Rory: [00:00:00] This is perhaps the greatest opportunity for scale that we’ve seen in our [00:00:05] lifetime. Why am I nerding out over ai? I think [00:00:10] it’s a good touch point to, to consider. It’s a chance for us to scale our company and grow [00:00:15] profits disproportionate, um, to revenue. The number one [00:00:20] driving question, at least for me, in terms of what drives [00:00:25] our strategy at Brand Builders Group. Is simply how do we help our [00:00:30] clients succeed faster? I am just consumed with that question, how do we help our clients succeed [00:00:35] faster? Yeah. That’s what I think is so powerful.[00:00:40] [00:00:45] [00:00:50] Hey, welcome back to the podcast. [00:00:55] I am joined by my wife, business partner, co-founder, co-author. AJ [00:01:00] Vaden. Today we’re gonna be talking about and diving into the subject of ai. [00:01:05] We’re gonna be talking about the ways that we’re using ai, the ways that we’re not [00:01:10] using ai, what’s helpful, what’s gimmicky, uh, how AJ is using it as a [00:01:15] CEO, and how I’m using it to build the content and infrastructure to support more [00:01:20] personal brands and more of our clients. So, babe. Welcome back to the [00:01:25] show AJ: on this topic of ai. I think it would be really [00:01:30] fascinating for everyone who’s listening to hear why you are [00:01:35] so passionate about it, and for those of you Rory: passionate, also nerdy, AJ: passionate, [00:01:40] nerdy, whatever you wanna call it. But I think this is really good because a lot of people listening may not know, but we’ve [00:01:45] really been on a internal. Company wide kick for the last 18 months [00:01:50] on building bots and uh, trying to figure out different AI tools and [00:01:55] strategies to help us scale without having to add a lot of human capital. And I’ll just [00:02:00] start with this. My philosophy is and will always be. I do [00:02:05] not want to use AI to replace jobs. I would like to use [00:02:10] AI to scale from here without having to add more jobs. One of the [00:02:15] things that we say at Brand Builders Group all the time is we wanna provide maximum income [00:02:20] opportunities for the team that we have. But if we keep having to add more jobs, more [00:02:25] roles, more people, well then the income opportunities have to get [00:02:30] distributed evenly. But if we can figure out how to do [00:02:35] more with less. Addition of human capital. Mm. Then we [00:02:40] are, we’re able to keep that money and spread it more internally to who’s here. So, uh, I think that’s a really [00:02:45] important place to start. I know there’s a lot of companies doing a lot of layoffs right now. I just read [00:02:50] last week, Salesforce announced a huge layoff because mm-hmm. The CEO said, I [00:02:55] just don’t need as many bodies. Mm-hmm. And you know, I think there’s a lot of benefit to ai, but I [00:03:00] see our team as more than just bodies. Mm-hmm. Right. They are more than just bodies. We’re also super [00:03:05] believers and advocates in what AI can do to help scale efficiencies, effectiveness, [00:03:10] and I think this is a good topic to talk about both humanity [00:03:15] and ai. Rory: Yeah, so as you were talking, it was reminding me, you know, there’s a, there’s a [00:03:20] chapter. In our, in our new book, wealthy and Well-Known on Monetization strategy, [00:03:25] which you wrote, where we talk about the difference between growth, scale, growth and scale and scale. [00:03:30] Why don’t you tell everybody what the difference is? I mean, I know everybody listening has already read [00:03:35] our book. Of course, of course. They study it on nights and weekends, but every chapter underlined, highlighted, AJ: folded, [00:03:40] start Rory: if they haven’t. AJ: Yeah, so growth is when you are growing revenue. [00:03:45] At the same rate, you’re growing expenses, right? So that’s growth, right? Yep. Uh, we just know [00:03:50] so many people behind the scenes who have, you know, and I’m sure all of you have seen this too, it’s like, [00:03:55] you know, learn how to have a six figure launch, make seven figures in your first year. And it’s like, [00:04:00] okay, that that could be true. But what no one talks about is, well, I also [00:04:05] spent six figures or seven figures in ads or staff. Spent [00:04:10] Rory: eight figures made multi seven figures. Yeah. Not a good, and I think a lot of people AJ: talk about revenue, revenue, revenue, but they [00:04:15] forget. There’s this other thing that occurs too, which is expenses. Expenses, expenses. Mm-hmm. And not enough [00:04:20] people, at least I think, online talk about what’s a little bit more [00:04:25] important, which is profits. That’s actually the money you get to keep. So [00:04:30] that is growth when you’re, you’re growing revenue, but expenses are growing up the same rate [00:04:35] scale is when you are growing revenue, but expenses have [00:04:40] flatlined. It’s, they’re no longer growing at the same percentage as [00:04:45] revenue. So that’s what happens when you have figured out how do you continually grow revenue [00:04:50] and you’re able to help flatline and maintain the same expense [00:04:55] without having to exceed it to grow revenue. Rory: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think it is a [00:05:00] brand builders group. I think it’s like we have two. Audiences to cust to [00:05:05] customers. We serve our internal team and then our actual paying customers. And that’s something that you and I have always been [00:05:10] very passionate about is like we’re not just building a business. It’s like we’re creating a family. We take it very [00:05:15] serious. Like we’re pro, we’re supporting the families, like Brand Builders Group supports all the [00:05:20] families who are a part of this ecosystem. And so I do think that that is part of the [00:05:25] vision and the excitement of AI is to go, this is perhaps the greatest opportunity for [00:05:30] scale. That we’ve seen in our lifetime. Both: Yeah. Rory: And maybe that we will ever see in [00:05:35] our lifetime. So when you, when you, when you start with that question, why am I [00:05:40] like nerding out over ai, I think it’s a good [00:05:45] touch point to, to consider those two audiences. One is what we already said, it’s a [00:05:50] chance for us to scale our company. Grow profits Disproportionate to [00:05:55] revenue. Yeah. Which we then turn around and we share with our team because of how we’ve got the, the structure [00:06:00] set up. And then number two is I think that the number one [00:06:05] driving question, at least for me in terms of what drives [00:06:10] our strategy at Brand Builders Group, is simply how do we help our clients [00:06:15] succeed faster? I am just consumed with that question, how do we help our clients succeed [00:06:20] faster? Because one thing that also I think is very different about Brand Builders Group is [00:06:25] we’re not just like for us, you know, you and I have a shared sales philosophy that a sale [00:06:30] isn’t made when the cash is collected. A sale is made when a result is [00:06:35] delivered. Mm-hmm. And so we’re not just in the business of. Collecting [00:06:40] cash from our customers. We’re in the business of delivering results to our customers, [00:06:45] and we’ve never, I don’t think we’ve ever had someone leave our membership program [00:06:50] who was like. This program sucked. This was a waste of time. I didn’t [00:06:55] like it. You over like, over promise this wasn’t good. It’s more like I just, [00:07:00] you know, they got, they were too busy, like with their normal day job or they didn’t [00:07:05] maybe like, it didn’t take off the way they wanted it to. Or as fast. Or as fast. It’s, it’s, it’s [00:07:10] all about speed, right? It’s like, you know, I just, it’s not taking off as, as fast as I want it to.