February 14, 2025 • 58 mins
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitralane/
Website: www.anitralane.com
Email: Anitra@anitralane.com
Meet Anitra Lane, the dynamic CEO of Ackiss Virtual Management LLC, based in Warner Robins, Georgia. Anitra's illustrious career began in the United States Air Force, where she honed her skills over 26 impactful years. With a solid foundation in information technology and human resource management, Anitra is not only a strategic leader but also a tech-savvy innovator.
At the helm of Ackiss Virtual Management, Anitra steers the company towards integrating AI and virtual management solutions, transforming the way entrepreneurs scale their businesses. Her role as a Chief Virtual Online Business Manager and AI Consultant allows her to blend her military discipline with cutting-edge technology, ensuring her clients achieve both their vision and growth goals.
Anitra is a certified powerhouse with CompTIA Security+, Net+, and A+ certifications, and she holds degrees in Human Resource Management and Information Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. She is a committed professional who also brings her creativity and strategic foresight to the forefront of business management, empowering businesses with innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, visibility, and market presence.
So what I want you to do is, remember, Anitra Lane is not just a business leader; she's a visionary who's reshaping the business landscape through technology and strategic innovation. Let's get talking and see how she can elevate your business today! And that's a wrap!
Website: www.anitralane.com
Email: Anitra@anitralane.com
Meet Anitra Lane, the dynamic CEO of Ackiss Virtual Management LLC, based in Warner Robins, Georgia. Anitra's illustrious career began in the United States Air Force, where she honed her skills over 26 impactful years. With a solid foundation in information technology and human resource management, Anitra is not only a strategic leader but also a tech-savvy innovator.
At the helm of Ackiss Virtual Management, Anitra steers the company towards integrating AI and virtual management solutions, transforming the way entrepreneurs scale their businesses. Her role as a Chief Virtual Online Business Manager and AI Consultant allows her to blend her military discipline with cutting-edge technology, ensuring her clients achieve both their vision and growth goals.
Anitra is a certified powerhouse with CompTIA Security+, Net+, and A+ certifications, and she holds degrees in Human Resource Management and Information Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. She is a committed professional who also brings her creativity and strategic foresight to the forefront of business management, empowering businesses with innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, visibility, and market presence.
So what I want you to do is, remember, Anitra Lane is not just a business leader; she's a visionary who's reshaping the business landscape through technology and strategic innovation. Let's get talking and see how she can elevate your business today! And that's a wrap!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Are you a transitioning military or veteran woman looking for support,
guidance and inspiration. You've come to the right place. Welcome
to Living Unapologetically Beyond the Uniform with your host, Renee
Jones Hudson. Renee brings powerful stories, practical advice, and expert
insights to help you redifine, rediscover, and reaffirm your life
(00:46):
after military service, whether navigating a career change, seeking personal growth,
or focusing on your well being. We are here to
empower you every step of the way. So welcome the
host of Living Unapologetically Beyond the Uniform, Renee Jones Hudson.
Let's embark on this journey together.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hi, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Living Unapologetically
Beyond the Uniform. I'm your host, Renee Jones Shutson, and
today we have another incredible guest, Miss Anitra Lane. She
is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant, a tech innovator,
and the CEO of AKIS Virtual Management. She served twenty
(01:38):
six years in the Air Force and she now helps
businesses scale by integrating AI and.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Virtual management solutions. And we all know AI.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
It's not really the new thing, but it is the
thing right now. So She's not just a tech guru.
She helps entrepreneurs transform and manage, transform, manage and grow
their businesses. So welcome Anitra.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Hello, Renee, how are you.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm good, Thank you for being here. This is definitely
a hot topic. So I'm excited about today's conversation.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Good me too excited. Let me share really quick. I
was a senior Master Surgeant. I retired as a senior
Master sergeant, which is the same as a master sergeant.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I believe in the army or the army.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, okay, well, yes, thank you for that, because you
know I'm army. I'm army, so you got you gotta
help me here, all right. So let's let's kick things
off with your military career, like how you got started?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Who you are?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Like I said, you served for twenty six years in
the Air Force, and that's you know, that's impressive.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
So just give our audi is a.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Little bit of background about your specialty, what you did,
and how you what brought you here today.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Okay, so let me go back to high school.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was in Marine Corps GENERORTC for four years, became
the drill team leader, and then I just knew, you know,
hearing the recruiter say when you hit twenty years, you
can retire.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So I'm really young. I'm seventeen, and I was like,
twenty years, I'll be thirty seven.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I can retire and I'll never have again. Seventeen year
old mindset right past foward some years. And I started
out in the Iowa Army National Guard and then I
did six years with them, my first full contract.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
And then does the storm happened?
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Get on an aircraft and the air Force has box
lunch versus an MRI.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
MRA back in the air Force airport, that's what they
called them.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
So get on the aircraft, ready for desert storm, get
a box lunch, and I'm like, this is way better
than an MMAR.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
This is how you guys do things. I need to
switch over. I don't want the brown bag MRIs anymore.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
So anyway, I found a unit, an Air Force unit
guard unit in Iowa, and I switched over to that
guard unit. And so I went from Iowa to New
York and now I'm in Georgia. Okay, it look got
the best kept secret that they say, it's called AGR.
(04:46):
Got an a gr job and spent the rest of
my career in Georgia, and I was. I started out
in information technology. Well, I started out in the army
and logistics. Oh wow, so you did.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So you did do some army time six okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
So I was the seventy six PAPA, which I think
is like a ninety two alpha now, But okay, I
did that. Then switched over into the Air Force and
did information technology, which is it pretty much the next
twenty years. Spent some time working in medical records. I
(05:32):
did some of that. So I've had a few different
MOS's Air Force afs.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So we all know about that, right, we don't just
have one job. We all know about that. So how
was how was transitioning from the military for you? I'm
sure it was an adjustment like it is for most
of the but how was that for you after twenty
six years?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
It was definitely different because I came out after twenty
seven years knowing twenty six and but you know how
you do it twenty six years, ten months and twenty
four days.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Oh yeah, I always caught my half. I caught my
twenty one and a half. Look, count it all, count
it all.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
But transitioning out when I first came out, I went
back into the workforce.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Okay for it the first two years.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
So you come out, You're like, I have all these
skills and all this knowledge. What do I do with it?
So I was like, well, what we do? We jump
back into the workforce, and that's what I did as
a civilian contractor. But I have MST and so with
that PTSD, there's some things that come along with it.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
And I was getting therapy.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Realized that working for other people was not my jam.
It was just not the thing because the transition, you know,
we come out, we're still gon ho we.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
You know, We're like, let's get to work. And then
you go into an environment where.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
My experience was they had three people to do one job,
and I was like, this is a little different. We
have one person at seven jobs. So the work was
very slow. It wasn't fast paced.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It just kept me in like a stagnant state, you know,
And so it was it was so different.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
I was like, I need something that keeps me motivated
and moving every day, and it wasn't that. And so
at the same time, I was going to college, so
as a full time student, full time work as a contractor,
and then I was part time doing my own business
talking about that. I was doing it to stay busy,
(07:54):
so I was always in what I call it emotion.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
You know, yes, I definitely can relate to that. I
think that's what really affected me when I got out,
just having always moving moving moving, you know, we're doing
so much. You know, I usually had I have so
much to do. But it really is how this is
(08:19):
how we're wired, right, So when we don't have, you know,
that thing that's keeping us fueled, you know, this mission here,
this this thing, do here, this do out here, it
really can affect us when we get out. So I
can I can honestly relate to that feeling.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Just everything was just.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Slow motion and you're like, okay, it was It wasn't structure, right.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
We come from an of structure of discipline, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
And so sometimes and it's funny because I'm in some
business groups and I and I say civilian, and they're like,
what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
And you're a civilian.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
You don't have the military like structure and discipline and
all the things that we go through. And so they
would laughing, and we made it a running joke because again,
we're structured. We have integrity, we take initiative. There are
just so many things that we do from a military perspective,
(09:20):
and when you transition out, you don't lose those things.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
While I'm not in the military anymore, you're not.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
But anytime you've been, even if you're six years in,
you still will have that structure.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
You're institutionalized, whether or not we want to call it that,
that's that's who we are. We are institutionalized. Yeah, so
that way. Yeah, we talked a little bit about struggling,
you know, to adjust, and many of us struggles to
find a sense of purpose after we leave the military.
