Ep. 26 - Unlocking Business Growth with AI: Practical Strategies for Small Businesses

Summary

In this episode, Liz and Sarah explore how small businesses can leverage AI to boost efficiency, creativity, and growth. They discuss practical strategies, ethical considerations, and future trends in AI integration, making complex concepts accessible and actionable.

Key  topics

• AI integration strategies for small business
• Building a digital mind and digital assets
• Balancing human touch with AI automation

Action  items

• Start building your digital mind today by gathering your key assets and creating a framework.
• Practice writing clear prompts to get the best AI outputs.
• Stay curious and keep learning about AI to stay competitive.
• Identify tasks that can be automated to free up your time for strategic work.

Sound bites

"AI isn't just about speed, it's about value"

"Your most precious resource is time"

"Your business matters, and AI can help you grow"

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage

03:27 The Impact of AI on Business

08:12 AI as a Tool for Efficiency

12:25 Understanding AI's Role in Society

14:52 Keeping Humanity in AI

19:10 The Value of Human Touch in Art

22:25 AI's Role in Business Efficiency

26:20 Boundaries of AI in Customer Interaction

29:36 The Future of Digital Minds in Business

37:18 CEO Sister’s Road Trip Video Outro - 60 seconds v2.mp4 

Resources

• Jeff Woods, The AI Driven Leader - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7F4XK7X
• Sandy Waggett, MSW Interactive Designs - https://mswinteractivedesigns.com
• Radio Shack (Tandy 500) - https://www.radioshack.com
• Speak and Spell - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_%26_Spell

Keywords

AI in business, small business growth, automation, digital transformation, AI strategies, efficiency, digital mind, future of AI, entrepreneurship, technology trends

Want to learn more about what working with Liz looks like?  Head to Your Business Matters to schedule a Discovery call with her

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What's coming up?

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome to the CEO sisters. No. Yeah, it's like um armchair. Yeah. Welcome to the CEO sisters. Three. Two. Welcome to the CEO Sisters Road Trip. Okay. People I can I can tell what type of mood she's in today. Take three. Welcome to the CEO Sisters Road Trip. I'm Sarah, and alongside me is my sister Liz. We are your co-pilots here to help you flourish in your business and in your life. Each week we share relatable stories, strategic advice, and a whole lot of laughs as we tackle the real challenges, finances, market, marketing, vision, and team. Get ready to make the next right turn and have some fun doing it. Grab some road snacks and let's hit the road. So it was amazing. That was take three, people. She didn't like my first armchair version.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

We are all coming in. They've heard all of them. Everybody's gonna hear all of them.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Oh, that's not fair.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

It is. It's super fair. It's great. It's a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Good morning, Liz. Welcome. Good morning, sister Sarah. How the heck are you? I miss you. I was thinking on my way out to the studio this morning. I miss you.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah. Hey, I ain't got no plans for the weekend. That's not true. I have plans on Sunday. Would you like to join us? Um, I was gonna see if you wanted to come clean out our basement. I want to see if you want to clean out our garage. Oh my gosh. We have we're gonna have such a good memorial day. Hey, I have no kids, so it's fine with me. They all left. They're gonna go sleep with them. They're all gone. They will be. They will all be gone by Saturday morning. Oh, I'm sorry about that. I am too, because it's gray and I was just saying this to Yummy. It's gray and a lonely house, which those two things do not make Liz a happy camper. No, it's a tough one. So if my sister came over and we wouldn't clean out the garage and just hang out, that would be great. Hey, you said today was uh an important day for your son. Today was Jonah's last day of school, full day of school.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

So crazy. And his sister's already gone, so she didn't get to drive with him to school. She was sad about that. I made him take a picture with me before he hopped in the truck and took off.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Man.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

And I didn't even know it. I thought he was going to school next week still. But apparently today is the final day of his high school career.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

For seniors or just Jonah?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Did you actually see a note or an email from anyone? No. No, he actually said there the communicate. I said, I didn't know today was the last day. And he said, um, their communication's terrible. I don't know. You uh Rutro. Rutro. They do have activities next week. They have some things that the seniors will go back into school for, but I I'm gonna trust that this is hey, you know what? I trust and verify.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

