me, like I, I never copy paste, not because I'm very ethical, but because it always comes out way smarter than what I would write. So I have to go dirty it up and dummy it up so people won't know that I'm using AI.
Speaker 1:But, jesse, you could actually and I help my clients actually teach it your brand voice, to teach it to sound like Jesse. It's easier to do that, easier to do than you think, and once you do that, then it's going to be whatever you want it to be. And let's be honest, sometimes you, depending on if you're making a presentation to an audience of people, you know where they're coming from it can be at their level. If you're doing it to high school students to talk about opportunities in the trades, you would tell it, and I wouldn't even say, put it at the high school level, because some of those students in high school may not have the same reading and comprehension as everybody. So, say, do it at the eighth grade level. So, depending on who your audience is, you can tell it and I'm not going to call it dumb it down because it's not really dumbing it down what it is communicating at the level of your audience. So that's what it is. You got it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, make it easy for everybody to understand it. A hundred percent, yeah. Now what I'm picking up on what you've shared so far, ms Phyllis, is that you're always kind of on the front edge of things, the leading edge, and I know this, that when you're on the leading edge it's an isolating experience, or can be, and people think you're wacko. So there's that. Plus, you were in an industry that I can only imagine, back in the day, when you first started, even during university, that you were probably one of very few women in that situation.
Speaker 1:In most cases, Jesse, I was the one, or on a good day there would be two women and the rest was all men. And then all my clients were all men, because in those days women just weren't in those roles and all I could say is two things.
Speaker 1:One, I spoke their language because I did understand their business. I did understand what they didn't understand about their tech and their software and their network and all that kind of stuff. But two, I am an absolute raving NFL football fan and I love the game. I'm not just one team yes, I always have a team that I would like to see win but I follow all the teams, all the guys, all the, and I know, oh, and I'll go into it and say, oh, did you see that game last night? Oh, my God. And I would go into the whole thing and the guys would look at me like you watch football. And all of a sudden it was like we were buddies and now we're talking about the game. And then, when you know how guys are during football season, we were talking about the game for 25 minutes and then we go oh shoot, we've only got 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:Then we'd get through the meeting really quick and they would listen and they respected other things I said because I wasn't bullshit and when I was talking about football they knew I knew my stuff and for some reason, believe it or not, that got me farther in some cases than my true professional knowledge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so thank, amazing. And there's two core, fundamental principles in what you just said that anybody can latch on to. One is find common ground. Right, Find common ground. I didn't say tell people what you appreciate. I said you find common ground. I said you find common ground. That's the game. The other thing is speak their language, Learn the language that resonates with them. I'm doing them in quotation marks.
Speaker 2:Sure, it would be nice if everybody accommodated what I value and what I appreciate and, oh my God, would it not be nice if everybody would learn to speak my language. But that is an unreasonable expectation and a perfect formula for staying stuck and bitching and complaining about my situation. When I, like you did, find common grounds an interest that they have that I share I'm breaking through the wall. When I learn to speak their language, I'm breaking through the wall and I have full control over that and I love how simple, practical and impactful what you did is and how it's contributed to your career and the way you serve people. Now. Now you mentioned I feel like we slid over and I know there's a deeper story there but you mentioned you started a business. Is that the same business you're doing now?
Speaker 1:Yes and no. For the most part yes, and there's a little bit of history there because remember I didn't get to have my computer science major in school. So I had a minor, got out, got an accounting job with a big aid accounting firm, which was I was the only person in my school that got that worked there and then, as an accountant, got my two years. I only needed two years of public accounting to get my CPA. I studied that and those days you couldn't use calculators on the CPA exam.
Speaker 1:It was all by hand and there was five parts and because it was all by hand, each part was four hours. So I was studying day and night. I'm like I'm just going to go at this full bore because everybody said, oh, study for two parts, because you needed two in order for it to count and then you could go back and do it again and I said there's no way, I'm doing this again. So I just studied like a crazy person for four months, passed the whole thing first time the only person in my state that did that and that got me able to get out of accounting because, okay, they made me do accounting. I got my CPA what's next? And I ended up I was working.
