Originally aired Tuesday, February 24, 2026. Businessing is now a weekly show with a new episode every Monday.
Short answer: Nobody knows exactly where AI is headed, so plan around what won't change in your business, like customers wanting results faster. Pay down debt so you stay flexible, and start using AI tools now so you learn by doing. Expect your software, habits, pricing and deliverables to look different within a year.
Today I tried to make sense of a story saying $650 billion will go into AI this year. Nobody can say where it's headed. I shared what I'm doing about it: focus on what won't change, get out of debt, and start playing with the tools now. Nikki Lee, co-founder of our sponsor Genhead, called in to talk about who controls the tech and why curiosity beats fear. We also covered the State of the Union, algorithms that don't care about truth, and why remote work can help you hire. The Idea Slam covered getting real value from networking events and saying no to friends who want free work.
Businessing is the weekly show where small business owners figure out what to do next, with a new episode every Monday. Hosted by Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community: owners only, nobody pitching, $19 a month.
Key takeaways
- Write down what your customers will always want, no matter the technology, and build your plans around those things.
- Pay down debt now so you have room to change course if a new tool or AI agent reshapes your market.
- Set aside time each week to play with AI tools yourself, because you learn what they can do by using them.
- When you hire, look beyond driving distance, since remote work is what most job seekers want right now.
- After a networking event, be the one who follows up and asks for a one-on-one, because that's where the business comes from.
Questions this episode answers
How do I prepare my small business for AI?
Start with what won't change in your business, like customers wanting results faster and easier, and build around that. Keep your finances flexible by getting out of debt. Then start playing with AI tools now, because by the end of the year most businesses will be operating differently.
Are networking events worth it for small business owners?
Only if you follow up. Pat compares the event to the first half of a football game, and the real win comes after you go home and reach out. Show up on time, connect people, ask more questions than you talk, and don't hand out a card unless they ask.
How do I say no when friends and family want free work?
You can just say no. Pat's rule is to never give up billable hours for free work, no matter who's asking. If you want to help, a discount on a bigger package is an option, but free work isn't.
Should I hire remote employees for my small business?
It's worth a look. A FlexJobs study Pat cited found fully remote work was the most wanted job trait across the categories it scanned. Your hiring pool doesn't have to stop at driving distance.
Worth quoting
Focus on what's not changing. Get out of debt to retain flexibility.
Pat Miller on Businessing
By the end of the year, your business will not look like it does right now. You will be operating differently.
Pat Miller on Businessing
Going to the networking event is only the first half of the football game.
Pat Miller on Businessing
Never give up billable hours for free work, no matter who is asking, and especially if it's friends or family.
Pat Miller on Businessing
On the show
- Nikki Lee, Genhead: Called in to talk about who controls AI, keeping it open, and why owners should start by playing with the tools.
- Idea Slam question: Two questions: are networking events worth the time for small business owners, and how do you handle friends and family who want discounts or free work?
In this episode
- State of the Union and the algorithm trap
- Remote work as a hiring edge
- The $650 billion AI bet and the jump ball economy
- Focus on what won't change and get out of debt
- Nikki Lee of Genhead on AI and small business
- Be ready for change and pick your circle
- Idea Slam: how to win at networking events
- Idea Slam: friends and family who want free work
Watch, listen and join
- Watch this episode on YouTube
- Apple Podcasts
- Listen anywhere
- Small Business Owners Community
- The Small Business Library (add it to your AI tool)
More on this topic: AI answers from the Small Business Owners Community
Full transcript
And good morning. It's Tuesday, February 24th and we are Businessing. This is Small Businesses' weekly show. I'm your host, pat Miller, founder of the small Business Owners community, and we are sponsored this morning by our friends at Gen Head and Angie, look at all these lovely folks streaming in.
Good morning, Steve. Great to see you, Doris speaking. Lovely, glad that you're here as well. We're gonna do something, have a deep thought conversation about where AI is headed and how it's going to affect small business owners like you and me. And I don't have all the answers and I wanna hear about your perspective, which means for the first time.
We're gonna do some live callers on the show. Really exciting. Now, the link that I've put into the chat will show up on Facebook and YouTube. If you're watching on LinkedIn and X, uh, it won't show up in the chat. Good morning, leaky, uh, Nikki, great to see you. Uh, so if you want to participate when we get to that point, uh, you'll wanna use the link that I'm dropping in right now and we'll just take some calls and get your opinion on, on what's happening, because there are some really big things that are going on that I have opinions on, but I wanna hear what your thoughts are as well.
Also on today's show, it is a massive political theater night tonight because the president's State of the Union address is going to be on and fully remote jobs are exploding. They could be a secret weapon for you when you decide to hire. And two idea slam questions that we need to talk about are networking events worth the time.
And if so. How do I capitalize on them? And then the second question is, how do you handle it when your family and friends ask you for discounts or even worse free work? Well, we will address both of those in today's idea Slam. So we would love to have you join us in the chat, tell us who you are and what you do.
Share your business link. That way we can give you some free pub. And if you wanna be a part of the AI conversation, click the link that I've shared that you'll see on Facebook and on YouTube, and you can be a part of the show. Let's get through the news, shall we? Because this AI conversation, I might go on for 45 minutes.
I have a lot to say and I'm stitching together a bunch of stories and the meaning behind it because we don't know where it's going, but we'll get to that in the news. I love politics. I love politics. You might not know that about me, but I absolutely love politics. I'm a political science minor. I just got outta college 30 years ago.