If I were you, I'm not gonna verify. Who cares? It's over. All right, it's fine. I agree. Yeah, I agree. All right, well, um, congratulations to Jonah. It's a very exciting. Yeah, everything's coming to an end for the school year. It's amazing. Also amazing is our topic for today. Making AI work for our business. We're gonna talk a little bit about tools and strategies for growth. I was in Salt Lake City last week for a conference, for a retreat for Profit First, and it was awesome, first of all. But at the beginning of the show of the of the week, Mike shared a very simple yet super impactful quote with us that blew most people away in a way that I hadn't seen in person for a while. So it was sort of cool. And on the second day, people were like, that was the most impactful line so far. And we did a cool first day. And the line was something to the effect of your business is brilliantly doing what you've designed it to do.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Mm-hmm. Ouch.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

And it was, I've heard that a million times, right? I know that. Like it's doing what it good in, good out. Shit in, shit out. Sorry. Stuff in, stuff out.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

And um I was like, that's exactly right. But the way that he said it was so helpful. The theme was building, uh, it was architecting, architecture of excellence is was the theme. So we were on talking about building and scaffolding and things like that. And so I've been thinking about that for a long time. And uh I need to start doing something about it, which is why we're talking about AI today. So my business, your business, most people, everybody's business is doing exactly what we designed it to do. If you don't like what it's doing, redesign it. Amen. Yep. Uh-huh. Right? So for me, I don't have a lot of automation in there, and I am really not enjoying the manual aspects of several parts of my business.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

And so what do I do? I stop doing them.

unknown 5:14

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

It's so true. It seems so simple when you say this out loud. And can't you just put that, apply that to all areas of our lives? See, Senorita. Really? You don't love this? Well, guess what? Right. It's weird.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Right. It's weird that I can't lose this 20 pounds, yet every night I decide chips and guac are a really good snack. Every night list. So that's what uh today I wanted to talk about. Just a little bit about AI. As you and I talked about, this is more of a conversation about AI. And I do, I have learned a lot, and I do like AI, so I would like to most likely do a course, not a course, but a bless you, a uh an episode after this one where I dive in and do a little teaching. But for today, we're just gonna play. So, with that in mind, this episode is brought to you by Tit the Tandy 500, which was our first, it was our first computer ever.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

From where could you find a Tandy 500?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Oh, you can find it at the old Radio Shack. Y old Radio Shackie.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Can you remember that computer?

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Okay, wait, I did just Google. It is still in business earlier when we talked about this. Listed Radio Shack is about a Yes, it is still in business, but it is vastly different from the neighborhood electronic shop we remember as kids.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

What do they sell now? Just cords?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Uh that's a good question. Oh, it's there's even a dot com. The focus is heavily on core electronic essentials, tech accessories, batteries, power adapters. Cords, cords and batteries.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

For our radios, all the cords for my radio. Oh. That's fun. Good try, Radio Shack. Uh but I do I mean that you're gonna see it. The other thing I was thinking it would could be brought to us, like our first sort of our first foray as kids. Uh, the first thing that talked to us. Well, that's it. High fives. High fives for sister life. Boom! Yeah, the speaking spell.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Oh my gosh, yes, the speaking spell.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

So good. How do you spell?

SPEAKER_01 7:31

They probably have re-engineered it. It's probably on the shelves right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Like that's where the first time we heard computers say cuss words.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

No, it didn't. Did they? They wouldn't say it. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

If we put the letters in, yes. H I P. Stit.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Sit. Stit. I was too young to do that. I would never have spelled a bad word. Man, I love cuss words. That was something you did.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Definitely. All right. Well, I'm excited. So the the the things that I learned from last week, there's a speaker that we had. Her name is Sandy Waggett. She's amazing. I'm going to put her information in the resources. She has worked with a million different things. She had a marketing agency for a while, but she works with her company is called MSW Interactive Designs, and she was just amazing. The way that she helped all of us, even people who are at like a level five AI competence, helped us all sort of re-tool and look at the design behind what we're putting in AI. So those are some of the things I wanted to talk about today. But first question for you, Sister Sarah, is on a scale of Jetsons to Terminator, how do you feel about AI being a part of your business?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

