Finding Freedom with AI in Healthcare with Rachel Woodson

Welcome back to the Willpower podcast. Today's guest is proof that when your mom says that you'll be running the company one day, she might actually be right. Meet Rachel Woodson. She's the CEO of Post Pediatric Therapies. They're in Northwest Arkansas, where their team delivers over a thousand patient visits every single week. So she runs a pediatric therapy empire and still sometimes finds the ability to battle her arch nemesis, email. So from growing up watching her mom treat patients to now leading a powerhouse team that feels like a second family to her, Rachel's story is what happens when humility, genius and a little bit of I never wanted to do this energy collide. Plus, she's mastered AI in a way I can't wait for you to see. She's learning how to find the joy in color coding spreadsheets. And in this episode, we're going to have a masterclass on leadership, family run businesses, and building freedom from the inside out. Buckle up, rockstars. Enjoy the show. Rachel Woodson, thank you so much for being on the Willpower podcast. Let's have you introduce yourself. Kind of set that table of who you are and what you do.

Okay. Yeah. So I'm a pediatric physical therapist and, and also the CEO and CFO of Post Pediatric Therapies. And we're a clinic in Northwest Arkansas that's serving. We have three different locations. One's like school based and then two are locations and we're opening up a third in the next year.

Wow, that's great. Congratulations.

Yeah, we just broke ground a couple weeks ago, so we're pretty excited about that. And then, yeah, we just, we have about 50 to 60 employees and are just having a good time playing with kids and working with families and doing all that.

I love that. So you're making a big difference in there. Why are you so driven in that space? Like, what drives you to be in that world?

I've been around pediatric therapy my whole life because my mom is also a pediatric physical therapist. And so I've watched it and really seen the value that it brings to families and just how you, like, get to enter into a space where with a family that kind of heals in crisis at that moment often and go through just finding the potential in their child and helping them see goals and see progress, to just see their child grow and become who they want their child to become as well as who their child wants to become. Right.

I love the word family in that. The fact that you use that family word is so powerful because you guys do, especially with Pediatrics, you're involved in a whole team approach. Outpatient, adult physical therapy, occupational therapy doesn't have that same connection that you guys do on the pediatric space. So it's powerful that you guys are in that role. And, you know, I wonder, you know, you must work with. With families whose freedoms have been basically impinge, you know, infringed upon or changed because of the challenges they're facing at home with their health. Talk to me a little bit about that. What is it like, you know, when you're working with kids and their whole family's world have pivoted around a condition that needs therapy?

Yeah, I think one of the big things that I've realized is, like, in my. I've been in it for 10 years now is when I first started that, the families kind of scared me. Like, the parents, like, having that interaction kind of scared me. I was like, I just want to treat the child. I want to treat my patient. And now I've recognized, like, how important that family is to the child. Like, even like our owner chose to make our colors the secondary colors. And we do that intentionally as, like, the family is the primary and we're the secondary to that family, and that that's how we see ourselves, as a support network to the family. And so we have always, like, mentored and discussed that together. Of a lot of these families are truly going through a grief process, and they feel guilty to even say that. And so to talk about it and say it and acknowledge it with them and then help them walk through that to the point of acceptance allows them to then step into advocating for what their child needs to become, everything that child can become.

Remember, freedom isn't just possible. It's kind of the point. If this episode helped you laugh, learn, or at least cancel one meeting, go ahead and hit subscribe, share. Share it with your overworked friend and leave a review. I read every single one, usually while avoiding emails. Want more behind the scenes stuff? Then hit us up on the socials. Now go delegate something and take a nap. You've earned it. I love the branding down to the secondary colors as a reminder that we are secondary to the parents. And so as a provider, you had to pivot your understanding of how to help them create freedom by helping focus on the child and the family as a whole. And. And you're no stranger to family. Not only do you work with families as a. As a pediatric therapist, but you're the CEO of this company that has a work family. Like, you have employees, their teams. I always Tell people a really good team feels like a work family. And so, you know, tell me a little bit about those. Those You've. You've taken a few stepping stones in your career.

So.

So tell me about where you entered the company and how you got to CEO.

Yeah, so my mom actually owns the company that I work for. And she joked way back when I was in third grade when I said I was going to be a pt, and she joked when she started it, I was in sixth grade, she was like, you're going to own it one day or something like that. And I was like, I'm never owning this. Like, I don't want to, like, you, like, work too hard, all of that stuff. Stuff, like, I just want to treat. I don't want to do all the rest of it. And so I think now looking at it from that standpoint, like, I've gotten to work with my mom just as a physical therapist and just found so much value in the team that we have created and in the therapist that I get to work with. And I saw that in a way, to kind of just how I operate. I like to talk about things and I like to set goals, and I like to kind of direct where I'm going constantly. I've set goals since I was very young. And so I think that was the first, like, where I started. And then Taylor Marlow and I, who are all now on the executive team together, were placed into leadership when we transitioned from being contract therapist to salary therapist. And we've just kind of moved up together as far as just seeing things that can be done and doing them. And my mom has recognized that and put us in different positions and roles based on where, like, our strengths are. So she's been really good at delegating and empowering us to do things that she was doing before, but recognized that we could do better. And I think that's like, become a general thing that we've done as a company.

