SMB POD Episode 18 | AI isn’t the future… it’s already here.

Ashley and Michelle unpack the opportunities, the fears, and the reality of how AI is shaping the modern business landscape. From productivity and marketing to creativity and entrepreneurship, they explore how adapting to new technology might be the key to staying relevant in today’s fast-changing world.

The takeaway?
AI isn’t the future… it’s already here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi everybody, it's Michelle Anathly. Welcome to the SMB podcast. We're glad you're here. Subscribe, like, and follow. So today, it's been a while since just you and I have hung out on the couch together. It has. We just thought it would be a good day to just kind of check in. It's almost been a year since we really started hatching the pod. Can't believe that. And a lot has happened professionally in our businesses for us and on this podcast. Gosh, Ash, I'm just curious, like, what is happening like in your profession of aesthetics? You know, I always see all of your socials, and there's always new products that you're introducing, new skincare treatments. Yes. You're always flying somewhere to advance your education and training. You've had a lot going on this last year.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah, it's I've had a lot of, I'm very blessed. I've had a lot of really amazing opportunities. And within aesthetics specifically, it's such an exciting time in my profession and my specialty because really it's a period of renaissance, to be honest with you. Um, the level of education, the level of training and research that is currently being done and that has been done over the last few years is really culminating for us providers. And one of my biggest passions is education and safety, um, ethics, and just the best outcomes for my patients, um, utilizing products within my practice to give optimal results. But we even within anatomy, in the face, anatomy is really the center of my work and my practice. And that's you know how I create plans for patients is walking them through their aging, the aging process with them, educating them, educating them on how we age, the layers of the face, and then what tools I have in my toolbox to help them look and feel their best, but also treating patients holistically. So, for example, um, you know, within within medical aesthetics, there are even, you know, certain areas of the face, anatomy, um new things that we're learning about, you know, muscles and fat pads in the face, and that has really changed the game in aesthetics in giving patients natural outcomes and then also utilizing certain fillers, serving neurons, certain neurotoxins, um, collagen-stimulating products to you know really carry them through their aging process, not just now, but for through the years. So, as providers, we're treating patients more holistically. A um, you know, there's just so more in terms of education and opportunities, and um, just the products that we're using, quite honestly, are just are getting better due to research now.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

So, yeah, I know, and I just wanted to say thank you because you and I have been um in relationship and as I've been on my skincare journey. Um amazing Michelle for years. And so I just you know, I'm gonna be be real and be personal here. So um, you know, I've done the Morpheus with you, I have done the CO2 with you, and you brought my skin to a certain place. And then I I've always had dermatology challenges. I was a I swam on the swim team for eight years as a young child, and my parents didn't know that this the damage that sun can do. And then I was, you know, the teenager with the baby oil in the backyard with the pool and just a lot of sun damage. And you recommended a dear colleague and friend um who is a dermatology PA over in Granite Bay.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

And can we say her name? Yeah, yeah, Kelly McCaskill.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Kelly McCaskell's phenomenal. And she's with a lure skin. Yes. Um, and when I couldn't get into the dermatology with Kaiser, um, I decided to just private pay and go and have a skin check with Kelly. And we'll just kind of fast forward. I had many, many um procedures with her to deal with some basal cell and squama cell um issues. But then we had this conversation about like you could only get my skin to a certain um layer, like with your your equipment. And so I did a consult with um Dr. Kaufman with the natural results and fulsom, a shout out to them and made a big decision to I've also been a patient.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

And so I made a big decision to do a full CO2 um fractional ablasion with him. And I'm so grateful. And it was Kelly who said, Michelle, 1 million percent your skin is so damaged by all of the the, you know, my all the hyperpigmentation and all of the sun damage. And um I will say today I'm very happy that I went through that process, but it was a rough seven days, I'm gonna be honest. And now it's like, now what's next for my skin? Because I've invested time and money into the health of my skin, and I want to keep it healthy as I age up. And so I just wanted to say thank you because it was you and I um who started the journey, and now we'll continue this journey.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Of course. And on my end, thank you for sharing, Michelle. By the way, on my end, it's it's really important for me to be completely transparent and went and to know any good medical aesthetic provider will know someone or refer someone who is a good or possibly a good surgical candidate, and that's a really important factor and part of what I do, and is kind of working hand in hand with dermatology and a good plastic surgeon because it can all culminate and the results can be beautiful, which I think is sitting right here on the couch.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

I you know, Bruce, I have to give a shout-out to my husband because he had to deal with me, and it was like having a newborn child because you know, every two and a half hours you're doing a water vinegar bath. Uh it was a lot. Um but I'm grateful that I did it, and um, you know, your skin is your largest, you know, organ in your body.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

So it is, and I think it's important to also note during my consultation with my patients, you know, it nothing is really ever, unfortunately, a one-and-done. It takes work, like going to the gym, working on our physique. It takes time, patience, a little bit of investment, um, and commitment to, you know, we continue to age.

unknown 7:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

So, you know, call it the compound effect, right? Yeah. You don't you don't get to go on a health journey and feel like you know, you're going to be, you know, at the top of your game within 90 days at the gym. You know?

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Right. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah. Well, and I know, so we were talking too about our professions and investing in education. Um, I spend about four hours every week um in training and education and trying to stay, you know, relevant and ahead of where our profession is going. And right now there's a lot of discussion about AI, right? And I think of like AI is not gonna just disrupt your profession. I can't imagine the bots coming in and injecting us and giving us facials and all of that good stuff, you know, but definitely in the real estate space. Yeah, yeah. So I think uh you've got job security there.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Well, and can we talk about, Michelle, if you don't mind, where you're at in terms of your business, where the market is at? If you don't mind speaking to that, I know I want to know.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Well, it's spring, and spring has sprung. So all ready. Yeah, and I will say that interestingly enough, this year for Jenna and I, um, our spring market really kicked off at the beginning of February. Wow. So I kind of call it like the shoulder season before the spring market. Um goodness. It was um we've helped so far um about 13 families in the last 60 days who were making life transitions, um moving, some moving away, some moving up, some moving down. Um, we have some several new listings getting ready to hit the market in the next couple of weeks. So it's a robust um spring market.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Um and you know, there the the thing is is in real estate, there's always life events that create moves. Yes. And so um, and interest rates, I feel like maybe now there's a little more uncertainty because of what's happening geopolitically and AI and all of that stuff. You know, it's really what's happening in your home within your walls, on your block. I think it's a very hyper-local market. And I just love small-town real estate in Woodland and Yolo County. It's just, I have a lot of colleagues that I'm on Zoom meetings with weekly, and they're in big metropolitan areas, and their markets are different, and their relationships are different. And I just, I personally love all of the relationships that we have established and nurtured with our service providers, the agent to agent relationships, community leader relationships, client relationships. I mean, for me, it's all about community and relationships.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Same within my business as well. That right that's the foundation. Yeah, absolutely.