A part of my business, I'm gonna go more in the Jetsons camp. I think that AI is a lot like Rosie, the maid in the Jetsons, and she was there to help create um give them opportunities to do anything else but the chores. So she took over the chores and it freed them up to be able to do stuff that brought them joy. And I think that's how I'm seeing AI. It is a the mundane tasks that are time intensive for me. If I can use it appropriately, it helps eliminate the hours I spend editing photos one at a time to post online, um and does it like that. So I don't see, yeah, I don't I don't see it taking over any of the creativity I'm doing, but I do see it eliminating the busy work and um I love it. Just opening up more time to do what I love to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Exactly. There there are three levels that Sandy shared with us of of using or bringing AI, which we won't even say anymore. Like in two years from now, I'm sure we won't even call it AI. It just is. Just like she was saying, you know, we don't call it the World Wide Web anymore unless we're joking. We don't say electric, electric mail when we're sending it, right? It just is what it is. We don't talk about Google is an adver is a a is a thing and a verb. It's a noun and a verb, right? So we're Googling all the time. It'll just be what what it is and be running in the background. But what I loved is when she said, at one point she said, Don't worry about which one you use, Claude, Gemini, chat, doesn't matter. Learn how to use it, learn how to build it to work for you. I've I've been a big component proponent from the first time I learned about the uh AI-driven leader by Jeff Woods, where he said, This is your thought AI is your thought partner. We are the thought leaders. And I know there's a right, and there's a huge need for the critical thinking aspect of it and really being thoughtful in what we say to it to get a better outcome, just like we would say to a human who has questions. So what she the way that she talked about the three, there are three uh ways that we can use AI for innovation, it's acceleration, which is what you just talked about, and that's level one to make things faster. I was playing with Google Studio this morning and building prompts for my coaching sessions that I have today. So there are automations that I can build using AI right now through Google. So psyched. So I have my first four planned for today. We'll see how it works. So I could, because there's probably two hours that it would save me on the back end post-coaching. That'd be amazing. Absolutely. So acceleration is one, compression is another, and it's making things um shorter, smaller, just sort of more efficient. That's where efficiency lives. Right now, I am not very efficient in my time. All the things take a lot of time. I'm not very efficient, and then the third one is replication. So if we have if it sees us doing this, do it in these four other areas. If you see this, then do it over here. So I have one of um this one of the things I learned from a person uh at the at the event is she was saying she trained her AI that if she asks the same question three times, it creates an answer bot for that and it has a new agent that does exactly what she asked for the third time.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

It's like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Oh, oh, okay. Uh-huh. Yeah, amazing. So those are the three ways that I see AI at this point helping us. So the acceleration, compression, and replication. And I'm sort of excited about it. And I'm with you. I like the idea of Rosie, the uh Jetsons robot maid, and I would love to have some things helping, helping make my life a little more efficient, a little it's I look at things that drive me crazy, and it's like email and communication and stuff that I can't see because there's so much garbage mail in my one Gmail account, my one of four Gmail accounts.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

So have you noticed um even on your iPhone, messages now gives you a synopsis of what the text says? Yep. That like it's getting smarter without us even knowing it's getting smarter. That I think is a little bit of where I'm I am hesitant because I am so limited in my knowledge of the real big picture of AI. I'm using it for very small, silly things that help me, but in the world, what is this doing? Yeah. On the grand scale of, I don't know, gosh, and government and wars and big things. Like, where is AI and how is it working?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

It's everywhere and it's working on everything. But I we we did a debate. Uh, you know, the questions were, is AI gonna take over humanity? Is it going to kill your business? Is it gonna kill jobs and all these things? And we had we chose sides for people. We'd had them, we said, you are gonna answer no to this. And people are like, no, I don't believe that. And we're like, just think through it. Yeah. So we have to look at both sides. And that exercise was interesting because a lot of people go to the fear part to the wars and the stuff really quickly without understanding because they're not using it, because they're not intentionally playing with it uh in general, to the big scary, as opposed to saying, if I could not have to read email for two hours a day, yeah, would that make my life better? Yeah. Can I give it rules? Because it doesn't think. And I think that's one of the big pieces that we talked about is it doesn't think, it pulls and analyzes data. Right. It can't think for me. It's tell it's again, like the initial opening quote here it's doing exactly what we tell it to do. If you don't like that answer, it scares you. You've probably told it something that wasn't clear enough.

unknown 14:48

Right?