Rachel, I love that. And rock stars who are listening. Rachel just described the pattern of freedom. I want you to go back and hear what she just said, because she had a leader who had a vision, who brought her and some other a players on and nurtured them. And what Rachel, you said that I love that I want to hire the rock stars they really focus on is this idea that, like, she empowered them to take over things. She was willing to let go. There's a lot of mindset shifting in that process of helping other people take ownership of it. And when you say it's funny because your mom, when you're little, like, you're going to own this one day, you know, she wasn't wrong because in one, on the very first day of your job, you really took it seriously as an A player. And that's what she probably meant, is that a good team member, a bunch of team members who take ownership of their roles and their responsibilities, they change the world regardless of who actually legally owns the business. And it's so smart for any of you listeners who are owners to recognize that you need to give up that freedom to create your freedom. You must give up your responsibilities. Excuse me. To others who want to grow. And then for those of you who are listening that aren't owners legally of a practice, that taking ownership of that practice and your responsibilities is the path for progression. Because, Rachel, you started in entry level, and then you worked your way up as a director, and then you eventually became CEO. So, so where in that. What would you say the hardest transition in all of that path was for you?

I think accepting the leadership at all? Because I think for me, I always clinician to leadership.

So clinician to leadership is where that struggle hit. Okay.

Yeah. And I think for me, I was just afraid that I was only being put in leadership because my mom was the owner of the company and that other people wouldn't respect my role in that or wouldn't see, like, I stepped into leadership because I had skill sets in there, you know, and really, like, it's funny because we, like how it all started. It was really my co workers who did that, not my mom. Like, we voted on, like, who would be lead PT and who would be these things. And it was like, my co workers who chose for it to be me. And I felt that was so odd because I was two to three years out. But. And, and I will say they, like, trusted me with their kids, too. Like, I was treating their kids. And I think that also gave me a lot of confidence of, like, okay, they value what I bring as a therapist, and they see that I've been intentional about becoming a good therapist, and so now I can step into that role because they trust me. But it was still really hard for me and still to, like, it still is to this day. Like, when people ask, like, oh, like, who owns your company? And I say my mom, I automatically kind of have that feeling of people probably just don't, like, probably think I was just given this role because it's a family business.

Do you really think people think that?

I think initially I don't think I think the people that know me don't. And I know, like, even when we were talking about CEO, I was like, we should talk. We should talk about the other executives. Like, maybe Marla should be, or maybe Taylor should be, or maybe Aaron should be. And they were all just like, no, Rachel, like, that's you. Like, you're the person who sets the goals. You're the person who directs the ship. Like, you're that person that we all go to for direction. Like, we want that to be you. And then I think like meeting with consultants, meeting with coaches, meeting in these different leadership teams, I now recognize that people outside of our organization see me in that role. But it's just one of those things where it's like, it's the stigma of it.

I appreciate that and I think it's actually served you well because here's what I think about you as a leader. Like, for me, when I found that out, it didn't ever cross my mind that there was a nepetitious, like, motivation there in that promotion. Because at the end of the day, leadership is leadership. And if it doesn't work, you wouldn't even, you wouldn't even have a business. Like, if some, if a parent was going to put a child as the leader of their own, of their company, it wouldn't work if the leader, if the child wasn't a good leader. Like, there's no. And so it's really interesting because in your world, it's kept you really humble. Like, it's kept you really humble. And I love that because the best leaders demonstrate humility. You know, the best leaders are the ones who are these reluctant leaders of. Like, people are asking them to step up because they know they would be great. And so I'm more, I'm just smiling as we're talking, Rachel, because you, you are, you're so approachable that I think this is a nice little discussion on leadership as well. As a side note, before we get off this topic, I've recently found a study that talked about how one of the greatest gifts a business owner can, can give is allow their family members, their children to work inside of that company. And the reason being is because they'll either progress or grow or they'll go find their own niche. But it's not enabling at all. It's actually the opposite. It's like a leg up in terms of giving them a chance to prove themselves. And boy, have you proved yourself. Congratulations. And on your growth and success. So that transition into leadership was your hardest step going. Okay. I'm a clinician now. I'm a leader. Holy crap. And then you just clearly you've run with it and you're still internally at least managing this idea. It's keeping you humble that like, oh, this is the, the owner's daughter, all that silly stuff that I probably think no one, anyone who knows you doesn't think it and anyone who doesn't know you doesn't even know it. But let's get into freedom. So as you've gotten into this place of transitioning, how have you created space or freedom for yourself to grow? You know, like, how did you and the owner, in this case your mom, like, how did you guys work together to progress from clinician to owner and then owner to leader, then leader to CEO? Like, what? How did you do that?

Yeah, I think a lot of, like, I think my mom is actually really good at trusting people to do the day to day things. Something we, like were encouraged by Michelle to do was take a company coach.

You guys work with. Yeah.

Is to take the working genius. And so we did that about 18 months ago. And it was so interesting because my mom, like, has hired a lot of people to do really important jobs within our clinic. But when you look at what those people are, my mom was an inventor, discerner, and she hired all these people who were enablers in tenacity. And so she took like, here's what I want to do, but I know I can't do these other parts of it. And so she hired a bunch of people who had enablement and tenacity to like work with her and do the.

