Originally aired Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Businessing is now a weekly show with a new episode every Monday.
Short answer: Not dead, but a free how-to guide isn't special anymore, because anyone can ask an AI for the same tips. Build trust by doing a small piece of the work for them instead. Give prospects a quick win, like a tool or plan built from their own details, so they feel the result before they buy.
This was a deep thought episode, so I asked you to grab a notebook. My lead story was that lead magnets are dying. When anyone can ask an AI for ten tips, free education stops building trust. I think we need to shift from teaching to doing, and give prospects a quick win before they buy. In the Idea Slam, I flipped the script and gave you the work. Jeff Bezos says to ask what won't change in the next ten years. I also covered a social media addiction trial and a round of bot or not. Plus, why hiring feels broken when AI writes both the job post and the applications.
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
- Work backward from the sale and ask what a prospect must experience to be ready to say yes.
- Replace a how-to download with a quick win, like a plan or tool built from the prospect's own details.
- Remember that clients buy accountability, trust and guidance through the change, not just the know-how.
- List what your customers will always want, no matter how the technology changes.
- Apply new tools to those lasting needs instead of chasing every new tool that comes out.
Questions this episode answers
Do lead magnets still work for small businesses?
They're losing their pull. When anyone can ask an AI for ten tips, a free how-to guide doesn't stand out. Offer a quick win instead, like doing a small part of the work for them, so they feel the result before they buy.
What can I offer instead of a free PDF to build trust?
Something that gets them a real result. A fitness coach could turn a prospect's goals into a two-week plan. A money coach could build a tool that finds waste in their statements. The prospect sees the change they'd get from working with you.
How do I plan my business when technology changes so fast?
Ask what won't change for your customers. People will always want lower cost, faster results and help keeping their promises. Build around those needs, then use new tools to serve them better.
Worth quoting
So I think we need to shift from teaching things to doing things in that trust section of the funnel.
Pat Miller on Businessing
It's no longer remarkable to share the education 'cause it's everywhere. It's remarkable to give away free value in actual transformation.
Pat Miller on Businessing
You can be the guide through the transformation, but the how to is not going to be the product anymore.
Pat Miller on Businessing
Don't worry about what's changing, focus on what's not going to change.
Pat Miller on Businessing
On the show
- Idea Slam question: Pat turned the Idea Slam around and asked viewers to answer Jeff Bezos's question for their own business: what won't change in the next ten years?
In this episode
- Show open
- The social media addiction trial
- Why hiring feels broken when AI applies
- Why lead magnets are dying
- How to build a quick-win offer
- Idea Slam: what won't change in your business?
- Bot or not: spotting AI voicemails
- A new phrase for AI junk in your feed
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: Getting clients answers from the Small Business Owners Community
Full transcript
Hey, good morning. It is Wednesday, February 18th, and we are Businessing. This is Small Business' weekly show. I'm your host, pat Miller, founder of the small business Owners community. Thanks for joining us today. Sponsored today by our incredible sponsors and partners, gen Head and ng.
Today's show. I, I warned you that we're going deep today. You're gonna need a notebook, you're gonna need a cup of coffee. You are going to need a nice comfy chair. You're gonna need a ceiling to stare at. We're gonna think a little bit today. So some shows, some things on the internet are like little, little short videos where you just get this little dopamine hit, not today.
Today we're gonna kind of think a little bit, and I think we can make you some money by doing so. On today's show specifically meta founder, mark Zuckerberg, is in court and I think he's in trouble. I found the perfect response for when you see AI junk in your feed. Hopefully it's a little bit of slang that's gonna catch on.
Our lead story is I think lead magnets are dead, or at least lead magnets are dying. I wanna talk with you to shift the conversation so you can still build trust with your clients, but do it in a way that I think people want but they haven't been able to articulate just yet. And in the idea Slam, we're gonna go really deep.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon guy, knows a little bit about business. There was a quote that he shared that kind of changed the pressure that I feel around how technology is moving. Everything is moving so fast. How do we keep up? Well, what if we don't and how might that give us a business advantage? So we've got some questions in the lead story.
We've got some interactive questions during the Idea Slam today, we're gonna make you some money. If you're tuned in, drop into the chat just like Steve did, and tell us that you're tuned in and we will say good morning to you and make sure you share your business link so you can get some free publicity out of the deal as well.