[00:07:15] And so. To me, brand Builders Group is a strategy firm. First and foremost. [00:07:20] I think our job, at least how I view my job as like our head of curriculum, uh, [00:07:25] you know, that role that I kind of play is my job is to go out and find [00:07:30] the world’s smartest and most effective strategies for growing a personal brand in all [00:07:35] aspects. Social media, podcasting, book launches, you know, speaking, blah, blah, blah is like [00:07:40] I have to go kind of, we have to go find those, but. [00:07:45] Every one of our clients has always said, can you just do this for me? [00:07:50] Like, can you just like build these funnels for me? Can you just like write my my keynote for me? Can you, it was like, can [00:07:55] you, can you just read my book and edit my book? Like, can you just write these funnels? Can you just edit my [00:08:00] demo video? Can you, and it’s like, man, with a thousand, you know, [00:08:05] we’ve got nearly a thousand active members. It’s like, I would love to do that. I know that [00:08:10] that would help. I know you would love to do it. You’re occupied running the whole company [00:08:15] and with a thousand members, it’s like there’s only so much time we can get to people. Yeah. And so I [00:08:20] think the bots, I think AI for me is going, this is the [00:08:25] way that we can scale execution to go. These [00:08:30] bots are a chance to have Rory and AJ [00:08:35] coaching every single person in our membership as if [00:08:40] they were sitting in this room right now. Right here talking to us like we would over dinner with [00:08:45] friends or clients. So I think that’s, to me is the, that’s the big vision is to go, [00:08:50] they, I see them as a vehicle to enable us to move from solely [00:08:55] strategy to strategy plus execution. Execution still be in secondary, but we [00:09:00] can scale the execution, its ability to, to scale access to us. Yeah. [00:09:05] That’s what I think is so powerful. AJ: So I have a question for you. If time and money were no [00:09:10] limit and you could have any AI tool created and deployed [00:09:15] next week. What would you be working to solve? Like what problem would you be working to [00:09:20] solve with ai, with unlimited money and resources that could launch next week? Rory: Are you gonna gimme an unlimited budget? [00:09:25] Is that why you’re asking? AJ: I’m absolutely not doing that, but I do think it’s a good question. Rory: [00:09:30] AJ is very frugal, which is why, part of why she’s such a great ceo. I am the AJ: financial [00:09:35] fiduciary, Rory: financial fiduciary slash frugal, um, AJ: when [00:09:40] necessary. Rory: Okay, so I love this question. So I’ve been describing [00:09:45] ai. To our community in almost like two eras. So we’re in [00:09:50] era one right now, which are really like the release of these bots, right? So we’re [00:09:55] creating custom bots to immediately achieve deliverables for [00:10:00] clients. There’s things that we teach clients how to do. Here’s how to write a sales page. Here’s how to create an expert [00:10:05] bio. Here’s how to do your brand positioning statement. These things that you’ve heard about this. On this podcast and [00:10:10] in the wealthy and well-known book of like, you select your primary business model, identify your [00:10:15] avatar. So AJ: we have built a whole suite of bots that help you execute strategy. Rory: Yeah. They [00:10:20] execute and they’re like things that you would do one time. Sure. Right. You write a speech one time, you write a book [00:10:25] one time, you write an avatar one time. And so the, the, the, the earliest win and, and for [00:10:30] those people who are not listening, those are just some of the examples that we coach people on. Um. [00:10:35] Is going, let’s create bots to execute those things so people can [00:10:40] create those deliverables faster. But the real answer to your question is what I think era two is [00:10:45] an era two for me in terms of how we’re deploying AI to [00:10:50] our membership is creating bots or more appropriately and [00:10:55] accurately named agents, which is a series of bots strung together, agentic [00:11:00] workflows. Creating agentic workflows that solve the problems [00:11:05] that never go away, Both: such as, Rory: so let’s give some examples, right? [00:11:10] So such as creating social media content. [00:11:15] Mm-hmm. So social media is a beast that you have to feed. Mm-hmm. Again, and again and [00:11:20] again. Again. Like every week you have to put out new content. Yeah. So you need new topics, AJ: lots of. [00:11:25] Tools could do that right now. So what is different about this? Rory: Yeah. Well, what’s different about [00:11:30] ours is that it’s got our intellectual property baked into it. Mm-hmm. So I [00:11:35] think this is what I think is the real magic of AI for personal brands. And I think, I think we’re actually doing a [00:11:40] great job of this is what makes our bots so amazing is [00:11:45] three parts, and it’s equally thirds. So the first third is. [00:11:50] That they are based on LLMs, Chachi, bt, Claude Gemini, [00:11:55] grok, et cetera. And we’ve built our AI digital [00:12:00] infrastructure to be nimble to where we can toggle switches and operate with different [00:12:05] foundations. You, you know this, but the people listening have definitely never, you know, heard us talk about this on this show. So [00:12:10] you’ve got these LLMs. And so you could ask chat GBT, you [00:12:15] know, crank out some content topic ideas for me and it would do it [00:12:20] for you. But what it would be missing is the second of the three parts of [00:12:25] the triangle, which is the brand builders group proprietary intellectual property. [00:12:30] Yeah. So all of the things that we teach about viral hooks and talk tracks and what to [00:12:35] say and how to, you know, reduce your fear and blah, blah, blah. All these things in our curriculum that are not.