Things without the test. So for people who don't know what the six working geniuses is, it's a Patrick Lencioni system of assessment. It's not a personality test. It's the single greatest, most effective way to determine how well people are going to work together. It's not about if you feel or receive love. It's. It's literally like, hey, in a work cycle, here's where this person will do well and where they won't. And so your mom was an ideas person who could make really good decisions, but what she didn't have was someone who could coach people and someone who just liked to get the job done. That's what discerner or tenacity and enablement means. So you're saying that she just. Without even a test, which you guys all, who are all listening have access to now, reach out, we'll give you free information and I'll put you in Touch with Michelle Babenik, but in your case, Rachel, like, she just figured that out kind of organically. That's crazy.

Oh, yeah. And she had, like, in our office, like, team that's doing billing and scheduling and all of those things. She had hired three ETS and one wt. And so she. And she does not do tenacity work.

Again, I have to. Have to jump in. So ETS enablers and tenacities and one wonderer. A wonder is someone who's very, like, high level. Why do we have to do it this way?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it's just, like, cool that she's naturally filled the spaces that she didn't, like, feel her skill sets were shining. And instead of being like, oh, I don't, like, this is the right way to do it, the way I do it is the best way. She was like, I do these things really well and that it's okay that I don't do these other things really well. I'm going to find somebody that does that. And she's always been that way as far as I've known her. And, like, even before I worked at the clinic, like, that's how she's always been. And so when she was looking at transitioning people into leadership so that she could have more freedom and start training and coaching all of us into leadership roles, she did a lot of the same thing. I actually am my mom's carbon copy, so I also am an inventor and discerner. And then, like, just other people on our team, we, we kind of rounded out. And so in doing that, she delegated or gave each of us different things based on our skill sets and what we enjoyed. And she really didn't, like, she didn't really give options, I guess. And I know that sounds rude, but it wasn't ever done in a rude way. Like, my mom has such a intentional, respectful way of doing it, but she just was like, hey, this is what you're gonna do now. And like, and it was just like, okay.

People didn't question it because she was so confident.

Yeah, yeah. Like, she had decided, she had thought of it. She. She had decided it was the best thing and she decided it was gonna be good for us. And she was like, if you need help or you don't feel like it's right, come and let me know. But this is what you're gonna do now. Like, this is your new role. And I think that's really great. It is. It is funny at times, like, I tell everyone I found out I was clinic Director through the same email that everyone else found out that I was clinic director.

You're kidding me. You were promoted to clinic director and you read that? You read the memo that you were clinic director?

Yeah. Yeah. So I always laugh. I'm like, oh, okay. Because she had asked me, and I was like, I don't think I'm ready for that yet. And then, you know, she decided, well, I'm gonna tell everyone.

And then I've noticed, by the way, as a trait with very strong leaders, that they are so decisive that people just don't even. Like, they just go, oh, is that what we're doing? Like, there's no question. And, like, to your point, it was in your best interest. So you knew what she was. You knew it wasn't an accident. She was doing it on purpose to be like, oh, you are. You just don't know it. And now you know it, everyone else. And everyone else knows it too.

Yeah. And so that's. I just think it's like, that's how she's been. And so she created space for all of us to step into those roles, and she also created, like, an opening for us to figure out what the best way for us to do that. And Taylor, Marla, and I were the three that kind of stepped into this verse. And we always said, like, we're like, it's. It's interesting because when you talk about the working genius, it also talks about the gears, right? So it has the different gears and how they will work together. We always said that we were like. We're like gears that just work together, and we would never get it. Yeah, we would be like, we would never get anything done if we didn't have each other. Like, we're in this together.

Everyone turns the dial just a little bit differently and complimentary to the other. It's a very. If you've never experienced it, it's magical. You know, it's like when I. It took me years to get a team where we finally clicked as gears in the same machine. And when it happened, it was just. It's freeing. It's freeing because you start feeling free. You feel. You start feeling like, oh, I can do the thing that I love and that doesn't feel like work, whereas everyone else. And then you get better results and so on. That's amazing.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we took that. We took that test last March, and it was just so. It was so, like, eye opening. I think that has actually been, like, the number one thing that has changed us, like, freeing ourselves up because we now don't feel bad to give other people other things, and we think about what their working genius is, and then we are like, hey, I need someone to do this. Like, can you? Like, would you want to do that? You know, and usually they want to. Like, they truly want to do it, and they feel honored to, like, have been given that responsibility. So I think that is really where I've learned is from my mom. We're just being like, it's okay if other people do things better. Like, and they don't need to do it the way I do it, but I need to have enough clarity so that they can figure out where they need to go with it.

Yeah, it's. It's really bizarre. It's a different shift in mindset when you realize the stuff that I hate doing might be someone else's favorite thing to do. And when I ask them to do it, it's like a compliment because, like, I hate it. So if you ask me to do it, you're insulting me.

Yeah.

