Balancing AI in Your Business: w. Sara Wiles

Fascinating thing for me is whereas like the Industrial revolution and the robots replace the humans on an assembly line, AI is not coming in on the assembly line, AI is coming in in the executive suites.

Then it's also a mental shift for the business owners as well, because we were all told to go to college and get degrees and go get hard.

Skills, allowing AI to take the things that are not the things that only you can do and you turning up your power, whether you're a business owner.

Or a va, this makes you as a business owner, go, what are the things that only I can do?

Like, those are the conversations that AI is not going to be able to have.

I would just say that your soft skills, the part of you that make you you, those are the parts of you that are the most beneficial and the most needed online.

Hello there and welcome back to another incredible episode of the yes and Podcast. I am super stoked today because we have a guest episod episode and I am bringing to you a continuation of the conversation we've been having around AI. But this time from the perspective of a million dollar entrepreneur, it's important to continue this conversation, to figure out in our audience as individuals who want our cake and eat it, to how AI can add that value to our life and make our lives easier without losing that zhuzh, that magic and that essence. That is who we are. So without further ado, Sarah, welcome to.

The yes and Podcast.

Thank you for having me. This is such an important conversation right now and I'm really honored to be here with you to have it.

Yeah, this is a full, like, it's kind of a full circle moment for me because one of the things that.

I don't think you even know, so.

I'm launching this on you live in front of our audience, is that in 2021, I think it was like March or April, I had a VA that was transitioning to like, entrepreneur. Wasn't going to have enough time to do all of the things. And I was only using a VA for like five hours a week. And she actually recommended you to go through your service to find another va. And so I was like, when we.

Booked the podcast, I was like, I'm.

Going to tell Sarah.

And then I was like, no, I'm.

Going to tell her on the podcast because we got connected and then you found me a va. And the irony that I think is around that is a lot of the things, the admin.

Stuff that I was using those five.

Hours for is now something that I have transitioned over to AI and So I'm just so curious if you want to go into a little bit about what the relevance of your business model is with those admin tasks and supporting entrepreneurs and scaling and how AI is impacting VA work.

Yeah, yeah. So it's just now starting to impact it. You know, I think we have one of those interesting industries where of course we're online, right? Like we're techy, but we're like tech adjacent, I would say, you know, and our folks in the industry that we serve who tend to be in the business coaching arena and world, they tend to be like just kind of behind the eight ball a little bit. A lot of our folks aren't early adopters, nor am I. I'm such a late adopter. I like always joke that by the time the thing is cool, it's out of style anyway. So, like, I just don't even try with the trends, you know. But a lot of our folks are later adopters, so we're really just now getting. The convers are just now starting to pop up. But I still think it's really important. This is going to change every single industry, as it should, right? Innovation is going to. I think that sometimes people hear when something new like this pops up and it disrupts industries and they freak out, right? And it's like this has been like this for the long landscape of business and it will continue to be like this, especially for online business owners because we can move so quickly, right? We don't have to go through the red tape like big corporations do to implement new tech and all of those things, which is, you know, beautiful thing. But we're still learning these things. I think something like, I love how you said all of the admin stuff is now outsourced to AI, which is really beautiful. And I love to hear that because it means that when you are spending money on outsourcing, you're spending it in the right places.

Yeah, I love that.

So what we are telling our folks, which is so true, is, yeah, your clients are going to want to know about AI. They're going to want you to know about AI too. Because somebody like me, who I think is actually dissimilar to you, you sound like more of an early adopter, somebody who loves to find the new cool. I don't, but I sure love when my team does it. I sure love when they bring those ideas to the table for me. And so I think like that is the benefit still in the virtual assistant type space and the online support space is like, we need to learn these technologies as an industry so that we can help our clients implement them. I think the part that I tell my people not to freak out about is it's a tool just like anything else is a tool. And it still needs human touch. Right. If you're putting stuff into ChatGPT, you're taking it out and somebody is having to go through it and make sure that it's still sounds like a human being and even more so, it still sounds like bunny. Right? So I think what I'm telling my folks is we can outsource some of those hard skill tasks a little bit more now, but we're never going to be able to outsource the soft skills. Right? You can't make a robot a human. And that is the way where this industry will change, but it will always be necessary.