[00:12:40] Accessible in the public domain, Chachi bt, and none of those LLMs large language models have [00:12:45] access to our proprietary information. And so this is what I think all personal brands should [00:12:50] be doing. It’s again, we’re just telling people to do what we’re doing is we’re going, so we have, you know, call it [00:12:55] Chachi BT as the base foundation, but then our IP is layered on top. So if you want the brand [00:13:00] builders way, the Brand Builders group way, the brand builders group methodology, we’ve baked it in. Mm-hmm. [00:13:05] And then the other third is. The client’s information. So our [00:13:10] bots, as you know, operate off of something that we created called Brand Memory. So when they [00:13:15] complete exercises from our curriculum, like in the era one bots, we store [00:13:20] that information into brand memory. And so every [00:13:25] future use case of a bot draws upon everything that’s already [00:13:30] preexisting in brand memory. Right? And so that’s the, that’s the, that’s the magic now. [00:13:35] Your question was if I had unlimited, yes. Let’s get to my question. Unlimited budget. Yes. AJ: My question. [00:13:40] Yeah. What would Rory: I do? And, and it’s, I would solve a whole classification of [00:13:45] problems, which are the things that never go away. So for example. Creating [00:13:50] topic ideas that are not only structured to go viral based on, you know, [00:13:55] what the LLMs would say, but scripts that are, are coached through RIP [00:14:00] and then specifically tailored to you based on everything else you’ve done. That’s a problem that never goes [00:14:05] away. You have to constantly create content. You gotta create thumbnails for your YouTube channel. You gotta edit [00:14:10] videos would be another great example. So one of the bots we created is called Clip Bot. So a lot of our [00:14:15] clients have a backlog of content and they’re like, uh, I hate social media. I. Can I just [00:14:20] upload? Like do you have someone that could just edit all my old videos? And the answer is, well, you could, but [00:14:25] you’d have to hire a video editor. It’s very expensive. So we created a bot that will crunch your [00:14:30] past videos, and it’s trained to pull out the time codes that. [00:14:35] Make great short form content and then it feeds the time codes to the video editors. That’s a [00:14:40] problem that never goes away. The the two big, but it AJ: doesn’t edit it. Rory: It doesn’t edit it. [00:14:45] Now, for now, the immediate thing that our clients right now in our membership have [00:14:50] access to, they can upload a file and it will give ’em the time codes of exactly, [00:14:55] exactly where to cut. So what it does is it saves them or their editor hours and [00:15:00] hours of scrubbing through footage and just like sitting there watching over and over and over. AJ: Now these are bots [00:15:05] that are made just for our members though. So if we were to go outside of the Brand Builders Group [00:15:10] community, and you were to think about using AI that everyone potentially has [00:15:15] access to, not just within the Brand Builders group membership community, like [00:15:20] how do you do some of that? If you’re not a member. Rory: Yeah, I think, I think I’d actually flip [00:15:25] that question I’d like to ask you about, ’cause the stuff that you’re using AI for is more, I [00:15:30] think, relevant to that conversation. I think the, the part that’s super relevant of [00:15:35] what I’m saying to everyone listening, one, is to hear how we’re thinking [00:15:40] about it and building it internally for our clients. One, because if you’ve, if you’ve been listening to the [00:15:45] show for a while and you’ve considered becoming a client, like there could not be a better time in history, [00:15:50] um, course of course you can Go to free brandand call.com/podcast and request a call with our team to learn [00:15:55] more. But even if you have no interest in becoming a client of ours. [00:16:00] You could adapt the same thinking and strategy for how we’re building this to your own [00:16:05] business to go, all right, how do I build an environment where I’m, I’m leveraging the tools of the [00:16:10] day, the LLMs, but then I’m, I’m layering my proprietary intellectual [00:16:15] property on top of it, and then I’m creating an interface for my clients to interact [00:16:20] and add their own specific use cases. And then that engine. [00:16:25] Of those three things, working together is what creates the magic answer. [00:16:30] AJ: If there was one problem that you could solve next week with unlimited budget and [00:16:35] time, if time wasn’t a thing, like what is the one problem you would solve next week? And I hear you saying, [00:16:40] I wanna solve the problem. That never goes away, but as we know so many, there’s several examples of those. Yeah, right. There’s so [00:16:45] many. Rory: The immediate one is, is what I call the speaking switchboard. So we teach a technique called the [00:16:50] relationship switchboard. I’ve taught this for free on my blog before, which is basically a dating service of [00:16:55] introducing two people to each other. And so we’re building bots that connect. People [00:17:00] who should know one another. Mm. A good example of that is [00:17:05] we’re building a database of people who need speakers, [00:17:10] and our clients are a database of people who want to speak. Mm-hmm. [00:17:15] Sometimes it’s for a fee, right? We have clients, you know. Ourselves. [00:17:20] We speak $50,000. Our friends, you know, our, some of our clients speak a hundred, [00:17:25] $150,000. Eric Thomas, ed Millet, you know, Wil Guera. People like that, they get top, top [00:17:30] dollar to go speak. A lot of our clients go speak for free and they u use it to generate [00:17:35] leads. What I want to do is I wanna capture and build a database that all [00:17:40] of our clients. Crowd source and then build the [00:17:45] agentic calculation to go, oh, AJ spoke at this company. Mm-hmm. [00:17:50] Rory would be a great fit for that company and for it to be an automatic catalyst to [00:17:55] create that introduction. And then the people who did the work of generating the lead and creating it, get a [00:18:00] percentage of the revenue. That’s the, that’s the number one thing, because it would. It would [00:18:05] help us guarantee that we could make our clients money right away. So that [00:18:10] switchboard AJ: functionality, and that’s an immediate ROI revenue generating, sales [00:18:15] driven lead generation tool. And I think that’s some of the, the [00:18:20] strategy work that a lot of people are not using AI for. I think a lot of people are [00:18:25] using AI right now and they’re using it for very. Simple things. Important [00:18:30] things, but simple things. How to respond to this message, drop this email. I use it Rory: every day for like, how [00:18:35] should I, how long should I grill stakes on stuff like that all the time. But AJ: then there’s more strategic [00:18:40] building infrastructure work that we are seeing is really [00:18:45] expediting our ability to move technology forward without having to go hire [00:18:50] some big company