But yeah, political science minor. And I love politics. Not because I'm rooting for one side or the other. I love politics 'cause I'm a messaging and positioning guy. If you know me and you've been watching the show, you know, nothing gets me more excited than trying to figure out a way that you can say what you do uniquely and it cuts through to get right to your ideal client.
I love that stuff. That's really all politics is read my lips, no new taxes. It's trying to come up with a way that that's 50 years old and 40 at least. And it's memorable and it sticks. So when big political stories are happening, no matter who is doing the politicking, I love it. Love it. It's like a blockbuster movie opening.
And tonight, well, it's gonna be a doozy. President Trump's State of the Union address, it's the first one in this term. And it is anticipated that he's going to show up and claim an economic comeback that the country is on fire. Everything's doing great. We are winning again. Can't you hear him saying that we are winning again?
We're the hottest country in the world. He's been saying the same thing for 90 days. Well, he is definitely gonna do that tonight, but also tonight, I hope he's going to address what the hell is going on in Mexico, the Mexican cartels. And they, they're killing the leaders of Mexican cartels. And now the cartels are doing stuff from Puerto Vallarta.
What's actually happening? What about Venezuela? We just showed up and took their leader. Yeah. Hey, you're coming with us 'cause you're a criminal and we just did it.
Well, what's going on with that? And oh yeah, we've got a freaking armada sitting off the coast of Iran. Are we gonna like do something or are we just making a deal?
I, I don't know. So he's got plenty to talk about on the docket tonight. So we will be all over that. But as a messaging guy, I love watching Trump speak. Now, before you freak out, I love watching Trump speak because as a messaging guy, I can tell exactly when he goes off script and you can tell it too 'cause he has this weird, I'll let you in.
There's a tip. He's got teleprompters here and here on either side of the camera. He's look and he is got a teleprompter on the camera too, but he is got teleprompters here and here and he'll do like a thing, he'll like lean this way. And as you can see, in the last 90 days, the government has been growing at 45%.
And oh, the liberal media and he'll just start going off on people. Like he'll look back at the camera and then he'll just start ripping people to shreds. That's how you know he's off script and he'll say just like the nastiest stuff you can imagine. Then he'll look back at his thing and uh, speaker Johnson is doing the thing and oh yeah, those nasty Senate Democrats or whatever, like you can tell.
So when he is looking this way, he's on script. When he is looking this way and being a complete troll, you know, he's off script and he'll do that tonight during the State of the Union, it's going to be no holds barred. So as a political messaging guy, I absolutely love it and be like, Barbara, tell us about your business and put your link on the screen.So it's going to be crazy 'cause he's gonna go crazy and it will not sound normal. It will be all over the place. The Democrats, they're also not taking this lying down. Some of them are boycotting Trump's State of the Union address, and a number of Democrats are putting on counter programming called the People's State of the Union.
If Trump's not gonna stand up for the people, we're gonna stand up for the people and we're gonna have a State of the Union. So they're doing like a whole other show in Washington, DC. It's crazy. It's crazy and I can't wait. I will be there.
Big tub of popcorn, ice, cold, Sprite. Zero. Zero sugar. 'cause that's all I get on my diet.
'cause I'm lame. It's what I've been drinking. I've been drinking Sprite, zero sugar. Hell of a drink, by the way. But that's my reward at the end of the day.
Staying on plan and I get a Sprite, zero sugar. Help me please. This is a cry for help. Steve asked me out for a beer last night. I didn't go 'cause I was busy, but also it's not on my diet plan.
Thank you for the invite, Steve Sprite. Zero sugar. That's what I'm calling. Fun. Not good.
So anyway, big tub of popcorn, Sprite, zero sugar. Here we are watching the show and the thing that you need to be aware of, you will sit here, you will watch Trump speak, then you will watch the Democrat response. Then you will be completely untethered from reality.
Here's why. As soon as you go to your phone, this is not real. This is my phone. It's not real. I don't care what team you cheer for.
As soon as you go to your phone, this is going to be not real life. Why? Because this has been tuned for you to get the version of the truth that you want no matter which team you're cheering for.
The algorithms do not care about truth. I'm gonna say that again 'cause it's true, and I'm broadcasting on all my algorithms. I love you algorithms, but they do not care about truth. Their first priority is engagement. That's why. When you cheer for your team and follow all the accounts for your team, it sure looks like your team is winning.
Boy, that other team is full of morons. Boy, that other team hates the country. Whatever it is, whatever team you cheer for, this will tell you your version of the truth. So tonight as you sit there, big bowl of popcorn, Sprite, zero. 'cause you're lame and you watch the state of the Union. That is your only opportunity for truth.
And you have to make the judgment because when you go to the algorithms, you're gonna get your party line no matter which side you're cheering for. Is that right? Is it wrong? It's reality. So just brace yourself for it. And there's almost this, we need to come up with a term for it. It's not only living in the moment, it's, I don't know, we gotta come up with a reality based experience.
If you can come up with a term, let's use it because there's just something about watching it in real time and making up your own mind before you go to your algorithms and get your team's version of the truth. So watch out for that. I saw an interesting story about the job market and something that I think you want to pay attention to.
If you're thinking about hiring an employee, maybe you're gonna bring out employee number one or number four. It doesn't matter if you're a small business owner looking to add for your team. Remember, your pool of candidates is not just the people within driving distance. Your pool of candidates is the planet.
