April 24, 2025 • 9 mins
Josh here popping in with a special bonus episode on my thoughts on Ai for web designers. This was taken from a recent panel discussion about Ai on the Small Business Sweet Spot podcast.
For the full episode and to hear other opinions on the good and bad of Ai for small businesses in 2025, check it out at:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ByyAcRHME1WiPNvrt0dqz?si=7c07b8e44dfe4673
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fight-it-or-friend-it-ai-use-for-the-solopreneur-ep57/id1728291369?i=1000704431752
Blog Post https://compassdigitalstrategies.com/podcast/fight-it-or-friend-it-ai-use-for-the-solopreneur-ep57/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello friend, it's Josh here popping in with
another bonus episode here foryou.
In this one I wanted to sharesome thoughts on where I stand
with AI, specifically AI and webdesign, and kind of how I'm
using AI right now in mybusiness.
So I was invited to submit somethoughts on this as a part of a
panel discussion with someother folks about AI on the
(00:22):
Small Business Sweep Spotpodcast.
My friend Barb runs that show,so I'm going to link to that
below if you would like to hearsome other thoughts along with
my full session on there.
But for here, for right now, Ijust wanted to send you my
snippet just with some of mythoughts on AI and where I stand
with it today.
So here you go, and again,below is the link to the full
(00:44):
episode on the Small BusinessSweet Spot podcast.
Enjoy, friends.
Ai Now, it's interestingbecause I'm somebody who is a
late adopter to AI anddefinitely somebody who's more
on the less impressed, morehesitant side of AI.
That said, I think it would befoolish to not use AI in some
(01:07):
capacity in your business.
So what I'll do is just sharequickly how I'm using AI right
now as a community builder andfor ideation and a few other
ways and then maybe just share acouple of things in regards to
the understandable apprehensionfor creatives.
So let's actually start withthat, because a lot of creatives
(01:29):
artists, writers, designersfeel like AI is going to take
jobs and ruin basically.
You know, take work, steal it,and whether they get paid
themselves or just take jobs,whatever it may look like,
that's the main apprehensionthat I've noticed and I felt in
some way.
But here's what I've realizedand it's a cheesy quote, but I
(01:51):
do believe it's very true,especially now.
Ai is not going to take it.
My audience is web designers,by the way, so I'll just frame
this towards web designers, butjust know it will work towards
graphic designers, seoers,copywriters, any creative.
But the quote is this and theidea is this AI will not take
web designers' jobs.
(02:12):
Web designers using AI willtake web designers' jobs.
So let me say that one moretime AI will not take web
designers jobs.
Web designers using AI willtake web designers jobs.
Meaning the idea of AI is justto become more efficient and
(02:33):
quicker and more productive.
All the cheesy corporate termsyou could think of is kind of
true when it comes to AI.
Now, that said, I think AIitself and all of these
different large language modelsand different tools, and even
some of these like site builders, and I think they're a law, a
(02:54):
decent bit far away fromsomebody saying, hey, build me a
website and it being dang good.
I think it's a good startingpoint with some of these AI
builders, and I think thegeneral public is getting a
little more savvy to promptalthough that's probably going
to be.
I think people using AI isgoing to be a much longer
process, like the average people, than the AI capabilities we
(03:19):
all know.
Any tool and system could betop-notch, but it's about how
you use it, so I think that'swhere we're actually the most
safe as designers and creativesis good luck having your client
figuring out what to use andwhere to go and how to prompt it
correctly.
But again, ai is a greatstarting point in the case of
web design, at least for, like,starter sites or basic templates
(03:39):
, but I've never seen an AI sitekick something off.
It's like, wow, that isincredible.
Now I could.
The areas of AI that I think isreally important to think about
is actually anything that can berepeated, automated, or that is
more of a junior, low-leveltype task when it comes to
(04:03):
things like support, if you canuse an AI agent, for example,
for support, or if, for example,in my community, web Designer
Pro, I use a platform calledCircle and they actually
natively came out with an AIagent, so I didn't need to find
something, or it's one reason Ilove Circle they just built it
(04:24):
in automatically.
I was able to actually justliterally, with a click of a
button, turn on this AI agent.