So Steve, great to see you. Thanks for tuning in. I appreciate you, brother. Okay. Let's get right to the news. Mark Zuckerberg is in court and there's this landmark case about social media addiction. The case alleges this is the summary of the case. Meta's platforms deliberately and addicted, uh, deliberately addicted and harmed children.
Specifically the case is arguing that Instagram's algorithm and the infinite scroll, the infinite feed, are specifically designed to exploit young people's brains. What do you think? Is that true? Of course that's true. Of course, that's true. We know that's true. We know that they have teams of people designed to sit around and wonder, how do we get kids hooked on these products?
It's average daily user. It's a thing that they measure for God's sakes. So I don't know how they're going to deny it. And good morning, Michael. Great to see you, pal. I'm not sure how they're gonna deny it, because we know that it's happening. And good morning, Nikki. Lovely to see you as well. What's unique about this is now they're in court, meaning he can't lie.
Mr. Zuckerberg, did you and a team trying to get people, uh, hooked on Instagram? Uh, or of course, how much do I owe? That's how this is gonna end. I think he's going to lose because we know that they did it. Of course, they made it purposely addicted. And you know what's interesting is I think social media and our phones.
They are going to be something that we look back on in 10 or 20 years. Like we look back on people chain smoking. It is something we're all doing. It's something we can't live without. It's something that's impossible to stop in our daily habit. But now we look back at smoking and think, ah, how could everyone have been so stupid?
I'm convinced that that's what's gonna happen with social media and our phones. And while we're thinking about this as a futurist. I think it's only a matter of form factor. They're doing smart glasses and some people are catching on with smart glasses. They tried the smart goggles and that didn't really work.
I read this morning that new AirPods may have cameras in them. I thought that was interesting. It's only a matter of form factor when we find something that's not the phone. Maybe it's a ring. Maybe. Who did I do that? I didn't mean to do that. Sorry, I didn't mean to flip you off a ring. Who knows? It's a form factor.
And when they find it, I think we're all gonna drop our phones like a bad habit. 'cause they are. And how fast will this happen? I think it'll happen way fast. I think one summer this will come out and by Christmas everyone has the new thing. And we will then think, how in the world did we do this for 15 years?
I mean, hell, it's ruining our posture. It, it's it. We can't even watch TV without doing, we know how bad it is. Something that's gonna change. So good luck, mark. Get out your checkbook. I think you're screwed. Speaking of sitting on the couch and watching tv, how many nights a week do you sit around wondering, is there anything to watch?
Abby and I sit down on the couch every other night. What do we have again? What are we watching? Like there are shows that we've started on this streaming service and this streaming service, and we forget about them. But then there are some shows that are really good and they're worth watching, and a few good ones are coming back soon.
We have the Olympics through Sunday, so that's cool. We can watch. And it's getting good too. 'cause now it's like bobsled and skiing, like some really good action stuff. The hockey tournament's gonna wrap up. It's gonna be great. So we have the Olympics through Sunday. Then on Wednesday, survivor 50 launches.
We've been watching survivors since Survivor one. Wednesday night, I think it is, is a three hour premiere next Wednesday. But if you're into stuff that's on Netflix, two of their big shows are coming back night. Agent for season three is coming out on Thursday, I think it is. And then Bridger Tin, season four part two is coming out next week.
If you're sitting around wondering, oh God, I wish I had something to watch, there's some stuff that's coming because this is the great. Sad time of television viewing. This is the depression After the football season. We're as far from football as we're gonna be, and I sit there and cry myself to sleep every night because Bears and I have to wait till September for bears.
So it's just this awful time of year where there's no football. So we have to fill it with whatever we can find. Another thing that's in the news you need to know about hiring people sucks. You need to hire someone. It just sucks. And they're now numbers put to that suckage. 40% of companies rank finding skilled candidates as their top concern.
Got it? And 79% of the job seekers are using AI to apply. Good morning, Lynn. Great to see you. So 40% of the people, or 40% of the companies rather say finding good people is the toughest thing. 79% of the job seekers are using AI to apply. So that means almost half the people that are applying aren't qualified and 80% of those people applying are applying almost in an automated fashion.
So we have this C of unqualified people that now if you need to find someone, you have to find a needle in a haystack. It sounds like a nightmare. One of the reasons why I'm kind of happy I'm a solopreneur right now. I mean, I'd love to be growing so fast to have to hire people, don't get me wrong. But it is a real problem sorting through all of those applications.