(09:54):
How did you discover your next calling? And how long
did that take? You know, I know it's not gonna
happened right away, and many of us can attest to that.
You know, for some of us, it's really a journey.
The transition process is a journey. But how did you
discover what it your next calling?
Speaker 4 (10:18):
So I had to do a lot of internal prayer,
right because I thought that my purpose and my passion
were aligned together, Okay, and I realized that because I
love helping people.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That was one of the things in the military. We
help each other, We network, which you call networking, you know,
we just do.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
And so I was just I was like, I got
to help people, right, and we want to help people
for free. But when you transition into working for yourself
or becoming an entrepreneur, you have to learn some things.
So I had to invest in myself, right, and I
invested with some code. So I've had quite a few
(11:01):
coaches and some mentors, and it was through them that
I started learning, like I love to do art, so
I'm passionate, yes, about helping people, But what was the
gift that God gave me that was made for me
to share with others? So you have to do some
deep soul searching because anytime you're in the military and
(11:24):
you spend over twenty years or even ten, your conditioned
to work, work, work, and so you kind of lose
parts of yourself, parts of your passion because you're hot,
you have regulations, you have rules, you're hard to do
things certain way.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Can't even say that we don't even know what that is,
you know, especially with us going in as seventeen and eighteen,
we don't really know what's driving us.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Right exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
And so I did some I took some personality tests
and different things to really look and see what that
I love. But I'll tell you one thing that I
did that came from one of my mentors, and it
was I sent a text message to all the people
that are around me that I'm around, family, friends, and
(12:13):
I asked them, what was the one quality or one
trait about me that you like the most?
Speaker 3 (12:20):
You can give me too.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
But using that information, taking that data back and then
really reading what people said about me helped me to
see that yes, I help people, but my traits and
characteristics and the things that I brought to them is
the driving force to kind of finding what you're passionate
(12:42):
about and how other people view you versus how you
view yourself, especially when you've transitioned out because you kind
of start doing things a little differently.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I think one of the things too, is really embracing
that your your purpose, your passion is not aligned with
your military career, because you know, we've been we've been
told this is the job we were assigned amongst others,
amongst many others. But then you know, and I think
(13:18):
this is where fear comes in too, because you know,
I might just want to be a model or a
singer and I did not do that in the military.
That was not something that was not an MOS for me. Well,
I can't say that because I was a part of
the army band as a vocalist, but that wasn't my MOS.
But I'm just saying just to kind of really accept
(13:42):
in your mind that you know what, this is so
far fetched from what you know, all these skills that
I have, and I think that is where we get
tripped up, you know, if I may use that, you know,
in the transition process, because sometimes what we like to
do and it may be embarrassing we.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Maybe you know, and that's why we don't.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Some of us isolate, some of us, you know, pull
back from really putting ourselves out there.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
What are your thoughts on that we do?
Speaker 4 (14:13):
So as I've learned who I've become outside of on
the other side of that uniform. Because even even when
we get out, like even when you get off of work,
you come home, you change clothes, you do whatever you do, right,
but you know in the morning, I'm getting back up.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And putting it on the uniform.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Yeah, when you transition out, what you start to look
at is the things that you did while you were
in versus what you're doing now while you're out, and
you do get to a point of saying, well, what
do I really like to do?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Still, it doesn't mean you still do things.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
When you get off of work out of the when
you're in the military and you get off of work,
you're still doing things, but a lot your life has
revolved around.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Being in the military.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, and you transition out and you start to say, oh,
I remember, I can tell you I'm a creative person, right,
And I remember actually creating a logo for a coffee
cup that we were, you know, in the in the guards.
Sometimes we have different things that we sell, different items
(15:25):
and stuff like that to make money, you know, booster
club stuff type that happened. And so I remember doing
a logo for a cup. This is like almost twenty
years ago. And when I did it, I was like,
that was my creativity coming out and my leadership allowing
(15:45):
me to be creative.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Did I do that a lot?
Speaker 4 (15:49):
No, But the fact that I did it, I can
look at it now and be like, Okay, So I
really loved the idea of being able to create logos
and create different emblems and things like that, and so
coming out I'm like that's one of the things I love.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I love art, I.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Love being able to be creative, and now I can
do it in my own sphere. But you kind of
have to look at some of the things you did
because it I'm a very techy person, but some of
that is my father was a techy person. So don't
take things. Don't take away the things that you love
(16:28):
doing or that are ingrained in you. Even though I
was in the military, I did techy stuff. But when
I go back and I look at my childhood and
my family and things like that, they were techy and
so it's just there. But there was also a creative part.
So I had to learn to merge those together and say,
(16:51):
the military had its place, and now I loved helping
people while I was in the military.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I love helping people while I'm out of the military.
It's just a different set of people.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Right, And people in my community they're not military people,
they're civilians. So I love that part. And you kind
of have to We have to train ourselves. Just like
we were trained to do our jobs. You have to
retrain yourself to be in society.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Any had come these.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
So I know the last time I know the last
time we spoke, you were That's how we got into
the AI thing. So I was super excited for you
because I'm all about AI. I remember when we first met,
I honestly thought you were a virtual assistant. You were
like no, no, no, no no no. So you're like,
(17:43):
I am not that. So you are not doing AI
and you're a virtual manager. So kind of explain that
because like I did. Like you know, many people may
mistakenly say, oh, yeah, she's a VA, you know, because
I saw virtual and management. I just was like, okay,
she's a v end but explain what that is and
(18:03):
how you use that to help small businesses grow in scale.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Okay, So when you think along the lines of words
have power. So when you think of an assistant, you
think of somebody that's assisting you that just does whatever
you tell them to do, that doesn't think past or
give you any additional knowledge. So most of the time,
a virtual assistant is a person that's just doing all.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
The work for you. Yeah, that's it. You give them
a task, they do it.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
So when you come to a virtual manager, I look
at it like the person that's helping you lead working together,
and it comes from a place of being in supervisory
positions in the military, so you know, we lead most
of the time. And so when I'm helping a person
manage their business or maybe they're getting started in a business,
(18:57):
so I'm walking them through what it takes to do
that because being an entrepreneur, that journey is long, and
if you don't set your mind to say, I spent
twenty years in the military, being an entrepreneur for the
next thirty five years is.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Easy to me because my mind is.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Set that way, and I've had to train myself to say,
if I could do it for Uncle Sam, I can
do it for me. And so as a virtual manager,
I help people with their mindset to transition into working
for themselves, as well as showing them and training them
on how to do business for themselves, from the marketing
(19:36):
to the sales to the email all of those things
that you have to do to be a successful entrepreneur.
There are lots of people who are entrepreneurs and they're
not as successful. The statistics show that most entrepreneurs their
business and even some small businesses don't make.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
It past five years.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
And that's because there's an U and there's an EBB
and flow that goes to being in business, and so
it's a journey and it's.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Not always easy, and you.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Have to think outside of the box so that the
things you're doing makes sense. But you also have to
pay attention to what you're doing, because it's really easy
for a person to get caught up in this shiny
object syndrome. That's what they call it, the shiny sundrome
(20:31):
because you can start buying software and workshops and doing
all of these things and if it's not a needle
moving activity, and what I mean by that is it
is the activity is not going to help you increase
your bottom line as far as your goal financially, financially, spiritually,
and physically. Those things all go together. Your business and
(20:56):
your life go together. You can try to separate them,
but at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
It's just like you are your brand. Yes, you are
your brand. Yeah, you know you you mentioned you kind
of mentioned this earlier. But one of the things too,
you know, it's it's really a mindset shift because it's
it's completely different when you know, with the military, we
(21:20):
have to be in the right uniform at the right
place at the right time. Now you have to do
that for yourself and I will be completely transparent with you.