You're speaking my love language. I mean, that goes to kind of say that people like me, like I'm a paper and pen type person. And I joke because I a tech company, one of the companies that I own is a tech platform. I was a crypto early adopter. Like, I love playing in those kinds of spaces and I don't spend a whole lot of time in front of a screen. And so, like, I'll close my laptop and walk outside and play with my horses and like lead an equine retreat. And so I think it's the marriage of those two worlds that I really find the most happiness in. And I feel like when I lean too far one way or another, then.

I kind of lose that alignment for me personally and in my life. And so you're right, there's not every. Everything in our company that I have outsourced out to ChatGPT or to AI in general. And it's fascinating to me in two aspects. One is you mentioned a robot and it's really interesting to see the two races. So there's one race to build a human robot, like, and they're getting pretty.

Close, you know, as far as upgrading limbs and things like that for human application that are more human. And then there's this other race in this other part of this office, in this dark building in my imagination, where they're racing to finish and upgrade AI. And you know where AI is currently learning from humans, AI is going to start learning from AI, which if that's terrifying to you, it should be. And then at some point these two races are going to meet in the dark hallway and we're going to have a body matched with a human ish AI brain that is one thought and then the other thought that I had while you were sharing all of that is historically this is kind of the first. What's really interesting about AI and the conversation about AI, like AI is not new. It's been going on for 100 plus years at this point. You know, we had our, what was it, TI83s when we were in school, like that we weren't allowed to bring to the test. Like we're spelling naughty things and you know, second grade with a calculator.

And then we upgraded to these like.

TI8 83s where I think mine could play snake and like that's all AI. And now the conversation was when AI comes out, how many blue collar jobs are going to be just eliminated.

And what's fascinating to me is that AI really hasn't replaced construction, hasn't replaced plumbing, hasn't replaced welding, but it is replacing a lot of coding. It is replaced like it's actually going after the white collar jobs. If I'm saying that or understanding that correctly. And that's been from my psychology background as well as from my business background. That's kind of been the fascinating thing for me is whereas like the industrial revolution and the robots replace the humans on an assembly line, AI is not coming in on the assembly line. AI is coming in in the executive suites.

Well, and I think that makes sense when we talk about it in terms of AI because at some point apparently we will be able to replace human hands, but we're not there yet. And so that's why you're seeing it in other places you're see that are more mental based, those mental based roles versus the hand based roles. It's all just so fascinating. But I think for me, and some of this is just personality and some of this is I think you've been online a whole lot longer than I have, but I've been here for six and a half years and I joke that it's like business years are like dog years if you last. And so just the broad sweeps and changes that I've seen in the last six years, it's like if we freaked out at any one thing that happened, we would spend years of our business freaking out about things that may or may not happen in the future. And so for me it's like, okay, let's calm down. Like humans are always going to be necessary. I'm just going to continue to run my business and use these tools and remind my people that there is still relevant work to be had out there. And the human beings are always going to be needed? Will we have to change the way that we work and how we market ourselves? Abso freaking lutely. I have a best friend here locally who's a copywriter and she, like, has this incredible deck all about, like, hey, here's what's up with AI and here's how I'm using it as a tool. And here's how it's actually beneficial for you to continue hiring me so I can use this cool tool and produce more for you. Because now I'm not having to do these tasks, right? And so I think, like, if we can think about, right, whatever industry people are in, if they're having this moment of, like, freak out, it's like, well, how can you use this as a tool in the same way that your clients, customers are thinking about using it as a tool? Because then you're cool, right? Like, then you continue to be relevant in all of the ways.

Yeah, I think that's so great because.