Speaker 1:I got out of public accounting and worked as an auditor in our public utility locally and bored to tears. I went from crazy like 12 hour days, seven days a week for four months straight to the first meeting I was in for an internal audit. I got a job as an internal auditor the first meeting I was in and they were handing out projects. They handed out my project. Well, I went back to my desk and I had it done the end of the next day and I went to my supervisor. I said, okay, now what? And she looked at me and she goes that was your project until December, and I'm like it's October. Oh my God, what am I going to do for two months? So they actually got me busy, and one of the things they did is they signed me up for the New England Power Exchange. We needed a representative from our utility company, and that is the New England states get together and make deals Well, not just deals, but they plan where their plants are going to be, how distribution and transmission is going to work, and when somebody goes down, who's going to fill in the gap. So it was very complex, very much a puzzle solving thing.
Speaker 1:So I was for it and in that experience I met the partner at Pete Marwick who was management consulting, and after six or seven months of this, he stopped me at the elevator one time when we were leaving. We were in Boston, and he goes hey, you're in Connecticut, right. And I said yes, and he goes if you're ever going to leave, call me first. I don't want you going out to the market, call me. So I did it, maybe another six or eight months. Then I called him. I said, hey, were you serious? And he goes absolutely. So I became a management consultant at Pete Marwick, which was great and I loved it. And right about then is when the first PCs and the first Mac computers were coming out and I watched that and prior to then we all had mainframes and people. You had to be a computer person in order to use the computer.
Speaker 1:So I went to him and I said hey, I think PCs came. I said I think these PCs are going to be big, I think we're going to have one on everybody's desk and I think we should. Pete Marwick should start a computer consulting division and I want to be a part of it, and he was a former IBMer. So he kind of figuratively patted me on my head oh you, cute little thing no, no, mainframes are here to stay. Thing no, no, mainframes are here to stay. This is a flash in the pan. So I waited about six months and I went back and I said if you're not going to do this, I'm going to. And so he goes. Oh, okay, you go ahead, your job is safe. When you get done with that little thing, come back and you can have your job back. Well, that was decades ago, 30 plus years ago, and here I am.
Speaker 1:That through point was the same business. Now I made the terrible mistake. Another one of those lessons learned and missteps is I made a. I was doing all of the programming and the software and the computer networking came out and I was doing the cabling and I was doing setting up the servers plus doing doing the accounting plus doing the programming and it was just too much. So I hired this gentleman and I said look you do. I put him through a trial period and he did really well and I said tell you what I'm going to give you the whole networking thing, that's your, that's you and I'm going to do the consulting, software programming stuff. And I gave him 50% of the business which was such a mistake.
Speaker 2:So fast forward talk about a misstep.
Speaker 1:That was like going off a cliff.
Speaker 1:Very big mistake. And anyway, fast forward, 10 or 15 years later, and now he's decided he doesn't need me anymore because I don't do what he does. Well, I hired you to build that and I. Anyway, long story short, we ended up. He bought me out, I moved out west, we've been in Connecticut and now I went into the online world. So, yes, I kept my Connecticut clients and I had another client in Rhode Island and I still worked on them remotely. So it is the same business, but now I do those clients and but it's all remote, and now I do a lot online. So I have clients all over the world. So technically it's the same business, but there was a little bit of a blow up there in the middle where we went our separate ways.
Speaker 2:Well, and thank you for painting the whole picture, because it's another data point of how success is not a straight line and what I love. If no one's ever told you this, shame on them. But I love your outlook and energy and spirit about all of it, because you have a lot of good excuses for being pissed off and bitter, but that is not what's coming across over here, sister. You're like okay, problem what's. It may not be better, but it ain't worse, right?
Speaker 2:That's exactly right, Pat on the head, Like I've experienced it and it pissed me off. But you can't like it could be fuel, but it's dirty fuel, right? You had a partner. You went and started your own business. You saw a space in the market. You said, hell, yeah, I'm gonna go do it. You did it. You did all the work to freaking, make it, bring it to life. And they needed help, brought somebody in to help that.
Speaker 1:you brought them into the thing you created and then they took it or whatever they took that part of it and decided they didn't need me anymore because that wasn't my thing. No shit, that's not my thing. That's why I hired you.