I literally had to really sit back because I was,
you know, I was disappointing myself. I wasn't showing up
like I showed up to work on time. I was
always at the you know, in the right uniform. But
(21:41):
when you're an entrepreneur, you literally you're the boss. So
you tend to make, you know, concessions like oh, I'll
do it later. You know, I got time. So that's
another thing I think as part of the transition to
showing up. And this is you know, for me, sometimes
(22:02):
it's how you show up in the spaces you got
to show up, you know, where you got to show
It can be like challenging.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
And we're going to.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Talk about imposter syndrome a little later, but I want
to ask you this, what's some of the biggest mistakes
you see business owners making when it comes to technology?
Being that you're with AI, and I know you and
I talk a lot on AI.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You schooled me. I love it, you know, I'm all
for AI.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
But what are some of the biggest mistakes you see
business owners make? You know, Being that you are a
virtual manager and you're proficient with AI.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
The biggest thing I think I see people make is
the mistake is just taking AI and letting that be
the be all to end all. Yeah, okay, it's kind
of like when you get on the phone and you
get that press one to talk to this person. Yeah,
(23:00):
so you get all of these.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Prompts and you're never talking to a live person.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
A lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses want to go
completely automation, want to be completely behind the scenes, but
the best.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Interactions are the person to person. We cannot get away.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
From the person to person in their actions. Because when
you make AI or any type of technology everything and
you say I don't want I don't want to talk
to people, right, Well, there's levels to that because the
no like and trust.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Factor comes into power. I don't know you. How am
I supposed to trust you? And then you want me
to like you?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
And the only thing I've seen is all technology, So
I've never spoken to the person. I've never seen the person,
so why would I trust the person?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Right?
Speaker 4 (23:56):
And so the other thing is your voice, right. Your
voice attracts the people that you're attract. Your story attracts
the people you're supposed to attract. And so if that
even even though in technology, right they have all of
(24:17):
the equipment so.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
That you can do the voiceovers and you can have
the cloned voice. But guess what, it's not the same
as like me and you energy.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, it is about energy too. That's why proximity is everything.
You know, it's good to be in the room. You know, Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
When you're in the room, you can get the answers
when you're in the room, right, you definitely can. You
can ask the questions when you're in the room.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I've been in rooms where people are I'll go back
and watch the video and I'm going, it's not that
I am able to give you a solution right there
on the spot. Yeah, And that right there on the
spot solution can make the difference. Most people are on
one solution away from meeting their goal.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah right, so yeah, So for you know, I talked
to a lot of people about AI. Primarily I think, no,
I can say primarily older adults and a lot of
them are a little wary of AI. So what would
you say to those people? And it's not just primarily
(25:32):
old people, but it's just the ones that I've talked to.
They're not they're not really for for the technology.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
What would you say to.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
People like you know, who are wary of AI, how
would you ease them into like you know, how would
you ease their concerns about it?
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (25:49):
So AI, Well, any technology is based on data, right,
So it's the data that we put in. Even though
you're using AI, a person has to give aid information.
So sometimes what we fell to realize is it's just
like any kind of output.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Somebody had to put something in for you to get something.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Out, and the people putting it in are just they're people, right,
they're us. The machines can't do any more than what
we give them to do. There's coding, So the machines
that we use, the telephones, the computers, there's somebody, a
(26:35):
physical somebody behind the scene writing the code. If we
didn't write the code, you wouldn't have the computer.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
If we didn't have a person, an.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Individual that was good with small electronics, you wouldn't be
able to save the memory.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So everything, even though you're weary of the AI in.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
And of itself, you have to remember that there was
a physical person making things work.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Now.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I say that to say sometimes there's a level of
patience you have to have because think about when you
get a new update on your phone or something, you
don't know how to use it immediately, and so the
update may frustrate you. So you have to have patience
with yourself and patients with the technology. Technology ever evolving,
(27:27):
and that's not going to go away. It's just at
what level are you comfortable with the technologies? Because think,
I think my husband had a BlackBerry. He tried to
hold that phone forever.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Oh yeah, I remember the dreaded BlackBerry. Those blackberries were
great for that period changed and what do they do
when they don't want you to use that particular device anymore?
They make it obsolete. Yeah. So now if you have
(27:59):
an absolute device, now it's just what a paperweight? Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So you know, like just like you're saying, everything is
a learning curve, it's just a learning curve, which I'm
gonna shift gears a little bit. We're gonna talk about
personal growth and just overcoming challenges. So I know when
I transitioned, I had a lot of doubt. I did
(28:27):
many things afraid, I did the imposta syndrome, just all
of that. You know, was there was there a time
that you had to make a decision like a bold
decision in your business that scared you and what was
what helped you overcome the fear of taking that that step.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Okay, so I did.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
And the boldest thing that you can do is invest
in yourself.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right, So you have to.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
You can't stop personal development and you can stop professional development.
And I say that because in the military they send
you through these professional and personal developments.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
That's them doing it.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Now you have to take on your own personal and
professional development. That includes reading books, that includes watching videos
that somebody else may have done to help you get
to the next level. But the biggest thing is investing
in yourself and being afraid because if you retire and
(29:30):
you're on disability or whatever, you're afraid of how much
expendable money do I have? Do I really have this
extra money, especially if you don't go back into the workforce.
And so the scariest thing was investing. I think my
very first investment was about six thousand. I had two
(29:51):
different coaches and it was six thousand in a short
period of time, in like maybe three months. So that's
a lot of money to invest and not know what
the return on investment will be because again it's a
learning curve, you're learning from other people, and the return
(30:15):
on investment is not necessarily always immediately let me yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
And so to that point, you know, I think that's
the complete opposite of the military, right because for one,
I think the military focus heavily on professional development. Two,
we are not coming out of pocket per se for
that investment either, so.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Too, when we get out of.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
This is where so and this is why I talk
about the transition process because on surface, you know, it's
not just about getting out of the military and starting over,
like you know, I'm just going to start a job.
There's so much that goes into that. There's a mindset
shift that goes along with that. There's a lot of
adjustments that we have to make from on a personal level.
(31:00):
And I love that you said that because now it's
almost like the military was focused primarily on our professional development.
Now when we get out, we really have to do
more of a personal development, which leads because we've already
got the professional side down, you know, now we got
to figure out, Okay, who are we on this on
(31:24):
our personal level because we don't know that, we don't
many of us don't know that. You know, we don't
understand the mindset shift. Eighteen years old, You and I
seventeen eighteen years old going.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
In What did we know? What did we know?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And we were so used to every you know, being
told what to do, where to be, when to be there,
you know. And as you talked about one thing, you
said too, the return on the investment in the military
was a promotion, right, a certificate of achievement, some kind
of award, you know, So you can see the ROI
(31:59):
as a entrepreneur or coming out of the military. Ah,
like you, you know, you you have to work to
see the return on the investment, right, and the personal
development piece, the personal.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Growth investing.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
We're not used to taking that money, like physically taking
that money and saying, here help me, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
I need to develop myself.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
So the transition process, it's it's like it's really a process,
and we all go through different stages at different times.
You know. I think one of the things many of
us may struggle with, I speak for myself, is that
idea of failure, right, not understanding that that's part of growth.