You know, you're taking tasks and like, as a small business owner, you know, you're taking something that I used to pay 20 hours for and you're basically telling me, like, because I'm working with you and with your team, that I only have to pay for 10 hours and I can use the other 10 hours to grow. And instead of like, doing the things that I've always done to get the results that I've always gotten, like AI and this coaching is actually pushing you more to that edge of like, what is the thing? And it's something that you said. It's like, what is the thing that only you can do that can't be outsourced or they can't be put into a AI algorithm. And that, that, to me, I think.

Is probably one of the scariest things.

For people who are sitting in their comfort zone, who are like, I'm no.

Longer just going to be able to.

Go get by by doing the thing.

That I, I have done. And now I've got to show up more as myself. And this is something that I find.

A lot, even with really, really successful.

Business owners is I asked the question of, like, what are you doing this for?

Like, what do you want to be.

When you grow up? That connection to what our purpose is, what our essence is, like, to the thing that only we can do because we're put on this earth for a reason and for, like, a purpose even. No matter what your, like, spiritual alignment is, like, nature uses things that are here to grow and make and better. And so, yeah, that's Just kind of.

The thing that I'm going really deep on you right now.

I love it. Bring it, bring it.

Yeah, but it's like, it's okay. So data entry, probably no human was created for data entry.

Beautiful. Good for us all. Yes.

And now that you're not doing data entry, you have to dig a little deeper.

I think for my folks, and when I say my folks, I mean like the folks in the VA space who are newer or just starting, right? So much of a conversation I have with them, especially when they're brand new babies, right, and they come to and they're like, is this a thing? Can I really be a virtual assistant? Right? And so much of what we say is you have all these transferable skills. We've all done work, right? So we gotta find those transferable skills and bring them online for you. Which is so, so doable. But people come to me all the time and they say, well, what additional skills do I need to learn? And I say, don't learn any skills. Rely on your soft skills. Because it's 2023 at the time of this podcast recording, right? Like you can Google and YouTube anything you need to learn, right? And listen, AI wasn't a conversation that anybody was at great lengths a year ago, right? We were all talking about other things. It was there in the background, but it wasn't like there in a mainstream way. New things pop online all the time. But if you rely on your soft skills, on your resourcefulness, your ability to learn new things, your communication skills, all of those things, you're always going to be relevant. And it doesn't matter what changes and what gets added to the table and what new tech platform is here tomorrow. Because you can rely on your soft skills and know that you'll learn it. And I think that's really what we're both saying here is like, yeah, you might need to dig deeper than data entry. Cause that actually was never your skill in the first place. That was just a thing that you did. But your soft skills were actually always what made you a valuable asset on any team. And I think it's like bringing that conversation to the forefront, which is what makes me giddy. And I think that's where the mindset conversation comes into all of this. Because I think so often we think we're talking about business, but we're really not even talking about business. We're talking about mindset and our beliefs and what our silly little brains tell us.

Plus oh my gosh, it's so good. It's so good.

And, you know, it's one of the most.

The biggest blessings. And I remember this conversation. So for those of you listening that are a business owner, like, I want you to know this is the moment that Bunny had to get over herself. I remember having my assistant help me with flights, and then I have a service animal. And so I knew I had to call the airline and, you know, let them know that I had. And I had to get over myself because I was like, this is not something that I should have my assistant do. And the conversation that I had with my assistant was basically her holding a mirror up to my face, being like, anything that I can do that allows you to free yourself to go do the things that only you can do. That is my job. I kind of imagine this, like, thing that only exists in my brain where AI is telling the va, telling the assistant, like, I'm gonna do the things that anybody can do so that you can do the things that only you can do. I don't love the term, like, emotional support animal, but I could not live without my assistant. Like, she is my emotional support human.

So there's two messages in that that I wanna make sure that our audience gets, and I wanna know your opinion on it.

And one is anything that that makes.

Your life better and decreases your stress.

As a business owner is.

Is a business expense. And it's absolutely something that somebody on your team can and should be supporting you and freeing up your bandwidth to do the thing that only you can do. The second part of that is kind of just what we were already talking about of, like, you know, allowing AI to take the things that are not your essence and aren't the things that only you can do and you turning up your power.