Speaker 2:I hired, you fool. But you've continued to like, okay, what's next? And folks, for the young guys listening out there, whenever you're feeling down and feel like, oh my God, this is only happening to me, why me, come back and listen. Just replay the past three or four minutes, because you ain't the only one and you don't have to be sour about it, phyllis ain't. So what's interesting to me is we've talked a lot about your technical expertise and the way you see problems and appreciation, and we'll say what's the word accomplishments with regard to tech, but you also have this very relatable, engaging human personality, which is extremely at least from my experience, very. It's a very rare combination. Has anyone told you that before?
Speaker 1:Yes, they have. And again, like you said earlier, it's always been me. So I don't realize it's unusual, because that's just the way I am. But I have had many clients say to me. But I have had many clients say to me oh my God, you're like a real person.
Speaker 2:Like as opposed to what? As opposed to C3PO, I guess.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's hilarious. Well, hopefully this will help Phyllis, because most people I get the opposite. They're like man, you're a freaking robot, jess. Oh, I'm trying here anyhow. So you had the the deal. The guy said I want my thing. He bought you out and then you dove into the online world. Is this when the business tech zen awakening happened?
Speaker 1:really that was the embryonic stages, because my first online thing, all I really did was take my consulting projects for tech and it and programming and accounting and just do the same thing. I had done brick and mortar and do it online. That was just continuation of what I've always done, just in a different way. And then I got into a program where somebody convinced me that oh, this dollars for money thing you shouldn't be doing that. You need to do a group coaching thing. I'm like, but I don't really coach. I do coach my clients, but that's not all I do. I end up doing coaching as part of the project. So anyway, I took that bad advice, spent a whole year trying to build this group program mastermind, blah, blah, blah Discovered what I kind of knew but I guess I needed to have it hit me in the face is what I do with people's systems and their strategy and their intimate parts of their business. It's not suited to group.
Speaker 1:It's not no one is going to tell me the honest truth about the terrible things that are going on in a group setting.
Speaker 1:They don't want to admit it in public, whereas one-on-one oh my God, my husband is a retired mental health counselor and all through our life I'd come home from work and he'd say, oh my God, you did more counseling today than I did Because people would like, I guess, going back to the personality thing. People would just relate to me and tell me their worst secrets. And I knew everybody's kids problems, everybody's marriage problems. You know everything. And we would just be chit chatchatting. I'd be doing my work and we're chit-chatting. So I just got to know them and I should have known that when I started this group coaching thing, but I didn't. I should have.
Speaker 1:And then so that petered out and that was last year, this year or the end of last year, I said you know what? I'm going to go back to my project thing with the idea that there are certain things that I find myself saying to every single client. There's like training things or Q&A things that I can do in a group setting. That is appropriate. In a group, no one's going to be embarrassed, no one's dirty laundry gets aired.
Speaker 1:So what I've finally come to and here's the business and tech Zen part of it is most people are scared to death of tech, scared to death of AI. They get anxiety and tension and stress when they think about it and I always say, hey, no, it's going to be good. And I talk them off the ledge and by the end, like you said, they go oh, you're so easygoing, you make this was so hard and you make it seem so easy. It's like I feel peaceful about tech and they'll say to me I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. So then I came up with the business and tech Zen. Because tech Zen because the computers are less stress, and business Zen because I do the strategy and structure and accounting. I don't do the accounting, but I make sure they know what they need to keep track of and if they need help setting it up.
Speaker 1:I'll help them set it up. But so I take all those two things that are really stressful to people their business and their tech and I make it not stressful and I make it fun. And everybody says, oh my God, I never thought I'd say hey, this is fun. And B, I feel so peaceful.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow. So again, like it's another lay, like that puzzle, you keep tinkering on this immaculate puzzle. What I think is profound and maybe ultra, like the superpower you've said it multiple times your superpower is I didn't start a business because I understand every damn business concept and I wanted to exercise them and make them better. No, I started a business because I wanted to serve people a certain way and then I had to learn all the other crap accounting and taxes and billing and business development and marketing. In order for me to serve the way I want to serve, I have to learn this, or maybe not even learn it, but like, make my way through it.