who can code and who can do this. You, that’s not a prerequisite [00:18:55] anymore. Some of the things that I think, uh, along those same lines that are really important, [00:19:00] not just in a personal brand fashion, but in a business owner fashion, a CEO [00:19:05] fashion that I have seen that have worked extraordinarily well and, [00:19:10] uh, I could give you a long list of things, but I think about some of the things that a year ago [00:19:15] would take me hours and hours. And hours to do that I [00:19:20] am now cranking out in 5, 10, 15 minutes mm-hmm. Are extraordinary things that I [00:19:25] had to hire full-time people to outsource to that I’m now able to make a draft [00:19:30] and a car ride from my house to Starbucks, send it to someone else to edit, cleanup, and boom, there [00:19:35] we go. Rory: Okay. And I would love for them to hear your actual workflow on this. AJ: Yeah, I’ll, [00:19:40] I’m gonna do that. Rory: Yeah. AJ: It’s one step ahead of me. Rory: Okay. Okay. I wanna see. Okay. But just [00:19:45] being, just, you know, we’re, we’re, it’s not just one of us who can be verbose. I’m just, for the record. [00:19:50] AJ: We’ll, we’ll, we’ll let the audience decide who’s more verbose. We’ll do that. We’ll have [00:19:55] a, a voting contest in social media. Uh, like a, a, a great example is, uh, [00:20:00] role benchmarking. Job descriptions, salary benchmarking, uh, [00:20:05] competitive analysis of, you know, so we need Rory: to hire a new person. Yes. Walk us through [00:20:10] that. AJ: So, today, and again, this would take. So many hours [00:20:15] and recruiters to do a year ago. Soon as I need a new role. The very first thing that I do, and again, [00:20:20] this is where you have to know the role. You can’t just step in and expect AI [00:20:25] to be your brain. That’s not how it works. And I think that’s when a lot of people going, oh, that wasn’t [00:20:30] very good. Like, the output is only as good as the input. So you have to use your [00:20:35] brain in order for it to do good work for you, which means you really have to know the role. [00:20:40] You have to sit down and go, what am I really looking for? What type of person am I looking for? [00:20:45] What tasks and responsibilities would this person do? Uh, who would they report to? [00:20:50] Uh, what would be the frequency of these tasks? What skill level would they need to have in those [00:20:55] things? Mm. And so once I have all of that, and again, I literally voiced [00:21:00] this out to myself. Rory: You have, you have all. And then [00:21:05] how out of your head, I literally AJ: use the voice feature on chat, GPT. [00:21:10] And I literally say, uh, hello, will you please [00:21:15] so friendly with it? Uh, and I go, Hey, I am looking for a brand new position that has never [00:21:20] existed before. I am looking for a person with these character traits, these [00:21:25] personality characteristics, who can do these categories of work. And one of the things that I have [00:21:30] found that works really well when you get super clear and specific is I break down the [00:21:35] categories of work. Someone would do. I would say, Hey. Category one would be [00:21:40] something such as proactive member outreach of members who [00:21:45] are at risk. What does ask at risk mean? Then I’ll define that and I’ll go, and here are [00:21:50] some of the things that I know they should do, and then I would encourage. Chat, GBT, Hey, [00:21:55] please help fill in the gaps with anything that I’ve missed based on these types of [00:22:00] membership companies that we potentially are comparable to, right? So I go category by [00:22:05] category. Then at the very end, I would wrap that up with, Hey, I need a formal job description. That can [00:22:10] be used. One externally facing, then a more detailed one that would be internal [00:22:15] facing that a manager could hold this person accountable to. Then I want you to go [00:22:20] out based on this skill level, right? And I’ll say this is a entry to mid-level [00:22:25] person with three to seven years of experience. This is a Nashville based [00:22:30] position, or it’s a remote based position because those are two different salary fields, and I would ask it to [00:22:35] do a salary benchmark across comparable companies of our revenue size. With [00:22:40] our employee count across all states in the United States. Rory: Is this a different prompt from [00:22:45] the giant? The giant, AJ: all one big prompt? Rory: You’re just, you’re just puking it. These AJ: are like [00:22:50] eight, nine minute prompts. Yeah. Like legit. Uh, then from there I would say please [00:22:55] make me KPI recommendations that are top line or bottom line [00:23:00] oriented. I would say create me a metrics chart that gives me at what [00:23:05] frequencies I said all of these tasks should be done at. This isn’t an eight, nine men minute [00:23:10] drive. Like I use my drive time to do this now. I’ll take a once over. I give my [00:23:15] feedback through the voice prompt back into chat, GBT, and then I have a draft [00:23:20] then said, sent to our head of people in ops who can verify a few things and we are ready [00:23:25] to go in about 15 minutes. Both: Mm-hmm. AJ: This is. Immensely [00:23:30] powerful and helpful in terms of, do you know how many sites that I would have to subscribe [00:23:35] to or people to talk to to do a salary benchmarking? Less than two years ago, I was paying [00:23:40] $8,000 a year to do what I just did in eight minutes for free on chat, GBT. Rory: Mm-hmm. [00:23:45] One of the, one of the mantras we have around Brand Builders Group is Say it ugly first. We teach our members that [00:23:50] all the time when you’re creating content or like whatever, it’s like say it ugly first, just puke it out. [00:23:55] That’s what you’re doing. I do the same thing where it’s just like, you don’t have to have it perfectly [00:24:00] formulated, just start talking. Oh, yeah. Because it, that’s what it does really well, is it organizes your [00:24:05] thoughts and creates like, oh, KPIs and charts. Um, no, I’ve AJ: set up projects. [00:24:10] Okay. Like in chat GBT for this particular, you know, scope of work where I keep all of [00:24:15] the job descriptions so I can. Go back to a project and continue to iterate [00:24:20] on a, you know, job description of like, oh, you know, I’ve changed my mind after talking through this [00:24:25] with our team. We don’t need it to do this, this, and this, but I want you to add this, this, and this. The [00:24:30] amount of workload that this has offboarded from [00:24:35] myself, my head of people in ops and other directors in the company that just had never taken the time to [00:24:40] do this, is, I can’t even tell you how extraordinary it has [00:24:45] been in order to clearly articulate, explain, and then benchmark.