Perfect example. I'm a galvanizer, which means I like to rally groups of people together. I'm an inventor, galvanizer. I come up with lots of good ideas, and then I love to sell these ideas to groups of people. Not so much coaching, one on one. And so I love speaking on stage. It's my favorite thing. It might have something to do with being a middle child with not enough attention, but I truly love being not just speaking at people, but, like, facilitating a group discussion. I love to, like, help invent and galvanize simultaneously. But if you ask my wife to speak on stage, she will wonder what she did. Like, why do you hate me so much? You know, if you ask me to speak on stage, it's a. It's like, oh, you, what? Little old me? Oh, of course I will. I'd be happy to. Because at the end of the day, when we're in our strengths, what we do feels like a gift, because it is our gift to the world. So how fun for you that you guys are seeing this cog. It's really validating, too, is that you guys have identified the six working geniuses in a way that has already been kind of miraculously. It tells me how great of a leader your mom is, because she just. Most people don't organically figure that out. She did. Now you've got the technology that helps you blueprint it, and now you're able to build on that blueprint in a way that you don't need the natural instinct. Leaders Some leaders are born, but like me, I'm a main leader. I have. Theodore Roosevelt said that anyone can be a powerful leader. Anyone. They just need to practice and get training. I'm that guy. I'm the one who needs training. And so I love the fact that these tools come out that allow me to grow my team. So how fun that you don't have to rest on one leader's intuition. And you can use a system now within your own company to create freedom, which in your case, freedom has always been filled with more responsibility, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I would say, I started out in the clinic director role, and then we filled that. Like, Taylor then filled that role. So he was lead therapist. Him and Milo were lead therapists, and I was clinic director. And then Taylor filled the role of clinic director, which allowed me to move into cfo. And then in this from the CFO role, I actually have just somebody that works under me who has worked for post longer than I have is also, like, she likes to get things done. And so in my CFO role, I've given her a lot of those things. So she's probably taken 15 to 20 hours of what used to be mine. I've put the systems in place. I created how to do it. She just wants to get it done. And so now she does that, which I once it got to that point, I hated it. I, like, loathed that part of my job. I hated it so much. And she, like, came to me because she was kind of in the opposite role where we were like, hey, we want you to train people. And she came to me and she's like, I do not have enough to get done. Like, I don't have enough work. And I was like, oh, I can give you work. I got that. So that's what we've been doing. And it's been so freeing to me. And I think for her, she knows what she's supposed to get done each week, and that's so, like, that makes her find so much more joy in what she's doing because she was like. She was like, I feel lazy, and our office team is not lazy. And I was like, okay, yeah, we'll work on that this week. Like, I will give you something. And so that freed up 15 to 20 hours of my, like, admin time. And then from there, my mom was, like, separating herself from the day to day more and more. So I started being the one that set the agendas, and I started being the one that set the goals, and then she would look at them and the team would look at them. But when we would set goals, everyone was like, I don't know how you do this. Like, it takes so much brain power for me to set my goals. And so I would meet with each individual person. What if you did this and what if you did that and what if this was your goal and that's too many goals? Like, one time we sat down and somebody had 57 goals for the next year. And I was like, when are you doing that? Because we're all part time clinicians. Our entire executive team treats at least 15 hours of patients. And so when are you going to do 57 goals throughout the year? She was like, I can't. And she's the tenacity person. I was like, okay, we'll check back in. I want you to choose your top 15, though, for us. Like, really? And so that's just kind of how our team has worked. But that's what I stepped into, is doing that direction, role of. And I love it. Like, I love setting all those things. I love setting the meeting agendas. I love creating our team's goals. I love just looking at what we're doing next. Right?

Yeah. You know, what you said was, I'm going to highlight for the rock stars who are listening, there were three words that you used that I want to show the audience how they go together to create freedom. And one of them is freedom. One of the words is as joy, and one of them is giving. Giving. So it was interesting to me because I think a lot of times people think that freedom means not having anything to do. That's not freedom. That's boredom. Freedom is working where you get love and energy. Like, where do you find. So that example of when you were CFO was a really cool one because the word you used was, I gave her those things to do. She was unhappy because she didn't have enough on her plate. Now, as a quick side note, I believe people are burned out. All this burnout that's so prevalent in our industry comes from people doing either too much or doing things that aren't in their geniuses. So I could be doing fewer things outside of my genius and complain about feeling burned out and overwhelmed. And then people who have that genius look at what I. How little I'm producing and judge it like, well, what's wrong with him? He's just. He just must be weak. No, I'm working outside of my genius. So when we give, when we delegate a task to an employee or a co worker, in my opinion, who's outside of their genius, we're crippling them. But when we are delegating a task to an employee or a coworker, that's within their genius, we're gifting them. We shouldn't even call it delegation. We should call it gifting them, because we're gifting them the freedom to do what they love, which gives them peace and joy. And then, so, like, in your journey, this has been a really cool masterclass because you haven't created space and freedom and then, like, gone fishing. Some of the owners of companies I've interviewed, that's what they do. They'll talk about, like, oh, I'm snowboarding more, and that kind of stuff. In your case, you grew, and you're growing a legacy because your mom started this business, but you're growing into the leader that you were born to be, which is, by the way, beautifully DNA'd by your mom. But it's also got its own flavor.

Yeah.