Speaker 1:You have to at least use it, Jesse. Maybe you don't learn it to develop it, but you need to learn how to use it.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the same thing with tech and now AI. And so what I'm getting from what I've heard you say is I got my business and I love doing my work, I love delivering the service or the product or whatever it is. But, man, I know that this business stuff, strategy, operations, tools, whatever and AI and tech, I know I need that. I can come to you and say, phyllis, I'm a ding dong, here's my problem. Can you help me and you'll let me?
Speaker 1:Well, the answer is A, you're not a ding dong and B, of course I can help you and, like I said, I've never had to tell a client it can't be done, ever. So whatever someone might have told you can't be done or you don't understand or you wouldn't be asking, I call BS, if you can think it.
Speaker 2:We can build it. Damn, that's what I'm talking about. So again, a lot of parallels. What I get is sure, jesse, in a perfect world? Right, yeah, that works in a perfect world. Yes, we'll accomplish that in a perfect world. And my response is, no, not a perfect world. In the world that we are creating, you always take something to sound like man, we're going to make it happen, we can figure it out, we can make it happen.
Speaker 2:Now, I'm not an AI guy, I'm not a tech guy. I can hook up a monitor to my computer, I know how to plug in the HDMI cable, and that's about the extent of it. But one thing I want to point out folks out there listening the way you described how to do a prompt like you gave an actual example of a prompt. So folks go back and if you're maybe disappointed or we'll just say, if you're AI curious, go back to that section, because Ms Phyllis did a lot, a whole lot more on that little section than what I've heard on hours and hours of content on YouTube about AI, because they say it's about the prompt and you got to train it and like, okay, but you gave a very precise example of what the context should be what the output should be, what the direction should be what the frame.
Speaker 1:What role do you want AI to play?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. So thank you for that, because I know how valuable it is. And folks, save yourself hundreds of hours. Just go back and replay. Listen to that part that Miss Phyllis said. Now I'm going to maybe push the edge a little bit here. Is there another nugget or two that people can latch on to in terms of leveraging AI, besides just asking it for locations to go?
Speaker 1:eat. That is completely beginner, user-friendly and it's called Notebook LM and it's done by Google and the address is notebooklmgooglecom and what that is. It lets you take any amount of data, any reports, any YouTube videos, any transcripts, whatever you want, and it will give you a summary. It will also build you a mind map. It will give you FAQs for whatever the subject is. It will give you an executive summary. It will give you a study guide with questions and answers. So, depending on what you're doing, that is going to take things that you already have and make them into something amazing, and that is not really using prompts. You can prompt it and say, okay, now can you help me do this, that or the other thing. But Notebook LM's claim to fame is that it organizes a bunch of different sources on one topic and puts them into a very nice, cohesive summary. The biggest thing that it does that's so amazing and you have to go try it is it does a podcast. It takes all the stuff you put in and there's a man and a woman and they do a podcast, kind of like what you and I are doing, and they talk to each other about whatever you gave it as sources for that it's called a, this is called a notebook, and so it just talks about it. And here's the really mind blowing part you can click the little microphone and interrupt them and say and when you click it, one of them will go oh, I see, we have a question here, and you can ask a question to the two hosts that are doing the podcast based on what you gave them. They will bring you into the conversation and answer it in real time and you become a guest on the podcast that they created. And it is mind blowing.
Speaker 1:Now, two applications for that. One is to take stuff that you're interested in or maybe you want to. You're going to do either a presentation, or maybe you're creating a document or a course or something. You can take all the sources that you would normally use to research it, pump it in there and then get all that good stuff out. One of the things that I do that I find really useful is when I go to a workshop or a webinar or something. I will record it, so I have a transcript on my Otter or if it's on Zoom, it'll be in my Read AI, but I get the transcript of whatever the thing is and I put just that one source into Notebook LM and it takes, it, gives you the best notes. Yes, all of these transcription companies do give you transcript summaries and what have you, but this is like meaty and very detailed. So that's a really strong AI tool for people to kind of get started with prompting. I want people to realize that in both.
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, the three major players are ChatGPT, which everyone's probably heard of, claude and Gemini, which is the Google. Now Grok is XAI's chatbot. It's really snarky and, believe it or not, they kind of tinted a little bit with political things and what have you. So I don't really like, and actually it got really snarky right back to Elon Musk and basically told him where to get off, which was kind of I don't, that's there, but I don't use it. Now, of those three, claude AI is the same thing, as you might know, of ChatGPT. Give it prompts and it actually responds in a more human way, a more empathetic way.
