July 17, 2025 • 64 mins
In this episode, Jesse welcomes Ms. Phyllis Winters, a seasoned expert with 30 years of experience across various industries like nuclear, healthcare, and construction. Phyllis discusses her journey from overcoming a challenging childhood to achieving significant milestones in the world of tech and business strategy. She emphasizes the importance of a problem-solving mindset and shares valuable insights on leveraging AI and technology for business growth. The episode covers practical tips for AI usage, the significance of strategy in tech implementation, and Phyllis’s unique approach to making complex subjects accessible and enjoyable. Tune in to learn how Phyllis became a pivotal guide for businesses looking to innovate and scale.
00:00 Welcome Back to LnM Family
00:14 Introducing Our Expert Guest: Phyllis Winters
01:45 Phyllis Winters' Background and Motto
03:55 Overcoming Challenges and Early Life
05:16 College and Career Beginnings
06:26 Navigating the Tech Industry
07:31 The Value of Life Experience
12:56 AI and Problem Solving
15:44 The Importance of Clear Communication with AI
27:21 Breaking Barriers in a Male-Dominated Industry
30:25 Breaking Through the Wall: Learning the Language
30:48 Starting a Business: The Journey Begins
30:56 From Accounting to Management Consulting
33:46 The Rise of PCs: A New Opportunity
34:51 A Business Partnership Gone Wrong
35:53 Transition to the Online World
38:02 Embracing Tech and Business Zen
46:22 Leveraging AI for Business Success
54:10 The Promise of Holistic Business Coaching
59:00 Final Thoughts and Reflections
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh my God, you're like a real person, as opposed
to what.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is going on L&M family.
So glad you're back and youprobably noticed there's been an
uptick on the number ofepisodes that we've been
releasing and so glad that youcame back because or maybe, if
you're not ready for this, holdon to your seats, because what
we got today is an expert orsomebody that is serving the
(00:34):
world in a pretty unique waywhen it comes to AI systems and
business strategy.
Like you already know, you'vebeen hearing about it.
You're curious.
We got somebody that knows whatthe hell they're doing with the
thing, and I ain't that person.
It is our guest.
She brings 30 years ofexperience from all kinds of
(00:56):
industries, including thenuclear, space, construction,
healthcare, medical, legal lotsof stuff here, folks.
So hopefully I'll do a good jobin getting some good nuggets
for us.
Her name is Ms Phyllis Wintersand she is your guide and she
will be our guide to businessand tech zen, which I'm super
(01:19):
eager to hear about this zenstuff.
But before that, if this isyour first time here, you're
listening to the Learnings andMissteps podcast, where amazing
human beings just like you aresharing their gifts and talents
to leave this world better thanthey found it.
I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we about to get to know Ms
(01:44):
Phyllyllis.
Miss Phyllis, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Hi Jesse, I am great.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Oh, I'm ecstatic.
So folks out there, if you knowme, you know I'm kind of crazy
and I just do stuff on a whim.
Miss Phyllis is one of thosesuper courageous characters
because we're a part of anothergroup that were doing and
learning cool things, and I said, hey, if you want to be
interviewed, click the link.
And she signed up and bam,we're here.
(02:13):
And so I got to read what yourmotto is, miss Phyllis, and I'm
curious and I know that the L&Mfamily would love to know this
answer why does the impossibletake just a little bit longer?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Mostly because there's usually an extra step or
two.
My whole reason for being is tosolve problems for other people
and I am a master problemsolver and I solve problems in
business and technology and AIand strategy.
I just solve problems.
That's kind of my superpowerand my motto is the difficult I
(02:51):
do right away.
The impossible takes a littlelonger and that's just because
there's usually one or two stepsin there past the difficult.
That makes it take a littlelonger.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, so we're going to talksome problem solving talk,
because I have a similaraffliction.
I take it that when you'rehelping and serving people with
a problem and you have an ideaor solution, the response is
that's not possible, we can't dothat.
Do you face that quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I do, jesse.
And not only do they say it'snot possible, they say they've
already been told it can't bedone.
And when somebody says it can'tbe done, that's like waving a
red flag in front of a bull, andI'd like in over 30 years I
have never, ever had to tell aclient it can't be done, ever.
So when someone tells you itcan't be done, that just means
they don't know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
OK, and so what is it about problems?
Because right now we're talkingabout problems generally, but
what is it about problems thatattracts you or motivates you to
give them so much energy andeffort?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Well, it starts way back when I was very young.
I'm the oldest of six children.
I grew up in a very chaotic,toxic home and, as the oldest, I
was a leader.
I was the substitute mom, I wasthe problem solver.
And the way we learned to copewas basically Phyllis learned to
(04:16):
cope and taught the little onesthat we can get through this
and I would always go for what'sthe worst case and then we
would prepare for the worst caseand then if it was just bad and
it wasn't worse, we would go.
We have a win.
That was great.
So we kind of developed thatmindset very young and because I
(04:37):
was kind of the adult in a lotof situations where I should
have been the child, I learnedhow to just do a lot of things
really early.
And because of that situation,when I'm the oldest and my
sister is the next one, she wasinto dolls and she would play
with dolls and she'd play houseand she'd do tea parties and all
that and I'm like I justchanged diapers and I just did
(04:59):
laundry and I have no interestin playing house.
But what interested me waspuzzles.
I loved doing puzzles.
So she's playing with her dolls, I'm doing puzzles and I think
that was the first iteration ofme realizing how good I was at
solving problems.
And then it just grew and as Ibecame a senior in high school,
(05:20):
my father sat me down and saidhey, you got to get out of these
college prep classes.
You've got to take a typingclass so you can get a job.
And I just looked at him and Isaid, no, I'm going to go to
college.
He goes no, you can't, we can'tafford it.
And I just looked him right inthe eye and said I'm going to do
it, I'll figure it out.
And that was like really gutsyat that.
I was 17, and he was kind of aniron-fisted father.
(05:41):
And he just looked at me and hegoes okay, well, you're going
to wish you had a typing classand in those days I was blessed
because you could get grants andloans and scholarships and
college work, study, and I wasable to just cobble it all
together and I'm living in alittle tiny town where I had
never even seen an airportbefore.
(06:03):
And I'm flying to a state tohave an interview at a college.
I paid for the airplane ticketI had.
I ended up getting scholarshipsand loans and grants and things
and I went to college as thefirst person in my family ever
to go to college.
And then another problem was Icame with the student loans.
(06:23):
So at the end of my sophomoreyear my advisor said okay, so
let's look at.
Oh okay, so what you're incomputers?
He looked right at me and hegoes there's no jobs in
computers.
And, parenthetically, what hemeant was for girls.
My face drained white and Iwent oh my God, I have school
loans.
Where's the money?
What do I have to?
(06:44):
Where can I make money?
I've got to be able to pay themback.
And he said, well, accounting.
And I'm like, oh good, I'm amath person, numbers are numbers
, I can do accounting.
So I did a four-year accountingmajor in two years because I
needed that.
I did.
I love accounting and I am aCPA.
I retired from active CPAdombut you have that knowledge
forever.
(07:04):
And that was kind of how Ijustified it to myself.
I was like, well, whatever I do, every business needs
accounting, so this isn't allbad.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And so that's how.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I got into that.
But I had majored in computerscience and he told me oh,
there's no jobs there.
So that was two major problemsin my life solved, and so by
then it was just second natureto me.
I didn't realize that it was aspecial gift.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh, my goodness.
So thank you.
Big rocks, big like lifeexperiences that are evidence
that not like other people havethe same experience.
Same experience, and what Imean by that is a less than
supporting and motivating parent, short-sighted or narrow
thinking of people that shouldbe supporting you and helping
(07:52):
you, and then we'll just saypremature, massive
responsibilities, meaning beforeyou're even like biologically
ready in terms of braindevelopment to be caring for
others.
Right Like when you were ayoung lady you had your five
siblings that you were kind ofthe responsible one for.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And these are common human experiences.
And the reason I want to pointthat out is for, like the LNM
family member out therelistening to this, like you're
not alone, the L&M family memberout there listening to this,
you're not alone, man.
It's tough, sure, but you'renot alone.
Now, going back to that early,thrown into the fire, figure
(08:35):
something out, make a decisionand if it's better than worse,
we're ahead.
I think I love that.
Right Is is it better thanworse?
Because some people might say,well, that's low standards, like
sure, depending on where youare on.
Well, I'll just go and say onthe socioeconomic status,
(08:57):
because when you're broke andhungry, better than worse is
pretty damn good, exactly,exactly.
And so understand, like, whatwas it about that helped you?
I'm going to say, I'm going tocall it like a callus.
You kind of built a shell thathelped you not get distracted
without or by missing perfection, because better than worse is
(09:21):
not perfect, but it's progress.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And I don't even Jesse, I didn't even look at it
as progress.
I looked at it as we gotthrough another day.
So it wasn't even like I had aspecific goal.
The goal was to get us allthrough today with nobody
getting beat up, nobody gettinghurt, nobody having no clothes
to wear to school tomorrow,nobody going hungry and, when
(09:44):
they were young, no babies indirty diapers.
So it was like a day by daything I did not have a long term
plan at that point, when I wasseven, I was the oldest of five
and so it was, my days were fulland I was going to school and
I'm pretty smart cookie, so Iwas doing really well in school
and luckily it's kind of fadedas I gotten older.
(10:05):
But I had a photographic memoryin smart cookie.
So I was doing really well inschool and luckily it's kind of
faded as I gotten older.
But I had a photographic memoryin those days so I could just
read the book and I knew and Ididn't have to study.
I didn't have a lot of time tostudy, but I didn't realize it
was a thing, jesse, until I gotolder.
And then everybody's saying,like, how did you do that?
I'm like, how would I not do it?
(10:25):
Because I felt so muchdependence of my siblings that,
like, somebody's got to drivethis bus and you're the older
one, so it better be you.
It was their attitude.
So it wasn't a long-term planat all, it was just a daily
survival.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, thank you, and I think that's ultra, ultra
important because I know andwhere you're at today in this
universe is evidence thatsometimes day by day is what it
is.
But it's like the value of that, it's an enormous number of
reps, repetitions to discoverand we'll say, embrace the fact
(11:05):
that you can figure it out.
And so then, looking back andI'm sure this wasn't what was
going through your head, right,because similarly you and I have
very similar paths but I canlook back and say, hell, I've
worked through tougher stuff,like I figured it out.
Then, when I kind of had thatrealization, then it was like,
okay, I can be thinking morethan just today, I can think
(11:28):
about the next three days, I canmake decisions that have
broader impact for a week, for amonth, for a year.
But the foundation is theevidence that I can overcome the
challenge we want to do.
The LNM family member shout out,and this one goes to my buddy,
mr Jim Gontorius.
(11:48):
Jim, you've been a massive andfierce supporter of a lot of the
things that I get my hands intoand I appreciate you taking the
time to make this comment.
Jim says I don't know how youdo all the things that you do.
We can't thank you enough forwhat you have done, not only
with the last event but over thelast couple of years.
Without the do the damn thingthought in my head Breakthrough
(12:12):
Builders may have never happened.
Your ripples of impact travel alot farther than you may think.
Mr Jim, I'm getting allergiesover here.
I'm getting a little teary-eyed.
I appreciate you leaving thatcomment.
I appreciate you letting mespeak into your life and also
for you speaking into my lifeand folks L&M family you already
(12:33):
know.
Leave me a comment, send me aDM.
It doesn't have to be positiveand lovely.
It could be something that bugsyou.
All of them are signals to methat at least one person is
listening and it gives me theopportunity to shout you out in
a future episode.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And I have.
It's not just that I can, I'vedone it.
Yes, the one thing I'll saythat I ever even considered of
the future was when things werereally bad, and I remember
feeling this very young.
I would say am I even going toremember this in five years?
And if so, I better payattention, it's just noise,
let's just get through the day.
(13:13):
So there were, so that thatrealization came to me more
around like age 1011, where Iwas like, hey, like all this
stuff, like I just I can't dealwith it at that level.
And I so I learned to say, ifthis is something I'm going to
wish I had attended to fiveyears from now, then I'm going
to do it, but if I won'tremember it, I'm not going to
(13:33):
stress.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
It's static.
I love that Solid, solid mentalmodel to like focus on what's
important.
Now you mentioned puzzles.
Guess what I love puzzles, likeabsolutely.
I haven't touched one in yearsbecause I can't stop.