[00:24:50] That, that is where I think some of the strategic thought is not [00:24:55] being considered of like, no, I’m not having it pull anything from Glassdoor to Indeed [00:25:00] to, uh, different other US Bureau of Labor Statistics and I’m benchmarking [00:25:05] salary roles and KPIs, so I feel a hundred percent confident when someone on [00:25:10] the team or my head of people or a recruit’s like, well, I just think, uh, [00:25:15] I should get paid more. Rory: Based on AJ: what you feel like, tell me, tell me more about that. [00:25:20] Is Rory: it giving you, it’s giving you accurate market. Market compare. Market cost. It really is. AJ: It really is. And, and [00:25:25] then I have all the places to go, but then that’s it. It’s like I, what I have found is that so many [00:25:30] people who are. Looking for jobs who are, you know, looking for a new job or even [00:25:35] looking to get a pay increase or get a promotion with their own company. They go out and they go, Hey, what’s [00:25:40] the, you know, salary range for this, this job? Mm-hmm. With no context. [00:25:45] Like, do you know, like you could have the exact same title and have 45,000 different job descriptions, [00:25:50] and it’s like, what a title. Of this person, it means that this company that’s a [00:25:55] $50 million company with a similar title at a $5 million company, we’re not gonna have the same [00:26:00] salary team. Rory: Yeah. Director of marketing means something very different. [00:26:05] AJ: And in different geographic areas, Joe, and at different, uh, levels of [00:26:10] experience and years of experience. And so just to have the very [00:26:15] factual, logical proof to go, this is not an emotional conversation anymore. [00:26:20] This is a logical conversation around real dollars, real employee counts. [00:26:25] Companies, geography Rory: matters. Geography tremendously. And so what I have found is AJ: that for our team and for the [00:26:30] conversations we’re having with potential employees, it gives us all a little bit more confidence of [00:26:35] going, wow, like this would’ve been a full-time job or a recruiter or [00:26:40] a very expensive tool to do the level of data and research that it’s empowering us to have real [00:26:45] conversations and, and make good hires based on [00:26:50] real data. Rory: So this is a, a little bit off the topic of ai, but it’s, it’s right [00:26:55] in the vein of what you’re talking about. Can you explain for everyone what is the difference between a [00:27:00] job description and a role mapping? We’ve never talked about that on this show, and I know that’s a huge part of [00:27:05] how you’ve hired and mm-hmm. And built our leadership team to hire. What is the [00:27:10] difference between a job description and a role mapping? Why do you need both, and how do you use each of them? AJ: And [00:27:15] I am currently using AI to develop both. Rory: You’re using AI to build both of them. Yeah. But the [00:27:20] use for each of them is strategically different. My job AJ: description is for recruiting purposes. A job [00:27:25] description is external facing. It is high level. It is what you put in a job post. It’s what you [00:27:30] send to recruiter. It’s what a candidate is previewing to go, do I have the skills and [00:27:35] qualifications and do I have the interest to apply for such a job? A role [00:27:40] mapping is an extension. It’s an uh, an elaborate [00:27:45] expansion of a job description into every. [00:27:50] Granule, every little, you know, rock that needs to be unturned of what this person is [00:27:55] accountable for. Mm. And that’s really it. It’s like, what tasks are you accountable [00:28:00] for in this role? So when I make a job description with ai, now I turn [00:28:05] around and then I use the exact same job description, make another probably seven, eight minute prompt [00:28:10] to build out a detailed role mapping that a manager could hold their team accountable [00:28:15] to. It’s going, Hey, in each of these categories, what are the very [00:28:20] specific tasks and responsibility, and at what frequency is this person held [00:28:25] accountable to doing these things? What I have found is over the years is that [00:28:30] most often, more often than not, it’s not that somebody just didn’t do the job ’cause they [00:28:35] didn’t want to. Often they didn’t even know they were supposed to or at what [00:28:40] frequency, and that was poor onboarding, poor training, poor accountability. Rory: I’ve also been shocked at how many of our [00:28:45] meetings we’re like, well, whose job is that? And we’re like, we’ll pull up the role mappings. And it’s like, [00:28:50] oh, it’s not on anyone’s role mapping uhhuh. Like, we literally don’t have that task assigned to a [00:28:55] person. And so it’s like, no wonder why it gets, doesn’t get done. It’s, it’s extremely powerful [00:29:00] to go, like each task for each person AJ: has to belong to a person, has to belong to somebody with [00:29:05] a backup. And then a backup to the backup. But that’s it. A role mapping is the, the [00:29:10] list, the list of tasks that we can hold that person accountable to. So that’s an internal [00:29:15] facing document, or a job description is more of a recruiting tool. Rory: Yeah. And one, one thing for, if you’re feeling [00:29:20] overwhelmed right now as an entrepreneur and you’re just like completely buried, a lot of times it’s, it’s [00:29:25] kind of a desperate, hopeless feeling of like, I need help, but I can’t have time to get [00:29:30] help, and where am I gonna find the perfect person? From an emotional standpoint, the best thing you [00:29:35] can do for yourself is make a list of all the tasks that need to be done. [00:29:40] Don’t try to find the person when you just dump out of your brain and and [00:29:45] chat. GBT is a good function for this. What are all the tasks that need to be done [00:29:50] is immediately emotionally freeing and empowering to go. I could [00:29:55] probably get someone to do this, and at least now you know exactly who you’re looking for and, and you [00:30:00] can, you can, you can do something with it. You can, it goes from this obscure emotional, [00:30:05] you know, mess in our brain to a tactical like, okay, well what would it cost to get someone to do [00:30:10] these tasks and then hold them accountable? What I found AJ: is that when you don’t do that, and then we can move on from this [00:30:15] particular topic, when you don’t do that is when you end up overpaying or underpaying. [00:30:20] ’cause there wasn’t clarity in what this person was, would actually be doing. And [00:30:25] then all of a sudden they’re in the job and you’re like, you know what? I do need someone to do this. Or you know, you’re, this is [00:30:30] gonna be what your job is and you end up overpaying or underpaying when you don’t have [00:30:35] clarity in all of the tasks that they’re gonna be held responsible for. So what, this has been an [00:30:40] immensely revenue saving. Profit maximization and time [00:30:45] saving tool that we’ve implemented in the last year. Rory: I wanna hear some of the other examples of, uh, so this is [00:30:50] powerful. Like