SPEAKER_00 14:49

So it's all about this clarity in this in this playbook and things like that. So one of the the things that we do talk about, so we'll sort of play with this, is um keeping the humanity in AI. So have you seen emails recently that look like AI wrote them? Have you seen any?

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Like generic, like um ads.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

From a yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

And you know there's no people in involved in that. They took a concept or an idea and wrote it. And it looks, and and I have conversations with clients all the time, and so you can't have those emojis in it. Those are telltale chat GPT emojis. Please take them out. Yeah, it is very obvious that you didn't write this. And and the whole point is the more clearly we can tell it what we want, the more we stay in it. And uh, I I guess thinking of what's one of the things that you have used AI for where you A didn't like it, or you're like, that sounds like a robot, or you did because you it sounded like you, and what did you do to get there?

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Um I would say writing little scripts or the the post for Instagram posts, things like that, in the language. So I'll I'll share what my intent is, what I'm looking to do. I will I will give it my script of your kind of my thought partner, as from a marketing perspective. I'm trying to get more follows, I'm trying to get whatever. Um, but like you just said with the emojis, so there are several times where you get it and you think, oh, this isn't this isn't Sarah Jane pottery, this is AI being Sarah Jane. Um so I think just trying to put my flair back on it. I don't I haven't dug deep enough in AI to have my own framework system making it sound like me. So I feel like I'm constantly going back and editing it and softening it to sound like me.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah. It's called a digital mind, and that's one of the things that the that Gal Sandy does as she did it with a group at Prophet First. There were 10 people who took a class for uh six weeks with her, and they built a digital mind, and it looks, sounds, feels like you because you've it's like they've given it so much like I think of all the information that I have in my Google life, I've hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of documents that I have written already that have my voice, that have my thought, that I've used the information that I love, the books that I I really appreciate and I, you know, you know, build my frameworks on. And so being able to give it all those things and say, these are the things that I value, these are the things that I love, these are the things that I appreciate about people or concepts or whatever. Um, she talks about it in in this playbook, rule book, and outcomes. Like, what do I want out of this? When I when you build something, I want it to always look, feel, and sound like this. That's sort of like the marketing aspect. I want it to be warm. I I learned um a definition of charisma yesterday. It's warmth plus confidence, which I will be using. I know, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

I know, I know, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

I always use the word warm. I want it to be warm, I want it to be witty, I want it to be right.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

And so the more we tell it that, it becomes its baseline. And then sort of the values part, I don't want to have uh swear words, or I'm okay with some swear words. I want it to be sort of funny, I want it to be direct, I want it to be whatever.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Uh so the voice, but then also the type of content. You know, I want to create emails that are no longer than 500 words or whatever. So a lot of different ways that we can make it our own, but it does take work. It's the front loading piece for sure. We'll get there. I'm I'm spending this whole weekend doing that this weekend. I can't wait. Nerd alert.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Uh well, I did I was honestly two questions back thinking it it would take another retreat to put your head around it and give yourself the time to because you have to research a little bit about what you're doing and how to do it. And there are different platforms, which one do I want to use and put all of my information into? So yeah, it it would take a weekend to do it. And this is actually the perfect weekend to do it. Um, question uh regarding keeping the humanity in it, we didn't go here quite yet, but um if the handmade feel comes from for in my industry, comes from the flaws and the quirks and the different perspectives as an artist, do you think there could be an opportunity for artists to emerge as like a premium market if they are advertising 100% human operated? Like there are gonna be people who put a stake in the ground and say we are not using AI in our business at all. And do you think there's gonna be a value shift on that type of work?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