It consumes me because I'mobsessive, I got issues, anyways
(13:55):
.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
But they clearly serve you well, your issues, so
I wouldn't kick them out.
They do.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yes, ma'am, a hundred percent.
They are beautiful, glamorous,glorious issues, and I got
plenty of them, and they haveissues too.
So it's all good In terms oflike puzzles.
What is the?
What did you see?
Is there a thread between thepuzzles and computers, or
technology for that matter?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Absolutely.
Yes, you just hit the nailright on that.
Yes, absolutely, because apuzzle is looking at something
that looks horrible it's a messand then straightening it out
and making it be something.
And I loved programming fromhigh school.
Our first computer in schoolwas in my senior year and I
started programming in highschool and I was like that geeky
(14:45):
, nerdy kid like everybody elsewas like and I was very excited
about it and what it is.
It's a different kind of puzzle.
It's that you look at, well,what is it you're trying to do,
break it down into the stepsthat it takes to get there.
And now how do you tell amachine how to do that and that
the puzzle part of it is?
There was trial and error andin those days debugging was like
(15:08):
a nightmare.
Nowadays debugging is reallysimple, but in those days
debugging could be likeliterally an all-day thing.
So all of my puzzle-solvingskills made me have less
iterations when I wasprogramming.
I didn't have to go through asmuch debugging because of my
puzzle mindset.
I was able to get it organizedand make it clear before I
(15:31):
started doing the actualprogramming.
So that really paid off mypuzzle skills.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Okay, so I mean, looking back, you can see that.
Right, you couldn't.
You probably didn't say man,I'm great at puzzles, I should
do computers.
No, what was it about tech orcomputers that captured your
attention?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
My dad was a lineman for the telephone company and
his job was climb up the polesand run the lines, and so he was
always do and he was splicingand this and that.
He was always doing and he wassplicing and this and that and
he would talk about it and thenat home he would.
He was funny because when hewould fix something it was kind
(16:12):
of really funny.
And this is where I think someof my puzzle skills came in.
If, let's say, the toasterbroke, he would take the toaster
apart, go, oh yeah, I see whatit is, and he'd put it all back
together and there would beparts left over and I would look
at him and go dad, what arethese?
And he'd go ah, you don't needthem, that's not important.
That's not important, exactly.
(16:32):
So I watched that and I waslike, yeah, I'm pretty sure
those are important.
And through that I startedlooking at that type of physical
and electrical things.
That type of physical andelectrical things.
And I just naturally, for somereason, had an ability to do
cabling of all things.
So when computers first started, I was the one that ran the
(16:56):
cables.
And even before that, like ingrade school, I was that weird
kid with the AV cart thatbrought in the overhead
projector and everything.
Because I was the only one thatcould figure out how to hook it
up.
It was so simple, and yet.
I would have thought it wasrocket science.
So that kind of just came intomy life because and like I was
the only one that raised my handand said, the teacher said,
(17:16):
does anybody know how to fixthis?
And I said, let me take a look.
And I did figure it out.
So now all of a sudden I'm theexpert.
So that carried with me.
And then I got that confidencethat I can figure out like
electrical things and AV things.
And then in the computers I wasdoing the programming.
But then I got to the pointwhere I started doing way back
(17:37):
when they first started computernetworking for PCs, where
somebody had to run those cablesand it was me, and somebody had
to set up the those cables, andit was me, and somebody had to
set up the server, and it was me.
And so I actually just starteddoing those things because
nobody else knew how.
And that was when I started myfirst business.
I was 27 and I was freaking outand I said to my husband I said
(17:58):
but I don't really.
I said I only know a little bit.
And he goes Phyllis, it's somuch more than anybody else
knows.
So what you?
think is a little bit to them.
They think you're a genius andhe was right.
He was absolutely right.
So it just kind of flowed frommy curiosity with puzzles,
watching my father not fixthings correctly, thinking that
(18:19):
I'm pretty sure those partsreally do need to go in there,
and then just taking thatforward into the AV card, into
programming cabling.
And now I take that skill and Iuse it with AI and integrating
systems to use AI and helping myclients connect things that
other people have told themcan't be done.
And, like I said, I've neverhad to say, oh no, we can't do
(18:41):
that.
So it's all been now that Ilook back, as you said, I didn't
know it then but looking back Ican see the through thread.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, like it's been progressively stacking skills in
a particular path, maybe not onpurpose, but that's what
happened.
So you said a couple of things.
One you undervalued or maybeyou couldn't see the value in
your knowledge and experience,because it's you, you're living
in it, you're swimming in it.
(19:09):
We make these assumptions,everybody knows that.
That's basic.
Nobody wants to hear that, butthey don't know, they just don't
know.
And so, coming to terms withthat, I want to say it this way,
like for the listeners outthere you have if you have an
(19:29):
idea or something stirringwithin, doing it for a fee
because it's extremely valuableand it may be so valuable that
other people will pay you for it.
Just something like it's supergeneral, but for real, we are
(19:58):
not great at understanding thevalue of our own life experience
and it is important.
So you talked about I love thewords you said was physical and
electrical, because in my head,like oh, that is a great way to
describe what it feels like to,or what it felt like when I
(20:23):
first started using a stupidcomputer Like I.
Everybody knows I.
My career path was I wassupposed to go to college.
Cause why?
Cause everybody said I shouldto go be in the like an engineer
.
I didn't know what the hell anengineer was.
I got a summer job on a jobsite and I loved it.
And also I didn't want to goand read more books, do more
(20:45):
writing and mess around with thecomputer.
So I started in construction.
Well, fast forward, today in mybusiness I don't.
There ain't nothing I dowithout a computer.
But anyways, back to when Ifirst started playing messing
around with the damn computer.
It was a new engagement.
(21:08):
It was a new dance between thephysical and the electrical.
Right now, computer is way morethan like it's programming and
all those other things.
I just love the way you saidthat I was like well, yeah,
that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
It is and with the computers it's.
It's even obviously it'selectrical, but it's even more
of it, almost like a mind.
Yeah, the electrical has to bethere, but your mind has to
connect to the computer and thecomputer has to connect to your
mind, not physically.
I'm not talking about theneural chip or anything like
that, I'm just talking about theway you interact with the
(21:39):
computer and I always saygarbage in, garbage out, garbage
in, garbage out.
Remember, even with AI it stilldoesn't really know anything
about you or your business oryour situation or your clients
or your message or your offer.
It doesn't know any of thatstuff.
So while it's brilliant atgeneral stuff, it doesn't know
(22:00):
you.
So back when I was a programmer, way back when, we would say
garbage in, garbage out, whichmeans if you write a sloppy
program you're going to getsloppy results.
And now with AI, that's stilltrue, but on steroids.
Because, some people will sitdown to AI and just ask a vague
question, like they would atGoogle search, and then go.
(22:22):
Well, I don't know what all thehype is here.
This is the same as Google, andbecause they're not giving it
good prompts, they're not askingit.
And when you do a prompt in AI,it's not just a question.
You have to give it context.
What is the purpose of whatwe're doing?
Give it a role, tell it you arean expert at whatever it is
(22:42):
you're working on and you areexperienced in writing, blah,
blah, blah.
Here's an example of one that Ilike.
I want my output to be threepages long, or three paragraphs
long, and I want it to belighthearted, yet helpful and
instructional, but not tooprofessorial.
Now you put that prompt in andyou're going to get something
(23:05):
that I always say it's 80-20.
It's 80% there.
So you're starting with a firstdraft that is 80%.
You can use it.
Now some people I don't agreewill just take that 80%, call it
good enough and use it.
No, you shouldn't do that.
Take it as your first draft, doyour magic, put the other 20%
(23:26):
in and then it's the finishedproduct.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Oh yes, and you kind of just described my whole
experience with AI, because Iwas like this is stupid.
And then I got clear, like Icould give it context, I could
give it specific direction, Icould articulate what I want the
outlook or the output to looklike.
And I was like whoa.
And so, it's funny, one of myexes because I have a bunch of
them, phyllis, believe it or nottold me this a few years back.
(23:53):
She's like Jess, I think you'reprobably going to find somebody
that you can have as a lifelongpartner.
And I'm like, really, is itbecause I'm so accomplished now
and I'm not a freaking goofballanymore?
Say no, it's because of all theadvancements they've make with
AI.
Ouch, that's a really good one.
(24:14):
I just need to get the rightprompt and it'll be great.
Anyway, sorry for that.
Well, and speaking, about AI.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Jesse, if any of your listeners use AI or trying to
dip their toe into the AI pool,the thing I tell my clients is
remember that AI, like I said,doesn't know anything about you
or anything around you, and totreat it like an assistant.
If you just hired a new officeassistant or a new apprentice on
(24:41):
a job out in the field, youwouldn't just say here you go,
do this.
You would train them.
You would tell them hey, thisis the way we do it.
You might've done it adifferent way, the last company
you work for, or maybe you'rejust out of school and this is
your first gig, but this is howwe do it.
This is what's acceptable.
This is what's not acceptable.
This is what's expected of you.
(25:03):
This is our client or this isthe job.
This is our's expected of you.
This is our client or this isthe job.
This is our claim to fame, thisis what we do.
And then that assistant couldactually be helpful to you.
You would never, ever have thatnew assistant.
Give them that little spiel,ask them to do something and
then just pass it off as yourown without checking it.
But a lot of people do thatwith AI as your own without
(25:28):
checking it, but a lot of peopledo that with AI.
So my main mantra to peoplestarting with AI is think of it
as a new assistant, and howwould you train that assistant
if it was a person instead of AI?
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yeah, be explicit.
I mean, for me it's that and ithas whatever the intelligence
or the programming thataccommodates.
Maybe vague and verbosedescription like it can distill
what I'm trying to say, becausethere's times I'm like I don't I
know what I want, but I'm goingto say it this way and I'm like
, okay, you understood.
(25:57):
Good, let's keep on rolling.
But you're so.
There is an investment,tremendous value in it, right?
And then for me, like I, Inever copy paste, not because
I'm very ethical, but because italways comes out way smarter
than what I would write.
So I have to go dirty it up anddummy it up so people won't
know that I'm using AI.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
But, jesse, you could actually and I help my clients
actually teach it your brandvoice, to teach it to sound like
Jesse.
It's easier to do that, easierto do than you think, and once
you do that, then it's going tobe whatever you want it to be.
And let's be honest, sometimesyou, depending on if you're
making a presentation to anaudience of people, you know
(26:42):
where they're coming from it canbe at their level.
If you're doing it to highschool students to talk about
opportunities in the trades, youwould tell it, and I wouldn't
even say, put it at the highschool level, because some of
those students in high schoolmay not have the same reading
and comprehension as everybody.
So, say, do it at the eighthgrade level.
(27:03):
So, depending on who youraudience is, you can tell it and
I'm not going to call it dumbit down because it's not really
dumbing it down what it iscommunicating at the level of
your audience.
So that's what it is.
You got it.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, make it easy for everybody to understand it.
A hundred percent, yeah.
Now what I'm picking up on whatyou've shared so far, ms
Phyllis, is that you're alwayskind of on the front edge of
things, the leading edge, and Iknow this, that when you're on
the leading edge it's anisolating experience, or can be,
(27:37):
and people think you're wacko.
So there's that.
Plus, you were in an industrythat I can only imagine, back in
the day, when you first started, even during university, that
you were probably one of veryfew women in that situation.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
In most cases, Jesse, I was the one, or on a good day
there would be two women andthe rest was all men.
And then all my clients wereall men, because in those days
women just weren't in thoseroles and all I could say is two
things.
One, I spoke their languagebecause I did understand their
(28:17):
business.
I did understand what theydidn't understand about their
tech and their software andtheir network and all that kind
of stuff.
But two, I am an absoluteraving NFL football fan and I
love the game.
I'm not just one team yes, Ialways have a team that I would
like to see win but I follow allthe teams, all the guys, all
(28:39):
the, and I know, oh, and I'll gointo it and say, oh, did you
see that game last night?
Oh, my God.
And I would go into the wholething and the guys would look at
me like you watch football.
And all of a sudden it was likewe were buddies and now we're
talking about the game.
And then, when you know howguys are during football season,
we were talking about the gamefor 25 minutes and then we go oh
(28:59):
shoot, we've only got 10minutes.
Then we'd get through themeeting really quick and they
would listen and they respectedother things I said because I
wasn't bullshit and when I wastalking about football they knew
I knew my stuff and for somereason, believe it or not, that
got me farther in some casesthan my true professional
knowledge.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, so thank, amazing.