And you're getting access to tools and techniques that no one else has. So it's fun because, like I told you before we hit record, I've created freedom through multiple companies, and I keep filling it with more things that I do, but every time I do, it's because of love. I love what I. I'm getting so clear that what I want to do, I never want to retire. I. You know, and I want people who are hearing this kind of shifting their mindset around freedom, because that's what you've done. You've created freedom to grow, to become the leader of this legacy company with others, by the way. It's never alone. You got Taylor, you've got this wonderful team. So. So I love that you're there. Let's talk about. Let's shift gears just a little bit. Tell me about somewhere in your business that you feel you're limited. Somewhere that somewhere in your business that maybe feels prevents you from feeling free at this point.

It's like. It's interesting. I think the only thing that I really don't like about my job is emails.

Got it. So, communication. How many hours a day are you on email?

Well, how many hours should I be or how many hours am I? Because there are two very different things. Oh, I, like, hate it so much that I just. I don't. I do it, like, once or twice a week because. No, that's not good.

Tenacity. It's a tenacity way for sure.

Yeah. And I like. Yeah, it's tenacity for sure. And so it's like I tell people I'm like. Like, in my executive team and in my billing team, which are the two teams that I lead, I'm like, if you need a response, you need to text me. Like, Like, I don't respond.

Loathe your email.

Like, but it's just like, I. I probably didn't see it because I didn't look. And so I'm like, if you need a fast response, like, I need you to text me. Like, that is. I need that from you. And, yeah, it is tenacity. It's also just. I think it's also galvanizing, which is my lowest. I'm actually my lowest. Like, yeah. So I think it's like, all these things of, like, actually getting people in, like, responding in a way that's, like, positive and answers their question and keeps everything in the right direction and not, like, if all I had to do was just answer the question bluntly, I would have no problem doing it.

Yeah. But to rally the troops, if you were on stage with your entire company and you're selling them on a new direction for your. For your company, you'd be like, get me off stage. I don't want to do that.

Oh, yeah, for sure. But also, like, even in an email, like, trying to get someone to, like, read it in the right tone and, like, make sure it's communicated in the way where they, like, understand how it's in alignment with what we're doing, I just. Those take forever. Like, those just really are hard for me. And so, yeah, email's, like, the only thing I don't like doing that. I constantly try to think of ways that I can, like, get out of it, make that better, you know? Okay. Because it's not the simple emails. It's, like, the ones that take time to respond to and research and all of that. But, yeah, so I'd say, like, that's the only place that I, right now feel like I need freedom from.

Yes.

But everything else that I do currently, I truly love. And I know I work more than 40 hours. Like, I'm in that role, but I've been in the CEO role for six months. And so working more than 40 hours, to me is, like, my enjoyment of learning how to do it and learning what this business is and learning from my mom, like, what she wants the direction to be and why she's done things the way she's done it. So to me, that's not, like, an area that I need freedom right now. I'm sure in the future I'll be. If I still am there. In two years, I'll have a different feeling about it. But right now I feel pretty like I'm putting a lot of time into it and it's worth it.

That's so great. I love that answer. You know, because we all have those things that we're feeling. We, if we're not feeling limited somewhere, we're not trying hard enough. I think we think those areas are invalidating, like, oh, we're still doing this. But it's like, no, we're all trying to break free of those things. But once we break free and we progress, we got more things that limit us.

Yeah.

So in your case, what are the tools and technology that you use that frees you up? You know, email is like the worst thing for you. Do you use any technology to help you?

Yeah, so I use, we use Gemini. So we use Google Workspace. And Gemini is like the AI tool within that, which is getting so good.

They started a year ago at the bottom, but because it's Google, they're going to pass chat GPT and then blow them out of the water. It's what a lot of people are saying.

Yeah, it's fun to use and Taylor and I have used it since the beginning and so it says that it doesn't learn you. But I don't believe that because the words it uses now versus what it used to use is so in alignment with what I, how I speak. And so if I want something, I'll like write just the bullet points and I'll be like, make this in alignment with our core values and here's our core values and then it'll just like use that wording to like write the email.

That's awesome.

And I, the way I've like learned it is the Gemini app on the phone. And I sign into it with my work email, which is important, but more in the details. But I use the Gemini app on my phone and I'll just be like, how do I get you to do this? Because you can talk to it.

So you ask AI to teach you how to use it.

Yeah, yeah. And so, and I think that's like, been so fun because like, what Gemini could, like you said what Jim and I could do a year ago was so limited. Now you can like put it into Google Sheets and be like, hey, summarize all this data for me and it'll give you a bunch of different ways that it summarizes the data.

How do you put it into Google Sheets?

It just like if you have the Gemini through Google Workspace. There's just like a thing that you click that says different ways to use Gemini.

You know, it's funny, I have Gemini. I use Google Workspace myself. But I'm such. I'm so heavy into chat GPT, I didn't even realize I've seen that button. I'm going to pull up a spreadsheet where we're talking right now just so I can walk you. So as you're talking, I can do that.