See, see, senorita, we're already seeing it. We actually think we talk about it a lot where it's say, uh, I have some people, um, some clients that I have, they're advertising as 100% human, no AI, or AI only efficiency, whatever, blah blah blah, blah, blah. Uh, but yes, we already see that. We're talking about it in our marketing of like, we know AI was gonna live on the back end for efficiency reasons, but every person you will engage with is a live human. I mean, the way that I do my discovery calls, the way that I want to do my social media, I don't really want a fake Liz yet. I want my voice to be there, but I don't want AI videos yet. I like that, and I do see the pendulum swinging of of course we're gonna be using this efficiency tool, but it's only to allow us to be more human and more engaged with our clients, with our peers, with each other. So I definitely see that as something that is is already happening. And for you all as artists, heck, yes. You've talked about this before. I mean, I can go to Target and get a gorgeous mug, and then I can get 12 more of the exact same cloned gorgeous mugs. But if I'm gonna be working with an artist and I'm going to an art fair, I'm going to an expensive boutique, it's because I don't want that. I want to be one of seven. You talked about, tell it, tell us the story you had the other day uh with the woman who sold out in 22 seconds.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

She I guess the story is I follow a gal who does a beautiful job of marketing herself in online, and she has, you know, 30,000 followers, so she's got a big base, but she just posts, and I've yet to do this. I'd love to get there. I just haven't. Um, small batch drops, and she dropped 22 mugs. Not even two dozen, full two full dozen mugs, 22 mugs, and had sent emails saying that the launch was um gonna be at seven o'clock on a Thursday night. I was fortunate enough to log into her site at seven o'clock, and there were of the 22, there were two at 7.03, there were two mugs left.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

At 706, all 22 mugs were left. We're gone.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Yep. And people knew they were buying original, handmade, beautifully expensive mugs. Happily done. You only need 22 people to say yes. Like it's really so fun. But they wanted that. Like that's they didn't want the the the you know mass-made, computer made AI laser cut mugs. They don't want that. So yeah, love it. That's so fun. Very nice.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Um, all right. So so if you had a digital twin who knew exactly how you like to respond to customers, what's the one task you would happily hand over to the AI?

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Oh, easy. So what number one would be scheduling. I would hand over scheduling. Number two would be the uh, so I I have the the conversation, that first conversation, see if we're a right fit, see if I what I do actually would benefit what your challenges. But then I have a survey, I have a document, I have all this data that I compile. So when a potential client comes to me, they fill out this form, it's 20 questions, and then it creates a document. I I obviously look at it and analyze it, but I've built the backside of it to be very thoughtful based on the framework that I have. If I could have AI, and that's and I bet I will have this very shortly, to be able to do that automatically, that would be great. So I just review and edit, just like I would ask an assistant to put this stuff together and I will review and sign off.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

That would be a done because it's I built it, the whole document already in my in my voice because I built it. So now I can just give it the things that I've built again, like I was saying earlier, and say, now just do this faster for me. Accelerate this process, please. Make it more efficient. Yeah, please.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Okay, on the flip side then, if there were one task that you would absolutely not relinquish to AI, what would that be for you?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Oh, at this point I love the coaching sessions. I love the one-on-one. It is I I I I love group too, but I really I love one-on-one. So I would never hand over the coaching. I I do like courses as well, so I could do some co courses, but no. And probably discovery calls. I I like those as well. I I have to see, see, feel touch so they can know like trust.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

And yeah, they have to, they have to see, feel trust. They've got to get to know you and see if you're a good fit for them. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Agreed 100%. Um, okay, I have a question about frameworks. Yours is a little different, your business is a little different than mine, but in coaching, I use if we use frameworks, right? So we have uh I have four things that I focus on that, and then I have tools within those buckets, if you will, and they come together based on priority, based on urgency, based on timing, things like that. Uh, and so we have a framework. If we had to write a rule book for an assistant, what for you, knowing that you also have a process, you have a framework, you have a vision for what your what Sarah Jane Pottery is, does, creates, right? Like you've said before, there are things that you're probably never gonna make. I remember in one of the shows, there were like these little plant stakes, and you're like, I will never make that. That's I actually did. Oh, never mind. They're so cute.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

I actually did, and they're darling.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

All right, so whatever another thing that you were like, I uh we'll say custom.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Take anything I say with a grain of salt because I do me fickle at times. That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

No, it's not fickle, you just pivot. But what's you know, what's a an a never do this rule that you would have to tell AI, like never ever do this if it's helping with marketing. We'll do marketing for you visually.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Um I I think it would be hitting send, the automation point where it's speaking on my behalf to a client, to a customer, to somebody, um, hitting send without me seeing it. I think I'm just because I'm not comfortable enough in, I haven't created the system. So at this point, I would never want AI to speak on my behalf and have it say something that I was like, oh, I didn't really mean that. I meant this. Um I'm double checking, like I said earlier. How about you?