And there's two core,fundamental principles in what
you just said that anybody canlatch on to.
One is find common ground.
Right, Find common ground.
I didn't say tell people whatyou appreciate.
(29:41):
I said you find common ground.
I said you find common ground.
That's the game.
The other thing is speak theirlanguage, Learn the language
that resonates with them.
I'm doing them in quotationmarks.
(30:03):
Sure, it would be nice ifeverybody accommodated what I
value and what I appreciate and,oh my God, would it not be nice
if everybody would learn tospeak my language.
But that is an unreasonableexpectation and a perfect
formula for staying stuck andbitching and complaining about
my situation.
When I, like you did, findcommon grounds an interest that
they have that I share I'mbreaking through the wall.
(30:26):
When I learn to speak theirlanguage, I'm breaking through
the wall and I have full controlover that and I love how simple
, practical and impactful whatyou did is and how it's
contributed to your career andthe way you serve people.
Now.
Now you mentioned I feel likewe slid over and I know there's
(30:46):
a deeper story there but youmentioned you started a business
.
Is that the same businessyou're doing now?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yes and no.
For the most part yes, andthere's a little bit of history
there because remember I didn'tget to have my computer science
major in school.
So I had a minor, got out, gotan accounting job with a big aid
accounting firm, which was Iwas the only person in my school
that got that worked there andthen, as an accountant, got my
(31:15):
two years.
I only needed two years ofpublic accounting to get my CPA.
I studied that and those daysyou couldn't use calculators on
the CPA exam.
It was all by hand and there wasfive parts and because it was
all by hand, each part was fourhours.
So I was studying day and night.
I'm like I'm just going to goat this full bore because
(31:36):
everybody said, oh, study fortwo parts, because you needed
two in order for it to count andthen you could go back and do
it again and I said there's noway, I'm doing this again.
So I just studied like a crazyperson for four months, passed
the whole thing first time theonly person in my state that did
that and that got me able toget out of accounting because,
okay, they made me do accounting.
(31:58):
I got my CPA what's next?
And I ended up I was working.
I got out of public accountingand worked as an auditor in our
public utility locally and boredto tears.
I went from crazy like 12 hourdays, seven days a week for four
months straight to the firstmeeting I was in for an internal
(32:18):
audit.
I got a job as an internalauditor the first meeting I was
in and they were handing outprojects.
They handed out my project.
Well, I went back to my deskand I had it done the end of the
next day and I went to mysupervisor.
I said, okay, now what?
And she looked at me and shegoes that was your project until
December, and I'm like it'sOctober.
(32:41):
Oh my God, what am I going todo for two months?
So they actually got me busy,and one of the things they did
is they signed me up for the NewEngland Power Exchange.
We needed a representative fromour utility company, and that
is the New England states gettogether and make deals Well,
not just deals, but they planwhere their plants are going to
be, how distribution andtransmission is going to work,
(33:04):
and when somebody goes down,who's going to fill in the gap.
So it was very complex, verymuch a puzzle solving thing.
So I was for it and in thatexperience I met the partner at
Pete Marwick who was managementconsulting, and after six or
seven months of this, he stoppedme at the elevator one time
when we were leaving.
We were in Boston, and he goeshey, you're in Connecticut,
(33:27):
right.
And I said yes, and he goes ifyou're ever going to leave, call
me first.
I don't want you going out tothe market, call me.
So I did it, maybe another sixor eight months.
Then I called him.
I said, hey, were you serious?
And he goes absolutely.
So I became a managementconsultant at Pete Marwick,
(33:48):
which was great and I loved it.
And right about then is whenthe first PCs and the first Mac
computers were coming out and Iwatched that and prior to then
we all had mainframes and people.
You had to be a computer personin order to use the computer.
So I went to him and I said hey,I think PCs came.
I said I think these PCs aregoing to be big, I think we're
(34:08):
going to have one on everybody'sdesk and I think we should.
Pete Marwick should start acomputer consulting division and
I want to be a part of it, andhe was a former IBMer.
So he kind of figurativelypatted me on my head oh you,
cute little thing no, no,mainframes are here to stay.
Thing no, no, mainframes arehere to stay.
(34:29):
This is a flash in the pan.
So I waited about six monthsand I went back and I said if
you're not going to do this, I'mgoing to.
And so he goes.
Oh, okay, you go ahead, yourjob is safe.
When you get done with thatlittle thing, come back and you
can have your job back.
Well, that was decades ago, 30plus years ago, and here I am.
That through point was the samebusiness.
Now I made the terrible mistake.
Another one of those lessonslearned and missteps is I made a
(34:53):
.
I was doing all of theprogramming and the software and
the computer networking cameout and I was doing the cabling
and I was doing setting up theservers plus doing doing the
accounting plus doing theprogramming and it was just too
much.
So I hired this gentleman and Isaid look you do.
I put him through a trialperiod and he did really well
(35:14):
and I said tell you what I'mgoing to give you the whole
networking thing, that's your,that's you and I'm going to do
the consulting, softwareprogramming stuff.
And I gave him 50% of thebusiness which was such a
mistake.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
So fast forward talk about a misstep.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
That was like going off a cliff.
Very big mistake.
And anyway, fast forward, 10 or15 years later, and now he's
decided he doesn't need meanymore because I don't do what
he does.
Well, I hired you to build thatand I.
Anyway, long story short, weended up.
He bought me out, I moved outwest, we've been in Connecticut
(35:54):
and now I went into the onlineworld.
So, yes, I kept my Connecticutclients and I had another client
in Rhode Island and I stillworked on them remotely.
So it is the same business, butnow I do those clients and but
it's all remote, and now I do alot online.
So I have clients all over theworld.
So technically it's the samebusiness, but there was a little
(36:18):
bit of a blow up there in themiddle where we went our
separate ways.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Well, and thank you for painting the whole picture,
because it's another data pointof how success is not a straight
line and what I love.
If no one's ever told you this,shame on them.
But I love your outlook andenergy and spirit about all of
(36:44):
it, because you have a lot ofgood excuses for being pissed
off and bitter, but that is notwhat's coming across over here,
sister.
You're like okay, problemwhat's.
It may not be better, but itain't worse, right?
That's exactly right, Pat on thehead, Like I've experienced it
(37:05):
and it pissed me off.
But you can't like it could befuel, but it's dirty fuel, right
?
You had a partner.
You went and started your ownbusiness.
You saw a space in the market.
You said, hell, yeah, I'm gonnago do it.
You did it.
You did all the work tofreaking, make it, bring it to
life.
And they needed help, broughtsomebody in to help that.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
you brought them into the thing you created and then
they took it or whatever theytook that part of it and decided
they didn't need me anymorebecause that wasn't my thing.
No shit, that's not my thing.
That's why I hired you.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I hired, you fool.
But you've continued to like,okay, what's next?
And folks, for the young guyslistening out there, whenever
you're feeling down and feellike, oh my God, this is only
happening to me, why me, comeback and listen.
Just replay the past three orfour minutes, because you ain't
(37:58):
the only one and you don't haveto be sour about it, phyllis
ain't.
So what's interesting to me iswe've talked a lot about your
technical expertise and the wayyou see problems and
appreciation, and we'll saywhat's the word accomplishments
with regard to tech, but youalso have this very relatable,
(38:21):
engaging human personality,which is extremely at least from
my experience, very.
It's a very rare combination.
Has anyone told you that before?
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Yes, they have.
And again, like you saidearlier, it's always been me.
So I don't realize it's unusual, because that's just the way I
am.
But I have had many clients sayto me.
But I have had many clients sayto me oh my God, you're like a
real person.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Like as opposed to what?
As opposed to C3PO, I guess.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Oh, that's hilarious.
Well, hopefully this will helpPhyllis, because most people I
get the opposite.
They're like man, you're afreaking robot, jess.
Oh, I'm trying here anyhow.
So you had the the deal.
The guy said I want my thing.
He bought you out and then youdove into the online world.
(39:20):
Is this when the business techzen awakening happened?
Speaker 1 (39:25):
really that was the embryonic stages, because my
first online thing, all I reallydid was take my consulting
projects for tech and it andprogramming and accounting and
just do the same thing.
I had done brick and mortar anddo it online.
That was just continuation ofwhat I've always done, just in a
(39:49):
different way.
And then I got into a programwhere somebody convinced me that
oh, this dollars for moneything you shouldn't be doing
that.
You need to do a group coachingthing.
I'm like, but I don't reallycoach.
I do coach my clients, butthat's not all I do.
I end up doing coaching as partof the project.
(40:09):
So anyway, I took that badadvice, spent a whole year
trying to build this groupprogram mastermind, blah, blah,
blah Discovered what I kind ofknew but I guess I needed to
have it hit me in the face iswhat I do with people's systems
and their strategy and theirintimate parts of their business
.
It's not suited to group.
(40:29):
It's not no one is going to tellme the honest truth about the
terrible things that are goingon in a group setting.
They don't want to admit it inpublic, whereas one-on-one oh my
God, my husband is a retiredmental health counselor and all
through our life I'd come homefrom work and he'd say, oh my
God, you did more counselingtoday than I did Because people
(40:52):
would like, I guess, going backto the personality thing.
People would just relate to meand tell me their worst secrets.
And I knew everybody's kidsproblems, everybody's marriage
problems.
You know everything.
And we would just be chitchatchatting.
I'd be doing my work and we'rechit-chatting.
So I just got to know them andI should have known that when I
started this group coachingthing, but I didn't.
(41:14):
I should have.
And then so that petered out andthat was last year, this year
or the end of last year, I saidyou know what?
I'm going to go back to myproject thing with the idea that
there are certain things that Ifind myself saying to every
single client.
There's like training things orQ&A things that I can do in a
(41:36):
group setting.
That is appropriate.
In a group, no one's going tobe embarrassed, no one's dirty
laundry gets aired.
So what I've finally come to andhere's the business and tech
Zen part of it is most peopleare scared to death of tech,
scared to death of AI.
They get anxiety and tensionand stress when they think about
it and I always say, hey, no,it's going to be good.
(41:58):
And I talk them off the ledgeand by the end, like you said,
they go oh, you're so easygoing,you make this was so hard and
you make it seem so easy.
It's like I feel peaceful abouttech and they'll say to me I
never thought those words wouldcome out of my mouth.
So then I came up with thebusiness and tech Zen.
Because tech Zen because thecomputers are less stress, and
(42:19):
business Zen because I do thestrategy and structure and
accounting.
I don't do the accounting, butI make sure they know what they
need to keep track of and ifthey need help setting it up.
I'll help them set it up.
But so I take all those twothings that are really stressful
to people their business andtheir tech and I make it not
(42:39):
stressful and I make it fun.
And everybody says, oh my God,I never thought I'd say hey,
this is fun.
And B, I feel so peaceful.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Wow, wow.
So again, like it's another lay, like that puzzle, you keep
tinkering on this immaculatepuzzle.
What I think is profound andmaybe ultra, like the superpower
you've said it multiple timesyour superpower is I didn't
start a business because Iunderstand every damn business
concept and I wanted to exercisethem and make them better.
(43:10):
No, I started a businessbecause I wanted to serve people
a certain way and then I had tolearn all the other crap
accounting and taxes and billingand business development and
marketing.
In order for me to serve theway I want to serve, I have to
learn this, or maybe not evenlearn it, but like, make my way
through it.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
You have to at least use it, Jesse.
Maybe you don't learn it todevelop it, but you need to
learn how to use it.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yes, and the same thing with tech and now AI.
And so what I'm getting fromwhat I've heard you say is I got
my business and I love doing mywork, I love delivering the
service or the product orwhatever it is.
But, man, I know that thisbusiness stuff, strategy,
(43:58):
operations, tools, whatever andAI and tech, I know I need that.
I can come to you and say,phyllis, I'm a ding dong, here's
my problem.
Can you help me and you'll letme?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Well, the answer is A , you're not a ding dong and B,
of course I can help you and,like I said, I've never had to
tell a client it can't be done,ever.
So whatever someone might havetold you can't be done or you
don't understand or you wouldn'tbe asking, I call BS, if you
(44:34):
can think it.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
We can build it.
Damn, that's what I'm talkingabout.
So again, a lot of parallels.
What I get is sure, jesse, in aperfect world?
Right, yeah, that works in aperfect world.
Yes, we'll accomplish that in aperfect world.
And my response is, no, not aperfect world.