Speaker 1:And both GPT and Claude have what they call projects. So if you were working on a project of your own or for me, I have projects for clients, so I upload all of the knowledge based documents into the project. So when I go to the chat, it's not a plain chat out in plain old chat GPT or plain old cloud, it's inside of the project. So I've already uploaded all the documents that have anything to do with whatever I'm talking about. So when I start, it already has a background, it knows what we're doing, it has all the details and it's a much more meaningful interaction. And at that point your prompting doesn't have to be quite so good, because it knows the background, but you still need to tell it the context of what you want, why you want it, what its role is, but you don't have to give it so much information in each particular chat because it has all that background right in the project.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:I love it and.
Speaker 2:I'll add one. You demonstrated the LN. What did you call it? The Notebook.
Speaker 1:LM yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Notebook LM, and I was like I've heard about it, oh, you could put all kinds of stuff in it. I'm like, and I could do the same thing with chili Like I don't get it, and then what?
Speaker 2:And then what? But would you show it? I was like, oh, and so right now, this is where my understanding with AI is. It's a fabulous tool to distill data and information rapidly and serve it up in a way that I want it to be served up. And now that's and I also know that's probably like middle school level. There's all kinds of things that I don't know, but that right now, is saving me hundreds of hours on a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:Jesse, it doesn't really matter what AI is capable of, because it doesn't apply to you or to me. What matters about AI is how you can use it in your life and how I can use it in my life. Can it do a zillion other things? Absolutely, but I don't need to do those other things, so I don't let myself get all off track with all the stuff that I'm not using it for. That it's capable of. I find what I can use it for that is going to help me, my clients, my business, and I make sure that I use that as well as I can, and the results are amazing.
Speaker 2:Yes, and particularly I believe and I think you know this because it's kind of your business right it is extremely valuable for coaches, consultants, for solopreneurs. It's that leverage, it's that tool that can take your game, your business game, to the next level. Like it has a tremendous amount of business value. And so the business and tech zen is that the name of the business?
Speaker 1:Is that tattooed my business name is Tech Mastery Coaching. That's a DBA underneath my LLC, because I'm in the Sierra Nevada mountains up near Lake Tahoe, so the umbrella company is High Sierra Info Systems and I named it way back when I moved out west, when my partner bought me out and what have you? And I hadn't come into this world that I'm in now.
Speaker 1:So a couple years ago I got the Tech Mastery Coaching and Tech Mastery Consulting and that's really the brand name that I use out in the world right now is the Tech Mastery Consulting and Coaching.
Speaker 2:Nice. So is there a particular audience that you love to serve that also gets great results when they spend time with you?
Speaker 1:from eight years of effort here. The type of clients that I really enjoy the most and, I think, get the most out of working with me are business owners who are ready to go to the next level. If it's a product business, they want to add a new product line. Or if it's a service business, they want to add a new service. If it's a coach or a consultant, maybe they've outgrown their current audience or their audience has done everything that they got available and now their audience is saying, hey, what's next? What can I do with you next? And most of my clients they just get to the point where their business is doing great, but now they're getting I don't want to use the word bored, because that's not the right word, but they're ready to pick their head up and look over the horizon and see what's next. So I thrive in that situation from my whole life.
Speaker 1:As I've told you, I'm really good at adapting. I'm really good at taking what we've got and making it even better, so that I really love doing that and I help clients in the coaching and consulting spheres the most and I help them first of all see what is that next thing that they want to do and then do some market research, see where the gaps are for their competitors in this new thing and make sure that what they're offering fills those gaps, Then really getting their niche straightened out, because now their audience and their niche is more than it used to be. So we have to examine it and find out is it scalable, Is it profitable, Is it something that people want? Is it something that people will pay for? Is it something that you can do easily? And is it adaptable?
Speaker 1:Can it zig when the market zags and those types of things? And then now your ideal client has probably changed too, because the people you were selling to before they might come along with you, but there's more people out there that would not have come to your previous offer, but they will come to this one. And then how do you get that new offer? How do you make that really clear and address the things that you want to do next? And then, of course, how do you write content that speaks in that ideal client's voice, for either web pages or for content on social?