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Probably that. I I I I will be close to that. There are so many templates that I have already. So I've created the foundation to have it speak for me. If it's this kind, but it would be, I would just have to be very thoughtful of what I am asking it to do. But if it's like a scheduling thing or uh, hey, this here's your invoice, here's this thing, you know, stuff like that. But if it's having a conversation, no. I don't know enough of I don't have enough, I should say it this way, I don't have enough of the same type of conversation at this point with people in my inbox just yet.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Agree, it's so individualized those conversations.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

So I have a fear in fact, or we're gonna change the go back to the the scaries a little bit. Do you think our clients care if we use AI as long as the relationship and the final outcome matches what they're looking for?

SPEAKER_01 27:17

I have a couple of thoughts. I think A, it depends on how versed they are in AI already, how much they know, how much they're personally using it themselves, nice and kind of what generation they are. So if it's a younger generation client customer and they are familiar with AI, I don't think they're gonna care at all. If it's an older generation, they may say they care because they don't understand it. But truly, I don't I I think if they're if we're using AI for the tasks and the efficiency component, at the end of the day, if they're still having great conversations with us and they're trusting us and the communication is good between the two of us, it's that final product that matters. I'm delivering the 12 mugs you wanted, the way you wanted it. We're having a nice conversation. Like that matters more than knowing that, oh, I actually used a mold for a portion of your piece. I didn't throw this or what, whatever. Um, so I I think it's on their comfort level, how much they already know, and the end is what really matters, how you're communicating and winning them over.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yep, I agree. I I like to your point, there are ways that I show how much I care and how much I like and value them. I don't need it to um it I don't think they I don't think they care. I think everyone assumes there's some there's AI at some point in this the relationship. But as long as I'm still there and I'm responding and I'm here, great. I don't think they care so much.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

I don't think they do, but do you agree? Don't you feel like there still is a generation because I am still not so familiar. So I can only imagine like the generations above us how frustrating this is. Correct, because they just don't get it.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Correct. And they're scared of just any technology. Like new, new inject, yeah, exactly. Change and new in general are scary. And then if you're like 75 and older, unless you've always loved technology, this is like the worst. If you're still fighting with your cell phone, you know what I mean? Like it's it's not I you don't have to. It's okay. You don't have to do it, truly. Like enjoy your life. You don't need to learn this right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless you want to, but you yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

If if you're curious and this interests you, great. Of the rest, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So Liz, in five years, do you think every small business will have a digital mind as an employee? And how do we oh, and how do we stay ahead of that curve now?

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I don't think it'll be five years. I think it'll be uh six to twelve months. Oh god, that quick, really? Yeah, because that's again what it is, what a digital mind is, it's just the framework that lives in whatever your system is, and it's all of your details, it's your standard operating procedures in a digital space with the ability to do whatever you want it to do. It already exists. I like I said, we have we had at least 10 members building one right now. It already exists. It's in their the chat butt on their website, it's in their email, it's their videos, it's their it's here. Every business, probably not, but five years from now, if you don't have it, you're probably not here anymore, truly, because it'll it changes the way that we think and talk and move, and not in a scary way, but just sort of like you have to work really hard to not be digital and to be successful. And I don't know, I don't see how somebody who has no digital automations efficiencies they can't keep up with people who do. That's really what it is.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

I'm trying to think of any businesses now that have refused to go on social media or have a website or at least a landing page for people to find you. I would I would think of like sorry. Excuse me, dogs. But it makes me think of like a mom and pop bakery or a salon or something that you know is local and their clients are local. And so those shop, those I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Not even I mean, an online presence I think is different than a digital mind.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

So you know, but I'm trying to say, like we that was are they getting on board with that 10 years ago to now? Right. And now we're moving forward into the next thing. So if they didn't get on board earlier, are they gonna get on board with this?