You know, I mean, like, I would. I might have somebody do the same thing with you because I'm like, I can't remember exactly how I did it. But you can. Like, yeah, you can go through and depending on what data you have. I know someone else was talking about how they use it to create their calendar in Google Sheets. And they'll take the tasks that are in their task and be like, put this into my calendar. And. And it'll create a calendar. But yeah, so you can, like, like, if you click on that top right next to your, like, face, I see it, it'll say, like, generate a chart, analyze insights. What can Gemini do in Google Sheet? Like, and you can just, like, learn it. And so any, like, Google Sheet I make, I just do it. I do all the things that Gemini will do and figure out, like, what it's going to do for me and how I can use that and if I should put more things into Google Sheets so that I can use that.

You were actually really heavy into AI then. I mean, you're using one main product so far as what you talked about, but it's the way that you're using it is fairly frequent. And so I pulled up. I pulled up Google Slides and Google Sheets, and it's interesting because there's a button there on the right that says, find out what Google Gemini can do for slides. And it can generate images, generate new slides. I can say what kind of slide I want and it'll create it, summarize presentations. It can actually write the slide. It can actually create your presentation for you. Holy cow. I feel embarrassed that I didn't know that. And then on the slide. Oh, go ahead.

We just did that. Like, our orientation. We created a new orientation doc and we were like, put this in, like, create a slideshow. Because we were working on a working document. We call it the Working document, but we created a new tab in there and we were like, take this tab and make a slideshow. So they did that and then they had the whole slideshow as a. As a lead therapist team created in like, 35 minutes.

See, that's insane. And then, like, spreadsheets. I love spreadsheets. But I'm just now realizing how I am not. I am not. I'm spending way too much time building them out or even reviewing them and so on and so forth. Like, I've got. Oh, man, this is open note. So, guys, I don't know if rockstars are home are opening up their minds to this, but, like, this show's about me at this point because I'm so excited to see how I'm gonna start leveraging Gemini. They're doing video automation now, where you can create videos you can use for marketing. I had a video. I'm turning 50 next year. So I created a birthday invitation of a bunch of scenes of, like, one's an African safari where the gorilla turns and invites people to the. The birthday party. So it's like the opportunity. If people aren't spending time educating themselves on AI a little bit every day, they're missing out on a massive wave of opportunity.

Yeah. And I would like. I would highly suggest. Because I used to, like, read about it and all that stuff or watch YouTube, I would highly suggest just using Gemini to learn about it. Like, ask Gemini, like, what can you do here? How do I use you this way? And there'll be answers. It'll be like, I can't do that right now. And I'll be like, okay, well, good to know. Like, it's not going to matter what research I find. You can't do that. And I'll ask the question 17 different ways to see if they're just wrong and they can do it. And sometimes it is like. Sometimes it's like, oh, if you give me that information, then, yeah, I can do it.

And so it's weird how it can be wrong. I. My. My buddy who's a. He's a. He's a genius. He owns a tech company. He's using AI at a level that, like, I'll never use already. And he was telling me about this thing called the one off, you know, concept, where it's like, you know.

Yeah.

It's not like you're Googling it or using a calendar. It still makes mistakes. He goes. And he showed me. I don't know which platform it was, but he. He said to spell the word strawberry, and he spelled the word strawberry and it misspelled it. He goes, this. I forgot it was Gemini or whatever. He's like, for some reason, this platform gets it wrong. But when you say, hey, you misspelled it, they go, oops, you caught me. And then they correct it. Like, it's, it's, it's really fascinating how it's oddly off in some weird ways when it can do all these other amazing things so beautifully.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's, that's kind of. But I use it in my emails and I'll be like, oh, that sounds too formal. Like, can you write it this way? Or that sounds whatever. And so I'll just like, I do use it to answer a lot of my emails. What it can't do is like, get into my remote desktop and pull up the specific spreadsheets and all of that. So it's like, those are the things that take more time. And maybe it's just because I have so much of it automated that I'm like, why do I have to do this?

I like the fact, you know, Steve, I forgot who it was. Some famous leader said, oh, it was Bill Gates. He goes, I like to hire lazy people for leadership because they're so like, they just want to do it as easy as possible and they find the best ways of doing. I'm not calling you lazy. I'm just saying, like, no, that would be me. That would be me. I want to find the simplest way to do that. So, okay, so what other AI do you use? Any other adar. I mean, that one thing is huge, but do you happen to have any other AI tools or things that you use?

Yeah, we only have a fun time with it. So we are actually, Taylor would be like, Taylor knows a lot more about this. But we actually helped AI Note Check company create their AI for that. So we were meeting with them and so we got free AI Note checking for like a year because we were their BET data. And then when it came down to the cost of it, we were just like, we don't feel like that's worth it. For what? Like, for how often we have. We don't really have a lot of rejected audits. And so we were like, it's not worth that amount for us. But it was fun to like, see what it could do there. And then we use our platform that we use for communication. It's called Infinity. It has AI within it and it has automations within it that use AI. And so we use that to automate a lot of our processes. So it notifies the right person at the right time trying to think, what else?

So Infinity is a communication software. Is it like Slack or one of those?

Or it's more like Monday.

Oh, got it. So Monday is a task organizer and it has like some automations, but you use it for mostly communication and automate some of those tasks.

Yeah. Okay, awesome. But it also has like an AI feature in there where you can be like, create a board that does this and it will help create that. Um, I will say, I think the thing about AI is you have to learn how to use it and it has to learn you.

Yeah.