And depending if Trump drops alien news, maybe interplanetary, 'cause that's another rumor that's out there. He is gonna talk about aliens tonight, which would just be bananas. There's a study from a company called Flex Jobs. They found in their analysis 60 career categories, and when they scanned 60 different career categories, the number one most desired trait across all the categories was remote.
100%. Remote, 85%. 85% of applicants said remote work was the number one asset in the job. How, uh, isn't that crazy? 85% most coveted asset.
And then they went through the career categories and you think, oh, that might not apply to me. I'm a small business owner, blah, blah, blah. Here are the top six categories, and I'm including six for a reason.
'cause number six is applicable to you, engineering, administrative work, sales, client services, banking. And number six is social media. As your company begins to grow, look at those six categories. Those might be employee number two, employee number three. And if you're looking around locally looking for help, like where can I find some help?
Is there some help here? Some, some help over here. Is there some help over here in my comically small coffee cup? Hmm. Which I forgot to put sugar in by the way.
So this is straight freaking gasoline today. Woo. I gotta put hair on my chest and not my head unfortunately. But as you're looking around for help, you're trying to figure out where can you find someone good And just remember you can get them online.
'cause that's what everybody wants. 100% remote work. Don't limit yourself to who you can find within driving distance. And I know Steve, you invited me out for a beer. I appreciate it, pal. I just was tied up last night and I'm on a lame diet. Unfortunately, we're gonna do something we've never done before.
I'm gonna drop this link in the chat again, and if during the state of this conversation you wanna jump in, we're gonna take some callers live on the air, and I think it's gonna be crazy fun. When I started this show, I thought it would be a simple bit of news, answering a few questions, solving a few business problems, you know, just businessing.
But now that I've been doing it for a while, I'm realizing that this is kind of a place where I get to work out my thoughts and I get to really try and look forward for all of us. I also wanna get your input because with your input and me thinking deeply and us being real about the situation we're in, we might be able to navigate the massive disruption that's coming for small businesses in the next 12 months and a few of the different inputs that are hitting me this morning, like this was a big story I had to comment on, and this was a big story I had to comment on.
And I thought we just have to roll all this together because I want to talk through what I'm thinking and that's why I want to make this a two-way conversation. If you wish to join me. So when you hear something you wanna weigh in on, click that link and you'll pop up right on the screen with me and I'll have you on as a guest in the show.
Here's the first input that got me thinking, and I thought it was a tremendous observation. I have this overwhelming feeling that the entire market is just a jump ball for the next 12 to 24 months, and whoever posts the best can control possession for a few fleeting moments, but overall, we're headed nowhere quickly.
I don't know why the phrase jump ball really resonated with me, but I thought that was a great phrase that we are in a jump ball economy. What I interpreted that to mean. Is that we're gonna start the game, but we don't know who's gonna win, which I think is awesome perspective about where we are right now.
That was input number one. Input number two is a story out today that it's predicted, it's estimated, it's forecasted. $650 billion will be invested into AI development. This year alone. That is over $50 billion a month.
More than a billion dollars a day. That's a lot of billions. And again, just like the jump ball economy, nobody knows where it's going, but what we do know is that it's gonna be different. And this is where I'm trying to reconcile all of this. Has there ever been a time. So much money is being spent to gain an advantage in a future economy that no one can predict.
Nobody can predict it. Elon can't predict it. Meta can't predict it. Nvidia can't predict. They can't predict it. I was thinking back to some of the initial or or original major investments in the American economy. We're gonna build railroads, we're going to do interstate highways, we're gonna bring assembly lines online, we're gonna invest in the computer revolution.
All of that had somewhat predictable outcomes. But now that the AI revolution is here, what are those outcomes going to be? What is the prediction on one extreme? You are hearing people saying. Robots and AI will take care of all of our needs.
We get to lead a life of leisure. Is that right? I don't think that's right in the near term.
But then the other side is saying, don't worry about it bro. You'll just become a superhuman employee. You will be AI powered. I don't know if that's exactly right either.
Those are some of the inputs, but there's more. So the first thing I want to get your feedback on is where do you think this is going? And if you wanna weigh in, I want to hear your opinion. There is no right or wrong answer. 'cause if Mark Zuckerberg can't figure it out, I can't figure it out. And maybe you have the golden key and we should listen to you, but I don't have it figured out.
But I'd love to hear your opinion. So if you wanna be a part of the conversation, use the link and jump in, shall you? I think you should, but that's not the last piece of information I wanna weigh in on this morning. We have all of this transformation. We have all of this investment, but what are we gonna do about it?If we go back to what Jeff Bezos taught us last week, last week on the show, Jeff Bezos taught us, don't worry about all of this change, worry about all this stuff that isn't going to change if you miss that show. He's asked all the time, Hey Jeff, you are the greatest entrepreneur of our life. What's next?
What's gonna change? And his quote was, focus on what's not changing. Because no one's ever gonna come to Amazon and say, I want my packages slower. I want my packages more expensive. I want less choice. They're always gonna want these things. So the mission of Amazon is not to come up with new ways to do business.
The mission of Amazon is to come up with new ways to address the things that will never change with their business. With that input, you think about your business, what will never change. Nikki Lee is on the call, she runs Gen Head, they run a CRM company. What will never change about a CRM company? I wanna know where all my customers are and I want them to buy stuff faster.
That will never change. I don't care what the technology is. Why do you have a CRM to sell things to people? As the technology gets better, as long as it's helping me sell stuff faster, Yi, that's what we need to do. So what won't change in your business? Bezos is teaching us that. That's something we should pay attention to.