Yeah.

Whether you're a business owner or a va.

I think what's interesting is it's such a mental shift for the VA space, but then it's also a mental shift for the business owners as well. Because we were all told to go to college and get degrees and go get hard skills. This makes you, as a business owner, go, okay, so, like, I have to prioritize my essence here. I have to go figure out what are the things that only I can do. And most of those things are soft skills related. Right. Or they, like, are hard skills, but they, like, enhance your soft skills. They're great because of who you are, because of your message, because of your modalities, because of how you share it. Right. And it's the same thing on the other side. But I think that's such A mental shift for people because we've been so drilled in for so long that it's all about hard skills, hard skills, hard skills. What do you know? What degree do you have? What certification do you have? And I think, like, as AI takes over, a lot of those hard skills that people have, you know, worked really hard to get and also paid a lot of money for, that's a big mental shift to have to be like, oh shit, it's actually not about that right now. And I now have to move away from that if I want to continue being relevant in this new way of doing work.

It's hard because that's the story that we tell ourselves, is that if I step outside of this identity that I paid for or that I went to school for, or that, I mean, even as a mom, you know, it's like I've worked with people and then with clients who are parents and business owners who struggle with the identity between parent and business owner. And it's like, you're you, you're you first. And this is something that I think a lot of people struggle with, is putting yourself first, not in a selfish way, but in a self full way because you're, you're the resource. There's literally no one else on the face of this planet that is responsible for keeping your cup full. Even my assistant, who does a really great job at filling my cup, is responsible first and foremost for making sure that their cup is full.

And I think that we've, over the past however many decades, really done a poor job of breaking down these identities. And we've been given worth by how good of a mom we are, how good of a business owner we are, how good of an executive or how clean our home is, or, you know.

Keeping up with, you know, the neighbors.

And cars and all of that.

I was listening to an Alice Alex Hermozi podcast episode when he was talking about 20 year olds that like spend their absolute everything to have the Range Rover in the Instagram photo with the blue check that they've paid for. I wonder, in the past six and a half years going online, I was primarily offline. I built my company, the, I say the big one, A Better Place consulting offline, because I do like that face to face interaction. So I wonder with you in the past six and a half years, like, I feel like there's kind of this black hole in online marketing and an online business that you can start to get sucked into what the algorithm should be doing and kind of lose a little bit of your identity and Then also with kiddos, that's been something I've had to have the conversation with my 12 year old about of life online versus life reality.

Also, all of the social landscapes have changed so dramatically in six and a half years too. So it's like what worked in the beginning is completely irrelevant now. And I think there is, I think there's a push and pull with, with, hey, you have to, if you're gonna do all this work, it has to make sense on this platform. But then also, and for me, and this is the benefit of being here six and a half years later and not in year one, where you're really still finding your identity and your voice, or at least I was a lot earlier on in business. It has to be both for me now. And I think I feel really solid in that. So if just using social media marketing as an example, if something performs not as well, but it feels more like me and it is more honest and truthful, I don't really care. Okay. The beautiful part of this is there's unlimited human beings on these platforms that we get to have conversations with. And so if I say something and that makes it not perform as well for the masses, but it actually makes it perform better on a micro level for the right people for that message that's not really quantifiable on an app that's not quantifiable in metrics. So I try to not get too wrapped up in that stuff, but I certainly did in the beginning. I mean, I was like a numbers nut job in the beginning. Like, well, then we have to change everything because it's not working anymore. And it's like, no, I think it's all working fine. It takes a while to get there. You know, I also wanted to add too, I was thinking a lot about this conversation and I was thinking about a local pizza restaurant that we have here that people love. Like, it has this, you know, cult following here locally in Florida. And they don't take credit cards.

Yeah, I love that.