We called it Brock, I let mydaughter name it, she named it
Broccoli, and you can give itcertain things to train it, and
in my case it was just everyaspect of my community and I
filled it with some additionalcontent as well.
And now that little AI agent,brock, in my community is
(04:48):
answering questions for members,both support, finding
information and even doingcoaching based off of my
newsletters and my coaching thatI've done inside of Web
Designer Pro, and it isliterally it has, and I've only
I've been using it for less thana month and it's literally
probably I would say maybe 10x,maybe 100x the amount of
(05:08):
communication that I would havereceived, but it's already going
back and forth because I cansee the communication with
members and it's basically I'vereplicated myself times 100 in
less than a month with just thisAI agent.
So that's one good practicalexample of how I'm using it and
how I'm understanding the valueof it.
The cool thing about Brock iswe are using it just for Web
(05:31):
Designer Pro material, so it'snot scraping other websites or
pulling from the internet.
It's just my IP and my sourcematerial inside of Pro that
people are getting access to.
But instead of DMing me andwaiting for a reply, members can
always do that on the coachinglevel for me.
But now all members get achance to get indirect knowledge
, basically like AI-drivenknowledge, and some of the
(05:53):
answers are exactly what I wouldrecommend.
So that's kind of how I'm using.
It is for support, fortime-saving, and those are the
kinds of things when I stackmyself up against other
community builders I would askare they doing something similar
?
Do they have a way to offersupport that is, there's less
(06:14):
friction to get your answer.
Whether you're finding something, whether you're looking for
advice, whatever it is, there'sdefinitely always the need for
human element when, especiallywhen it comes to strategy and
bigger picture things and vision, especially something that
hasn't been created yet, if youare thinking about a plan or
thinking about something indetail.
(06:34):
Now.
Chat, gpt and other largelanguage models can come up with
ideas pretty good, but I thinkwe're.
I think humans are safe fromthe standpoint of either being
human, just being authentic,being real, being you, putting
your life experience into yourstuff, into your marketing
that's going to separate youfrom AI stuff immediately but
(06:57):
also moving forward, like beinga business partner.
I don't know in short, as I'mtalking my way through this, I
don't know if AI at any timesoon is going to be a business
partner for business owners, butcreatives do have that
opportunity.
And yeah, those are thethoughts.
I really don't think it's goingto take over completely now.
(07:19):
It's something to continue tokeep an eye on.
And I think the problem with AIas a whole is it's just moving
so dang fast and there's so manyoptions and there's so many
tools.
I think, just like websites,it's going to be more of like
who do you trust to follow inthis space?
Who, what tools do you resonatewith, what just feels good to
(07:40):
you?
And it's probably going to be amatter of if it ain't broke,
don't fix it.
Just like you could switch webdesign platforms every week.
It's probably gonna be the samething with AI models.
You could use chat, gpt andClaude and few others and with
website builders.
Almost everyone has some sortof AI integration.
Now, like I said, circle hasthe AI agents.
It really is going to be amatter of what tools you trust
(08:02):
and like to use and then whatpeople you want to follow in the
space.
So I think that's going to be achallenge, but overall, I would
say, absolutely don't, don'tsleep on ai.
Basically and this is comingfrom somebody who was not an
early adopter and who'sskeptical and who I've had to
begrudgingly start to use ai butI think what really, apart from
(08:24):
some cool things that chat, gptin itself has helped me with
with ideas and just back andforth and ideation and a lot of
times, as a course creator andcommunity builder, I might have
some ideas and I'm like forthand ideation, and a lot of times
, as a course creator andcommunity builder, I might have
some ideas and I'm like I feellike I'm missing something.
What am I missing?
I've got like, you know, if Iwanted to come up with like 10
steps to do something, and I'vegot eight and I ask for 10 steps
, I'm like, oh duh, if it's SEOrelated yeah, I forgot about
(08:45):
that.
That is super beneficial for AI.
But for me, brock, our AI agentand web designer pro, has just
shown me the value of having AIin my business because it has
magnified my reach withoutliterally pulling time away from
me and then, subsequently, myfamily.
So it's a huge value add to webdesigner pro.
(09:06):
And a lot of members of mycommunity are now saying like I
had a chat with Brock and he hadthis to say.
I was like, oh, that's amazing.
It's amazing Like he's becomekind of this new little member
and pro.