(32:50):
I had to learn to restructure that, you know, rephrase that,
take a different approach to understanding that we failed many
times in the.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Military, right, but we adjust.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
We don't see it like that, no, And it's not
just about failure perfectionism, right, yes, of the structure and
the things that we had to do and having guidelines
for us.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Right. While you're in, you go to a level of.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Your standards are extremely high, right, because they standards are high,
so you keep those standards when you come out. Everybody
doesn't have those same standards.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
So whether you go.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Into the workforce or you're an entrepreneur, for yourself, your
level of expectation becomes high, and for other people they
may not be able to meet that, right, And so
you have to learn to meet people where they are,
which is different because in the military you kind of
know where you look at people's ranks, their structure, of
(33:59):
their time, right, you have a very clear idea where
they're at and where they're working from.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
And when you're an entrepreneur, it's not like that.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
And another thing I'll say is your group of people
will change, right. And this is right for the civilian
people because we're a family oriented.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
In the military, you know, you're surrounded.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
I still have my groups of military things like that,
but I also have my group of non military people,
and that is a transition in and of itself because
the language is different. There are language barriers that you
have to overcome. And I'm not saying English. I'm saying
language as in say jargon. Like if they say ROI,
(34:52):
now I'm over here.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Googling with this right RO.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
You may give me an acronym and I'm going, what
are those three letters for me? Why?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
What?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
I don't you know.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
But all of it is a mindset shift and giving
yourself permission.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
This is the one thing that I will say.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
When I got out, I was like, I never have
to run another PT test, never after watching my weight.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
There is all of us. I don't got to.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
Be somewhere at seven o'clock in the morning, all of
the things that were structured. When you retire it out
or when you separate whatever it is, you're like all
of the things that you don't have to do what
I want you to be mindful of. Those things were
in place for a reason, and they're powerful even when
you get out. Just for yourself, yeah, because you still
(35:50):
want to have self care, so you still want to exercise.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
And you still want to read.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
This goes back to what we were talking about personal
and professional development. You still want to understand that your
ideas because in the military, our ideas, we gave them
to the military, it was what it was. But when
you come out, your ideas become intellectual property that you
share with people, and.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
You have to remember that.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And that's what it is in this world in entrepreneurship
and things. When you take an idea and you develop
it into a process or into a workshop, it's your
intellectual property and you need to learn how and know
how to protect those things. Whereas in the military, when
you came up with an idea because you were taking initiatives,
(36:39):
it becomes theirs.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
You don't get to really take it. Yeah, it's a
team thing.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
So it's a team effort absolutely, and so that's one
of the things that even when you come out, like
I said, I came out, I was like, no more pttest,
no more weight management, all of the things that you
were like, I don't have to be at seven o'clock.
But I would just want to remind us when you transition,
(37:06):
don't lose all.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Of it, don't let go of all of it.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Still be mindful to your point on that though, because
you know, even as entrepreneurs we are our brand. We
are our brand. And whether or not people say first
impressions last. When you meet someone, you're not talking to
them right away unless you know them, so you know
they're looking at who you are. You know who you
(37:33):
are in front of them. So it does, it does
matter how we show up. And like you said, all
those things that the military instilled in us, they carry
forward because at the end of the day, if you're
not showing up for you, how are you showing up?
How can you show up for the next person? In
in integrity?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Right? So it all everything.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I say this to my students, I said, everything starts
with you, and it does apply to everyone. Everything does
start with you. You know, how you show up for yourself
behind the scenes when no one's watching is really how
you're going to show up to the masses. Right.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
How we do one thing is how we do everything.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
So yeah, so I want to ask you, what does
living unapologetically mean to you? And how do you make
sure you're living authentically like in your business and in
your personal life.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
So living unapologetically to me means that, I say, it's
one of those I said what I said, you can
apologize for what I said.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Now I may think of how the way.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
I say it, because you still want to make sure
that a person gets your message. So unapologetically to me
is standing on my beliefs, my morals, and my values
and not I call it being wishy washy. I'm not
a wishy washing person, and I had I've had people
(39:06):
say I'm trying to understand you.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
I'm like, what you see is what you get.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Yeah, and there's no I'm not looking for or coming
out here.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Well, I have an agenda. I am who God.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
Made me to be and that doesn't change.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Now. The delivery may change.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Right, but the how right that that delivery may change,
But I am who I am that part as I grow,
I change because you want to grow and be better
than you were yesterday. Everything I do today is meant
to be better than yesterday.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
So yeah, I also, just to chime in, I will
also add that it also helps to understand your audience,
you know, because you you know, just knowing who you're
talking to, how they may or may not receive what
you're saying.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
So I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
So you've stepped into a role the tech industry I
feel where a lot of women and veterans are underrepresented.
What do you think needs to change to give more
women in the military and beyond a seed at the
tech table.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
Okay, so what I'll say is this, there's a level
of confidence you have to have and you have to
work to that confidence.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
So if you know and you know you know that
you love technology, you just stay current with what's going on.
Right and even in the military, I would make myself
available to my leadership. Mine is a little different from
most people's because I worked for commanders most of my
(40:59):
military career, so I didn't have other people that were
like in the middle that I had to go through.
So for my career, I was able to go to
my commander and say, this is what I would like
to do, and a true leader will help you navigate
to where.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
You like to go.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
You still have to do the mission and things like that,
but you if you know you like something in particular,
it never hurts to share that with your leadership, your
your first sergeant.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Your commanders, if you have. If you have, it's.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
Having a relational relationship and I'm not I'm talking professional
relationship type of environment with the people that you're around.
And so you have to do that because otherwise what
you'll do. And just because other people don't know doesn't
(41:59):
mean you don't know. You know you, you know what
you like, you know what you're capable of, because sometimes
what we do is we get into a role or
a position in the military, and then we stay there
and we never move, and then we stifle ourselves.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
I can tell you for me.
Speaker 4 (42:21):
About every five years I change jobs because I got
complacent ord and I was like, Okay, is there anything
else I can look? Is there anything else I can do?
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Do I qualify for something else?
Speaker 4 (42:37):
And so that's what I would say, especially if you're
a female. The technology industry is dominated by males, right.
Sometimes they don't look like me, but it's dominated. And
the thing was I would go to those males and they.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Would teach me.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Yeah, I would go over to the comm squadron and
those males say, what do you want to learn?
Speaker 3 (43:02):
You have to be open to learning, even if you're
not in that position.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
The more knowledge you have, the better opportunities you will
have even when you're coming out. I had the opportunity
to be certified, go to comp to you get the certification.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
This goes back to investing in yourself.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Rather you're still in or you're an entrepreneur, investing in certifications,
especially in the IT realm, learning and studying that is
what will help you to kind of crack the code.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
And don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to step in to.
Speaker 4 (43:43):
The IT world because it is challenging and it's ever changing.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
So with that being said, you know, the AI world
is changing. Like there are so many versions of AI,
and I mean, I can understand why some people may
be intimidated with it because there's chat, GPT, there's Gamma,
there's and you were telling me about a whole bunch
(44:11):
of other versions, But like, how do you, like, how
would you kind of help someone navigate these these changes,
you know, just even just to get comfortable with with
that program.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
And that was off that I came back to that
because it was just in my head.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
But yes, you're find So what I would say is this,
the biggest thing is to find someone that can help
you that's a prompt engineer. Right, So there's lots of
different software, there's lots of different online tools that you
can use, but finding a person that's a prompt engineer
(44:49):
because the real thing with the AI, especially if you're
talking about chat GPT, you're talking about Clode, you're talking anything,
because right now.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
So many goals. Yeah, Dolly is an AI, all of it.
Speaker 4 (45:03):
So finding a prompt engineer because it is the prompt,
which the prompt is basically a series of words that
you're going to use to get AI to do what
you want it to do. But what happens is people
will use short prompts. They say, well, I just want
to know this, and sometimes you have to add detail
(45:26):
because AI is only going to give you what you
ask for initially, and if you don't know to add
details to it, then you may want a table format.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Well, chat DPT will do that.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Because it has the data analytics. In the paid version,
it has the written code to actually be able to
give it to you.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
You can also get it in the.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
Non paid version, but you have to know the language
to use again that word language and in what order
to put that language in so you can get the
output that you're looking for and saying like, I want
you to write code that will give me a table
(46:13):
that has monthly and whatever it is that you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
So so you're saying that the language for the free
version of changpt in the language. For the paid version,
it's different.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
It is, oh, because I can say certain things in
the paid version, and it's going to be more detailed
than in depth.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
And I don't have to tell it I want this
in English.