And it's. And I tell. What I tell everyone is like, it's like a relationship, not a computer. And so you have to like, develop that relationship and create. Like, it's going to make mistakes, it's going to like, not get what you were saying, but you have to learn how to communicate with it. And the way you do that is by communicating with it and just asking it questions.

Yeah. It's funny because I find it when I'm doing coaching groups now, Rachel, I spend a lot of time teaching people how I use my AI. And it's. To your point. I've used it so much that when I ask for it to do something now because it has this database of all my preferences, how I operate my purse, my, you know, my company, my personal purpose, vision values. Like, all of those details are so baked in that when I go in there and ask it for advice, it is so, like, people look like, what did you say to it to get that kind of result? Like, it's not what I said in this question. It's what I've been saying for the last year, day in and day out. So it's a muscle we have to learn to use. We decided to create a new avatar or an ideal client for my company, and it already remembered everything we've ever done in marketing. And when I asked for who the ideal client was because we were deciding between one a certain size versus a different size, it was like, dude, you only. It told me, you have to focus on this particular size now because you don't have these things in place. So you get this here by doing this and then you get there by doing that. And like, I mean, it gave us a roadmap that probably would have spent easily five figures on. And it did it in like 10 minutes. And I just remember going, oh, my. My understanding of what this can be used as is expanding, but only proportionately to my use of it.

Yeah.

So you're very big on AI. I think it's very interesting because you don't have virtual assistants, which I love, because again, I want this to be a very, like, neutral piece of this. So those are the two fastest growing trends in healthcare. You are so advanced, more so than most of our clients who've been on this podcast. You're. We're on the second half of filming these episodes. And Rachel, you guys are more advanced than the vast majority of the people I talk to. So why is it that you guys are so advanced in there, but you're not like, looking at VAS at this point? Is there any concerns that you have with VAS or what's your thought process when it came to virtual assistants?

This might not be a good answer, but the reason I think we don't. So we did try, like, doing an executive assistant. And what we realize is just that's not where we're focusing our time. Because it's just the same thing. Right. Like with AI, I, like, have conversations through that Gemini app with AI at 10, 11 o' clock at night when I can't sleep. And I just am like, learning it. And it's like my fun way of learning it. Like, I truly enjoy it. It freaks me out and I enjoy it. Whereas with virtual, when I had an executive assistant for a little bit, it was like, she was amazing. She was like, absolutely incredible. She's super, super smart and she would do things at a super high level, but I just didn't have the time at that point to give to her.

To really be on her time. AI, you can do whatever, but her time is when. During her clocked hours.

Yeah. And which was during my clocked hours, which are already filled with things. Right. And that was like, during my transition into the role of CEO. And that was like, an idea I had of, like, what if I do this to help, like, free up time? And I just realized, like, that's not what I can do right now, but I fully believe it's something I will have in the future. Some kind of executive assistant, Whether it's virtual or around here, I will have some kind of executive assistant, I think, in the future. Because I always want to treat and be CEO. And that just is going to mean I need more, like, manpower to do the things I'm doing. Right.

You're open to it, but you're saying with your limited resources, you chose AI because it's more workable for your situation.

Yeah. And I think it's more workable. And I think there's going to be so many different ways to utilize it, but if you get behind, it's going to be really hard to catch up. So I think that's. The other thing is me and Taylor talked about That a lot is like, we can't get behind this. We have to focus on and decide that this is important, at least for a couple of us to use on a regular basis. And that has kept us at least in the midst of it. We don't have a bunch of products. I don't think we ever will, because I fully believe that Gemini will build out all of those products, but it will not be. But that's my own belief. I have no proof of that. I just believe that it'll all be able to be in one product. That I just want to keep learning through Gemini because that's what we use for our workspace. Right. And so that's integrated into everything we do. But, yeah, I. I do think. But I. I think virtual assistants will go away if they're not using AI, so they have to stay on the. On the forefront of it as well. So. Because if I have a virtual assistant who's going to take an hour to write an email when I know AI could have done it in 10 minutes, I'm gonna be like, hey, you need to be doing that faster. You know? So I think it's kind of. AI is going to be part of virtual assistants.

I. This has been one of my favorite episodes so far this season because your process, you're. First of all, you're the more. You're the. You're one of the people who's the furthest along with artificial intelligence. So you have a different perspective than most people. And I'm going to say something that I think my audience will prove to my audience that I am legitimately supporting what's best for them. Is that based on what you just said, I am of the firm belief that if you had to choose between virtual assistants or AI for. For timing of adaptation, I'm not saying which one is better. I'm saying if you had to choose one to get into sooner, AI is the way to go. And I own a VA company. So it's interesting because to your point, if you had to pick. If you could only pick one of those routes, I think AI does get preference in the sense that, like, you got to start adapting now, you got to pivot now, or because VAs are going to pivot with your knowledge of it, VAs aren't going anywhere. AI is. AI is going somewhere very fast. So if you know how to leverage that later, you can always tack on the VAs. But if you do VAs but you're not looking at AI, you're going to get left in the dust.

Truly, I think VAs will optimize AI. Like, yeah, VAs will give you the ability to optimize your use of AI. And the fact that everything can be virtual is very clear at this point. Um, so, yeah, I think that's kind of where I'm at right now is just my time. I needed to focus on leadership development and our team development and things like that, and developing an executive assistant and taking the time necessary to make them feel successful.