Speaker 1:media or for blog posts or whatever you're going to do. And then, finally, what is the offer that you're going to make? And then the sales process you're going to use to take clients from when they never heard of you, all the way through the funnel of now that not only are they a client, but you have over-delivered and delighted them, and now they're a raving fan and they ask you two questions One, what can I do next? And they want you to do more. And two, they refer you to their colleagues, to their people on the golf course or their people at the gym who have the same problems that they do. They'll say, oh yeah, phyllis is Phil. I'm working with Phyllis and she's got this all tucked in. So that's really what I'm doing now, jesse. And that is where the business and tech Zen came in, because I help people take that really scary step of oh, wait a minute, I don't want to burn down what I already built because it's working and.
Speaker 1:I kind of don't like it anymore. We don't burn it down, we just make the next level happen. And I help them, I tell them we're not going to destroy it, we're going to renovate it, we're going to make it better, we're going to uplift it.
Speaker 2:I like it. We're going to spruce it up a bit. We're going to spruce it up. Yes, I love it. So, folks, if you missed it, if you're out there and you're on a plateau or on a launching pad ready for the next step, miss Phyllis will help you. Take a sprucing up of the thing, of your business, and it'll be a holistic sprucing of the thing. It's not going to be burning anything down, it's not going to be leaving this and that and whatever.
Speaker 1:You're going to help them set the systems in place. Do the thinking, do the research so that they and get the strategy, jesse, the strategy.
Speaker 1:So many times my clients come to me with a tech problem and when you lift up the hood and look, it's not really a tech problem, it's a strategy problem. They're trying to tweak the systems and the funnels and the programs that they've been using. They're trying to just tweak them to do the next thing and they missed the step of they need a new strategy, they need a new structure. So the strategy is very important and I help them with that and you're just wasting time and money. If you try to build tech on an old foundation to do something new, it just won't work.
Speaker 2:I know I've done it, oh my goodness. All right, so are you ready for the Grand Slam?
Speaker 1:final question I am Hit me with it.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm so excited because just your whole journey of having massive responsibility as a very young girl down a career path that very few people with your situation have been through, and the way you're serving now you evolve so rapidly and with such an amazing attitude and energy about it I think your answer to this is going to blow some people's socks off. So here we go. What is the promise you are intended to be?
Speaker 1:am intended to be is the vehicle and the guide to people who can use the gifts and the skills that I've been given. And going back to your ripple thing, I think what I am is I am that pebble that goes in and the ripples go out, and I help my clients, then they help their clients, et cetera, et cetera. So that's what I see my role as is helping other people so that they can help other people, and I have a whole big basket of skills that I can help people on, as you said, a holistic level. I can help them do everything, and they don't have to have a finance person and a tech person and an AI person and a strategy person.
Speaker 1:I wear all the hats and that lets me be more effective and it's easier and less expensive for my clients because it's all in one place and I get to make that impact on their world and I know then they're making impacts and it just goes out to the universe.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love it, changing the world, one world at a time. You're the vehicle, you're the boulder dropping into the lake, creating massive ripples. Ms Phyllis, thank you so much for your generosity with your experience and sharing your story. Did you have fun?
Speaker 1:I did, jesse. This really was fun. You get a little nervous when somebody says, oh, podcast, but this was just like a conversation. I feel like we're just sitting out in the backyard talking, so it was really fun, thank you.
Speaker 2:Oh, so awesome. Thank you for sticking it out all the way to the end. I know you got a whole lot of stuff going on and, in appreciation for the gift of time that you have given this episode, I want to offer you a free PDF of my book Becoming the Promise You're Intended to Be. The link for that bad boy is down in the show notes. Hit it. You don't even have to give me your email address. There's a link in there. You just click that and you can download the PDF. And if you share it with somebody that you know, who might feel stuck or be caught up in self-destructive behaviors, that would be the ultimate you sharing. That increases the likelihood that it's going to help one more person to help one more person, and if it does help one more person, then you're contributing to me becoming the promise I am intended to be Be kind to yourself, be cool, and we'll talk at you next time.