Speaker 4 (46:42):
At this level, it'll know because it's learned me, right.
The free version doesn't necessarily learn you, and when it does,
it is still giving you a wide view versus a
clone in answer to what you're looking for. But if
(47:03):
you say I want you to write first person English
as though you are a ghost writer for me, then
it will give you that.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
And that's putting it into the paid version. No, that's
putting it into the.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Free verse, a free version of that. I think that's
still a lot of information.
Speaker 4 (47:26):
It is when you say I want I want to
I'm trying to create a persuasive So it's the words
that you use.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Okay, okay, okay, I was so yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
So would you would you say that the paid version
is more accurate than the than the free version? I
know that matters sound like a stupid question, but it
all just by you explaining that. To me, it seems
like the free version will give you just as much
info as the paid version.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
What's the what's the big the major difference.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
The biggest difference is it's giving you general information from
the free version. It has a very smaller pull of
data that is pulling from, whereas the paid version has
a larger pool of data. Right, So it's giving you
more data from the paid version.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
That's why I always do.
Speaker 4 (48:22):
I start out with the free and if it will
satisfy my needs, then I keep it.
Speaker 3 (48:28):
But if I know I need more, then I go
to the paid version. And depending on depending.
Speaker 4 (48:35):
On how often I'm going to use it. So I'm
made like Gamma. We talked about Gamma before. I pay
Gamma when I'm needing it. So Gamma give you thirty
you know, it's like a month prescription. So I'm going
to use everything I need that month, and then I
might not use it for another three months, right.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
And then I'll look pay So I don't pay for
the year.
Speaker 4 (48:57):
But something like chat GPT, if I could pay by
the year, I would just pay for the year and
then I don't have to worry about monthly pay.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
So for those like I think just to go back
to this question though, so for people who are wary
of the AI and but maybe you know that it
could help them, how would you ease them intoto? Like
what am I trying to say? Just learning how to
(49:30):
use the especially for business owners entrepreneurs who may just
be a little worry about using it, thinking that you
know it's so robotic or whatever. What would your advice
be to them? And I may have access already, but
just from your explanation of that.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
Because there's so many versions there, right.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
If they're a simpler, would you say, would you recommend
just start with chat GPT?
Speaker 3 (49:57):
Is that the simplest version that there is. I would
recommend starting with chat GPT.
Speaker 4 (50:03):
And because you can go in there and ask simple questions,
you could say, I am confused about how AI works.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
Can you explain it to that?
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Right?
Speaker 3 (50:17):
And it will give you an explanation.
Speaker 4 (50:21):
And it'll give you and you can say I'm confused
about how AI works and I need a simple explanation, right,
And so it's going to simplify.
Speaker 3 (50:32):
It for you.
Speaker 4 (50:34):
You could say I'm weary of using AI because and
whatever your reason might be, and say can you help
alleviate my.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
Fear? Yeah, and chat.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
GPT you will write something for you that says basically
why are you afraid, because again I know that what
it comes down to is sometimes we are afraid that
it's going to take our information and hold it and
give it to other people.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean that's a real that's a
genuine fear.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Yeah yeah, it's like if I write something in here.
But guess what.
Speaker 4 (51:14):
There are features in chat GPT that you can take
off where it won't save what you've asked.
Speaker 3 (51:21):
But again, getting with someone who.
Speaker 4 (51:24):
Is giving a complimentary or a free workshop, those are
the things that you want to do.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
That's how you can be eased into it. Yeah, and
so I do.
Speaker 4 (51:34):
I have prompt books to help people ease into it,
like chat GPT one on one prompt books.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
Okay, you're going to get to your site. Are those
all on your site? Actually?
Speaker 4 (51:46):
You sign up because again I'm a people person, and
so you'll get a chance to have a consultation with
me so that I can understand what your goals are,
what your fears may be. Because if you're talking to me,
I can walk you through how let's alleviate.
Speaker 3 (52:06):
Let me show you how to do this.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
And sometimes it's a thirty minute consultation because I believe
the interaction between people is important, and so on my site,
you would just sign up for a free consultation and
then we go from there.
Speaker 2 (52:23):
What about businesses that are a little bit more advanced
than chat Ept? And because like I was on Instagram,
I actually kind of get off of it because it
was just listing all these AI programs that you could
use to do so many things, and so what about
businesses that are a little bit more advanced than chat Ept.
(52:44):
What are some of those AI programs that you know
could help more advanced businesses.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
So there's there's so you have claud. It just depends
on what you want to do. Okay, you have.
Speaker 4 (52:58):
Gamma which will give you your PowerPoint presentations and things
like that. You have Loom you know to do videos,
you zoom videos.
Speaker 3 (53:11):
You have.
Speaker 4 (53:13):
If you want to do graphics, there's ideo gram.
Speaker 3 (53:19):
There's mid Journey. So it just depends on what you
want to do. And so those lists are good.
Speaker 4 (53:27):
I would I would say look through the list because
this is the thing. It's still going to be a
learning curve no matter what. Black there's a learning curve
and I have to go through. And so but you
want to always do the free version first, because if
you're not familiar with it. You have to get familiar
with it. And so I say do the free version first.
(53:49):
But this is this is the key. If you do
not have time to work through the free version, wait
until you have time, right, because when you sign up
for the free version and maybe it's two weeks and
you don't do anything in those two weeks.
Speaker 3 (54:06):
Yeah, that way your ability, yeah, to use that free version.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
No, if you could give any advice to female veterans
who are transitioning and wanting to jump into business or
into leadership, what would you say to them, especially with
you know, especially if they're coming out now and AI
is on the REMP the way it is, what would
your advice be to them?
Speaker 4 (54:37):
First, give yourself time. So we have to give ourselves
permission to do things. We want to jump out in
and just jump into everything. Give yourself thirty to forty
five days just for yourself, going back to.
Speaker 3 (54:51):
Learning who you are again.
Speaker 4 (54:52):
Yes, it's going to take you longer, but give yourself
time to slow down for a minute. Things will be
field to you when you've slowed down, true, it will
be revealed and open to you, and that will help
you kind of know. Okay, this is the direction I
want to go in. That's first, I would say, invest
(55:16):
in yourself. Find a and you may go to YouTube first,
but find a coach, a consultant and advisor, a program
for entrepreneurship or just for business from the beginning, which
is what I did. I found I got a couple
(55:37):
of coaches, but find a business coach. Be very specific
on the type of coach you find. Make sure it
is a program for you. And sometimes you may want
to just sit in a workshop that someone has before
you jump fully in. Just be cognitive that and like
I said, the biggest thing is to give you your
(56:00):
self grace and know that time is not going to
get away from you unless you allow it right. Time
is our most precious thing, and so we spend time
Russian Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian. When if you sit back
and relax and allow it, everything will happen in due
(56:21):
time the way it's supposed to.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Wise words, wise words, Anita, thank you so much. This
was an amazing conversation. You know, you've shown us what
it means to embrace change, lead on apologetically, just you know,
taking on new ventures and how to build a future
on your terms. This was truly inspiring and I thank
(56:45):
you for sharing. For everyone listening, make sure you check
out Anietsra. Oh you know what, Tell people how they
can find you? Tell them where do you find how
they can find you? Yes, you can find me on
faith book at a Niatra Lane.
Speaker 4 (57:02):
You can go to my website at aniitralane dot com
and that's spelled a n I t r a l
a n e dot com. You can find me on
Instagram it's a Nietra dot a v M. But if
you go to Facebook, it's all in there. My links
(57:22):
to all my other social medias are on Facebook, and
my website has all my links as well as some
blogs that you can read through to learn more about AI.
Speaker 2 (57:35):
It's all there, Lane, and it will be in the
show notes. So remember to connect with Anietra if you
are ready to scale your business with AI.
Speaker 3 (57:48):
And as always.
Speaker 2 (57:50):
Remember no matter where you are in your journey, you
are on the right path.