So, um, yeah, those are some ofmy thoughts on AI.
I hope, I hope they help and ifyou're a designer, just
remember that quote AI is notgoing to take design jobs.
Designers using AI are going totake design jobs.
(09:26):
So put that on your wall aboveyour fireplace, wherever you
need to be reminded of.
Well, hello friend, it's Josh here popping in with
another bonus episode here foryou.
In this one I wanted to sharesome thoughts on where I stand
with AI, specifically AI and webdesign, and kind of how I'm
using AI right now in mybusiness.
So I was invited to submit somethoughts on this as a part of a
panel discussion with someother folks about AI on the
(00:22):
Small Business Sweep Spotpodcast.
My friend Barb runs that show,so I'm going to link to that
below if you would like to hearsome other thoughts along with
my full session on there.
But for here, for right now, Ijust wanted to send you my
snippet just with some of mythoughts on AI and where I stand
with it today.
So here you go, and again,below is the link to the full
(00:44):
episode on the Small BusinessSweet Spot podcast.
Enjoy, friends.
Ai Now, it's interestingbecause I'm somebody who is a
late adopter to AI anddefinitely somebody who's more
on the less impressed, morehesitant side of AI.
That said, I think it would befoolish to not use AI in some
(01:07):
capacity in your business.
So what I'll do is just sharequickly how I'm using AI right
now as a community builder andfor ideation and a few other
ways and then maybe just share acouple of things in regards to
the understandable apprehensionfor creatives.
So let's actually start withthat, because a lot of creatives
(01:29):
artists, writers, designersfeel like AI is going to take
jobs and ruin basically.
You know, take work, steal it,and whether they get paid
themselves or just take jobs,whatever it may look like,
that's the main apprehensionthat I've noticed and I felt in
some way.
But here's what I've realizedand it's a cheesy quote, but I
(01:51):
do believe it's very true,especially now.
Ai is not going to take it.
My audience is web designers,by the way, so I'll just frame
this towards web designers, butjust know it will work towards
graphic designers, seoers,copywriters, any creative.
But the quote is this and theidea is this AI will not take
web designers' jobs.
(02:12):
Web designers using AI willtake web designers' jobs.
So let me say that one moretime AI will not take web
designers jobs.
Web designers using AI willtake web designers jobs.
Meaning the idea of AI is justto become more efficient and
(02:33):
quicker and more productive.
All the cheesy corporate termsyou could think of is kind of
true when it comes to AI.
Now, that said, I think AIitself and all of these
different large language modelsand different tools, and even
some of these like site builders, and I think they're a law, a
(02:54):
decent bit far away fromsomebody saying, hey, build me a
website and it being dang good.
I think it's a good startingpoint with some of these AI
builders, and I think thegeneral public is getting a
little more savvy to promptalthough that's probably going
to be.
I think people using AI isgoing to be a much longer
process, like the average people, than the AI capabilities we
(03:19):
all know.
Any tool and system could betop-notch, but it's about how
you use it, so I think that'swhere we're actually the most
safe as designers and creativesis good luck having your client
figuring out what to use andwhere to go and how to prompt it
correctly.
But again, ai is a greatstarting point in the case of
web design, at least for, like,starter sites or basic templates
(03:39):
, but I've never seen an AI sitekick something off.
It's like, wow, that isincredible.
Now I could.
The areas of AI that I think isreally important to think about
is actually anything that can berepeated, automated, or that is
more of a junior, low-leveltype task when it comes to
(04:03):
things like support, if you canuse an AI agent, for example,
for support, or if, for example,in my community, web Designer
Pro, I use a platform calledCircle and they actually
natively came out with an AIagent, so I didn't need to find
something, or it's one reason Ilove Circle they just built it
(04:24):
in automatically.
I was able to actually justliterally, with a click of a
button, turn on this AI agent.
We called it Brock, I let mydaughter name it, she named it
Broccoli, and you can give itcertain things to train it, and
in my case it was just everyaspect of my community and I
filled it with some additionalcontent as well.