this has been huge and it’s almost like an HR function of it, a business that all, all of us, [00:30:55] uh, as entrepreneurs, you know, we, we struggle with or executives, like, you have to hire people. [00:31:00] What are some of the other general ways you’re using And by general, I’m just saying not our internal [00:31:05] bots. ’cause we built a, we’ve also built a set of internal bots that do things just for our team [00:31:10] internally, which has AJ: been extraordinary. Rory: So what are, what are some of the. Non-internal bots [00:31:15] that other uses of AI that you’re using as a CEO? AJ: Yeah, I would say like I should be their new [00:31:20] spokesperson. ’cause I talk about this so much is fixer, [00:31:25] FYXE r.ai. Rory: They would be a great sponsor for this podcast. We should, we should be. I [00:31:30] talk about them all the time. Time. We should be getting them as a, AJ: um. I have an amazing chief [00:31:35] of staff who, you know, doubles as my executive assistant. Plus, [00:31:40] you know, all things project uh, management for me at BBG and beyond. [00:31:45] But there’s just so much that one person can do [00:31:50] that. I just felt the need over the last couple of months. It’s like. I [00:31:55] need my chief of staff doing more project work, more high level strategic [00:32:00] work, and I found that she was getting caught up in my inbox in my calendar more than she had [00:32:05] time to keep up with vetting and, you know, research and a lot of [00:32:10] other things that. Are on her role. And I got introduced to Fixer, you know, it’s comparable to [00:32:15] like a superhuman or some of those other, uh, email tools out there. Rory: These are AI based [00:32:20] inbox management tools, AJ: inbox and calendar. But what I like specifically about Fixer [00:32:25] is that one, you can train it, right? You can upload a lot of training docs to it. [00:32:30] Others don’t have that or didn’t have it when I researched them. Uh, the other thing that I really like about it is [00:32:35] it replaces other tools that you might be using, like Fathom. [00:32:40] Right. So it follows me to every meeting that I go, and what I have found about it spec it [00:32:45] specifically, is that it’s Rory: also an AI note taker for your virtual meeting. AJ: It’s AI note taker, but then what it [00:32:50] does is it takes all of those, puts them in email, draft form [00:32:55] automatically includes everyone who is on the call. So I have all of these notes, like my chief of [00:33:00] staff used to have to come to meetings to take all of these notes and action items. And yes, fathom has helped [00:33:05] with that, but email drafting and assigning who to who? It does it so [00:33:10] well, and by the time I’m done with the meeting, five minutes later, there is an email draft in my [00:33:15] inbox to everyone who was on the meeting with a recap of the meeting, a link to the meeting, and then [00:33:20] at every second with an action I item where you can link to where I said that or it was [00:33:25] written. And so. The communication process, the accountability process of [00:33:30] using Fixer or something like Fixer has put everyone on notice [00:33:35] of, oh no, this is what we said. Now it’s in writing with your name tagged to it with the [00:33:40] minute it was said, email drafted, sent go, and the heightened level of accountability and [00:33:45] specificity that it does that is extraordinarily well. It’s almost acting as [00:33:50] like a project management tool in and of itself without, you know, all the details of a Monday or [00:33:55] an Asana. But I have found that that is an extraordinarily useful part of [00:34:00] that. That was an added bonus. The other things is its ability to just [00:34:05] filter through your inbox and then draft emails. Now the drafting of emails, most of them need slight [00:34:10] editing, but I have found that it’s accuracy and calendar availability is [00:34:15] extraordinary. Mm. So somebody will say, Hey aj, you know, I’d love to, you know, get on a meeting with you [00:34:20] and. I have filters set up. That is, if this is a first time person who’s never emailed me, it does [00:34:25] not draft a response. It does not come to me that it’s being filtered. So it goes to an inbox that Laura [00:34:30] manages and checks of like, who is this stranger who’s never emailed us before? Who’s asking for a meeting [00:34:35] or a call? But if it is someone who is emailed before, or it can tell in the tone that we know each other, [00:34:40] it will draft an email, right? That I can then go and approve it, scrapes [00:34:45] my calendar and says, aj, these are the three times that you’re available. Should [00:34:50] we offer these to, you know, Bob And uh, then all I have to do is edit [00:34:55] send. And often it’s just a send. But this is saving me [00:35:00] and my chief of staff hours every week. Like I love that. It too gives me, you know, an end of [00:35:05] week recap of this is what we did for you last week. This is how many hours it saved, how many emails [00:35:10] we drafted. But last week alone in seven days, it routed, it rerouted [00:35:15] 782 emails that never met my eyeballs. That’s significant. [00:35:20] Not just for for me, but for my team. Um, and so. There’s [00:35:25] lots of different ways of them just getting more effective, more efficient with where I [00:35:30] spend my time and where my Chief of spa staff spends her time with, Hey, I’ve [00:35:35] got an initial draft. All right, I can train it in my tone of voice. Uh, I have all [00:35:40] these, uh, folders set up where, you know, these are first timer, first time emails [00:35:45] that are coming in so we can vet like, do I actually know this person? Or is it a sales? Is it a [00:35:50] promo? Is it marketing? Is it a mention? Is it Monday? [00:35:55] That alone, yes, you can have email rules like that in Outlook, but not to this degree. [00:36:00] Not to this level of what I would just say. The specificity [00:36:05] of how it’s tagging things and moving them has freed up so [00:36:10] much. Work for me. And then the drafting, just an initial draft has also [00:36:15] been super helpful, where maybe I change two or three words, add a sentence versus having to start from scratch. [00:36:20] So fixer, uh, I’m super high on right now. Rory: And you, you feel comfortable with the [00:36:25] team trying out tools like that too? AJ: Our team is trying out tools I set up with [00:36:30] Fixer a brand builders group organization account. So anyone who tries to register [00:36:35] with Fixer [email protected] automatically gets added to the [00:36:40] organization. Absolutely. So that we can set admin settings, which I think is also [00:36:45] really wise, otherwise every person in your organization’s trying a new tool. Um, and so [00:36:50] we’ve set up some admin settings, uh, in the tools that we’re advocating for. Rory: What do you think [00:36:55] are. Some of the things people are doing wrong with AI in general in terms [00:37:00] of