What else can we do? And this probably sounds like old man advice, but I think it's pretty good idea right now to get outta debt and retain as much fiscal flexibility as you can because we don't know what's gonna happen to our small businesses. We don't know what product lines we're leaning on right now, that will be out of date 90 days from now.
If the right piece of software is released, or the right AI agent comes out that can do what you do, what does that mean for your business? Literally, what does it mean for your business? And if you're not up to speed on what is going on right now, let me just pull you behind the whole business encounter here.
Come on over here. Sit next to me on the desk. All right. Alright bro, let's have a conversation. Alright, we're we're talking into this camera here, but over here.
See? Over there? Yeah. That's my Claude Cowork. You know what we're doing in Claude Cowork right now?
We're building software. Yeah, I'm building software.
Pat, why are you building software? Because the sponsors of my show, they want you to know their name, but do you know what they really want? They want you to buy stuff from them. I'm building software to solve a problem for you. So that way you can buy their stuff faster. If I can give you a piece of software that shows you what you're missing by not using Gen Head, then you know you should go get Gen Head.
And as you're sitting right here, I can tell you, listen, uh, not only did I come up with the idea to deliver that software to gen ed, I with Claude's help 'cause I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Talked to it in plain English, it spun up the software, it posted it online and it made it ready to deploy in less than an hour.
And you may say, okay, that's crazy, first of all. And secondly, yeah, but is it great software? Is it as good as what I can make the websites I build, is it that good? No, but I will tell you it's not a thousand dollars worse. It's not a three week wait.
Worse. I can go, I can go Pat Miller, the idea coach. I can go from customer need to deployment in an hour or less.
This flexibility that we have is unmatched, absolutely unmatched. And you have to start thinking about how am I gonna solve customer's problems? How am I gonna move faster? So if you were sitting here, I would show you how I'm building software. I would show you how I'm managing the community different. I would show you how I'm running this entire show in all of its distribution, pretty much by myself.
I would show you how I'm doing market research and I'm, I'm moving faster than I ever have. And all of these tools are available to you as well. That's what I would tell you if you had a seat behind this table. Focus on what's not changing. Get out of debt to retain flexibility. There are a few other things I want to add, but we talked about gen head so much.
We need to bring Nikki Lee on. She's called into the show. Nikki Lee. Hello, president of Gen Head. Great to see you, my friend. How are you this morning?
I'm good. It's cold here. I'm on the East coast, so I'm going the, the snowstorm.
Wow. Okay. We're talking about what's going on with ai. AI is wired right through the company.
The premise this morning is we really don't know where it's going and it's going to change everything for what we're doing. You are literally on the front lines of this. What are you seeing? Give us some vision from your seat.
Yeah, I, I personally go back and forth on it and I think about it a lot. I think something that we're not, when we're asking these questions, one thing that I think people aren't asking enough is who's controlling the tech?
And I think the, it's hard for us to get clarity around how to answer these questions because quite honestly, we, as much as we might wanna think that we have control or power over the, these solutions, we kind of don't. Um, I mean, Sam Altman, um, I, I'm not, I wouldn't say the biggest fan of him. He was, you know, in an interview the other day and he was talking about comparing training tech and the resources that it takes to train AI and talking and comparing it.
It to, you know, raising yourself as a human and the resources that it takes to raise a human and feed a human. And I think really what we need to remember is thinking about the internet boom and how we've gotten to where we are today with technology. Keep in mind the people that are building these solutions, these tools, they're the ones that really have the ultimate say.
And I think as long as we really, really push for small companies like Gen Head who are trying to embrace, um, open source models and, and keeping AI open, allowing for companies to come in and build tools that are actually meant to help humanity, not just, um. You know, built around greed and, and all of that, um, that are actually meant to have a positive impact.
I think pushing and focusing around that and keeping the conversation around that, around privacy, around security, as long as we continue to have those conversations, I think we're gonna be in a much better place. But it's, I get it. It's really, it's really hard to navigate a lot of those questions right now 'cause so much is in flux.
So
with Gen Head and the other tools that are out there, someone that knows what they're doing today can completely redesign how they do their business. And in 90 days, even people that don't know what they're doing are gonna be able to completely resi redesign how they're doing, what they're doing. And the premise, the thing that really got me thinking today, if 650 billion is being put into the economy to develop ai, smart people with loads of money is not, they're not doing that for charity.
They're going to and expect a return on this. And one of the things that scares me for small business owners and the folks that watch the show, will this end up like at and t or Netflix, where here are the tools that you're gonna need to build and run your business? And if you don't have them, you're gonna be behind.
But the subscription rates and the obligations are gonna keep on going up and up and up to the point where it's difficult for us to have access to cutting edge tools. Is that what's gonna happen?
I mean, we're seeing examples of that. Uh, for sure. Uh, you know, I was just talking to you the other day about how the developer of Open Cloud just got recruited by open ai.
So here we have somebody who was helping advanced open source. Um, tools and he got immediately, like open ai, saw that as a threat and immediately absorbed him. Um, very similar to the way that we saw Slack get absorbed by Microsoft or Instagram, get absorbed by Meta. Um, I think it's just right now when it comes to ai, there's about seven companies that, um, are the largest and the loudest in the conversation.
Um, and they're continuing to absorb any potential competition. And so I think like, I mean, you know, think about yourself. Why did you start as a small business owner? I think about myself, like why did I start my business? It was I saw a problem and I wanted to fix it. And you know, of course, like no one's in this for charity.