Like, it's 20, 23. And they're like, it's a no for us. We're not paying your processing fees. And as an online business owner, I'm like, it's 3%. It's a write off. Like, what do you mean? You're not paying your price, but they don't have to. And so I think, you know, again, we, we see these big changes happening right when, when credit cards came out, I'm sure that company was like, absolutely not. We're not doing it. And people were like, you'll come around. And here they are in 2023 and they have no problem getting business. And people bring them cash and checks. And now there's Venmo. And so there's going to be people who never use AI like this pizza restaurant here, because they are. It's just an absolute no for them. And so, you know, it's. It's not everybody is going to adopt it. A lot of people will. Most people will. But we're always going to have our holdouts, and that's okay.

I just laugh at, like, how creative business owners get and the power of word of mouth marketing because they didn't put that online. They didn't print flyers or brochures. So, you know, just. I want to highlight that for everybody listening is there's still, however many centuries later, the power of word of mouth marketing and social media just amplifies that. And AI just amplifies what's already out there. It's not creating anything new.

It's a tool.

It's a tool.

It's just a tool. It's just another tool like everything else.

So I have something fun to ask you. We're going to ask this three different ways. So if we had a Sarah bio, kind of, I don't know, three or four sentences. If we asked your team ChatGPT and then you. What would the answers be and how would they be different?

Oh, this is good.

Okay, we'll have to see if you're gonna actually share this episode with your team after this.

I'm gonna ask them on our next group call. I always do some sort of, like, not an icebreaker cause everybody knows each other, but like, we're virtual. So I really try to, like, pull stuff out and give people a moment. So I'll ask them this question.

Thanks.

Thanks for making it easy for me. On the next team call.

There you go.

So let's.

Who do you want to ask first team. All right. All right. So what would your team say? Like, how would your team introduce you?

I think they would say they work for. I hope that they would say a really nice and kind woman named Sarah. And she trains virtual assistants and mentors business owners and just like tries to make the world a better place. I hope.

I love that, actually. Not just because I own the company a better place, but I also, like, I think, I think your team, honestly from, I mean, having interactions with your team and from the referrals, the word of mouth referrals that I've received for you, I think your team would say that you provide this opportunity for business owners to have less stress in their lives while providing an opportunity for income.

For, you know, individuals that have these skills but are not necessarily the most connected, you know, people to find individuals that need those skills. So I think you're magic in that.

Way and I think that's probably what.

Your team would say. I can't, I mean, hundreds, hundreds, probably thousands of individuals that you've not just trained on how to do it, but you've given this opportunity to.

That's what I think that your team would say. If we typed into AI, like, who is Sarah Wiles? I don't know.

I feel like we should do it.

I'm going for it right now. You know what's so cool and interesting and also anticlimactic for those of you listening, it says, I apologize, but I couldn't find any well known entrepreneur named Sarah Wiles in my training Data up until September 2021. It's possible that she may be emerging or she might be associated with a specific industry or region that is not widely covered. And then it says without more specific details or context, like we could keep going on this. However, what I think is really interesting and there's probably the same thing if you, if you googled me, not googled, but if you chat GPT me is because this is an example of something that AI can't give you. You know, and if I looked for in AI the solution that I was looking for in 2021, like, no, that had to come from a trusted source. And so I'm glad I didn't, I didn't search ChatGPT. I'm glad I got the introduction to you. So, and lastly, if you got to introduce you, just who are you?

I would tell you that I love Taco Bell. If I had a last meal on earth, it would be absolutely Taco Bell. Yes. I have this business and it's really cool and I love the work that I get to do on this earth. Right. I think that I'm so lucky, but I think it's like the internal parts of us that make us more interesting and more connective. So like I'd be like, I own this business but we don't really have to talk about it. But I really like Taco Bell and I'm an introvert and I, you know, suffer from depression but I've like really done a lot of work around it and I feel really proud of myself for that. And you know, I really just like want to know the depth of your soul or Nothing at all. Because I'm not really good with small talk. So, like, do you like that or no? Because if you do, then let's be friends. And if not, that's cool.

That's cool.

But, like, you know, if I met you on the side of the road and you were like, I'm Bunny.