either how they’re thinking about it, how they’re using it, or how they’re not using [00:37:05] it just in general, like personal brands, small business owners. [00:37:10] Let’s say specifically you go, here’s some of the things I’m either hearing about or seeing [00:37:15] people do or not do that I would flag as like. I wouldn’t [00:37:20] advise that. AJ: Uh, I have three categories of really close friends who would [00:37:25] fit in each of these categories. Okay. Category one would be, what’s ai? It’s like, [00:37:30] I mean, I know what people talk about, but what’s it really used for? I, I, I [00:37:35] have really close, successful Sure. Eight. Figure entrepreneur friends who right now are [00:37:40] going, don’t tell me how you really use it. And they, they still have in their mind a little bit. It’s a [00:37:45] marketing tool. Both: Hmm. AJ: Right. They’re going well, yeah. But I’m not in marketing, I’m not building a personal [00:37:50] brand. I’m not doing copy and content like what actual business owners use it for. [00:37:55] Both: Hmm. Um. AJ: I have that category of friends. All Both: right. AJ: And I think that’s a, a [00:38:00] big no-no. I think that’s a big, don’t be in that category. Do I think that it’s [00:38:05] going to be used in every function of every department today? No. Do I [00:38:10] really think it will likely be in every function of every department of your company? Very soon. I [00:38:15] do. Um, and that’s rather be, that’s gonna be because you, the business owner, the [00:38:20] entrepreneur have created a path for it, or your team’s gonna be doing it without you and they’re gonna go rogue because [00:38:25] they’re going, well, if you’re not doing it, I’m doing it because I would like efficiencies in my work. And I think what [00:38:30] happens when I see the friends that I know who just haven’t embraced it in their work [00:38:35] life at all. Their teams have, and their teams are now [00:38:40] using it in maybe not, not the most productive way, such as thinking it can do their job for [00:38:45] them. Right. And all of a sudden, like I, we had somebody share this last week. They’re like, my team [00:38:50] is sending me AI written emails. And it’s like, okay, well [00:38:55] that’s because you haven’t had the AI conversation. It’s like, I can still tell if I know [00:39:00] someone well enough. I’m like, you did not write that. That is way too polite. I know you didn’t do it. [00:39:05] Um, so I’m like, that is not, I know that is not how you talk. And it’s like, no, you don’t [00:39:10] use AI to write emails to your colleagues or to your boss or to your team. [00:39:15] So is it a memo? Sure. Could you use it for that? But I think there’s some of those things where it’s like AI is [00:39:20] not an excuse to no longer use your brain. Right? That that’s not what it’s for. And [00:39:25] if we’re not educating and training properly on how do we use it, where do we use it, [00:39:30] what’s appropriate and what’s not? Then people don’t know, so don’t be mad. Right? And that’s where a [00:39:35] business owners have to step in and go, these are the AI policies, guidelines for the company, and how we [00:39:40] use it for efficiency and effectiveness. And where it’s a no-no, you get to decide that. So that would be [00:39:45] category one. Category two is where people are only using it in, I [00:39:50] would, what I would say, I’m just gonna Skype business areas of their life. And they go, [00:39:55] oh, well this is, I’m not gonna let this invade the personal parts of my life. Uh, or vice [00:40:00] versa, right? They, they have segmented this to, this is only for the [00:40:05] marketing department, or this is only for the financial [00:40:10] analysis team, or this is only for. Whatever executives, I’m just making that up, [00:40:15] or other people are who are going, well, I use it in my personal life, but I don’t wanna use it [00:40:20] in business because that takes away my true expertise and authenticity.[00:40:25] Mm. I was like, well, that neither are true. Some Rory: people use it more like Google. They’re just like replacing [00:40:30] Google for like personal search, but they’re not really leveraging the power, power. They’re not using it of it in business. AJ: [00:40:35] Like I just a very quick example, like in my personal life, as you know, and some people who’ve [00:40:40] followed the podcast for a while know I’ve had a pretty radical health journey after an [00:40:45] emergency gallbladder surgery. And I don’t eat oils, uh, of any kind, right? I [00:40:50] don’t cook with oils. I don’t eat with oils. I have a very low fat diet, don’t eat a lot of [00:40:55] sugar, right? So. If you don’t cook with any oils at all. [00:41:00] It can be kind of hard to go, like, how’s anything gonna taste good? Right? [00:41:05] So I’ve used this a ton for recipe creation. Mm Both: of, AJ: [00:41:10] Hey, I need a four ingredient recipe that uses no taps, types of butter, [00:41:15] coconut oils, olive oils, avocado oils, no oils, who, da, da, da. [00:41:20] And that has been a very simple way, I tell Rory: you, he who’s not gonna sponsor our podcast or any oil [00:41:25] companies. That’s right. Sorry AJ: guys. But I think that, but is. One of the most [00:41:30] helpful because I have searched high and low in every bookstore online on [00:41:35] Amazon for cookbooks that cook with no oils. This doesn’t exist. Both: Mm. AJ: There are [00:41:40] no, there are no cookbooks that are oil free cooking. Both: Mm. AJ: And so it’s been a really [00:41:45] challenge in our personal life, in my kitchen of going like, how do I not just eat a Turkey burger [00:41:50] every day? It’s been really frustrating. Um, and ever since I’ve started using this [00:41:55] for this micro part of my personal life, it’s like.[00:42:00] I’m excited to cook again and try new recipes again, and none of them have oil in it, and there [00:42:05] is no cookbook that exists. Maybe that’s my next, that’s my next book. Mm-hmm. Oil free cooking, [00:42:10] which no one will buy, but it serves a really important personal need. Right. And so [00:42:15] how are we using it to build the gaps in our life where we haven’t been able to [00:42:20] find the resource we need? Rory: Yeah. And that’s, that’s how I really think about AI in like a [00:42:25] really tight summary is it’s like. I think of it as like an assistant. AJ: Yeah. Rory: It doesn’t [00:42:30] do it for you. You have to know what to do. AJ: It’s gotta do it with you. It Rory: does. It [00:42:35] does it with you. You have to be able to direct its work. You have to be able to guide it, coach it, know [00:42:40] what you want. Yeah. Like, it can’t tell you what you want. You’ve, you’ve gotta know that. [00:42:45] But it, it can do a lot of the more menial parts of labor or [00:42:50] manual tasks or repetitive things like it just crushes in that area. And deep AJ: research too. Sure. [00:42:55] Research assistant, same, same thing. So that’s the second category. Okay. Right. It’s like you’re [00:43:00] segmenting it somehow. Um, and then the third category, you know, you have the one extreme [00:43:05] of what is it? Don’t wanna touch it, don’t want it to invade my life [00:43:10] people or they just don’t get it. And then you’ve got the other where they’re like, [00:43:15] amazing AI is here. I’m firing my workforce. Right. [00:43:20] And I think that’s equally as a dangerous place to be. That’s removing the humanity [00:43:25] from your work. And I do think it’s gonna create efficiencies. [00:43:30] Unfortunately, I do think it’s gonna replace jobs. It is replacing jobs. We’ve [00:43:35] already seen the massive layoffs, but a lot of those layoffs were happening because of inefficiencies. [00:43:40] And I just really believe that there is a, a place for, you’ve gotta have the, the [00:43:45] human capital in the workforce. And then there is that a hybrid of bringing a AI in [00:43:50] to do the parts of the job that you didn’t really wanna do anyways? Mm-hmm. Right. There are some parts [00:43:55] of my job I just don’t want to do, and I have been doing them because I just have to do them.[00:44:00] But now there is a tool. That does ’em for me, so I can do the parts that I’m better [00:44:05] at, more skilled out, enjoy more. That can be for my entire workforce. I don’t have to get rid of my [00:44:10] workforce. I can make them healthier, happier employees, more efficient, [00:44:15] more effective, more productive, and happier by using some things to [00:44:20] relieve things off their plates. And that’s how I think we should be doing it. Rory: Yeah. And I, I, I, I pulled [00:44:25] this up from one of our clients, so this is. This is from a woman named Daphne who’s [00:44:30] been in our program for 18 months and she said, um, you know, I jumped on the AI [00:44:35] bandwagon years ago, so I’m no stranger to the benefits and also the challenges, but [00:44:40] I’ve been using the, the brand builder bots since you gave us all access. They are incredible. [00:44:45] I’m almost done writing all of my primary keynote speeches for all five of my pillars. These bots are [00:44:50] not just a one and done. As with all things, you really do have to work with them. That being said, the [00:44:55] brand bots have allowed me to leverage frameworks and models you’ve created, but [00:45:00] also to really learn how those models work at the highest levels to help me get more of my things done. [00:45:05] You know, lead can offer closing offers. Uh, they are geniuses and. [00:45:10] I think, you know, that’s a, those are the bots obviously that we’ve created, but it’s, you, you see that [00:45:15] light bulb come on for people to go mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. It, it is doing, it helps [00:45:20] us to move faster and get through more of the mundane things, to do more of the higher level [00:45:25] things. And while I do think it will replace jobs, I think it will also create jobs. Absolutely. I do think it will [00:45:30] cause people to have to think differently, just like the internet did, like the internet. You know, [00:45:35] killed a bunch of jobs, but it also created a bunch of jobs. AJ: Same with social media, same Rory: with social media. So I, I, [00:45:40] I don’t, I don’t totally worry about the whole w world just being like, laid off to AJ: [00:45:45] thoughts. I don’t either. And for every job that’s laid off, there’s going to be a [00:45:50] reemergence of industries and jobs that are refilled again, right? It’s not like [00:45:55] everyone’s gonna be, you know, sitting at home collecting unemployment. Hopefully I don’t, I don’t [00:46:00] think that’s the case, but you know, I had this conversation with someone the other day and I’m like, if you think about every [00:46:05] single progressive Rory: technological tech, AJ: not even [00:46:10] technological, just any sort of progressive element of society. [00:46:15] So think about it, grocery stores, they, they are not technological at all, [00:46:20] but they were placed. Farmer’s markets, they replaced the door to door [00:46:25] milkman. Right. They replaced, like they replaced something and eliminated one [00:46:30] thing, but created a whole new thing. Mm-hmm. Right. I’m not saying I’m a, you know, not to go shop at the farm. It’s [00:46:35] not what I’m saying, but it’s like every single progression has eliminated one, [00:46:40] but created another simultaneously. And that’s what we’re seeing here. [00:46:45] Rory: Is there anything you are scared of as we, so we gotta wrap up here. Is there, there so many things? Is there, is there [00:46:50] anything about AI that you are really worried about? AJ: Yeah. Uh, but they’re [00:46:55] not any different than, they’re the same things I’m worried about with social media. Uh, they’re the same [00:47:00] things I’m worried about with, with anything. Rory: It’s like the, it’s, it’s just another [00:47:05] opportunity for the proliferation of bad things. Sure. But it is. Equally and greater [00:47:10] the opportunity of the proliferation of good things. AJ: I, for, for now. I very much see it [00:47:15] as I see most things, anything in this world can be [00:47:20] wielded for good or for evil, and this is just another one of those tools. [00:47:25] Another one of those examples. I think there is a lot of good to social media. I also know [00:47:30] there’s a lot of bad, right? I think there’s a lot of good [00:47:35] to, you know, schools. I think that we see a lot of bullying and a [00:47:40] lot of problems in schools today. Mm-hmm. That doesn’t mean we eliminate school, right. That doesn’t mean that [00:47:45] we, you know, shut down freedom of speech on social media. Um, but I think with [00:47:50] anything, this is just a new emergence of there are gonna be hard things, there are gonna be [00:47:55] scary things. Welcome to life. Uh, I, I, I get scared going on the [00:48:00] interstate every single day, like just today, the day. Right. It’s no different than [00:48:05] anything else. Rory: Yeah, I think, I think that’s so true. It’s, it’s, you know, AI is a [00:48:10] tool and what matters is the people, the hearts of the people who are using it. [00:48:15] And I think, you know, when I think about our, our. Our passion of serving [00:48:20] mission-driven messengers is going, we wanna surround ourselves with people who are good [00:48:25] people. Yeah. Who care about changing the world, wanna make a difference. And so we’re embracing [00:48:30] the idea of building tools to help people like that. People like you. To use these [00:48:35] tools so that you can reach more people. So those are some of our initial thoughts on [00:48:40] ai. Thanks for being here. If you wanna learn more about, uh, brand Builders Group and you wanna have a chance to [00:48:45] sample some of our bots and talk about how they could work for you, go to free brand [00:48:50] call.com/podcast. Share this episode with someone who you think would benefit from it. And we’ll [00:48:55] see you next [00:49:00] [00:49:05] [00:49:10] time.