Like I have to. Feed myself and you know, yeah, I would love to make a little bit of money, but I don't think that that's like my biggest motivator. My biggest motivator at the end of the day is that, you know, I genuinely want to help people solve the problems that I am building gen head to solve. And I think if we're continuing to see the little guy, I'm thinking of like Pacman here.
It's like if we continue to see the little GI guy get swallowed by these, these few companies, it doesn't really, we can sit here and we can philosophy all philosophize whatever, all day. But like at the end of the day we're, it's really, we have no control or say in the direction of these tools,
let's do this.
'cause you're way closer to this. You're the president of a company that's built on ai, so you know, a billion times more than I do about this. I'm just kind of a hobbyist slash addict that's trying to learn as quickly as I can. Let's. Take the timeline from what will happen in a year or two years and take the timeline back to six months or 90 days.
Can you describe what will it be like when we have an AI agent that literally is our personal assistant doing things for us? Because the difference between chatbot, I talk to an agent that does stuff is light years of a different experience. So can you describe what that's like for a small business owner and how much different their operations will be?
Um, it's, it's massive. Um, in terms of being able to maximize your productivity, what your output looks like in your day to day, it's entirely a new game. It's a new frontier. I. You know, there's pros and cons to everything. And that, to me is the true power of what I see these tools being to able to unlock is, again, it's, I think of David and Goliath.
Um, the ability for David to be able to come in, leverage tech, to be able to help them have a fighting chance against their Goliath competitor. Mm-hmm. Um, this, I, I can't stress enough the ability for, um, AI to be able to come in and, and help, um, a solopreneur or a, an entrepreneur, build their vision, get there so much faster, be able to get to their MVP so much faster, be able to understand and talk through and, uh, even have an accountability partner, um, and map their growth.
Um, it's just we've never had access to something quite like this before and I think that is why. People struggle with it on the adoption side of things, right? It's not quite like talking to Google, right? Um, where we're searching via keywords. We're really having to rewire our brain in the way that we speak to these tools to be able to make sure that we're minimizing bias and, and other aspects to really get the output that we want.
Um, so if, if you're afraid to adopt it, I can't stress you enough to you. Like step one is just play. Just play. Just go have fun and stay curious. Um, there's so much more beyond building your digital twin that I could get onto of like where I think the real value of AI is gonna come in, but. Maybe, maybe another time.
'cause that's, that's a whole rabbit hole.
The last piece of input that I had that spawned this conversation this morning is I listened to this viral interview with Naval that's on Twitter. And if you're not following or learning about Naval on Twitter, I'm telling you he is. He, he's, I just love that guy.
Anyway, he did like a 50 minute conversation about AI and what's gonna happen. And during the conversation he said, to invest in the future, you need to live in the future. Meaning go start playing with it just like you just said.
Yeah,
I think that's a great piece of advice. And Gen Head is a partner of the show.
I was talking about you right in front of you. You sent over some things you'd like to have come true. And then Captain knows nothing about coding, was able to work with Claude and get you an MVP that people that know coding would've taken a week and a half to do, and I did it in an hour. You are seeing this kind of acceleration, not only in your business but across your other partners, aren't you?
Yeah, absolutely. Um, and it's the part to me that makes this the possibility of this text so inspiring. Um. And helps me kind of get past the, like loom and doom a little bit, where I'm like, okay, I see the positivity. I see where this genuinely can help solve so many problems for humanity. It's just, you know, with great power, it comes great responsibility, right?
So we need to make sure that we are keeping this tech available to everybody that we're not letting this tech get. Sort of like, I mean, think about, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I know several people, um, especially in the, uh, higher level boomer generation above where like they never really, they were afraid to adopt like computers.
And the internet, and they feel now so out of touch because they were afraid to try something new. And I think just again, stay curious so much around this, I get it, it, it can feel really overwhelming. It can feel scary. Um, but. There's so much that these tools can do for even the individual. Mm-hmm. If used properly.
And that's why it's so important that we're encouraging, we're not getting people to be afraid of it. That we encourage people to adopt it because that person might be able to see a way to leverage this tech to genuinely solve a really important human problem that, you know, right now is just getting focused on how can we build this to create more AI swap and, and that's not the value of ai.
I am sorry. It's just not,
this is so cool. So Ish is watching the show in India. So ish. Thanks for tuning in in India. I feel AI adoption is still slower compared to other countries, even though I've built a complete AI driven automation solution. Super cool. From your experience, and I'm gonna ask you this, Nikki, to field this one.
Mm-hmm.
What are the key factors that make businesses truly value and adopt AI solutions? And it cuts off here, he asks, is it awareness? Trust, pricing or positioning. So what is it when you're communicating an AI solution to a business that trips their trigger awareness, trust, pricing, or positioning?
So,
oh, we lost you. Okay, we got you back.
Okay.
This one is it?
Um, okay, so I just like to keep you guys on your toes.
That's right.
Um, no, great question. Um, my experience, honestly, trying to put everybody in one box can be kind of tricky. Um, it really comes down to asking questions. To the prospect, uh, or the lead getting curious, like I said, asking them what are their specific pain points and what are their hesitations around adopting ai.
One person absolutely could be trust, right? They're, they're going through their phone and they're just seeing zoom, scroll after, like just zoom scrolling on AI all day. And again, totally valid, fair concerns around leveraging ai. But I think, you know, talking through that, helping them to understand it, to build trust, pointing to resources can be highly valuable.