In the world that we arecreating, you always take
(44:59):
something to sound like man,we're going to make it happen,
we can figure it out, we canmake it happen.
Now, I'm not an AI guy, I'm nota tech guy.
I can hook up a monitor to mycomputer, I know how to plug in
the HDMI cable, and that's aboutthe extent of it.
But one thing I want to pointout folks out there listening
(45:22):
the way you described how to doa prompt like you gave an actual
example of a prompt.
So folks go back and if you'remaybe disappointed or we'll just
say, if you're AI curious, goback to that section, because Ms
Phyllis did a lot, a whole lotmore on that little section than
(45:44):
what I've heard on hours andhours of content on YouTube
about AI, because they say it'sabout the prompt and you got to
train it and like, okay, but yougave a very precise example of
what the context should be whatthe output should be, what the
direction should be what theframe.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
What role do you want AI to play?
Speaker 2 (46:07):
Yes, yes.
So thank you for that, becauseI know how valuable it is.
And folks, save yourselfhundreds of hours.
Just go back and replay.
Listen to that part that MissPhyllis said.
Now I'm going to maybe push theedge a little bit here.
Is there another nugget or twothat people can latch on to in
(46:30):
terms of leveraging AI, besidesjust asking it for locations to
go?
Speaker 1 (46:40):
eat.
That is completely beginner,user-friendly and it's called
Notebook LM and it's done byGoogle and the address is
notebooklmgooglecom and whatthat is.
It lets you take any amount ofdata, any reports, any YouTube
(47:02):
videos, any transcripts,whatever you want, and it will
give you a summary.
It will also build you a mindmap.
It will give you FAQs forwhatever the subject is.
It will give you an executivesummary.
It will give you a study guidewith questions and answers.
So, depending on what you'redoing, that is going to take
(47:25):
things that you already have andmake them into something
amazing, and that is not reallyusing prompts.
You can prompt it and say, okay, now can you help me do this,
that or the other thing.
But Notebook LM's claim to fameis that it organizes a bunch of
different sources on one topicand puts them into a very nice,
(47:47):
cohesive summary.
The biggest thing that it doesthat's so amazing and you have
to go try it is it does apodcast.
It takes all the stuff you putin and there's a man and a woman
and they do a podcast, kind oflike what you and I are doing,
and they talk to each otherabout whatever you gave it as
sources for that it's called a,this is called a notebook, and
(48:11):
so it just talks about it.
And here's the really mindblowing part you can click the
little microphone and interruptthem and say and when you click
it, one of them will go oh, Isee, we have a question here,
and you can ask a question tothe two hosts that are doing the
podcast based on what you gavethem.
They will bring you into theconversation and answer it in
(48:33):
real time and you become a gueston the podcast that they
created.
And it is mind blowing.
Now, two applications for that.
One is to take stuff thatyou're interested in or maybe
you want to.
You're going to do either apresentation, or maybe you're
(48:54):
creating a document or a courseor something.
You can take all the sourcesthat you would normally use to
research it, pump it in thereand then get all that good stuff
out.
One of the things that I dothat I find really useful is
when I go to a workshop or awebinar or something.
I will record it, so I have atranscript on my Otter or if
it's on Zoom, it'll be in myRead AI, but I get the
(49:16):
transcript of whatever the thingis and I put just that one
source into Notebook LM and ittakes, it, gives you the best
notes.
Yes, all of these transcriptioncompanies do give you
transcript summaries and whathave you, but this is like meaty
and very detailed.
So that's a really strong AItool for people to kind of get
(49:39):
started with prompting.
I want people to realize thatin both.
Well, first of all, the threemajor players are ChatGPT, which
everyone's probably heard of,claude and Gemini, which is the
Google.
Now Grok is XAI's chatbot.
(49:59):
It's really snarky and, believeit or not, they kind of tinted
a little bit with politicalthings and what have you.
So I don't really like, andactually it got really snarky
right back to Elon Musk andbasically told him where to get
off, which was kind of I don't,that's there, but I don't use it
.
Now, of those three, claude AIis the same thing, as you might
(50:23):
know, of ChatGPT.
Give it prompts and it actuallyresponds in a more human way, a
more empathetic way.
And both GPT and Claude havewhat they call projects.
So if you were working on aproject of your own or for me, I
have projects for clients, so Iupload all of the knowledge
(50:44):
based documents into the project.
So when I go to the chat, it'snot a plain chat out in plain
old chat GPT or plain old cloud,it's inside of the project.
So I've already uploaded allthe documents that have anything
to do with whatever I'm talkingabout.
So when I start, it already hasa background, it knows what
(51:05):
we're doing, it has all thedetails and it's a much more
meaningful interaction.
And at that point yourprompting doesn't have to be
quite so good, because it knowsthe background, but you still
need to tell it the context ofwhat you want, why you want it,
what its role is, but you don'thave to give it so much
information in each particularchat because it has all that
(51:29):
background right in the project.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
I love it and.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
I'll add one.
You demonstrated the LN.
What did you call it?
The Notebook.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
LM yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Yeah, Notebook LM, and I was like I've heard about
it, oh, you could put all kindsof stuff in it.
I'm like, and I could do thesame thing with chili Like I
don't get it, and then what?
And then what?
But would you show it?
I was like, oh, and so rightnow, this is where my
understanding with AI is.
(52:00):
It's a fabulous tool to distilldata and information rapidly
and serve it up in a way that Iwant it to be served up.
And now that's and I also knowthat's probably like middle
school level.
There's all kinds of thingsthat I don't know, but that
right now, is saving me hundredsof hours on a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Jesse, it doesn't really matter what AI is capable
of, because it doesn't apply toyou or to me.
What matters about AI is howyou can use it in your life and
how I can use it in my life.
Can it do a zillion otherthings?
Absolutely, but I don't need todo those other things, so I
don't let myself get all offtrack with all the stuff that
(52:44):
I'm not using it for.
That it's capable of.
I find what I can use it forthat is going to help me, my
clients, my business, and I makesure that I use that as well as
I can, and the results areamazing.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yes, and particularly I believe and I think you know
this because it's kind of yourbusiness right it is extremely
valuable for coaches,consultants, for solopreneurs.
It's that leverage, it's thattool that can take your game,
your business game, to the nextlevel.
(53:22):
Like it has a tremendous amountof business value.
And so the business and techzen is that the name of the
business?
Speaker 1 (53:32):
Is that tattooed my business name is Tech Mastery
Coaching.
That's a DBA underneath my LLC,because I'm in the Sierra
Nevada mountains up near LakeTahoe, so the umbrella company
is High Sierra Info Systems andI named it way back when I moved
out west, when my partnerbought me out and what have you?
(53:53):
And I hadn't come into thisworld that I'm in now.
So a couple years ago I got theTech Mastery Coaching and Tech
Mastery Consulting and that'sreally the brand name that I use
out in the world right now isthe Tech Mastery Consulting and
Coaching.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
Nice.
So is there a particularaudience that you love to serve
that also gets great resultswhen they spend time with you?
Speaker 1 (54:29):
from eight years of effort here.
The type of clients that Ireally enjoy the most and, I
think, get the most out ofworking with me are business
owners who are ready to go tothe next level.
If it's a product business,they want to add a new product
line.
Or if it's a service business,they want to add a new service.
If it's a coach or a consultant, maybe they've outgrown their
current audience or theiraudience has done everything
(54:50):
that they got available and nowtheir audience is saying, hey,
what's next?
What can I do with you next?
And most of my clients theyjust get to the point where
their business is doing great,but now they're getting I don't
want to use the word bored,because that's not the right
word, but they're ready to picktheir head up and look over the
horizon and see what's next.
So I thrive in that situationfrom my whole life.
(55:13):
As I've told you, I'm reallygood at adapting.
I'm really good at taking whatwe've got and making it even
better, so that I really lovedoing that and I help clients in
the coaching and consultingspheres the most and I help them
first of all see what is thatnext thing that they want to do
and then do some market research, see where the gaps are for
(55:34):
their competitors in this newthing and make sure that what
they're offering fills thosegaps, Then really getting their
niche straightened out, becausenow their audience and their
niche is more than it used to be.
So we have to examine it andfind out is it scalable, Is it
profitable, Is it something thatpeople want?
Is it something that peoplewill pay for?
(55:55):
Is it something that you can doeasily?
And is it adaptable?
Can it zig when the market zagsand those types of things?
And then now your ideal clienthas probably changed too,
because the people you wereselling to before they might
come along with you, but there'smore people out there that
would not have come to yourprevious offer, but they will
(56:18):
come to this one.
And then how do you get thatnew offer?
How do you make that reallyclear and address the things
that you want to do next?
And then, of course, how do youwrite content that speaks in
that ideal client's voice, foreither web pages or for content
on social?
media or for blog posts orwhatever you're going to do.
(56:39):
And then, finally, what is theoffer that you're going to make?
And then the sales processyou're going to use to take
clients from when they neverheard of you, all the way
through the funnel of now thatnot only are they a client, but
you have over-delivered anddelighted them, and now they're
a raving fan and they ask youtwo questions One, what can I do
(57:01):
next?
And they want you to do more.
And two, they refer you totheir colleagues, to their
people on the golf course ortheir people at the gym who have
the same problems that they do.
They'll say, oh yeah, phyllisis Phil.
I'm working with Phyllis andshe's got this all tucked in.
So that's really what I'm doingnow, jesse.
And that is where the businessand tech Zen came in, because I
(57:23):
help people take that reallyscary step of oh, wait a minute,
I don't want to burn down whatI already built because it's
working and.
I kind of don't like it anymore.
We don't burn it down, we justmake the next level happen.
And I help them, I tell themwe're not going to destroy it,
we're going to renovate it,we're going to make it better,
we're going to uplift it.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
I like it.
We're going to spruce it up abit.
We're going to spruce it up.
Yes, I love it.
So, folks, if you missed it, ifyou're out there and you're on
a plateau or on a launching padready for the next step, miss
Phyllis will help you.
Take a sprucing up of the thing, of your business, and it'll be
(58:06):
a holistic sprucing of thething.
It's not going to be burninganything down, it's not going to
be leaving this and that andwhatever.
Speaker 1 (58:22):
You're going to help them set the systems in place.
Do the thinking, do theresearch so that they and get
the strategy, jesse, thestrategy.
So many times my clients come tome with a tech problem and when
you lift up the hood and look,it's not really a tech problem,
it's a strategy problem.
They're trying to tweak thesystems and the funnels and the
programs that they've been using.
They're trying to just tweakthem to do the next thing and
they missed the step of theyneed a new strategy, they need a
(58:45):
new structure.
So the strategy is veryimportant and I help them with
that and you're just wastingtime and money.
If you try to build tech on anold foundation to do something
new, it just won't work.
Speaker 2 (58:57):
I know I've done it, oh my goodness.
All right, so are you ready forthe Grand Slam?
Speaker 1 (59:04):
final question I am Hit me with it.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
Oh, I'm so excited because just your whole journey
of having massive responsibilityas a very young girl down a
career path that very few peoplewith your situation have been
through, and the way you'reserving now you evolve so
rapidly and with such an amazingattitude and energy about it I
(59:31):
think your answer to this isgoing to blow some people's
socks off.
So here we go.
What is the promise you areintended to be?
Speaker 1 (59:53):
am intended to be is the vehicle and the guide to
people who can use the gifts andthe skills that I've been given
.
And going back to your ripplething, I think what I am is I am
that pebble that goes in andthe ripples go out, and I help
my clients, then they help theirclients, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's what I see my role asis helping other people so that
(01:00:14):
they can help other people, andI have a whole big basket of
skills that I can help people on, as you said, a holistic level.
I can help them do everything,and they don't have to have a
finance person and a tech personand an AI person and a strategy
person.
I wear all the hats and thatlets me be more effective and
(01:00:36):
it's easier and less expensivefor my clients because it's all
in one place and I get to makethat impact on their world and I
know then they're makingimpacts and it just goes out to
the universe.
Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Oh, I love it, changing the world, one world at
a time.
You're the vehicle, you're theboulder dropping into the lake,
creating massive ripples.
Ms Phyllis, thank you so muchfor your generosity with your
experience and sharing yourstory.
Did you have fun?
Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
I did, jesse.
This really was fun.
You get a little nervous whensomebody says, oh, podcast, but
this was just like aconversation.
I feel like we're just sittingout in the backyard talking, so
it was really fun, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Oh, so awesome.