What do you like?

I'd be like, Taco Bell. What do you like? And I have a kid, and, like, that's a lot of work. What do you think about that?

Kids are a lot of work. I'm growing my third. But, like, the. The truth is that we've had mad fertility struggles. And so, you know that it's. I. I wrote a whole thing on this because as a business owner, I'm really good at business. And you can throw time and money and energy at business and fix almost any business problem, but to have a health problem and, like, not be able to fix it, no matter how much money, no matter how many tens of thousands of dollars you spend on fertility and health and all of this kind of stuff, and to, like, not be able to fix it, like, those are the conversations that AI is not going to be able to have. Like, I. I can't find that answer on AI. Like, that took some spiritual depth. Depth to really go deep on that.

And, yeah, like, that's a whole nother podcast episode. But, like, I. I love that. And I'm also an introvert, and so, you know, I'll go take a nap after this conversation. Even though we only went 30 minutes, it's like, peopling is hard.

I respect that in such a big way.

Yes. You have your CEO Mama retreat, like, coming up pretty soon, and I'm definitely gonna nap after our CEO Mama retreat. I've already kind of, like, gotten a hotel room in another hotel and all.

Of that kind of stuff. Like, done all the.

Yep, we need. We'll have an introvert episode.

So if there is a final message, my love, that you want to leave people with, to both inspire and inform them around anything that we've talked about.

I would just say that your soft skills, the part of you that make you you, the part of you that walks into a room and, you know, shows who you are to other people. Those are the parts of you that are the most beneficial and the most needed online, no matter what business that you're in. I think that in so many beautiful ways, I think, and I hope and I pray that we have moved past this, like, marketing version of business, and we have all come to see that we can be these beautiful humans in all of our greatness and in all of our imperfections and show up online and still be successful. And I just hope that I would want people to walk away from this episode and just know that, you know, you and I sit here as very imperfect humans with very beautiful businesses, and other people can do that too. Like, we're not unicorns. Or at least I'm not a unicorn. Bunny might actually be a unicorn, and it's enough, right? Like, that is what you need, what a gift to be existing in this time where we can do these things online and have these conversations.

I'm pretty sure Sarah is a unicorn, so I just. Just want to put it out there actually.

Like, we'll just continue on with these, like, random bunny facts. Is my 12 year old, when she was like 3 or 4, for her.

Birthday, she wanted a unicorn. And so I thought I was going to get mother of the year.

Sarah totally thought so.

I bought a horn and I took her out to the ranch and I took our horse and I put it on him and I had her close her eyes and I was like, look, baby, I got you a unicorn. She goes, mama, that's a rhino. And I'm like, oh, man, mom.

Fail.

Mom. She loves telling that story. She loves, like, when we go to the zoo. Yeah. And we go to the zoo. She's like, hey, mom, look, it's what you got me for my birthday. I'm like, look, a rhino is just an obese unicorn. Okay?

Like, your girl tried.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for spreading your magic with this audience. And I feel like, you know, I feel like I just met a new unicorn to put into my herd. But we'll go to Taco Bell.

We'll go to Taco Bell, and then we'll take a nap.

Yes. Perfect. This is my love language. So. All right, well, I'm going to make sure that everything that you would want to know to connect further with Sarah, because all of you want to have this conversation, whether it's for help finding your perfect va to uplevel your business or just to have somebody to inspire you for your next Taco Bell date and in all areas of your. Your life, I'll make sure that all of that content, you can find that in the show notes below. I'd strongly encourage you to go follow her on social media, tag her wherever you're listening to this episode. Whether you are at the zoo looking at rhinos or you're walking down the beach, or you are now headed in the car to Taco Bell because we have just instituted that craving in your mind. I want to thank everybody for liking this episode, commenting, sharing this episode. It means the world to both Sarah and I and you are probably going to connect somebody in this world with this information that they will be forever appreciative to you for doing so. Thank you for being here on our.

Yes and podcast and I will see you in the next episode.