Speaker 3 (57:54):
You are always where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Just keep pushing forward until next time, stay stay empowered,
stay bold, and just keep living unapologetically.
Speaker 1 (58:13):
This has been living unapologetically beyond the Uniform with your
host Renee Jones Hudson. We hope you found inspiration and
valuable insights in today's episode. Remember your journey of redefining, rediscovering,
and reaffirming your life post military is unique and powerful.
Stay connected with us for more stories, advice, and support.
(58:36):
Until next time, stay strong and stay empowered. Listen Fridays
eleven am Eastern on the
Are you a transitioning military or veteran woman looking for support,
guidance and inspiration. You've come to the right place. Welcome
to Living Unapologetically Beyond the Uniform with your host, Renee
Jones Hudson. Renee brings powerful stories, practical advice, and expert
insights to help you redifine, rediscover, and reaffirm your life
(00:46):
after military service, whether navigating a career change, seeking personal growth,
or focusing on your well being. We are here to
empower you every step of the way. So welcome the
host of Living Unapologetically Beyond the Uniform, Renee Jones Hudson.
Let's embark on this journey together.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hi, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Living Unapologetically
Beyond the Uniform. I'm your host, Renee Jones Shutson, and
today we have another incredible guest, Miss Anitra Lane. She
is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant, a tech innovator,
and the CEO of AKIS Virtual Management. She served twenty
(01:38):
six years in the Air Force and she now helps
businesses scale by integrating AI and.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Virtual management solutions. And we all know AI.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
It's not really the new thing, but it is the
thing right now. So She's not just a tech guru.
She helps entrepreneurs transform and manage, transform, manage and grow
their businesses. So welcome Anitra.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Hello, Renee, how are you.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm good, Thank you for being here. This is definitely
a hot topic. So I'm excited about today's conversation.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Good me too excited. Let me share really quick. I
was a senior Master Surgeant. I retired as a senior
Master sergeant, which is the same as a master sergeant.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I believe in the army or the army.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, okay, well, yes, thank you for that, because you
know I'm army. I'm army, so you got you gotta
help me here, all right. So let's let's kick things
off with your military career, like how you got started?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Who you are?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Like I said, you served for twenty six years in
the Air Force, and that's you know, that's impressive.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
So just give our audi is a.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Little bit of background about your specialty, what you did,
and how you what brought you here today.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Okay, so let me go back to high school.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was in Marine Corps GENERORTC for four years, became
the drill team leader, and then I just knew, you know,
hearing the recruiter say when you hit twenty years, you
can retire.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So I'm really young. I'm seventeen, and I was like,
twenty years, I'll be thirty seven.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I can retire and I'll never have again. Seventeen year
old mindset right past foward some years. And I started
out in the Iowa Army National Guard and then I
did six years with them, my first full contract.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
And then does the storm happened?
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Get on an aircraft and the air Force has box
lunch versus an MRI.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
MRA back in the air Force airport, that's what they
called them.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
So get on the aircraft, ready for desert storm, get
a box lunch, and I'm like, this is way better
than an MMAR.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
This is how you guys do things. I need to
switch over. I don't want the brown bag MRIs anymore.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
So anyway, I found a unit, an Air Force unit
guard unit in Iowa, and I switched over to that
guard unit. And so I went from Iowa to New
York and now I'm in Georgia. Okay, it look got
the best kept secret that they say, it's called AGR.
(04:46):
Got an a gr job and spent the rest of
my career in Georgia, and I was. I started out
in information technology. Well, I started out in the army
and logistics. Oh wow, so you did.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So you did do some army time six okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
So I was the seventy six PAPA, which I think
is like a ninety two alpha now, But okay, I
did that. Then switched over into the Air Force and
did information technology, which is it pretty much the next
twenty years. Spent some time working in medical records. I
(05:32):
did some of that. So I've had a few different
MOS's Air Force afs.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So we all know about that, right, we don't just
have one job. We all know about that. So how
was how was transitioning from the military for you? I'm
sure it was an adjustment like it is for most
of the but how was that for you after twenty
six years?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
It was definitely different because I came out after twenty
seven years knowing twenty six and but you know how
you do it twenty six years, ten months and twenty
four days.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Oh yeah, I always caught my half. I caught my
twenty one and a half. Look, count it all, count
it all.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
But transitioning out when I first came out, I went
back into the workforce.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Okay for it the first two years.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
So you come out, You're like, I have all these
skills and all this knowledge. What do I do with it?
So I was like, well, what we do? We jump
back into the workforce, and that's what I did as
a civilian contractor. But I have MST and so with
that PTSD, there's some things that come along with it.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
And I was getting therapy.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Realized that working for other people was not my jam.
It was just not the thing because the transition, you know,
we come out, we're still gon ho we.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
You know, We're like, let's get to work. And then
you go into an environment where.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
My experience was they had three people to do one job,
and I was like, this is a little different. We
have one person at seven jobs. So the work was
very slow. It wasn't fast paced.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It just kept me in like a stagnant state, you know,
And so it was it was so different.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
I was like, I need something that keeps me motivated
and moving every day, and it wasn't that. And so
at the same time, I was going to college, so
as a full time student, full time work as a contractor,
and then I was part time doing my own business
talking about that. I was doing it to stay busy,
(07:54):
so I was always in what I call it emotion.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
You know, yes, I definitely can relate to that. I
think that's what really affected me when I got out,
just having always moving moving moving, you know, we're doing
so much. You know, I usually had I have so
much to do. But it really is how this is
(08:19):
how we're wired, right, So when we don't have, you know,
that thing that's keeping us fueled, you know, this mission here,
this this thing, do here, this do out here, it
really can affect us when we get out. So I
can I can honestly relate to that feeling.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Just everything was just.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Slow motion and you're like, okay, it was It wasn't structure, right.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
We come from an of structure of discipline, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
And so sometimes and it's funny because I'm in some
business groups and I and I say civilian, and they're like,
what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
And you're a civilian.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
You don't have the military like structure and discipline and
all the things that we go through. And so they
would laughing, and we made it a running joke because again,
we're structured. We have integrity, we take initiative. There are
just so many things that we do from a military perspective,
(09:20):
and when you transition out, you don't lose those things.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
While I'm not in the military anymore, you're not.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
But anytime you've been, even if you're six years in,
you still will have that structure.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
You're institutionalized, whether or not we want to call it that,
that's that's who we are. We are institutionalized. Yeah, so
that way. Yeah, we talked a little bit about struggling,
you know, to adjust, and many of us struggles to
find a sense of purpose after we leave the military.
(09:54):
How did you discover your next calling? And how long
did that take? You know, I know it's not gonna
happened right away, and many of us can attest to that.
You know, for some of us, it's really a journey.
The transition process is a journey. But how did you
discover what it your next calling?
Speaker 4 (10:18):
So I had to do a lot of internal prayer,
right because I thought that my purpose and my passion
were aligned together, Okay, and I realized that because I
love helping people.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That was one of the things in the military. We
help each other, We network, which you call networking, you know,
we just do.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
And so I was just I was like, I got
to help people, right, and we want to help people
for free. But when you transition into working for yourself
or becoming an entrepreneur, you have to learn some things.
So I had to invest in myself, right, and I
invested with some code. So I've had quite a few
(11:01):
coaches and some mentors, and it was through them that
I started learning, like I love to do art, so
I'm passionate, yes, about helping people, But what was the
gift that God gave me that was made for me
to share with others? So you have to do some
deep soul searching because anytime you're in the military and
(11:24):
you spend over twenty years or even ten, your conditioned
to work, work, work, and so you kind of lose
parts of yourself, parts of your passion because you're hot,
you have regulations, you have rules, you're hard to do
things certain way.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Can't even say that we don't even know what that is,
you know, especially with us going in as seventeen and eighteen,
we don't really know what's driving us.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Right exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
And so I did some I took some personality tests
and different things to really look and see what that
I love. But I'll tell you one thing that I
did that came from one of my mentors, and it
was I sent a text message to all the people
that are around me that I'm around, family, friends, and
(12:13):
I asked them, what was the one quality or one
trait about me that you like the most?