Awareness absolutely. Is really valuable for us. You know, one of our, one of our biggest things is we're asking ourselves as a company, how can we start to. Show the world AI for Good. So we're specifically trying to engage with companies, uh, to help push techno AI technology into their tools and into what they're building to be able to help service the world and show one, build our reputation, but show, you know, this, this isn't, this doesn't have to be scary again, if held in the right, it being used properly and, um, the right people are leveraging it correctly.
Um, pricing, absolutely. That just depends on, again, who your target market is, right? So if it's a small business owner, small entrepreneur, they're probably thinking about every single penny they've got in their bank account. So you wanna be aware of that. But if you're going after enterprises, that's a whole different conversation.
You know, I would say to that question is that it's not necessarily around, uh, pricing, uh, or necessarily trust. And, and I think it's about awareness and the transformation. Mm-hmm. I'll give you an example. Uh, if you are going to perform something for your client, think about how you do it right now.
Here's your solution. They have never come to you and said, what software did you use to get to that transformation? Did you use Excel? Did you use Descrip? Did you use Canva?
They don't care. They didn't buy all that stuff. They just wanted the transformation. Now we can move so much faster and if we're using AI and agents in the background to make all that stuff happen to happen, we're getting to the point where smart people say the technology becomes invisible, and you are just saying, what if every time someone hit your landing page, you had a follow-up sequence for them?
What if every time someone gave you their email address, you had an entire dossier about their business and an entire sequence that went after them?
Yeah.
Uh, yes, I would like that. How do I do that? And again, blatant plug, gen head can do that. But the idea is those are the transformations. Because here's the thing about awareness, the conversation that we're having here today, you are watching the show, Nikki's helping us.
I'm talking about it. We are so far ahead of the small business parade. We're not even the drum majors. We're like the police at the very front clearing the streets. We're at way in front of everybody. So if you're watching this thinking, uh, I don't know how to do automated delivery of the Waka Waka, don't worry about it.
I'm sounding the alarm bells because we gotta get there and I want you to start thinking about this stuff. So if we lead with the transformation, what if this was true? Your client's eyes will pop out of their head. How much is it comes after the transformation? Am I completely off base here, Nikki?
That's what I'm feeling right now.
No, I think you just, you took everything that I said and you put it really beautifully, buttoned it up and again, really nice about Yeah. I would say value, value is the number one thing. No one's gonna get, no one quite honestly is gonna care about anything else. If you can speak directly to what's in it for me mm-hmm.
Um, value's gonna validate pricing, Val value's gonna validate, uh, trust and, and if you can help someone, you know, maximize their day and their return of investment and, and help them spend more time with their family and get more sleep at night and maybe make some more money because of it.
Mm-hmm.
It a no brainer.
So,
alright, before we let you go, and I'm really glad you called in because I knew you had a lot of experience on this. Uh, give me the 20 seconds on why Gen Head rules, because you are a partner with the show and you do have some of these AI tools enabled. So give me, gimme 20 seconds on how Gen Head can take this idea and install it.
And again, this is a blatant plug that I didn't plan. Nikki just called in to talk to us today and I was gonna do a blatant plug for Gen Head, but let's let her do it. She literally runs the company. So Nikki, lay it on us.
Okay, so, um, hi. I am one of the co-founders of Gen Head. We specifically are here to help small business owners and solopreneurs like you leverage AI to grow and accelerate growth that is coming in and helping you build your digital systems all the way to helping fill the gaps, whether that's in marketing, sales, operation, all of that stuff.
So if you are looking for an AI growth partner, we want to help you succeed. So check us out. Um, like I said, we are AI for good. That really matters to us and we're doing some really, really cool stuff right now on the, uh, hardware data center side. Um, trying to push, um, and commoditize AI for the world. So, um, if you are out there and thinking about, um, building an AI tool and you need someone to help, uh, provide the AI model.
Come talk to us too 'cause we're all about renewable AI and zero carbon ai. So
I love it. Gen head.com is where you get it. Nikki, thanks for calling in. I really appreciate it.
Of course, thanks.
Alright, let's wrap up the topic. Thank you very much. Let's wrap up the topic here, just because this is kind of bringing together a bunch of things that have really been on my mind as it sits on my desk right now.
AI exploration. 'cause that's what it feels like. I feel like, what was the video game where you're walking through the maze? Was this Zelda back in the day, you're walking through the maze and you only get to see like what your headlight is pointed at. That's what it feels like right now. Like I'm just walking through a dark room with a headlight on and every time I turn I learn something new and then I have to like put that into my backpack of things that I'm learning.
This is complete exploration 'cause we are absolutely on the bleeding edge of what's going on right now, but I'm so obsessed with it right now. When it hits, it's going to hit fast. And I would feel bad if I was not letting you know about what I'm seeing and feeling and hearing, because this could be a tornado that comes right through your business.
And I'm not exaggerating. So this exploration and this adaptation has kind of become a second job for me. I'm embarrassed about how much time I'm spending on this stuff. And these experiments take time. They take education, they take playing with things till they break. They take hours of frustration, and then it does something amazing.
And you go, Ooh. And then you talk to a great big partner and give them exactly what they always dreamed of. And they go, Ooh. And you go, Ooh. And you go, Ooh.
That's the type of stuff that's happening. So we gotta get in the arena. We gotta start fighting on this stuff. And the last thing that I'll share, and then we're gonna move on to the idea slam here.