And if we step back one moment, this is where the dead internet theory has actually arrived. Now I babble about this all the time 'cause I'm obsessed with the dead internet theory. Dead internet theory is. Soon it will just be robots talking to robots. It won't be people talking to people. And we're streaming live on LinkedIn right now, and how much of the content above me and below me right now was written by an AI bot?
A lot of it, 60%, who knows what the number is, but a lot of it. But the dead internet theory is already here in the job market because we have a company that says we need to hire a bookkeeper. What do they do? They go to AI to write the job description, then they post it, then someone sees it and has AI write their resume and their application.
So AI sent out the job. Now AI is telling us who wants the job, and then at any company of scale, what are they doing? What are they all doing? They're using AI to do keyword searching and applicant matching. They're not looking at a thousand resumes. They're looking at the 20 that fall through the funnel.
So AI writes it, they post it, AI applies it. Then AI sifts through it, and then most of the time AI is listening to the actual interview for any applicants that matter and they're helping you make a decision. It is the dead internet theory that is played out already. And you're right, Eric. Robots. Talking to robots is absolutely a thing.
Good morning, sir. Great to see you. Saw your tweet the other day about the new studio. I can't wait to see it when it's all done. Thanks for tuning in. And you're right, mt book. Oh, don't get me started. Eric. Whatcha gonna talk about Mt book Pro? Yeah, so Mt book, the Open Claw project where you're using, uh, AI tools to create AI agents, they created this project called Mt Book, which is their own Facebook, and now they're all talking to one another.
Within a few days, they had created religions and they had conspiracy theories, and they had message boards about what to do with your stupid human, and it was AI tools. Talking to AI tools. It's actually a riot to read. Thanks, uh, Eric, for tuning in and for sharing that. I appreciate it. Alright, this is a deep thought episode and seeing the people at least that have raised their hand in the chat that told me they're here today, Nikki, and Steve, and Eric and Lynn and John and everybody else that's here.
I'm glad you're here and get a notebook out because we're going, and Michael, we're gonna do some deep thought today. Sometimes on the show there's something in the news and I, I talk about something that's going on. But today you need to do some thinking 'cause I got some stuff on my mind that I'm working out and I want you to work out as well.
The lead story today is we need to change the way that we are nurturing our clients. If you're familiar with the traditional method of customer acquisition, they go kind of through a funnel. You get their attention at the top, you build trust in the middle, and then they buy stuff. It's like a funnel. Lot of people at the top, not as many people learn to trust you, and then not as many people buy stuff.
So the more people you get at the top, the more sales you make at the bottom. Customer acquisition funnel, and traditionally we are nurturing them in the middle with education. Traditionally a lead magnet. Click here to download my 10 ways to do the thing. Now, that's not true for everybody, but traditionally that's one of the ways that we're building trust.
And then the sale would be. Now that you know me and now that I've given you some education, so you trust me now you'd consider joining the small business owners community. That's how it would work. But what has my curiosity right now is
it's difficult to get people's attention at the top because so many people are competing for attention. We know that, and we know how hard it is to get someone to buy something. We know that too. That conversion is still an issue. So I want you to reflect on how you are building trust as they go through that funnel.
And most likely this lead magnet is the way you're doing it. You're giving away education for nothing in order to build your, showcase, your expertise. This is what I do. And look, I already gave you knowledge, spend money with me, but I think we need to change it and we have to go a step further than education.
This is where it gets deep. So I don't know what you gotta do to get ready for this conversation. I don't know what you gotta do, but do whatever you gotta do. 'cause we're gonna get deep. Did I just do that on the show? I didn't mean to do that. I didn't just do that.
Every entrepreneur's labor and the cost of doing stuff is going down. 'cause as Eric was just sharing, and as we think about in reality, it's getting easier and easier to get stuff done. And as we have agents doing our workforce, it's pretty much going to zero. Writing a 10 page report is now a keystroke.
It's not 10 hours of work. So as there's more supply of labor, we know with supply and demand, if supply goes up, the cost goes down. So as this labor supply keeps on going up, we are charging, the cost goes down. Meaning if we're giving someone education for free and education is everywhere. The value of that education is getting less and less valuable because if someone wanted to know 10 ways to do the thing, they would just ask their bot and the bot could do it.