Speaker 3 (12:20):
You can give me too.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
But using that information, taking that data back and then
really reading what people said about me helped me to
see that yes, I help people, but my traits and
characteristics and the things that I brought to them is
the driving force to kind of finding what you're passionate
(12:42):
about and how other people view you versus how you
view yourself, especially when you've transitioned out because you kind
of start doing things a little differently.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I think one of the things too, is really embracing
that your your purpose, your passion is not aligned with
your military career, because you know, we've been we've been
told this is the job we were assigned amongst others,
amongst many others. But then you know, and I think
(13:18):
this is where fear comes in too, because you know,
I might just want to be a model or a
singer and I did not do that in the military.
That was not something that was not an MOS for me. Well,
I can't say that because I was a part of
the army band as a vocalist, but that wasn't my MOS.
But I'm just saying just to kind of really accept
(13:42):
in your mind that you know what, this is so
far fetched from what you know, all these skills that
I have, and I think that is where we get
tripped up, you know, if I may use that, you know,
in the transition process, because sometimes what we like to
do and it may be embarrassing we.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Maybe you know, and that's why we don't.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Some of us isolate, some of us, you know, pull
back from really putting ourselves out there.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
What are your thoughts on that we do?
Speaker 4 (14:13):
So as I've learned who I've become outside of on
the other side of that uniform. Because even even when
we get out, like even when you get off of work,
you come home, you change clothes, you do whatever you do, right,
but you know in the morning, I'm getting back up.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And putting it on the uniform.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Yeah, when you transition out, what you start to look
at is the things that you did while you were
in versus what you're doing now while you're out, and
you do get to a point of saying, well, what
do I really like to do?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Still, it doesn't mean you still do things.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
When you get off of work out of the when
you're in the military and you get off of work,
you're still doing things, but a lot your life has
revolved around.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Being in the military.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, and you transition out and you start to say, oh,
I remember, I can tell you I'm a creative person, right,
And I remember actually creating a logo for a coffee
cup that we were, you know, in the in the guards.
Sometimes we have different things that we sell, different items
(15:25):
and stuff like that to make money, you know, booster
club stuff type that happened. And so I remember doing
a logo for a cup. This is like almost twenty
years ago. And when I did it, I was like,
that was my creativity coming out and my leadership allowing
(15:45):
me to be creative.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Did I do that a lot?
Speaker 4 (15:49):
No, But the fact that I did it, I can
look at it now and be like, Okay, So I
really loved the idea of being able to create logos
and create different emblems and things like that, and so
coming out I'm like that's one of the things I love.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I love art, I.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Love being able to be creative, and now I can
do it in my own sphere. But you kind of
have to look at some of the things you did
because it I'm a very techy person, but some of
that is my father was a techy person. So don't
take things. Don't take away the things that you love
(16:28):
doing or that are ingrained in you. Even though I
was in the military, I did techy stuff. But when
I go back and I look at my childhood and
my family and things like that, they were techy and
so it's just there. But there was also a creative part.
So I had to learn to merge those together and say,
(16:51):
the military had its place, and now I loved helping
people while I was in the military.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I love helping people while I'm out of the military.
It's just a different set of people.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Right, And people in my community they're not military people,
they're civilians. So I love that part. And you kind
of have to We have to train ourselves. Just like
we were trained to do our jobs. You have to
retrain yourself to be in society.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Any had come these.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
So I know the last time I know the last
time we spoke, you were That's how we got into
the AI thing. So I was super excited for you
because I'm all about AI. I remember when we first met,
I honestly thought you were a virtual assistant. You were
like no, no, no, no no no. So you're like,
(17:43):
I am not that. So you are not doing AI
and you're a virtual manager. So kind of explain that
because like I did. Like you know, many people may
mistakenly say, oh, yeah, she's a VA, you know, because
I saw virtual and management. I just was like, okay,
she's a v end but explain what that is and
(18:03):
how you use that to help small businesses grow in scale.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Okay, So when you think along the lines of words
have power. So when you think of an assistant, you
think of somebody that's assisting you that just does whatever
you tell them to do, that doesn't think past or
give you any additional knowledge. So most of the time,
a virtual assistant is a person that's just doing all.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
The work for you. Yeah, that's it. You give them
a task, they do it.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
So when you come to a virtual manager, I look
at it like the person that's helping you lead working together,
and it comes from a place of being in supervisory
positions in the military, so you know, we lead most
of the time. And so when I'm helping a person
manage their business or maybe they're getting started in a business,
(18:57):
so I'm walking them through what it takes to do
that because being an entrepreneur, that journey is long, and
if you don't set your mind to say, I spent
twenty years in the military, being an entrepreneur for the
next thirty five years is.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Easy to me because my mind is.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Set that way, and I've had to train myself to say,
if I could do it for Uncle Sam, I can
do it for me. And so as a virtual manager,
I help people with their mindset to transition into working
for themselves, as well as showing them and training them
on how to do business for themselves, from the marketing
(19:36):
to the sales to the email all of those things
that you have to do to be a successful entrepreneur.
There are lots of people who are entrepreneurs and they're
not as successful. The statistics show that most entrepreneurs their
business and even some small businesses don't make.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
It past five years.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
And that's because there's an U and there's an EBB
and flow that goes to being in business, and so
it's a journey and it's.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Not always easy, and you.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Have to think outside of the box so that the
things you're doing makes sense. But you also have to
pay attention to what you're doing, because it's really easy
for a person to get caught up in this shiny
object syndrome. That's what they call it, the shiny sundrome
(20:31):
because you can start buying software and workshops and doing
all of these things and if it's not a needle
moving activity, and what I mean by that is it
is the activity is not going to help you increase
your bottom line as far as your goal financially, financially, spiritually,
and physically. Those things all go together. Your business and
(20:56):
your life go together. You can try to separate them,
but at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
It's just like you are your brand. Yes, you are
your brand. Yeah, you know you you mentioned you kind
of mentioned this earlier. But one of the things too,
you know, it's it's really a mindset shift because it's
it's completely different when you know, with the military, we
(21:20):
have to be in the right uniform at the right
place at the right time. Now you have to do
that for yourself and I will be completely transparent with you.
I literally had to really sit back because I was,
you know, I was disappointing myself. I wasn't showing up
like I showed up to work on time. I was
always at the you know, in the right uniform. But
(21:41):
when you're an entrepreneur, you literally you're the boss. So
you tend to make, you know, concessions like oh, I'll
do it later. You know, I got time. So that's
another thing I think as part of the transition to
showing up. And this is you know, for me, sometimes
(22:02):
it's how you show up in the spaces you got
to show up, you know, where you got to show
It can be like challenging.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
And we're going to.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Talk about imposter syndrome a little later, but I want
to ask you this, what's some of the biggest mistakes
you see business owners making when it comes to technology?
Being that you're with AI, and I know you and
I talk a lot on AI.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You schooled me. I love it, you know, I'm all
for AI.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
But what are some of the biggest mistakes you see
business owners make? You know, Being that you are a
virtual manager and you're proficient with AI.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
The biggest thing I think I see people make is
the mistake is just taking AI and letting that be
the be all to end all. Yeah, okay, it's kind
of like when you get on the phone and you
get that press one to talk to this person. Yeah,
(23:00):
so you get all of these.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Prompts and you're never talking to a live person.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
A lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses want to go
completely automation, want to be completely behind the scenes, but
the best.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Interactions are the person to person. We cannot get away.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
From the person to person in their actions. Because when
you make AI or any type of technology everything and
you say I don't want I don't want to talk
to people, right, Well, there's levels to that because the
no like and trust.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Factor comes into power. I don't know you. How am
I supposed to trust you? And then you want me
to like you?
Speaker 4 (23:43):
And the only thing I've seen is all technology, So
I've never spoken to the person. I've never seen the person,
so why would I trust the person?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Right?
