Hey Reader,

You have probably seen a version of this post by now. Somebody saved $600,000 on payroll last year. Fired the whole team, replaced them with AI, and put the number in a graphic on social media - that then was running as an ad, promoting their paid AI training.

That is the biggest ick.

Not because the math is wrong. The math is probably right. It is that somebody looked at a spreadsheet with fewer employees on it and decided replacing people with AI and pocketing the difference was the accomplishment worth celebrating.

About a year ago I was talking with my cousin, who works in tech, about how AI was getting rolled out at her company. People were expected to be using it something like 70% of the time. The reason given was productivity.

So I asked her the obvious follow-up. If everyone is more productive, and more productive means more profitable, are the employees making more money? Are they working fewer hours? Why does the person at the top seem to be the only one who instantly benefits?

Nobody had an answer for that.

We've all had the conversations about the game-changer that AI can be for small business. The one almost nobody is asking is who actually gets the upside.

I have been sitting with that for six months. Three programs, an intensive, a lot of building, and a lot of hard nos. Not reading about AI. Not collecting other people's opinions. Actually using it inside this business until I had a position I would be willing to say out loud with my name on it.

​Today I'm kicking off a new series on Promote Yourself to CEO called Human First: The AI Series for High-Trust Businesses, and episode one is where I stand and how I got there.​

I also published our full AI statement this week. What tools we use. What happens to the call recordings inside my programs. What we will never do, ever, with your information.

​Here's what I'm getting into in the first episode:​

→ The question I asked my cousin, and why the answer matters more for your business than it does for hers

→ What happened when I put the same question about my anxiety medication into two different AI models, and why the answers came back nothing alike

→ Why opting out feels like the safe position and does almost nothing to actually protect you

→ The one filter I used to decide who I would let teach me how to use AI

→ The three things in my business that will never be automated, and the list I want you to write for yourself this week

Listen on your favorite podcast platform

Listen on Apple Podcast

Listen on Spotify

Listen with Show Notes

​If you have been feeling conflicted about AI in your business or dabbling and not sure if it's actually worth going all in, this episode is for you.​

Racheal

PS - The AI infrastructure behind my marketing, client delivery, and finance reporting got built inside Callan Faulkner's program. ​

I came in with my own systems and SOPs, and then built the automation layer on top of them. I am going through it a second time because there is so much more I want to implement.

She's running another round of her AI Employee bootcamp in the coming weeks and it solves one of the biggest mistakes I'm seeing people make with AI.

Most people using AI are getting generic output because they aren't training it first. Just like a human employee - AI employees need context and training!

​Want to learn AI from the same program I did?​

If you join this bootcamp with my link, I'll be hosting a live group call to break down exactly how to apply it to your high-trust business.

Full transparency, I earn a commission when you register through that link. I was sending people to Callan long before that was true.