So I think we need to shift from teaching things to doing things in that trust section of the funnel. It's no longer remarkable to share the education 'cause it's everywhere. It's remarkable to give away free value in actual transformation. So 10 ways to do the thing becomes, give me your email address and I'll do it for you.
Now, why would you consider doing that? Because the labor required to do it is nearly zero, and if they had the education, they'd have their bot do it anyway. So I think we've had like the shift or. We have the opportunity to make a shift to stop using lead magnets and start using tools, software experiences, actual productivity to build that trust.
And it's not working for free because to be clear, you are probably not doing the work. It's your AI bots and tools that are doing the work. So if you're still not exactly with me, I'll give you another example. 'cause I want you to think about what you do to build trust. I want you to apply this 'cause I think the smart kids are gonna do this instead of giving them five ways to identify waste in their business.
Lynn Cari helps people understand their money. Here's five ways to understand how you're wasting money in your business. That's the traditional lead magnet. They download the PDF and they give you their email address, and then they have to go do the work. Traditional, contemporary might be click here to upload your, uh, credit card statements and QuickBook reports into this tool that I've created, and my software will identify where you're wasting money, what the impact would be this month and next month.
It'll even provide you the one click links to go unsubscribe from the stuff you don't, don't wanna pay for. I'll give you the, the templates and the tools to send to the people to get outta the contracts. All of that stuff would take very little of your time because these are macro prompts. It's not Lynn sitting down saying, huh.
They need to unsubscribe from DS script. Let me go find DS script's. Unsubscribe link. Oh, they need to get out of a coaching agreement. What might they say to the co? That's not what's happening. You can train the agents to do this for you. So we've gone from, I'll teach you what to do to just give it here.
I'll do it. Just, just give it, here's the impatient father. Just whatever. Just give it here. Just like move, move. Remember the SNL skit move and I think that's where. We're gonna go from lead generation to sale faster by rebuilding the trust sequence. I'm just gonna sit here for a second. Is that making sense to you?
It's making a lot of sense to me, and I'm changing the way that I'm doing stuff here for my sponsors and partners on the show. I'm sitting on a big old idea that I'm working on for the sponsors of the show and for the sponsors of the small business owners community conference. That's gonna drive just silly value for people.
And I've been working on this behind the scenes and I was getting ready for the show today and I thought, what do I wanna talk about today? I'm like, damnit, I'm so fired up about this. I wanna talk about this because if you've got the time to come here and talk with me, I wanna give you an idea that I'm working on in real time.
I was talking to Claude on the treadmill this morning, and again, while we're, while we're doing this, I was on the treadmill this morning with Claude. In my voice chat with Claude through my headphones, it spun up two other agents to talk with me. So I had a team meeting this morning on the treadmill. It was me, it was my Claude, and it was another agent that had spun up as the voice of the customer.
And the three of us worked on this product because one of my best customers challenged me and said, I'll sponsor at the top level if you can do the thing. So I'm on a mission to solve it. That's where all of this is going, and that's what's so exciting. If you are sitting there right now with this lead magnet, you can do better.
So how would I ask you to do it? Here's what I would tell you to do. Here's the actionable stuff. So if you're with me so far, here's what I would tell you to do. Get all the way down to the sale. They click here and they give you money. Here's the product I would ask you in order to be ready to buy your product or service, what must they have?
They need to have a clear vision of the transformation you provide. They need to have a taste of the transformation that you provide. They need to have something that makes their life tangibly easier. You need to understand. What the outcome is, okay, this is what we're gonna build. We're gonna build this.
So Lynn, who helps people with their money, he wants people to have more money in their pocket. So Lynn wants to do something that helps them get a little more money in their pocket so they can understand if I work with Lynn, look at all the other money I'm gonna have in my pocket. You get it? So what is that trust transformation in the middle? What can I provide that gives them a quick win? What can I teach them to get a quick win? What can I provide to give them a quick win? So they go from that. Lin guy's pretty smart to, wow, that Lin guy made me money to, holy crap, I'm working with Lin now. So the first step is to understand what is the transformation that needs to happen for them to be ready to say yes, make sense?
And I came up with another idea that, that's not Lynn. Let's use a fitness coach. 'cause this is pretty simple. If you're a fitness coach and they input their diet or or they input their goals, could you get them to lose a couple of pounds before they start working with you? So when you get the information that you need from them, you're giving them the diet, you're giving them the workout plan, you're showcasing a two week sprint to get ready to work with Bob the trainer. You're giving it all to them so they can take action, because then they'll know what the fitness transformation's gonna be when they work with Bob. And all of that could be built out in an afternoon if it even takes that long. And I'm talking about the website or the app or the whatever, the actual transformation.