Thank you for sticking it outall the way to the end.
I know you got a whole lot ofstuff going on and, in
appreciation for the gift oftime that you have given this
episode, I want to offer you afree PDF of my book Becoming the
Promise You're Intended to Be.
The link for that bad boy isdown in the show notes.
Hit it.
(01:01:42):
You don't even have to give meyour email address.
There's a link in there.
You just click that and you candownload the PDF.
And if you share it withsomebody that you know, who
might feel stuck or be caught upin self-destructive behaviors,
that would be the ultimate yousharing.
That increases the likelihoodthat it's going to help one more
(01:02:04):
person to help one more person,and if it does help one more
person, then you're contributingto me becoming the promise I am
intended to be Be kind toyourself, be cool, and we'll
talk at you next time.
Oh my God, you're like a real person, as opposed
to what.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is going on L&M family.
So glad you're back and youprobably noticed there's been an
uptick on the number ofepisodes that we've been
releasing and so glad that youcame back because or maybe, if
you're not ready for this, holdon to your seats, because what
we got today is an expert orsomebody that is serving the
(00:34):
world in a pretty unique waywhen it comes to AI systems and
business strategy.
Like you already know, you'vebeen hearing about it.
You're curious.
We got somebody that knows whatthe hell they're doing with the
thing, and I ain't that person.
It is our guest.
She brings 30 years ofexperience from all kinds of
(00:56):
industries, including thenuclear, space, construction,
healthcare, medical, legal lotsof stuff here, folks.
So hopefully I'll do a good jobin getting some good nuggets
for us.
Her name is Ms Phyllis Wintersand she is your guide and she
will be our guide to businessand tech zen, which I'm super
(01:19):
eager to hear about this zenstuff.
But before that, if this isyour first time here, you're
listening to the Learnings andMissteps podcast, where amazing
human beings just like you aresharing their gifts and talents
to leave this world better thanthey found it.
I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we about to get to know Ms
(01:44):
Phyllyllis.
Miss Phyllis, how are you?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Hi Jesse, I am great.
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Oh, I'm ecstatic.
So folks out there, if you knowme, you know I'm kind of crazy
and I just do stuff on a whim.
Miss Phyllis is one of thosesuper courageous characters
because we're a part of anothergroup that were doing and
learning cool things, and I said, hey, if you want to be
interviewed, click the link.
And she signed up and bam,we're here.
(02:13):
And so I got to read what yourmotto is, miss Phyllis, and I'm
curious and I know that the L&Mfamily would love to know this
answer why does the impossibletake just a little bit longer?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Mostly because there's usually an extra step or
two.
My whole reason for being is tosolve problems for other people
and I am a master problemsolver and I solve problems in
business and technology and AIand strategy.
I just solve problems.
That's kind of my superpowerand my motto is the difficult I
(02:51):
do right away.
The impossible takes a littlelonger and that's just because
there's usually one or two stepsin there past the difficult.
That makes it take a littlelonger.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, so we're going to talksome problem solving talk,
because I have a similaraffliction.
I take it that when you'rehelping and serving people with
a problem and you have an ideaor solution, the response is
that's not possible, we can't dothat.
Do you face that quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I do, jesse.
And not only do they say it'snot possible, they say they've
already been told it can't bedone.
And when somebody says it can'tbe done, that's like waving a
red flag in front of a bull, andI'd like in over 30 years I
have never, ever had to tell aclient it can't be done, ever.
So when someone tells you itcan't be done, that just means
they don't know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
OK, and so what is it about problems?
Because right now we're talkingabout problems generally, but
what is it about problems thatattracts you or motivates you to
give them so much energy andeffort?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Well, it starts way back when I was very young.
I'm the oldest of six children.
I grew up in a very chaotic,toxic home and, as the oldest, I
was a leader.
I was the substitute mom, I wasthe problem solver.
And the way we learned to copewas basically Phyllis learned to
(04:16):
cope and taught the little onesthat we can get through this
and I would always go for what'sthe worst case and then we
would prepare for the worst caseand then if it was just bad and
it wasn't worse, we would go.
We have a win.
That was great.
So we kind of developed thatmindset very young and because I
(04:37):
was kind of the adult in a lotof situations where I should
have been the child, I learnedhow to just do a lot of things
really early.
And because of that situation,when I'm the oldest and my
sister is the next one, she wasinto dolls and she would play
with dolls and she'd play houseand she'd do tea parties and all
that and I'm like I justchanged diapers and I just did
(04:59):
laundry and I have no interestin playing house.
But what interested me waspuzzles.
I loved doing puzzles.
So she's playing with her dolls, I'm doing puzzles and I think
that was the first iteration ofme realizing how good I was at
solving problems.
And then it just grew and as Ibecame a senior in high school,
(05:20):
my father sat me down and saidhey, you got to get out of these
college prep classes.
You've got to take a typingclass so you can get a job.
And I just looked at him and Isaid, no, I'm going to go to
college.
He goes no, you can't, we can'tafford it.
And I just looked him right inthe eye and said I'm going to do
it, I'll figure it out.
And that was like really gutsyat that.
I was 17, and he was kind of aniron-fisted father.
(05:41):
And he just looked at me and hegoes okay, well, you're going
to wish you had a typing classand in those days I was blessed
because you could get grants andloans and scholarships and
college work, study, and I wasable to just cobble it all
together and I'm living in alittle tiny town where I had
never even seen an airportbefore.
(06:03):
And I'm flying to a state tohave an interview at a college.
I paid for the airplane ticketI had.
I ended up getting scholarshipsand loans and grants and things
and I went to college as thefirst person in my family ever
to go to college.
And then another problem was Icame with the student loans.
(06:23):
So at the end of my sophomoreyear my advisor said okay, so
let's look at.
Oh okay, so what you're incomputers?
He looked right at me and hegoes there's no jobs in
computers.
And, parenthetically, what hemeant was for girls.
My face drained white and Iwent oh my God, I have school
loans.
Where's the money?
What do I have to?
(06:44):
Where can I make money?
I've got to be able to pay themback.
And he said, well, accounting.
And I'm like, oh good, I'm amath person, numbers are numbers
, I can do accounting.
So I did a four-year accountingmajor in two years because I
needed that.
I did.
I love accounting and I am aCPA.
I retired from active CPAdombut you have that knowledge
forever.
(07:04):
And that was kind of how Ijustified it to myself.
I was like, well, whatever I do, every business needs
accounting, so this isn't allbad.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And so that's how.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I got into that.
But I had majored in computerscience and he told me oh,
there's no jobs there.
So that was two major problemsin my life solved, and so by
then it was just second natureto me.
I didn't realize that it was aspecial gift.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh, my goodness.
So thank you.
Big rocks, big like lifeexperiences that are evidence
that not like other people havethe same experience.
Same experience, and what Imean by that is a less than
supporting and motivating parent, short-sighted or narrow
thinking of people that shouldbe supporting you and helping
(07:52):
you, and then we'll just saypremature, massive
responsibilities, meaning beforeyou're even like biologically
ready in terms of braindevelopment to be caring for
others.
Right Like when you were ayoung lady you had your five
siblings that you were kind ofthe responsible one for.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And these are common human experiences.
And the reason I want to pointthat out is for, like the LNM
family member out therelistening to this, like you're
not alone, the L&M family memberout there listening to this,
you're not alone, man.
It's tough, sure, but you'renot alone.
Now, going back to that early,thrown into the fire, figure
(08:35):
something out, make a decisionand if it's better than worse,
we're ahead.
I think I love that.
Right Is is it better thanworse?
Because some people might say,well, that's low standards, like
sure, depending on where youare on.
Well, I'll just go and say onthe socioeconomic status,
(08:57):
because when you're broke andhungry, better than worse is
pretty damn good, exactly,exactly.
And so understand, like, whatwas it about that helped you?
I'm going to say, I'm going tocall it like a callus.
You kind of built a shell thathelped you not get distracted
without or by missing perfection, because better than worse is
(09:21):
not perfect, but it's progress.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And I don't even Jesse, I didn't even look at it
as progress.
I looked at it as we gotthrough another day.
So it wasn't even like I had aspecific goal.
The goal was to get us allthrough today with nobody
getting beat up, nobody gettinghurt, nobody having no clothes
to wear to school tomorrow,nobody going hungry and, when
(09:44):
they were young, no babies indirty diapers.
So it was like a day by daything I did not have a long term
plan at that point, when I wasseven, I was the oldest of five
and so it was, my days were fulland I was going to school and
I'm pretty smart cookie, so Iwas doing really well in school
and luckily it's kind of fadedas I gotten older.
(10:05):
But I had a photographic memoryin smart cookie.
So I was doing really well inschool and luckily it's kind of
faded as I gotten older.
But I had a photographic memoryin those days so I could just
read the book and I knew and Ididn't have to study.
I didn't have a lot of time tostudy, but I didn't realize it
was a thing, jesse, until I gotolder.
And then everybody's saying,like, how did you do that?
I'm like, how would I not do it?
(10:25):
Because I felt so muchdependence of my siblings that,
like, somebody's got to drivethis bus and you're the older
one, so it better be you.
It was their attitude.
So it wasn't a long-term planat all, it was just a daily
survival.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, thank you, and I think that's ultra, ultra
important because I know andwhere you're at today in this
universe is evidence thatsometimes day by day is what it
is.
But it's like the value of that, it's an enormous number of
reps, repetitions to discoverand we'll say, embrace the fact
(11:05):
that you can figure it out.
And so then, looking back andI'm sure this wasn't what was
going through your head, right,because similarly you and I have
very similar paths but I canlook back and say, hell, I've
worked through tougher stuff,like I figured it out.
Then, when I kind of had thatrealization, then it was like,
okay, I can be thinking morethan just today, I can think
(11:28):
about the next three days, I canmake decisions that have
broader impact for a week, for amonth, for a year.
But the foundation is theevidence that I can overcome the
challenge we want to do.
The LNM family member shout out,and this one goes to my buddy,
mr Jim Gontorius.
(11:48):
Jim, you've been a massive andfierce supporter of a lot of the
things that I get my hands intoand I appreciate you taking the
time to make this comment.
Jim says I don't know how youdo all the things that you do.
We can't thank you enough forwhat you have done, not only
with the last event but over thelast couple of years.
Without the do the damn thingthought in my head Breakthrough
(12:12):
Builders may have never happened.
Your ripples of impact travel alot farther than you may think.
Mr Jim, I'm getting allergiesover here.
I'm getting a little teary-eyed.
I appreciate you leaving thatcomment.
I appreciate you letting mespeak into your life and also
for you speaking into my lifeand folks L&M family you already
(12:33):
know.
Leave me a comment, send me aDM.
It doesn't have to be positiveand lovely.
It could be something that bugsyou.
All of them are signals to methat at least one person is
listening and it gives me theopportunity to shout you out in
a future episode.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And I have.
It's not just that I can, I'vedone it.
Yes, the one thing I'll saythat I ever even considered of
the future was when things werereally bad, and I remember
feeling this very young.
I would say am I even going toremember this in five years?
And if so, I better payattention, it's just noise,
let's just get through the day.
(13:13):
So there were, so that thatrealization came to me more
around like age 1011, where Iwas like, hey, like all this
stuff, like I just I can't dealwith it at that level.
And I so I learned to say, ifthis is something I'm going to
wish I had attended to fiveyears from now, then I'm going
to do it, but if I won'tremember it, I'm not going to
(13:33):
stress.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
It's static.
I love that Solid, solid mentalmodel to like focus on what's
important.
Now you mentioned puzzles.
Guess what I love puzzles, likeabsolutely.
I haven't touched one in yearsbecause I can't stop.
It consumes me because I'mobsessive, I got issues, anyways
(13:55):
.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
But they clearly serve you well, your issues, so
I wouldn't kick them out.
They do.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yes, ma'am, a hundred percent.
They are beautiful, glamorous,glorious issues, and I got
plenty of them, and they haveissues too.
So it's all good In terms oflike puzzles.
What is the?
What did you see?
Is there a thread between thepuzzles and computers, or
technology for that matter?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Absolutely.
Yes, you just hit the nailright on that.
Yes, absolutely, because apuzzle is looking at something
that looks horrible it's a messand then straightening it out
and making it be something.
And I loved programming fromhigh school.
Our first computer in schoolwas in my senior year and I
started programming in highschool and I was like that geeky
(14:45):
, nerdy kid like everybody elsewas like and I was very excited
about it and what it is.