And now that little AI agent,brock, in my community is
(04:48):
answering questions for members,both support, finding
information and even doingcoaching based off of my
newsletters and my coaching thatI've done inside of Web
Designer Pro, and it isliterally it has, and I've only
I've been using it for less thana month and it's literally
probably I would say maybe 10x,maybe 100x the amount of
(05:08):
communication that I would havereceived, but it's already going
back and forth because I cansee the communication with
members and it's basically I'vereplicated myself times 100 in
less than a month with just thisAI agent.
So that's one good practicalexample of how I'm using it and
how I'm understanding the valueof it.
The cool thing about Brock iswe are using it just for Web
(05:31):
Designer Pro material, so it'snot scraping other websites or
pulling from the internet.
It's just my IP and my sourcematerial inside of Pro that
people are getting access to.
But instead of DMing me andwaiting for a reply, members can
always do that on the coachinglevel for me.
But now all members get achance to get indirect knowledge
, basically like AI-drivenknowledge, and some of the
(05:53):
answers are exactly what I wouldrecommend.
So that's kind of how I'm using.
It is for support, fortime-saving, and those are the
kinds of things when I stackmyself up against other
community builders I would askare they doing something similar
?
Do they have a way to offersupport that is, there's less
(06:14):
friction to get your answer.
Whether you're finding something, whether you're looking for
advice, whatever it is, there'sdefinitely always the need for
human element when, especiallywhen it comes to strategy and
bigger picture things and vision, especially something that
hasn't been created yet, if youare thinking about a plan or
thinking about something indetail.
(06:34):
Now.
Chat, gpt and other largelanguage models can come up with
ideas pretty good, but I thinkwe're.
I think humans are safe fromthe standpoint of either being
human, just being authentic,being real, being you, putting
your life experience into yourstuff, into your marketing
that's going to separate youfrom AI stuff immediately but
(06:57):
also moving forward, like beinga business partner.
I don't know in short, as I'mtalking my way through this, I
don't know if AI at any timesoon is going to be a business
partner for business owners, butcreatives do have that
opportunity.
And yeah, those are thethoughts.
I really don't think it's goingto take over completely now.
(07:19):
It's something to continue tokeep an eye on.
And I think the problem with AIas a whole is it's just moving
so dang fast and there's so manyoptions and there's so many
tools.
I think, just like websites,it's going to be more of like
who do you trust to follow inthis space?
Who, what tools do you resonatewith, what just feels good to
(07:40):
you?
And it's probably going to be amatter of if it ain't broke,
don't fix it.
Just like you could switch webdesign platforms every week.
It's probably gonna be the samething with AI models.
You could use chat, gpt andClaude and few others and with
website builders.
Almost everyone has some sortof AI integration.
Now, like I said, circle hasthe AI agents.
It really is going to be amatter of what tools you trust
(08:02):
and like to use and then whatpeople you want to follow in the
space.
So I think that's going to be achallenge, but overall, I would
say, absolutely don't, don'tsleep on ai.
Basically and this is comingfrom somebody who was not an
early adopter and who'sskeptical and who I've had to
begrudgingly start to use ai butI think what really, apart from
(08:24):
some cool things that chat, gptin itself has helped me with
with ideas and just back andforth and ideation and a lot of
times, as a course creator andcommunity builder, I might have
some ideas and I'm like forthand ideation, and a lot of times
, as a course creator andcommunity builder, I might have
some ideas and I'm like I feellike I'm missing something.
What am I missing?
I've got like, you know, if Iwanted to come up with like 10
steps to do something, and I'vegot eight and I ask for 10 steps
, I'm like, oh duh, if it's SEOrelated yeah, I forgot about
(08:45):
that.
That is super beneficial for AI.
But for me, brock, our AI agentand web designer pro, has just
shown me the value of having AIin my business because it has
magnified my reach withoutliterally pulling time away from
me and then, subsequently, myfamily.
So it's a huge value add to webdesigner pro.
(09:06):
And a lot of members of mycommunity are now saying like I
had a chat with Brock and he hadthis to say.
I was like, oh, that's amazing.
It's amazing Like he's becomekind of this new little member
and pro.
So, um, yeah, those are some ofmy thoughts on AI.
I hope, I hope they help and ifyou're a designer, just
remember that quote AI is notgoing to take design jobs.
Designers using AI are going totake design jobs.
(09:26):
So put that on your wall aboveyour fireplace, wherever you
need to be reminded of.
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