Because when they give you their credit card, a fitness trainer knows they're not selling diet plans and they're not selling workout plans. They're selling the accountability to actually do the work. And that would go for almost any coach. So it's not a PDF of what you should eat. It's taking their personal information and habits and turning it into an action plan that then ends up in the transformation.
So they're ready to say yes to you. And at this point, you should be freaked out if you've never really thought about this stuff. Wait a minute. I've always been a knowledge salesperson. I had the answers and they didn't. That's what they were buying from me. That's not what they're gonna be buying from you moving forward.
What they're gonna be buying from you moving forward. Relationships, influence, trust, accountability, partnership, access endorsement, uh, accountability. Anything that helps them make that transformation stick. You can be the guide through the transformation, but the how to is not going to be the product anymore.
And ah, Lynn, I'm sorry. Going to work on your lead magnet right now. It's absolutely it. What is that transformation that you're going to create? Steve, you're very kind. Thank you very much. So now Nikki is weighing in. She's a marketing goddess. A few years ago, everything was about value. So everyone became an expert and we got a bunch of fake experts out of it.
No doubt. So now trust is an issue and everyone is over it. Now, it's all about authenticity and engagement. It's a good point. Make me care about you, and the fastest way to make you care about me is to show off what I'm going to do for you. Give them tangible value. If this is your first time watching the show, I just wanna be real with you.
This show is for people that run a business. It's not a business show. And when you do a show for people that run a business. We have to have a really honest conversation and I have to be completely transparent with you on what I'm working on, how it's affecting me, and how I think it's going to affect you.
And in my world, I'm only talking to you. This is not, this is not a broadcast to 10 million people. I mean, it will be someday, but for now, it's just you and me talking here. On the show, I think the best way I can help you is just work out my thoughts on air, tell you what I'm thinking about, what has my curiosity, listen to what your questions are, and give you everything I got.
If this conversation today can get you to a yes faster in your business than it was successful, because as I sit here and triangulate what's going on with getting people to give us their money and where the AI transformation is headed, building trust is gonna be everything. We already don't trust half the AI crap on the internet, so how can you use it to build trust in a way that gets them to your checkout faster?
That is what is on my mind. Stop teaching and start doing, and if labor is going to zero, let's just start solving their problems straight away, because that is going to be, that's going to be where we're going.
There's a lot that I have to say about this. Oh man. I mean, behind the scenes, boy, I am just, I'm all over it. I'm starting, in fact, again, are we just talking here? Just you and me talking. Everybody else don't listen. It's just you and me talking here.
I'm going to start building AI agents for individuals because teaching people how to do this is completely overwhelming. And you know what AI agents can do, or at least you've heard about it, but the concept of doing it yourself is just, uh, it's too much. So I figure the best way I can help people is help them get their agents set up so they can start realizing all this value.
That's what I'm building next. And if you're thinking, yeah, do that for me, let me know because there's like this push pull of, I think people need this. I need the validation of, would you do that for me? So if that's you, will you please reach out to me? 'cause I need to know if there's a market there. I think there's a market there.
And it's funny because I just got my one month renewal from Claude Cowork. I've only been playing with this tool for a month and it's completely changed everything that I'm doing. And I hope to have it up on today's show. But my AI agent is now alive. I named him Houston. Mission control. So I named him Houston.
So soon. Houston Miller will be a part of this show. He'll be my co-host and I'll be showing you what I'm doing with my AI agent and how it is moving everything forward. But if that's something you wanna play around with, you need to let me know because I'm gonna make a bunch of time for doing that real soon and uh, it's gonna be great.
Let's see what's going on here. Uh, Michael? Yes. Okay, Michael, hit me up if you wanna do it. Let's do it. And Nikki Lee? Yeah, you're all about. Agents, I know this and ah, Marie, lovely to see you. Thank you for weighing in and the transparency. Yes, thank you very much. Okay, the idea Slam is coming up and we're talking all about Nikki and Gen Head anyway, so let's talk about Gen Head and in the idea Slam, we're gonna get deep again there too.