It's a different kind of puzzle.
It's that you look at, well,what is it you're trying to do,
break it down into the stepsthat it takes to get there.
And now how do you tell amachine how to do that and that
the puzzle part of it is?
There was trial and error andin those days debugging was like
(15:08):
a nightmare.
Nowadays debugging is reallysimple, but in those days
debugging could be likeliterally an all-day thing.
So all of my puzzle-solvingskills made me have less
iterations when I wasprogramming.
I didn't have to go through asmuch debugging because of my
puzzle mindset.
I was able to get it organizedand make it clear before I
(15:31):
started doing the actualprogramming.
So that really paid off mypuzzle skills.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Okay, so I mean, looking back, you can see that.
Right, you couldn't.
You probably didn't say man,I'm great at puzzles, I should
do computers.
No, what was it about tech orcomputers that captured your
attention?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
My dad was a lineman for the telephone company and
his job was climb up the polesand run the lines, and so he was
always do and he was splicingand this and that.
He was always doing and he wassplicing and this and that and
he would talk about it and thenat home he would.
He was funny because when hewould fix something it was kind
(16:12):
of really funny.
And this is where I think someof my puzzle skills came in.
If, let's say, the toasterbroke, he would take the toaster
apart, go, oh yeah, I see whatit is, and he'd put it all back
together and there would beparts left over and I would look
at him and go dad, what arethese?
And he'd go ah, you don't needthem, that's not important.
That's not important, exactly.
(16:32):
So I watched that and I waslike, yeah, I'm pretty sure
those are important.
And through that I startedlooking at that type of physical
and electrical things.
That type of physical andelectrical things.
And I just naturally, for somereason, had an ability to do
cabling of all things.
So when computers first started, I was the one that ran the
(16:56):
cables.
And even before that, like ingrade school, I was that weird
kid with the AV cart thatbrought in the overhead
projector and everything.
Because I was the only one thatcould figure out how to hook it
up.
It was so simple, and yet.
I would have thought it wasrocket science.
So that kind of just came intomy life because and like I was
the only one that raised my handand said, the teacher said,
(17:16):
does anybody know how to fixthis?
And I said, let me take a look.
And I did figure it out.
So now all of a sudden I'm theexpert.
So that carried with me.
And then I got that confidencethat I can figure out like
electrical things and AV things.
And then in the computers I wasdoing the programming.
But then I got to the pointwhere I started doing way back
(17:37):
when they first started computernetworking for PCs, where
somebody had to run those cablesand it was me, and somebody had
to set up the those cables, andit was me, and somebody had to
set up the server, and it was me.
And so I actually just starteddoing those things because
nobody else knew how.
And that was when I started myfirst business.
I was 27 and I was freaking outand I said to my husband I said
(17:58):
but I don't really.
I said I only know a little bit.
And he goes Phyllis, it's somuch more than anybody else
knows.
So what you?
think is a little bit to them.
They think you're a genius andhe was right.
He was absolutely right.
So it just kind of flowed frommy curiosity with puzzles,
watching my father not fixthings correctly, thinking that
(18:19):
I'm pretty sure those partsreally do need to go in there,
and then just taking thatforward into the AV card, into
programming cabling.
And now I take that skill and Iuse it with AI and integrating
systems to use AI and helping myclients connect things that
other people have told themcan't be done.
And, like I said, I've neverhad to say, oh no, we can't do
(18:41):
that.
So it's all been now that Ilook back, as you said, I didn't
know it then but looking back Ican see the through thread.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, like it's been progressively stacking skills in
a particular path, maybe not onpurpose, but that's what
happened.
So you said a couple of things.
One you undervalued or maybeyou couldn't see the value in
your knowledge and experience,because it's you, you're living
in it, you're swimming in it.
(19:09):
We make these assumptions,everybody knows that.
That's basic.
Nobody wants to hear that, butthey don't know, they just don't
know.
And so, coming to terms withthat, I want to say it this way,
like for the listeners outthere you have if you have an
(19:29):
idea or something stirringwithin, doing it for a fee
because it's extremely valuableand it may be so valuable that
other people will pay you for it.
Just something like it's supergeneral, but for real, we are
(19:58):
not great at understanding thevalue of our own life experience
and it is important.
So you talked about I love thewords you said was physical and
electrical, because in my head,like oh, that is a great way to
describe what it feels like to,or what it felt like when I
(20:23):
first started using a stupidcomputer Like I.
Everybody knows I.
My career path was I wassupposed to go to college.
Cause why?
Cause everybody said I shouldto go be in the like an engineer
.
I didn't know what the hell anengineer was.
I got a summer job on a jobsite and I loved it.
And also I didn't want to goand read more books, do more
(20:45):
writing and mess around with thecomputer.
So I started in construction.
Well, fast forward, today in mybusiness I don't.
There ain't nothing I dowithout a computer.
But anyways, back to when Ifirst started playing messing
around with the damn computer.
It was a new engagement.
(21:08):
It was a new dance between thephysical and the electrical.
Right now, computer is way morethan like it's programming and
all those other things.
I just love the way you saidthat I was like well, yeah,
that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
It is and with the computers it's.
It's even obviously it'selectrical, but it's even more
of it, almost like a mind.
Yeah, the electrical has to bethere, but your mind has to
connect to the computer and thecomputer has to connect to your
mind, not physically.
I'm not talking about theneural chip or anything like
that, I'm just talking about theway you interact with the
(21:39):
computer and I always saygarbage in, garbage out, garbage
in, garbage out.
Remember, even with AI it stilldoesn't really know anything
about you or your business oryour situation or your clients
or your message or your offer.
It doesn't know any of thatstuff.
So while it's brilliant atgeneral stuff, it doesn't know
(22:00):
you.
So back when I was a programmer, way back when, we would say
garbage in, garbage out, whichmeans if you write a sloppy
program you're going to getsloppy results.
And now with AI, that's stilltrue, but on steroids.
Because, some people will sitdown to AI and just ask a vague
question, like they would atGoogle search, and then go.
(22:22):
Well, I don't know what all thehype is here.
This is the same as Google, andbecause they're not giving it
good prompts, they're not askingit.
And when you do a prompt in AI,it's not just a question.
You have to give it context.
What is the purpose of whatwe're doing?
Give it a role, tell it you arean expert at whatever it is
(22:42):
you're working on and you areexperienced in writing, blah,
blah, blah.
Here's an example of one that Ilike.
I want my output to be threepages long, or three paragraphs
long, and I want it to belighthearted, yet helpful and
instructional, but not tooprofessorial.
Now you put that prompt in andyou're going to get something
(23:05):
that I always say it's 80-20.
It's 80% there.
So you're starting with a firstdraft that is 80%.
You can use it.
Now some people I don't agreewill just take that 80%, call it
good enough and use it.
No, you shouldn't do that.
Take it as your first draft, doyour magic, put the other 20%
(23:26):
in and then it's the finishedproduct.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Oh yes, and you kind of just described my whole
experience with AI, because Iwas like this is stupid.
And then I got clear, like Icould give it context, I could
give it specific direction, Icould articulate what I want the
outlook or the output to looklike.
And I was like whoa.
And so, it's funny, one of myexes because I have a bunch of
them, phyllis, believe it or nottold me this a few years back.
(23:53):
She's like Jess, I think you'reprobably going to find somebody
that you can have as a lifelongpartner.
And I'm like, really, is itbecause I'm so accomplished now
and I'm not a freaking goofballanymore?
Say no, it's because of all theadvancements they've make with
AI.
Ouch, that's a really good one.
(24:14):
I just need to get the rightprompt and it'll be great.
Anyway, sorry for that.
Well, and speaking, about AI.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Jesse, if any of your listeners use AI or trying to
dip their toe into the AI pool,the thing I tell my clients is
remember that AI, like I said,doesn't know anything about you
or anything around you, and totreat it like an assistant.
If you just hired a new officeassistant or a new apprentice on
(24:41):
a job out in the field, youwouldn't just say here you go,
do this.
You would train them.
You would tell them hey, thisis the way we do it.
You might've done it adifferent way, the last company
you work for, or maybe you'rejust out of school and this is
your first gig, but this is howwe do it.
This is what's acceptable.
This is what's not acceptable.
This is what's expected of you.
(25:03):
This is our client or this isthe job.
This is our's expected of you.
This is our client or this isthe job.
This is our claim to fame, thisis what we do.
And then that assistant couldactually be helpful to you.
You would never, ever have thatnew assistant.
Give them that little spiel,ask them to do something and
then just pass it off as yourown without checking it.
But a lot of people do thatwith AI as your own without
(25:28):
checking it, but a lot of peopledo that with AI.
So my main mantra to peoplestarting with AI is think of it
as a new assistant, and howwould you train that assistant
if it was a person instead of AI?
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yeah, be explicit.
I mean, for me it's that and ithas whatever the intelligence
or the programming thataccommodates.
Maybe vague and verbosedescription like it can distill
what I'm trying to say, becausethere's times I'm like I don't I
know what I want, but I'm goingto say it this way and I'm like
, okay, you understood.
(25:57):
Good, let's keep on rolling.
But you're so.
There is an investment,tremendous value in it, right?
And then for me, like I, Inever copy paste, not because
I'm very ethical, but because italways comes out way smarter
than what I would write.
So I have to go dirty it up anddummy it up so people won't
know that I'm using AI.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
But, jesse, you could actually and I help my clients
actually teach it your brandvoice, to teach it to sound like
Jesse.
It's easier to do that, easierto do than you think, and once
you do that, then it's going tobe whatever you want it to be.
And let's be honest, sometimesyou, depending on if you're
making a presentation to anaudience of people, you know
(26:42):
where they're coming from it canbe at their level.
If you're doing it to highschool students to talk about
opportunities in the trades, youwould tell it, and I wouldn't
even say, put it at the highschool level, because some of
those students in high schoolmay not have the same reading
and comprehension as everybody.
So, say, do it at the eighthgrade level.
(27:03):
So, depending on who youraudience is, you can tell it and
I'm not going to call it dumbit down because it's not really
dumbing it down what it iscommunicating at the level of
your audience.
So that's what it is.
You got it.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, make it easy for everybody to understand it.
A hundred percent, yeah.
Now what I'm picking up on whatyou've shared so far, ms
Phyllis, is that you're alwayskind of on the front edge of
things, the leading edge, and Iknow this, that when you're on
the leading edge it's anisolating experience, or can be,
(27:37):
and people think you're wacko.
So there's that.
Plus, you were in an industrythat I can only imagine, back in
the day, when you first started, even during university, that
you were probably one of veryfew women in that situation.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
In most cases, Jesse, I was the one, or on a good day
there would be two women andthe rest was all men.
And then all my clients wereall men, because in those days
women just weren't in thoseroles and all I could say is two
things.
One, I spoke their languagebecause I did understand their
(28:17):
business.
I did understand what theydidn't understand about their
tech and their software andtheir network and all that kind
of stuff.
But two, I am an absoluteraving NFL football fan and I
love the game.
I'm not just one team yes, Ialways have a team that I would
like to see win but I follow allthe teams, all the guys, all
(28:39):
the, and I know, oh, and I'll gointo it and say, oh, did you
see that game last night?
Oh, my God.
And I would go into the wholething and the guys would look at
me like you watch football.
And all of a sudden it was likewe were buddies and now we're
talking about the game.
And then, when you know howguys are during football season,
we were talking about the gamefor 25 minutes and then we go oh
(28:59):
shoot, we've only got 10minutes.
Then we'd get through themeeting really quick and they
would listen and they respectedother things I said because I
wasn't bullshit and when I wastalking about football they knew
I knew my stuff and for somereason, believe it or not, that
got me farther in some casesthan my true professional
knowledge.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, so thank, amazing.
And there's two core,fundamental principles in what
you just said that anybody canlatch on to.
One is find common ground.
Right, Find common ground.
I didn't say tell people whatyou appreciate.
(29:41):
I said you find common ground.
I said you find common ground.
That's the game.
The other thing is speak theirlanguage, Learn the language
that resonates with them.
I'm doing them in quotationmarks.
(30:03):
Sure, it would be nice ifeverybody accommodated what I
value and what I appreciate and,oh my God, would it not be nice
if everybody would learn tospeak my language.
But that is an unreasonableexpectation and a perfect
formula for staying stuck andbitching and complaining about
my situation.
When I, like you did, findcommon grounds an interest that
they have that I share I'mbreaking through the wall.