Be ready for change. If you think 2026 is gonna be same old, same old you are wrong. We are gonna change the software that we're using, the habits that we have, the hours that we work hashtag Fridays off. We're gonna change the deliverables that we give our clients. We're gonna change our pricing. We're gonna change everything.
Everything. This is a guarantee. By the end of the year, your business will not look like it does right now. You will be operating differently. How do I know?
Look back to how you operated before chat. GPT showed up different, right? It's gonna be that on steroids in the next 12 months. We don't know at what extent everything's gonna get adopted, but I know it's all going to change.
The last thing. I know I said the last thing, but dammit. This is, this is my show. I don't have to apologize. Dammit.
There's one more thing. I'm not gonna start yelling. People get mad when I yell. One more thing, and this is true. We gotta stick around the people that are positive right now, and we gotta stick around the people that are embracing this change.
If you show up in a room and someone comes up and says, well, AI can't do it as well as I can me, oh, I'm scared about the security. I'm not gonna touch that stuff. Oh, I don't agree with it. I believe my customers only want human interaction, blah, blah. Oh, look at you. You're an AI expert now, blah, blah. All those people can kiss it.
Run away from those people right now. Don't walk away, turn and run away from those people. Are some of their points valid? Yeah, they are. I will tell you what, those are the people that are going to be left behind, and those are the people that are not gonna be happy about it. And as we learn from Jamar Jones, change your circle.
Change your life. You wanna be around people that are gonna make it in the AI economy. Get around the people that are curious about AI and how they're gonna implement it. Right now, we are going to be AI powered entrepreneurs. We need to be around the people that are experimenting and experiencing all this stuff.
And we have to worry a lot less about what it's gonna look like along the way because in 12 months, things are going to look and feel different. And if you don't get on the train now, you're gonna be behind. Doris, you're laughing at me for yelling at people. Sorry, I yelled. I didn't mean to yell. And Nikki, thank you for coming on.
I really appreciate it. I'm so fortunate that you were on the show today. Uh, and thank you for contributing. I really appreciate it. And let's see. That was honestly me in the beginning, but I realized I was staying close-minded and only hurting myself and the value I can bring to the world. And I think Nikki is addressing the fact that she was kind of not diving into ai and now she is, obviously, she's running a company that does it.
Shall we switch gears? I think we shall, let's talk about the idea Slam on the Idea Slam today. Two questions. And they're, they're not about ai, so if you're AIed out, take a breath. The Idea Slam is the part of the show where we get to talk about real business issues. And what's unique about it is we get to talk about your real business issues.
You get a big challenge, you get a big opportunity. You want a second opinion from someone that maybe has been there before. You want to ask a question and have the audience of the show give you their feedback. All of this for free, all of this positive, all built to help you out. That's what this segment of the show is about.
You can click the link or scan the QR code and come on the show just like Nikki did. And we'll talk about your business and I'll help you. And if you're not quite up to be a guest, but you still want some help, if you click that QR code or visit the link that's in the chat, you can submit an anonymous question.
So I need feedback, but I don't wanna be on the show. No problem. Happy to do that as well. Either way, get me your information because every day that you sit on it is another day that I can't help you. Question number one today. Are networking events worth the time for small business owners or are they just a social hour with business cards?
Good question, and I'm sad to say many networking events are a social hour with business cards. Unfortunately, in fact, almost every single networking event is a social hour with business cards if you don't do it right. So here's how you play the game for small business networking. If you go to, let's imagine a networking event is like a football game.
I'm a big football guy, bears, imagine it's a football game. Going to the networking event is only the first half of the football game. Networking is like that. You go to the first half, you have some nice conversations, you meet some new people, you get a bunch of business cards. Halftime, you go home to your office, that's when the second half begins, and that's where you make your money.
As someone told me a long time ago, the fortune is in the follow-up. So to win the football game, to win the networking event, you need to follow up and you need to get to the actual connections. Here's my recipe on how to win at a networking event. First and second half, you'll notice both of these things attend on time.
Don't show up late. Bring your business cards. Duh. Do not drink. Now, this is something that I get pushed back on.
Some people say, well, what's the big deal about having a drink or two? It's not a big deal. This is a personal choice, but my personal choice is to not drink at networking events. Here's why. I found that when I got into an excited conversation with someone, that could be a client or a partner, if I had had a beer, maybe something would slip out that I didn't mean to share with them because I got excited.
I didn't act inappropriately or give away trade secrets, but maybe I wouldn't be as guarded as I could be after the first beer. I choose not to drink. Number four, be the guy that connects others. I'm having a conversation here with Nikki and here comes Doris. Oh, Nikki.
Do you know Doris? Doris? Do you know Nikki?
Why do you do that? One? You want people to know one another, but also you wanna be seen as a connector. And I'm of the opinion, you wanna be known as a good guy or gal, someone that they wanna be around a positive part of their network. And if they know, if they know no one and they come over to you, you're like a lighthouse of being cool.
'cause I mean, come on, if I'm anything, I'm a lighthouse of being cool. I'm gonna make sure that you get connected with someone. No one networks alone. So introduce people. Don't ever stand one-on-one.
Don't ever stand face to face. I did high school theater, shocker, dork High School Theater. And in high school theater, you always are open to the audience.
Like if you're the audience, I would never stand closed to the audience. I would always kind of stand open, even if it's supposed to look like we're talking to one another, you're like 45 degrees. That's how I do networking events. If someone comes around and gets right directly in front of me, I always open back up.