Jeff Bezos is inspiring us with a quote that like blew my head apart. So we're gonna talk about that in a second Gen head, right? Gen head scale systems not chaos. Now, here's what Gen Head is doing with their AI tools and their agents. They're making everything super simple to drive. If you've got a CRM, but you don't know how to use it, if you know that you need an email sequence, but you don't know how to build it.
If you know that you need to have this on your webpage, but you have no idea how to make it happen, if you've got tools all over the internet, they don't talk to one another. That's what Gen hit does. It brings all the tools in one place, so then you can talk in natural language to their AI agents who will do the things for you.
10 disconnected tools all in one place. Juggling CRMs and distribution is all the thing of the past. This is for solopreneurs and lean system. Lean teams that are trying to scale so you have less chaos, clearer data, and better execution. If you want the quick win, like the fast pass to this agent experience, gen head is your ticket telling you if you're using just a normal CRM, you are behind.
You just are. gen.com is the website, gen head.com. They're on the QR code on your screen as well. Check 'em out because they will tell you what is up with your AI agents and they will help you make more money because your tools will be talking to one another. Lynn Zi says, yes, there is value, especially when it comes to tech.
It takes time to figure it out. Time that a lot of us don't know how to get started. You're exactly right. It takes a lot of time to figure this stuff out. I am figuring it out and I would love to do it for you. So Lynn, hit me up if you want it. Ann Leah. Lovely. Always great to see you. Thanks for tuning in.
Let's talk about the idea Slam Again, deep thought time, deep thought time. The idea Slam is a chance for you to come on the air and to share what's going on in the business and to tell us a problem or a challenge or an opportunity on the biggest project you're working on. You ask me what's going on and I give you my feedback.
The folks in the chat brainstorm on your behalf. It is crazy fun, and there are two ways you can participate. You can click the QR code and literally come on the air with me and we'll talk it out. Or you can click the QR code and just send me a question on the biggest thing that you're working on. It's pretty simple.
It's free and it's fun. You just gotta share with me what's going on. So click the QR code and be a part of what we're doing. And that anonymous application that we just spun up, boy, that's gonna help a lot of people. If you're scared to come on the air yourself. So click the QR co QR code and tell me what's going on.
And we would love to have you on the air. But today we're turning the idea slam kind of around. I read something that's got me thinking, and now I want you to do the work and you can use the work for your business. You don't have to solve my problem. I'm sure you could. It's not like you can't, oh, you couldn't solve, no.
I want you to think about this through the context of how you make money and how your business works. Okay, so there's an interview with. The most successful entrepreneur of our time, Jeff Bezos, him, Elon, who, whoever. He's a gazillionaire. We all know that Bezos knows what he's talking about. And the reason why the interview hit me was because I was getting ready for today's show where I had all of this stuff I wanted to talk about with AI agents and how things are changing and lead magnets are dead and the sky is falling, and cats and dogs are living together.
Like everything is crazy. There's peanut butter in my chocolate. We're swimming and all of this change. And every 10 seconds here comes another tweet and oh, here's this new thing and we gotta stay up on everything. And there's this Bezos interview and he was asked, what do people ask you the most? And he said, people ask me the most what's gonna change in the next 10 years.
And he responded with a brilliant quote. He says, I don't answer that question. I reply to them and say, what's not going to change in the next 10 years? Okay, just let that one just, just let it wash. Just, just let it wash. We're living in a sea of change. Everything is changing all the time, and we don't know where things are going in the next 10 years.
So how do we possibly business plan? And the most successful entrepreneur is telling us, hold up. Don't worry about what's changing, focus on what's not going to change. Here are his examples. He said no one will ever come to him and say, I wish Amazon was more expensive. No one will ever come to him and say, I wish Amazon was slower.
I wish Amazon had fewer choices. They will always demand low cost. They will always demand delivery speed. They will always demand choice. Think about that and apply that to what you do. We sit here and we think, how can I possibly keep doing what I'm doing when everything is changing? Get to the bottom of what's not changing.
That's the first question with the people that you serve, what won't change?
We talked about the fitness coach earlier in the episode. What won't change is that even the right grammar. It sounds funny to say what won't change, I guess it is. What won't change for fitness coaches? No one will ever pick up the phone and call a fitness coach and say, I'm just too buff. I mean, I've fought it sometimes, like, you know, come on, big piece of man, but no one's gonna call and say, I'm too skinny, or I'm too strong.