(30:26):
When I learn to speak theirlanguage, I'm breaking through
the wall and I have full controlover that and I love how simple
, practical and impactful whatyou did is and how it's
contributed to your career andthe way you serve people.
Now.
Now you mentioned I feel likewe slid over and I know there's
(30:46):
a deeper story there but youmentioned you started a business
.
Is that the same businessyou're doing now?
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yes and no.
For the most part yes, andthere's a little bit of history
there because remember I didn'tget to have my computer science
major in school.
So I had a minor, got out, gotan accounting job with a big aid
accounting firm, which was Iwas the only person in my school
that got that worked there andthen, as an accountant, got my
(31:15):
two years.
I only needed two years ofpublic accounting to get my CPA.
I studied that and those daysyou couldn't use calculators on
the CPA exam.
It was all by hand and there wasfive parts and because it was
all by hand, each part was fourhours.
So I was studying day and night.
I'm like I'm just going to goat this full bore because
(31:36):
everybody said, oh, study fortwo parts, because you needed
two in order for it to count andthen you could go back and do
it again and I said there's noway, I'm doing this again.
So I just studied like a crazyperson for four months, passed
the whole thing first time theonly person in my state that did
that and that got me able toget out of accounting because,
okay, they made me do accounting.
(31:58):
I got my CPA what's next?
And I ended up I was working.
I got out of public accountingand worked as an auditor in our
public utility locally and boredto tears.
I went from crazy like 12 hourdays, seven days a week for four
months straight to the firstmeeting I was in for an internal
(32:18):
audit.
I got a job as an internalauditor the first meeting I was
in and they were handing outprojects.
They handed out my project.
Well, I went back to my deskand I had it done the end of the
next day and I went to mysupervisor.
I said, okay, now what?
And she looked at me and shegoes that was your project until
December, and I'm like it'sOctober.
(32:41):
Oh my God, what am I going todo for two months?
So they actually got me busy,and one of the things they did
is they signed me up for the NewEngland Power Exchange.
We needed a representative fromour utility company, and that
is the New England states gettogether and make deals Well,
not just deals, but they planwhere their plants are going to
be, how distribution andtransmission is going to work,
(33:04):
and when somebody goes down,who's going to fill in the gap.
So it was very complex, verymuch a puzzle solving thing.
So I was for it and in thatexperience I met the partner at
Pete Marwick who was managementconsulting, and after six or
seven months of this, he stoppedme at the elevator one time
when we were leaving.
We were in Boston, and he goeshey, you're in Connecticut,
(33:27):
right.
And I said yes, and he goes ifyou're ever going to leave, call
me first.
I don't want you going out tothe market, call me.
So I did it, maybe another sixor eight months.
Then I called him.
I said, hey, were you serious?
And he goes absolutely.
So I became a managementconsultant at Pete Marwick,
(33:48):
which was great and I loved it.
And right about then is whenthe first PCs and the first Mac
computers were coming out and Iwatched that and prior to then
we all had mainframes and people.
You had to be a computer personin order to use the computer.
So I went to him and I said hey,I think PCs came.
I said I think these PCs aregoing to be big, I think we're
(34:08):
going to have one on everybody'sdesk and I think we should.
Pete Marwick should start acomputer consulting division and
I want to be a part of it, andhe was a former IBMer.
So he kind of figurativelypatted me on my head oh you,
cute little thing no, no,mainframes are here to stay.
Thing no, no, mainframes arehere to stay.
(34:29):
This is a flash in the pan.
So I waited about six monthsand I went back and I said if
you're not going to do this, I'mgoing to.
And so he goes.
Oh, okay, you go ahead, yourjob is safe.
When you get done with thatlittle thing, come back and you
can have your job back.
Well, that was decades ago, 30plus years ago, and here I am.
That through point was the samebusiness.
Now I made the terrible mistake.
Another one of those lessonslearned and missteps is I made a
(34:53):
.
I was doing all of theprogramming and the software and
the computer networking cameout and I was doing the cabling
and I was doing setting up theservers plus doing doing the
accounting plus doing theprogramming and it was just too
much.
So I hired this gentleman and Isaid look you do.
I put him through a trialperiod and he did really well
(35:14):
and I said tell you what I'mgoing to give you the whole
networking thing, that's your,that's you and I'm going to do
the consulting, softwareprogramming stuff.
And I gave him 50% of thebusiness which was such a
mistake.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
So fast forward talk about a misstep.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
That was like going off a cliff.
Very big mistake.
And anyway, fast forward, 10 or15 years later, and now he's
decided he doesn't need meanymore because I don't do what
he does.
Well, I hired you to build thatand I.
Anyway, long story short, weended up.
He bought me out, I moved outwest, we've been in Connecticut
(35:54):
and now I went into the onlineworld.
So, yes, I kept my Connecticutclients and I had another client
in Rhode Island and I stillworked on them remotely.
So it is the same business, butnow I do those clients and but
it's all remote, and now I do alot online.
So I have clients all over theworld.
So technically it's the samebusiness, but there was a little
(36:18):
bit of a blow up there in themiddle where we went our
separate ways.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Well, and thank you for painting the whole picture,
because it's another data pointof how success is not a straight
line and what I love.
If no one's ever told you this,shame on them.
But I love your outlook andenergy and spirit about all of
(36:44):
it, because you have a lot ofgood excuses for being pissed
off and bitter, but that is notwhat's coming across over here,
sister.
You're like okay, problemwhat's.
It may not be better, but itain't worse, right?
That's exactly right, Pat on thehead, Like I've experienced it
(37:05):
and it pissed me off.
But you can't like it could befuel, but it's dirty fuel, right
?
You had a partner.
You went and started your ownbusiness.
You saw a space in the market.
You said, hell, yeah, I'm gonnago do it.
You did it.
You did all the work tofreaking, make it, bring it to
life.
And they needed help, broughtsomebody in to help that.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
you brought them into the thing you created and then
they took it or whatever theytook that part of it and decided
they didn't need me anymorebecause that wasn't my thing.
No shit, that's not my thing.
That's why I hired you.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I hired, you fool.
But you've continued to like,okay, what's next?
And folks, for the young guyslistening out there, whenever
you're feeling down and feellike, oh my God, this is only
happening to me, why me, comeback and listen.
Just replay the past three orfour minutes, because you ain't
(37:58):
the only one and you don't haveto be sour about it, phyllis
ain't.
So what's interesting to me iswe've talked a lot about your
technical expertise and the wayyou see problems and
appreciation, and we'll saywhat's the word accomplishments
with regard to tech, but youalso have this very relatable,
(38:21):
engaging human personality,which is extremely at least from
my experience, very.
It's a very rare combination.
Has anyone told you that before?
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Yes, they have.
And again, like you saidearlier, it's always been me.
So I don't realize it's unusual, because that's just the way I
am.
But I have had many clients sayto me.
But I have had many clients sayto me oh my God, you're like a
real person.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Like as opposed to what?
As opposed to C3PO, I guess.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Oh, that's hilarious.
Well, hopefully this will helpPhyllis, because most people I
get the opposite.
They're like man, you're afreaking robot, jess.
Oh, I'm trying here anyhow.
So you had the the deal.
The guy said I want my thing.
He bought you out and then youdove into the online world.
(39:20):
Is this when the business techzen awakening happened?
Speaker 1 (39:25):
really that was the embryonic stages, because my
first online thing, all I reallydid was take my consulting
projects for tech and it andprogramming and accounting and
just do the same thing.
I had done brick and mortar anddo it online.
That was just continuation ofwhat I've always done, just in a
(39:49):
different way.
And then I got into a programwhere somebody convinced me that
oh, this dollars for moneything you shouldn't be doing
that.
You need to do a group coachingthing.
I'm like, but I don't reallycoach.
I do coach my clients, butthat's not all I do.
I end up doing coaching as partof the project.
(40:09):
So anyway, I took that badadvice, spent a whole year
trying to build this groupprogram mastermind, blah, blah,
blah Discovered what I kind ofknew but I guess I needed to
have it hit me in the face iswhat I do with people's systems
and their strategy and theirintimate parts of their business
.
It's not suited to group.
(40:29):
It's not no one is going to tellme the honest truth about the
terrible things that are goingon in a group setting.
They don't want to admit it inpublic, whereas one-on-one oh my
God, my husband is a retiredmental health counselor and all
through our life I'd come homefrom work and he'd say, oh my
God, you did more counselingtoday than I did Because people
(40:52):
would like, I guess, going backto the personality thing.
People would just relate to meand tell me their worst secrets.
And I knew everybody's kidsproblems, everybody's marriage
problems.
You know everything.
And we would just be chitchatchatting.
I'd be doing my work and we'rechit-chatting.
So I just got to know them andI should have known that when I
started this group coachingthing, but I didn't.
(41:14):
I should have.
And then so that petered out andthat was last year, this year
or the end of last year, I saidyou know what?
I'm going to go back to myproject thing with the idea that
there are certain things that Ifind myself saying to every
single client.
There's like training things orQ&A things that I can do in a
(41:36):
group setting.
That is appropriate.
In a group, no one's going tobe embarrassed, no one's dirty
laundry gets aired.
So what I've finally come to andhere's the business and tech
Zen part of it is most peopleare scared to death of tech,
scared to death of AI.
They get anxiety and tensionand stress when they think about
it and I always say, hey, no,it's going to be good.
(41:58):
And I talk them off the ledgeand by the end, like you said,
they go oh, you're so easygoing,you make this was so hard and
you make it seem so easy.
It's like I feel peaceful abouttech and they'll say to me I
never thought those words wouldcome out of my mouth.
So then I came up with thebusiness and tech Zen.
Because tech Zen because thecomputers are less stress, and
(42:19):
business Zen because I do thestrategy and structure and
accounting.
I don't do the accounting, butI make sure they know what they
need to keep track of and ifthey need help setting it up.
I'll help them set it up.
But so I take all those twothings that are really stressful
to people their business andtheir tech and I make it not
(42:39):
stressful and I make it fun.
And everybody says, oh my God,I never thought I'd say hey,
this is fun.
And B, I feel so peaceful.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Wow, wow.
So again, like it's another lay, like that puzzle, you keep
tinkering on this immaculatepuzzle.
What I think is profound andmaybe ultra, like the superpower
you've said it multiple timesyour superpower is I didn't
start a business because Iunderstand every damn business
concept and I wanted to exercisethem and make them better.
(43:10):
No, I started a businessbecause I wanted to serve people
a certain way and then I had tolearn all the other crap
accounting and taxes and billingand business development and
marketing.
In order for me to serve theway I want to serve, I have to
learn this, or maybe not evenlearn it, but like, make my way
through it.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
You have to at least use it, Jesse.
Maybe you don't learn it todevelop it, but you need to
learn how to use it.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yes, and the same thing with tech and now AI.
And so what I'm getting fromwhat I've heard you say is I got
my business and I love doing mywork, I love delivering the
service or the product orwhatever it is.
But, man, I know that thisbusiness stuff, strategy,
(43:58):
operations, tools, whatever andAI and tech, I know I need that.
I can come to you and say,phyllis, I'm a ding dong, here's
my problem.
Can you help me and you'll letme?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Well, the answer is A , you're not a ding dong and B,
of course I can help you and,like I said, I've never had to
tell a client it can't be done,ever.
So whatever someone might havetold you can't be done or you
don't understand or you wouldn'tbe asking, I call BS, if you
(44:34):
can think it.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
We can build it.
Damn, that's what I'm talkingabout.
So again, a lot of parallels.
What I get is sure, jesse, in aperfect world?
Right, yeah, that works in aperfect world.
Yes, we'll accomplish that in aperfect world.
And my response is, no, not aperfect world.
In the world that we arecreating, you always take
(44:59):
something to sound like man,we're going to make it happen,
we can figure it out, we canmake it happen.
Now, I'm not an AI guy, I'm nota tech guy.
I can hook up a monitor to mycomputer, I know how to plug in
the HDMI cable, and that's aboutthe extent of it.
But one thing I want to pointout folks out there listening
(45:22):
the way you described how to doa prompt like you gave an actual
example of a prompt.
So folks go back and if you'remaybe disappointed or we'll just
say, if you're AI curious, goback to that section, because Ms
Phyllis did a lot, a whole lotmore on that little section than
(45:44):
what I've heard on hours andhours of content on YouTube
about AI, because they say it'sabout the prompt and you got to
train it and like, okay, but yougave a very precise example of
what the context should be whatthe output should be, what the
direction should be what theframe.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
What role do you want AI to play?