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Right? I don't know. It's interesting, but it is here now. Like that second part of your question of how do we stay ahead of the curve, it's just my answer to that is probably my answer to most things, which is just stay curious. You the way to stay ahead of the curve is just to be curious about it and not, you know, I think I know, not think. I know that fear kills creativity. Yeah, fear kills momentum. Be curious and make a decision. There it could be a scary decision. I'm not say there's no fear in it, but letting, you know, letting the automatic know that's scary without information is really, I think, what will keep you will not allow you to be ahead of the curve. It'll force your you'll just I I see it already. I watch people struggle. There was a a a woman I spoke to and she's like, I don't believe in AI. And that line to me is like, how what's there not to believe in? It it's here though. It's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

It exists, it is.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

So you could say I I actively choose to not use it, but it's in everything you do. Do you use your cell phone? She says, No, not really. And I said, Oh, okay. Do you use Zoom for your meetings? Nope. Okay. So she's, I mean, she has made an active choice, but it's you know, her reason for not doing that is she is afraid that it's seeing everything and reading everything. And I'm like, that's ship has sailed. Sorry. So we'll see. We'll we'll we'll see. Yeah, I was gonna say this this conversation is just the sort of the tip, the tip of the iceberg. One of the things, do you think this would be helpful, Sarah, if I did a an episode where I shared my favorite prompt and how to get started? Okay. I I would like to do that too.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yes. So I I listeners, I when we first started even having a conversation about how I could bring AI into um my business, I really I I wasn't as versed as Liz. I didn't, I hadn't read the book that she read that really kind of was mind-blowing. So I didn't even understand what a prompt was. I was going to Chat GPT and using it like Google, asking questions like Google, I didn't understand. I mean, just as the simple prompt. So if there is anybody out there that is feeling like, oh God, this is so overwhelming. I haven't even put my foot in this yet, that tap tapped my toe into the water of this yet. I would say yes. Even just you helping show them what a prompt is would be cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

A huge step. Right. I would I would love it because I I my goal would be to, and that's with anything. I mean, these are conversations I'm having with clients every day. And I work with people who are really, really comfortable and work with people who are like, what's a prompt? Just like you said. And that's that I love the people who are still brave enough to still say that. Like, I don't know what a prompt is. That's curiosity right there. Yeah. That's what it looks like. Don't have to fake it. You can Google it if you want to, but also just ask the question. Anyway, I would love to help with this prompt. And this is one that I got from Jeff Wood's book, The AI Driven Leader, and it's how I start everything that I do, but I'm getting even more focused on the ability to accelerate and compress and become more efficient and create a better workflow from that. So I'd be um, yeah, I'm gonna do that. I'll do a quick little episode after this, yep, and uh it'll be focused on a really simple prompt to start building your digital mind or a digital asset of some sort. All right.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Yeah, keep it super simple. Just a quick little 101 of how to even like yep.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Yep. And again, I guess my final thought here for today is AI isn't just about speed, it really is about finding things that are worth you doing yourself and things that are not as important for you yourself to be doing. And so being able to have a list of those things to say, this is what I really want to do. I need to do this thing, versus these are things that it would be okay if this was automated, finding that initial list, and that's what will uh help, you know, that's what those prompts will help for. So your most precious resource is time. We know this, and so using tools that help us get more of that back, I think is helpful. Yep. Yeah, that's it. Uh well, all right. That's all right for today, sis. Thanks. This was fun. I mean, just the initial quick topic. Anyone out there has an AI resource, an AI person that they love, please share it with us. We would love to know who you're reading and who you follow and who is important to you in this AI universe. But that's our that's it for today. We hope you enjoyed this conversation. There will be resources coming to you through uh our Instagram and through our website. And so any anything that we're gonna put out after this resource after this episode will be there waiting for you. And uh remember to please subscribe and rate and like us on wherever you look listen to us, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever, please give us a comment, give us a like. We appreciate it, share it with anyone. Yes, yeah, and then uh remember your business matters and it really matters to us. So thanks for listening and have a great day, everybody. Have a great day. Bye. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

What's coming up?