No one will ever really say that. No one will ever say. I don't want to eat delicious food, and it's easy for me to stay on the diet. That will never change. That will always be hard because people are putting themselves in a caloric deficit, and that's hard for your body to tolerate. Those things won't change.
What about what you do won't change? And if you're a coach, just as an example. People will always have a hard time getting the work done. They will always be accountable. They will never call you and say, I need no support to keep my promises, because all of us need help keeping our promises. Those things won't change.
They will never call and say, I wish the transformation were slower. No, they want it. Right? Damn. Now, once we identify those principles, that won't change. That really changes the conversation with technology. Instead of worrying about all these new tools and how am I gonna monetize it? What am I gonna do?
All you have to do is stay true to what the things that won't change. Apply the technology to it and hot damn, we're off and running. Okay? People are always gonna want to lift more weights. How can this technology help them do it? People are always gonna wanna find ways to cut corners on their caloric intake.
How can I use this technology to help them do it? Same thing for your business. And that gives me a piece of sanity. It really does, because I'm close enough to this stuff. Like I can feel the heat coming off of all of this change. Like I'm so close to it. I'm sitting here like this, woo God, I'm close to it and I'm watching all this stuff happening.
And when I do that, I'm always doing that. And I'm thinking of you. I'm thinking of the community. I'm obviously thinking about my business as well, but I'm always looking out for the small business owner. I'm trying to protect. I'm trying to serve, I kind of think of this like a public servant in a way. So as I'm sitting here roasting my marshmallows on the fire of technological change, I'm always thinking about, oh, you know, who needs to hear that?
Lin Croi needs to hear that. Oh, you know who needs to hear that? Oh, Brad Herda needs to hear that. It's what I'm doing. So his quote I think, is just absolute gold, and I need you to add that to your free brain space time today. It'd be a great thing to go do a walk after the show, and if you are listening to the podcast or you're watching the YouTube episode, whatever, you could hit pause and just, just stare up at the ceiling and think about it.
To be clear, I'm not so far up my own backside thinking you're deep thought about me. It's Jeff Bezos is his word. I'm just trying to connect the dots about how it helps you. This exercise should happen because if we don't take the time to do these kinds of things, we're gonna wake up in October and wonder where did our business go?
It's like I was talking about earlier, you've heard about these AI agents, what are you doing about it? Nothing. Waiting till it's made easy. Hi, I'm gonna build the agents for people. Are you in or not? These are the kinds of questions we have to think about 'cause it's going to change whether you like it or not.
And the ones that early adopt, they're gonna have a massive unfair advantage. Massive. So I need you to consider these choices what Bezos was talking about, how the lead magnets behave differently. You need to have a for real conversation about whether or not you've got AI agents working for you. Right?
Damn. Now, because if you don't, you're starting to fall behind. And I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just your friend on the internet that's telling you what's going on as I roast my weenies over the AI fire. Damn. Doesn't that sound good? Wouldn't you go for a roasted weenie on a fire right now? I would.
You know what I'd really go for? I would really go for like a brewer's tailgate. Obviously the brewer's playing the Cubs and the Cubs win, but a brewer's tailgate. Damn. That's fun, man. That's fun. Oh, what do we have here? Oh, we've got an unlimited case of ice cold beer. What's this? Oh, the bros are, I mean, come on.
Doesn't that sound awesome? Yeah, that sounds awesome. We're gonna do your BS detector. We're gonna play bot or not as our final segment of the show, but before we do that, businessing today is sponsored by Eng g. Marketing is a must for small businesses, and on the whole, we all hate doing it, but Enji makes it easy even when things are overwhelming or busy or uncertain.
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Get the two week free trial right there. Ng co slash sbo, ng co slash sbo. Thanks to NG and Taylor for being partners on the show. We're gonna try something on the show here today that we have not done, and I think this is gonna work. You'll have to tell me if this works or not, but we're gonna play bot, or not bot or not some of.
The AI tools that we're using now are getting pretty damn good, and it's getting to the point where, is that real or is that not real? And I'll let you be the judge. So I've got a voicemail that I receive today, and it's so lifelike. It's almost so lifelike, it doesn't sound real. So I'll play the voicemail.
You drop into the chat and tell me bot or not. Now this is the part where you have to tell me if you can hear it. Are you ready, bot or not? Here we go.
Hi, this is Ashley Solutions.
Um,
during our February your, your business came up potentially, potentially quantify hundred thousand dollars dollars line of line credit with low rate rate.