Speaker 2 (46:07):
Yes, yes.
So thank you for that, becauseI know how valuable it is.
And folks, save yourselfhundreds of hours.
Just go back and replay.
Listen to that part that MissPhyllis said.
Now I'm going to maybe push theedge a little bit here.
Is there another nugget or twothat people can latch on to in
(46:30):
terms of leveraging AI, besidesjust asking it for locations to
go?
Speaker 1 (46:40):
eat.
That is completely beginner,user-friendly and it's called
Notebook LM and it's done byGoogle and the address is
notebooklmgooglecom and whatthat is.
It lets you take any amount ofdata, any reports, any YouTube
(47:02):
videos, any transcripts,whatever you want, and it will
give you a summary.
It will also build you a mindmap.
It will give you FAQs forwhatever the subject is.
It will give you an executivesummary.
It will give you a study guidewith questions and answers.
So, depending on what you'redoing, that is going to take
(47:25):
things that you already have andmake them into something
amazing, and that is not reallyusing prompts.
You can prompt it and say, okay, now can you help me do this,
that or the other thing.
But Notebook LM's claim to fameis that it organizes a bunch of
different sources on one topicand puts them into a very nice,
(47:47):
cohesive summary.
The biggest thing that it doesthat's so amazing and you have
to go try it is it does apodcast.
It takes all the stuff you putin and there's a man and a woman
and they do a podcast, kind oflike what you and I are doing,
and they talk to each otherabout whatever you gave it as
sources for that it's called a,this is called a notebook, and
(48:11):
so it just talks about it.
And here's the really mindblowing part you can click the
little microphone and interruptthem and say and when you click
it, one of them will go oh, Isee, we have a question here,
and you can ask a question tothe two hosts that are doing the
podcast based on what you gavethem.
They will bring you into theconversation and answer it in
(48:33):
real time and you become a gueston the podcast that they
created.
And it is mind blowing.
Now, two applications for that.
One is to take stuff thatyou're interested in or maybe
you want to.
You're going to do either apresentation, or maybe you're
(48:54):
creating a document or a courseor something.
You can take all the sourcesthat you would normally use to
research it, pump it in thereand then get all that good stuff
out.
One of the things that I dothat I find really useful is
when I go to a workshop or awebinar or something.
I will record it, so I have atranscript on my Otter or if
it's on Zoom, it'll be in myRead AI, but I get the
(49:16):
transcript of whatever the thingis and I put just that one
source into Notebook LM and ittakes, it, gives you the best
notes.
Yes, all of these transcriptioncompanies do give you
transcript summaries and whathave you, but this is like meaty
and very detailed.
So that's a really strong AItool for people to kind of get
(49:39):
started with prompting.
I want people to realize thatin both.
Well, first of all, the threemajor players are ChatGPT, which
everyone's probably heard of,claude and Gemini, which is the
Google.
Now Grok is XAI's chatbot.
(49:59):
It's really snarky and, believeit or not, they kind of tinted
a little bit with politicalthings and what have you.
So I don't really like, andactually it got really snarky
right back to Elon Musk andbasically told him where to get
off, which was kind of I don't,that's there, but I don't use it
.
Now, of those three, claude AIis the same thing, as you might
(50:23):
know, of ChatGPT.
Give it prompts and it actuallyresponds in a more human way, a
more empathetic way.
And both GPT and Claude havewhat they call projects.
So if you were working on aproject of your own or for me, I
have projects for clients, so Iupload all of the knowledge
(50:44):
based documents into the project.
So when I go to the chat, it'snot a plain chat out in plain
old chat GPT or plain old cloud,it's inside of the project.
So I've already uploaded allthe documents that have anything
to do with whatever I'm talkingabout.
So when I start, it already hasa background, it knows what
(51:05):
we're doing, it has all thedetails and it's a much more
meaningful interaction.
And at that point yourprompting doesn't have to be
quite so good, because it knowsthe background, but you still
need to tell it the context ofwhat you want, why you want it,
what its role is, but you don'thave to give it so much
information in each particularchat because it has all that
(51:29):
background right in the project.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
I love it and.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
I'll add one.
You demonstrated the LN.
What did you call it?
The Notebook.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
LM yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Yeah, Notebook LM, and I was like I've heard about
it, oh, you could put all kindsof stuff in it.
I'm like, and I could do thesame thing with chili Like I
don't get it, and then what?
And then what?
But would you show it?
I was like, oh, and so rightnow, this is where my
understanding with AI is.
(52:00):
It's a fabulous tool to distilldata and information rapidly
and serve it up in a way that Iwant it to be served up.
And now that's and I also knowthat's probably like middle
school level.
There's all kinds of thingsthat I don't know, but that
right now, is saving me hundredsof hours on a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Jesse, it doesn't really matter what AI is capable
of, because it doesn't apply toyou or to me.
What matters about AI is howyou can use it in your life and
how I can use it in my life.
Can it do a zillion otherthings?
Absolutely, but I don't need todo those other things, so I
don't let myself get all offtrack with all the stuff that
(52:44):
I'm not using it for.
That it's capable of.
I find what I can use it forthat is going to help me, my
clients, my business, and I makesure that I use that as well as
I can, and the results areamazing.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yes, and particularly I believe and I think you know
this because it's kind of yourbusiness right it is extremely
valuable for coaches,consultants, for solopreneurs.
It's that leverage, it's thattool that can take your game,
your business game, to the nextlevel.
(53:22):
Like it has a tremendous amountof business value.
And so the business and techzen is that the name of the
business?
Speaker 1 (53:32):
Is that tattooed my business name is Tech Mastery
Coaching.
That's a DBA underneath my LLC,because I'm in the Sierra
Nevada mountains up near LakeTahoe, so the umbrella company
is High Sierra Info Systems andI named it way back when I moved
out west, when my partnerbought me out and what have you?
(53:53):
And I hadn't come into thisworld that I'm in now.
So a couple years ago I got theTech Mastery Coaching and Tech
Mastery Consulting and that'sreally the brand name that I use
out in the world right now isthe Tech Mastery Consulting and
Coaching.
Speaker 2 (54:10):
Nice.
So is there a particularaudience that you love to serve
that also gets great resultswhen they spend time with you?
Speaker 1 (54:29):
from eight years of effort here.
The type of clients that Ireally enjoy the most and, I
think, get the most out ofworking with me are business
owners who are ready to go tothe next level.
If it's a product business,they want to add a new product
line.
Or if it's a service business,they want to add a new service.
If it's a coach or a consultant, maybe they've outgrown their
current audience or theiraudience has done everything
(54:50):
that they got available and nowtheir audience is saying, hey,
what's next?
What can I do with you next?
And most of my clients theyjust get to the point where
their business is doing great,but now they're getting I don't
want to use the word bored,because that's not the right
word, but they're ready to picktheir head up and look over the
horizon and see what's next.
So I thrive in that situationfrom my whole life.
(55:13):
As I've told you, I'm reallygood at adapting.
I'm really good at taking whatwe've got and making it even
better, so that I really lovedoing that and I help clients in
the coaching and consultingspheres the most and I help them
first of all see what is thatnext thing that they want to do
and then do some market research, see where the gaps are for
(55:34):
their competitors in this newthing and make sure that what
they're offering fills thosegaps, Then really getting their
niche straightened out, becausenow their audience and their
niche is more than it used to be.
So we have to examine it andfind out is it scalable, Is it
profitable, Is it something thatpeople want?
Is it something that peoplewill pay for?
(55:55):
Is it something that you can doeasily?
And is it adaptable?
Can it zig when the market zagsand those types of things?
And then now your ideal clienthas probably changed too,
because the people you wereselling to before they might
come along with you, but there'smore people out there that
would not have come to yourprevious offer, but they will
(56:18):
come to this one.
And then how do you get thatnew offer?
How do you make that reallyclear and address the things
that you want to do next?
And then, of course, how do youwrite content that speaks in
that ideal client's voice, foreither web pages or for content
on social?
media or for blog posts orwhatever you're going to do.
(56:39):
And then, finally, what is theoffer that you're going to make?
And then the sales processyou're going to use to take
clients from when they neverheard of you, all the way
through the funnel of now thatnot only are they a client, but
you have over-delivered anddelighted them, and now they're
a raving fan and they ask youtwo questions One, what can I do
(57:01):
next?
And they want you to do more.
And two, they refer you totheir colleagues, to their
people on the golf course ortheir people at the gym who have
the same problems that they do.
They'll say, oh yeah, phyllisis Phil.
I'm working with Phyllis andshe's got this all tucked in.
So that's really what I'm doingnow, jesse.
And that is where the businessand tech Zen came in, because I
(57:23):
help people take that reallyscary step of oh, wait a minute,
I don't want to burn down whatI already built because it's
working and.
I kind of don't like it anymore.
We don't burn it down, we justmake the next level happen.
And I help them, I tell themwe're not going to destroy it,
we're going to renovate it,we're going to make it better,
we're going to uplift it.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
I like it.
We're going to spruce it up abit.
We're going to spruce it up.
Yes, I love it.
So, folks, if you missed it, ifyou're out there and you're on
a plateau or on a launching padready for the next step, miss
Phyllis will help you.
Take a sprucing up of the thing, of your business, and it'll be
(58:06):
a holistic sprucing of thething.
It's not going to be burninganything down, it's not going to
be leaving this and that andwhatever.
Speaker 1 (58:22):
You're going to help them set the systems in place.
Do the thinking, do theresearch so that they and get
the strategy, jesse, thestrategy.
So many times my clients come tome with a tech problem and when
you lift up the hood and look,it's not really a tech problem,
it's a strategy problem.
They're trying to tweak thesystems and the funnels and the
programs that they've been using.
They're trying to just tweakthem to do the next thing and
they missed the step of theyneed a new strategy, they need a
(58:45):
new structure.
So the strategy is veryimportant and I help them with
that and you're just wastingtime and money.
If you try to build tech on anold foundation to do something
new, it just won't work.
Speaker 2 (58:57):
I know I've done it, oh my goodness.
All right, so are you ready forthe Grand Slam?
Speaker 1 (59:04):
final question I am Hit me with it.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
Oh, I'm so excited because just your whole journey
of having massive responsibilityas a very young girl down a
career path that very few peoplewith your situation have been
through, and the way you'reserving now you evolve so
rapidly and with such an amazingattitude and energy about it I
(59:31):
think your answer to this isgoing to blow some people's
socks off.
So here we go.
What is the promise you areintended to be?
Speaker 1 (59:53):
am intended to be is the vehicle and the guide to
people who can use the gifts andthe skills that I've been given
.
And going back to your ripplething, I think what I am is I am
that pebble that goes in andthe ripples go out, and I help
my clients, then they help theirclients, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's what I see my role asis helping other people so that
(01:00:14):
they can help other people, andI have a whole big basket of
skills that I can help people on, as you said, a holistic level.
I can help them do everything,and they don't have to have a
finance person and a tech personand an AI person and a strategy
person.
I wear all the hats and thatlets me be more effective and
(01:00:36):
it's easier and less expensivefor my clients because it's all
in one place and I get to makethat impact on their world and I
know then they're makingimpacts and it just goes out to
the universe.
Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Oh, I love it, changing the world, one world at
a time.
You're the vehicle, you're theboulder dropping into the lake,
creating massive ripples.
Ms Phyllis, thank you so muchfor your generosity with your
experience and sharing yourstory.
Did you have fun?
Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
I did, jesse.
This really was fun.
You get a little nervous whensomebody says, oh, podcast, but
this was just like aconversation.
I feel like we're just sittingout in the backyard talking, so
it was really fun, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Oh, so awesome.
Thank you for sticking it outall the way to the end.
I know you got a whole lot ofstuff going on and, in
appreciation for the gift oftime that you have given this
episode, I want to offer you afree PDF of my book Becoming the
Promise You're Intended to Be.
The link for that bad boy isdown in the show notes.
Hit it.
(01:01:42):
You don't even have to give meyour email address.
There's a link in there.
You just click that and you candownload the PDF.
And if you share it withsomebody that you know, who
might feel stuck or be caught upin self-destructive behaviors,
that would be the ultimate yousharing.
That increases the likelihoodthat it's going to help one more
(01:02:04):
person to help one more person,and if it does help one more
person, then you're contributingto me becoming the promise I am
intended to be Be kind toyourself, be cool, and we'll
talk at you next time.
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