Why? That way you're always available for someone to come up and join you. Again, it's about positioning yourself as a good part of the network. Another thing, ask more questions than you speak. Nobody wants to network with someone that talks about themselves the whole time. Another thing someone told me that I thought was really good, and this is good 'cause this will signify interest in a buying sign.
Don't give them a business card unless they ask. This is like a pro move. I wish I could credit the person that told me this, but it's a killer. If you're in a networking event, you're having a great conversation, they will say, Hey, do you have a card or something? We, we need to connect and have lunch. Ding, ding, ding.
You said something that landed. If you're talking to someone that could be a potential partner and you're trying to get them revved up about what you're doing, and they never ask about how they stay in touch with you, ding, ding, ding. They're not interested. It'll save you a ton of heartache. Another one at the end of your conversation, be overt.
You know what, Nikki, I really enjoyed our conversation. Would you be open to having a one-on-one to continue it? Just ask them straight away, and if they were interested, they'll say yes. Then the last piece of winning the football game, when you get home, be the one who acts. Be the one who acts. Don't wait for Nikki to send the invitation.
Nikki, I really enjoyed meeting you. Here are some options for, uh, a one-on-one. Here's my calendar where we can book. Let's build this relationship together. All of these little things help you turn a networking event, which is pretty much a happy hour social commitment into a winning football game. And remember, the fortune is in the follow up.
One more quick idea slam, and we gotta get outta here. 'cause today's show is running long and we have a small business owners community event starting in five minutes. Every Tuesday we do a brown bag lunch where members of the community get together. We just talk business. We have lunch together, and we have that social connection that maybe you don't have if you're trying to build your business by yourself.
That starts at noon small business community.com. If you're not yet a member, by the way. Alright, idea slam question number two, and we gotta speed run this for solo business owners. How do you handle it when friends and family expect a discount or they ask for free work? I will start with a public service announcement to friends and family.
Don't be that guy. Thank you. If you've got a good friend that's excited about your new business and when you launch your new business, they ask you for free stuff. They have failed the friend test. If you have a friend that's launched a new business, go buy stuff from them. And if it's not appropriate for you to buy stuff from them, go share their stuff on your social media, support them, buy their stuff.
If a friend or a family member is asking for free work, maybe a discount maybe, and give them a discount on a plus stop package so you're getting the same money anyway. I didn't say that out loud, but maybe. And then if they still persist, they still want free stuff. What do you do? And this is controversial.
How about you say no? How about you say no? That's what I think. How about, no, that's it. No, I gotta, I gotta feed the family.
Never give up billable hours for free work, no matter who is asking, and especially if it's friends or family. And if you are friends and family, don't be that guy, please. It's incredibly rude.
One quick thing to do before we leave. I've got a huge sign that I'm going to win big in Las Vegas. A sign in the heavens. In fact, a real sign. Tell you more about it after talking about our sponsor, Eng G, making marketing simple for small business owners. Eng G is just. And they make it so simple to tell your business story, it can feel overwhelming and it can make you feel like, how am I gonna get all of this stuff done?
But Enji is an AI powered marketing engine that learns all about your business, plugs into all your tools, and puts your marketing plan almost on autopilot. It'll learn your voice, it'll write your stuff. It connects with canvas, so your social media graphics look awesome, and then they track detailed KPIs so you can do more of what works and less of what doesn't.
NG's got a screaming deal for partners and viewers of businessing. They're giving us two weeks free of the NG software. If you're exhausted doing your social media and marketing your business NG's, where it's at two weeks free, then they'll give you two discount months, and then it's only $29 a month. So at this point, hating your social media really is a choice.
So click the QR code or go to ng.co/s boc. CO slash SBO and ENG will help you out. They solve the, I do my own marketing problem. Saturday night, I'm going to have a sign in the heavens. I'm going to Las Vegas this weekend, you see? And it's my happy place. My dad, my brother-in-law, and I we're just gonna go take the brain out, put it on the charger, and have a cold one for a couple of days, maybe two.
I may have two cold ones. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And I was looking for a sign. Is this gonna be a year where we win big in Vegas or is this this gonna be an average trip? Aha.
Ha ha ha. For the first time in many years, six planets will align in the sky. A sky parade. Six planets, Venus, mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, the moon and Uranus will come on.
They will all, they'll all be in line Saturday night. How magical is that? Planets are literally aligning for my trip to Las Vegas. So in other words, I'm gonna win a fortune. I'm gonna get a big floppy check. In fact, I'll make you a deal. If I get a big floppy check, I will post it on my social media, like the big floppy winner checks, hashtag big floppy checks.
Now, in all seriousness, if you do wanna see the aligned planets Saturday night right after sundown, look to the West. That's where you will see all of this happen, and you may need a telescope to see Uranus. You're welcome. Thanks for tuning into this week's or today's show. Rather, if you haven't joined the small business owners community yet, you might wanna do it 'cause I'm going over there right now to host a Brown bag lunch to continue the conversation with the folks that walked watch the show and the others in the community that are looking to just blow off a little steam and make sure they've got people around them that give a damn small business.
community.com is where you join into the community. It's $19 a month to be in a nationwide group of owners only. We're working together and we're collaborating to build a better business. I'm Pat Miller. Thanks for tuning in to today's show, sponsored by Gen Head and Enji. We'll be right here tomorrow at 11:00 AM Central.
Take care.