Yeah.

Just wasn't in the cards at that point.

Yeah. I love it. I love it. I mean, ideally, people could leverage both, or if they're leveraging a VA to free them up to spend more time on AI, that's different. But at the end of the day, when you're looking at that. So it's funny because we're going to finish on a question that you don't know is coming, and I already know the answer based on what you said. But, Rachel, this has been such a phenomenal discussion. Let's do our rapid fire. Our rapid fire questions. You ready?

Yes.

So don't worry, rapid fire doesn't mean you have to answer quickly. It's just we're going to go through them pretty fast. What's a book that's blown your mind?

I guess it's the book and podcast would be Working Genius.

I can't recommend both of those enough. The six Working Working Genius book is amazing. Please check out Patrick Lencioni's work. He is the most influential author in business according to his success on Five Dysfunctions of a team. Okay, Rachel, Top, top time saver hack. It might be something you've already mentioned.

Yeah. I think in my honest opinion, it's someone cleaning my house. Unashamedly, I have somebody who comes and cleans my house, and that means I don't have to do it. And then I feel less bad about working more. Like, I feel. I feel fine about working more because someone else, like, does everything in my house.

That's a big, big. I love that share. That's important for people to hear. Do. If you don't love doing it, don't do it. No matter what kind of cultural shaming your old parents used to give you. That's one thing.

Yeah. And honestly, it's funny because it comes from my mom. She always. When we grew up, we had someone cleaning the house, and she would always tell us and everyone else, I told your dad I married him. I will always work enough to make sure somebody else can clean my house. So it's like it comes from her and it's like, yeah, I feel like that's something. And the person that does it, I absolutely adore her. And it's somebody that we're close to as a family. She cleans my house and my mom's house and my brother's house. And so we're close to her as a family. And she's incredible at what she does and does it in half the time.

And she loves it. I mean, that's the thing. She loves it.

Yeah. So it's just, it's one of those things where it frees up probably 10 hours a week for me because she does all my dishes, all my laundry, everything. And So I have 10 extra hours of time to do whatever I want to do in my free time. In my role at the clinic, I would say say my team and AI but asking that question to both, I think, I really think, like asking both my team and AI when I have a task I don't want to do of being like, hey, if I was to take the time to teach you how to do this and you had the freedom to do it the way that you felt was best as well as the time made for it, who would want to do this? And I think that is like the question I've learned to ask because of going through working genius of like, I just ask because if there's somebody else who's like, if you give me the time, I'd love to do that. And I hate it, then how I. I don't need to do it. So, yeah, I'd say that's like my biggest time saver hack is just asking.

Okay, what's one time saving, time consuming task that you secretly enjoy?

I guess setting my calendar I love like, like at the beginning of the week, setting my calendar up of like, what I'm going to prioritize that week is something that takes an hour or two for me. But I really like it. Like, I truly enjoy doing it and I just do it leisurely on a Sunday. And yeah, I love it.

I love. This is one of my. That's one of my favorite questions, by the way, because there's like this love of like, I like stats or I really like.

Oh, that's something I love. But everyone knows it's. They. I have gotten two different, like, mugs that say, like, it's like an Excel sheet around it, wrapped around it. Oh, no, it's a mug and a T shirt, but it's like an Excel sheet and it's like freaking the sheets because my whole team knows that, like, Excel sheets are my love language. I put everything into an Excel sheet.

That's funny. And that's why you love Gemini, because Gemini puts your love into the spread, into the spreadsheets while you're doing all the spreadsheets. All right, so what's the latest thing that you delegated?

Payroll.

Payroll. That's a big one.

Yeah, that used to take me like six hours every other week, and now I check it for 30 minutes and that's it.

Yay. All right, final question. This is the question of the whole season. And your honest answer, Rachel, is it AI or is it VA?

I'm going to get to go AI because I think everyone needs sees AI. I think VAs are something that are super, super beneficial, but they also need to use AI.

Love it. Okay, well, Sephora video editor who is also our creative specialist at Virtual Rockstar, he's doing this episode. I don't know where we are in the tally, so Seth, please put that on the screen for those who are watching the episode. There's the current tally. Rachel, it's been a treasure to have you online. I thought this has been such a fun AI based discussion about freedom as well as this intrapreneur journey of someone creating freedom from within somebody else's company. Also, we hit some major points around family based businesses, which was a very unique flavor that I loved. Tell me what would be your parting thoughts as we as we conclude this episode?

I think something I've learned is like, do find a way to enjoy it, because I think we all are going to work a lot and I. And I don't think that work is bad if you find a way to enjoy it. And a lot of times that's creating, for me, I think that's creating the right team and having the right team that really just interconnects together well. But if you don't enjoy it, then you're going to resent what you do and who you do it with.

Goes back to that six working geniuses. Find out where your geniuses lie and then only do those things because they feed your soul. I love that. Rachel, thank you so much, so much for being on the show. It's been a pleasure to have you on. Thanks for tuning in to the Willpower podcast as always. This is Will Humphries reminding you to lead with love, live on purpose, and never give up your freedom. Until next time.