Um,
so go, go ahead. Gimme, can you call back? Seven two four
four
four eight one four nine four nine. The next, next step, speak. Speak soon.
Bought or not. Now as the answers come in, I realize that that black triangle is pretty menacing. And doesn't that look like, uh, it looks like something out of a Superman movie?
I just needed a graphic to put up there to make it a video bought or not. So as I was listening to it, oh, mute my mic. Okay, Michael, I'll try that. Okay. Hang on. Here we go.
Hi, this is Ashley with Funding Solutions. Um, during our February review, your business came up as potentially qualifying for up to $250,000 in a line of credit with low single digit rates.
Um, so go ahead and just gimme a call back at (772) 448-1495 to complete the next step. Speak soon.
Okay, Michael, thank you for the heads up there. We're getting an echo, but bot. Oh, did it really not come through when I muted my mic? Did it not work? Ah, dang it. Ah, Nikki, I'm sorry. Alright. Jared and Leanne.
Jared says bot. Leanne says bot. Lynn says bot Michael. I'm sorry about that. The echo. See, this is why we test it. This is why we test it. Echo happening. I'm sorry everybody. I thought I had this all figured out. I think it's a bot. If you want, I'll email this to you so you can hear it. Uh, that's a total fail on my end.
As a matter of fact. I can do one step better than that. Here's what I'll do. Dang it. I was all excited to play that for you and ah, man, I screwed it up. Okay, here, let me export the thing 'cause I think it's pretty fun. Alright, let's go to, it's not gonna work. Alright, screw it. It worked. Okay, great. Thank you Michael.
Now Lynn is saying changing to Knot. Okay. Lynn's not sure. And now we've got Jared who's saying this. I get those voicemails two times a day. Male and female voices with the exact same cadence, pauses and words. And don't you think they think they're being slick? So, um, okay, well why don't you, okay. Speak soon.
It's all the same thing, isn't it like that little pause and fumble that they get in there that, yeah. It worked once I had it muted. Okay, great. Michael, thank you very much. I appreciate that. And then Nikki is getting all CSI about this. I think it's still a bot because of the background noise. Now if you heard it, I dunno if you could pick it up on the recording, but like it sounds like there's a whole like bullpen full of people pounded on the keyboard.
Like it sounded, it sounded pretty. Pretty fake. And yes, Lynn, I'm pretty sure they worked an um, into the bot message just to make it sound more human-like, right Jared, you get these all the time. I get these all the time, bot or not? And yeah, they have some coughs echoes. It's the kind of stuff that just makes you go, like, now that we know, like in your heart, don't you know that's a bot?
And then don't you get mad when you know it's a bot? Like, come on bro. I know you're a bot. Don't you know that? So to end the show today, there is a new piece of slang that I hope sticks and I wanna share it. That's it right there. Let's make it full screen. You've heard of, or maybe even use the term TLDR.
Too long, didn't read well. We need to adopt the term ai. DR. It's AI didn't read. 10 out of 10. I have no notes. Is that amazing? A IDR? Are we, can we make that a thing? A-I-D-R-A-I-D. Isn't that great? God, I love that. So thank you Clara, or whichever Twitter account i, I stole that from, but I thought that was fantastic.
It's been a fun show today. I really appreciate you coming by and, and I appreciate you letting me kind of just speak it out just like this is where my head is at right now. I am thinking about what's next and to get to what's next. We have to do stuff right now, and I'm so excited, like every time I turn around and think of a new use case for this stuff, I just get more and more excited and trust me.
On this show, we're gonna talk about p and l. We're gonna talk about managing people, we're gonna talk about selling things, we're gonna talk about all the business stuff you need to do. My curiosity right now is around AI and agents, and I hope that's helpful to you. 'cause I am up on this stuff. I'm trying to learn as much as I can so I can keep you in the loop as well.
Here's what's happening. Join the small business owners community, will you small business community.com. You can stay close to this conversation. You can also like and subscribe this show. When you do that, I'll pop up in your feed magically, 'cause I'm doing it every day at 11:00 AM Central Monday through Thursday because I am the Fridays off guy after all.
So if you enjoyed today's show, I enjoyed talking with you. I will hopefully see you tomorrow. 11:00 AM for another episode of Businessing with Pat Miller, presented by Enji and Gen. Thanks to Gen for producing the show as well, and we will talk to you right here tomorrow. Take care.