Speaker 4 (23:56):
And so the other thing is your voice, right. Your
voice attracts the people that you're attract. Your story attracts
the people you're supposed to attract. And so if that
even even though in technology, right they have all of
(24:17):
the equipment so.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
That you can do the voiceovers and you can have
the cloned voice. But guess what, it's not the same
as like me and you energy.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, it is about energy too. That's why proximity is everything.
You know, it's good to be in the room. You know, Yes.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
When you're in the room, you can get the answers
when you're in the room, right, you definitely can. You
can ask the questions when you're in the room.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I've been in rooms where people are I'll go back
and watch the video and I'm going, it's not that
I am able to give you a solution right there
on the spot. Yeah, And that right there on the
spot solution can make the difference. Most people are on
one solution away from meeting their goal.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah right, so yeah, So for you know, I talked
to a lot of people about AI. Primarily I think, no,
I can say primarily older adults and a lot of
them are a little wary of AI. So what would
you say to those people? And it's not just primarily
(25:32):
old people, but it's just the ones that I've talked to.
They're not they're not really for for the technology.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
What would you say to.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
People like you know, who are wary of AI, how
would you ease them into like you know, how would
you ease their concerns about it?
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (25:49):
So AI, Well, any technology is based on data, right,
So it's the data that we put in. Even though
you're using AI, a person has to give aid information.
So sometimes what we fell to realize is it's just
like any kind of output.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Somebody had to put something in for you to get something.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Out, and the people putting it in are just they're people, right,
they're us. The machines can't do any more than what
we give them to do. There's coding, So the machines
that we use, the telephones, the computers, there's somebody, a
(26:35):
physical somebody behind the scene writing the code. If we
didn't write the code, you wouldn't have the computer.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
If we didn't have a person, an.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Individual that was good with small electronics, you wouldn't be
able to save the memory.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
So everything, even though you're weary of the AI in.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
And of itself, you have to remember that there was
a physical person making things work.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Now.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I say that to say sometimes there's a level of
patience you have to have because think about when you
get a new update on your phone or something, you
don't know how to use it immediately, and so the
update may frustrate you. So you have to have patience
with yourself and patients with the technology. Technology ever evolving,
(27:27):
and that's not going to go away. It's just at
what level are you comfortable with the technologies? Because think,
I think my husband had a BlackBerry. He tried to
hold that phone forever.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Oh yeah, I remember the dreaded BlackBerry. Those blackberries were
great for that period changed and what do they do
when they don't want you to use that particular device anymore?
They make it obsolete. Yeah. So now if you have
(27:59):
an absolute device, now it's just what a paperweight? Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So you know, like just like you're saying, everything is
a learning curve, it's just a learning curve, which I'm
gonna shift gears a little bit. We're gonna talk about
personal growth and just overcoming challenges. So I know when
I transitioned, I had a lot of doubt. I did
(28:27):
many things afraid, I did the imposta syndrome, just all
of that. You know, was there was there a time
that you had to make a decision like a bold
decision in your business that scared you and what was
what helped you overcome the fear of taking that that step.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Okay, so I did.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
And the boldest thing that you can do is invest
in yourself.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Right, So you have to.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
You can't stop personal development and you can stop professional development.
And I say that because in the military they send
you through these professional and personal developments.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
That's them doing it.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Now you have to take on your own personal and
professional development. That includes reading books, that includes watching videos
that somebody else may have done to help you get
to the next level. But the biggest thing is investing
in yourself and being afraid because if you retire and
(29:30):
you're on disability or whatever, you're afraid of how much
expendable money do I have? Do I really have this
extra money, especially if you don't go back into the workforce.
And so the scariest thing was investing. I think my
very first investment was about six thousand. I had two
(29:51):
different coaches and it was six thousand in a short
period of time, in like maybe three months. So that's
a lot of money to invest and not know what
the return on investment will be because again it's a
learning curve, you're learning from other people, and the return
(30:15):
on investment is not necessarily always immediately let me yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
And so to that point, you know, I think that's
the complete opposite of the military, right because for one,
I think the military focus heavily on professional development. Two,
we are not coming out of pocket per se for
that investment either, so.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Too, when we get out of.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
This is where so and this is why I talk
about the transition process because on surface, you know, it's
not just about getting out of the military and starting over,
like you know, I'm just going to start a job.
There's so much that goes into that. There's a mindset
shift that goes along with that. There's a lot of
adjustments that we have to make from on a personal level.
(31:00):
And I love that you said that because now it's
almost like the military was focused primarily on our professional development.
Now when we get out, we really have to do
more of a personal development, which leads because we've already
got the professional side down, you know, now we got
to figure out, Okay, who are we on this on
(31:24):
our personal level because we don't know that, we don't
many of us don't know that. You know, we don't
understand the mindset shift. Eighteen years old, You and I
seventeen eighteen years old going.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
In What did we know? What did we know?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And we were so used to every you know, being
told what to do, where to be, when to be there,
you know. And as you talked about one thing, you
said too, the return on the investment in the military
was a promotion, right, a certificate of achievement, some kind
of award, you know, So you can see the ROI
(31:59):
as a entrepreneur or coming out of the military. Ah,
like you, you know, you you have to work to
see the return on the investment, right, and the personal
development piece, the personal.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Growth investing.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
We're not used to taking that money, like physically taking
that money and saying, here help me, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
I need to develop myself.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
So the transition process, it's it's like it's really a process,
and we all go through different stages at different times.
You know. I think one of the things many of
us may struggle with, I speak for myself, is that
idea of failure, right, not understanding that that's part of growth.
(32:50):
I had to learn to restructure that, you know, rephrase that,
take a different approach to understanding that we failed many
times in the.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Military, right, but we adjust.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
We don't see it like that, no, And it's not
just about failure perfectionism, right, yes, of the structure and
the things that we had to do and having guidelines
for us.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Right. While you're in, you go to a level of.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Your standards are extremely high, right, because they standards are high,
so you keep those standards when you come out. Everybody
doesn't have those same standards.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
So whether you go.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Into the workforce or you're an entrepreneur, for yourself, your
level of expectation becomes high, and for other people they
may not be able to meet that, right, And so
you have to learn to meet people where they are,
which is different because in the military you kind of
know where you look at people's ranks, their structure, of
(33:59):
their time, right, you have a very clear idea where
they're at and where they're working from.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
And when you're an entrepreneur, it's not like that.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
And another thing I'll say is your group of people
will change, right. And this is right for the civilian
people because we're a family oriented.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
In the military, you know, you're surrounded.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
I still have my groups of military things like that,
but I also have my group of non military people,
and that is a transition in and of itself because
the language is different. There are language barriers that you
have to overcome. And I'm not saying English. I'm saying
language as in say jargon. Like if they say ROI,
(34:52):
now I'm over here.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Googling with this right RO.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
You may give me an acronym and I'm going, what
are those three letters for me? Why?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
What?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
I don't you know.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
But all of it is a mindset shift and giving
yourself permission.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
This is the one thing that I will say.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
When I got out, I was like, I never have
to run another PT test, never after watching my weight.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
There is all of us. I don't got to.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
Be somewhere at seven o'clock in the morning, all of
the things that were structured. When you retire it out
or when you separate whatever it is, you're like all
of the things that you don't have to do what
I want you to be mindful of. Those things were
in place for a reason, and they're powerful even when
you get out. Just for yourself, yeah, because you still
(35:50):
want to have self care, so you still want to exercise.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
And you still want to read.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
This goes back to what we were talking about personal
and professional development. You still want to understand that your
ideas because in the military, our ideas, we gave them
to the military, it was what it was. But when
you come out, your ideas become intellectual property that you
share with people, and.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
You have to remember that.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And that's what it is in this world in entrepreneurship
and things. When you take an idea and you develop
it into a process or into a workshop, it's your
intellectual property and you need to learn how and know
how to protect those things. Whereas in the military, when
you came up with an idea because you were taking initiatives,
(36:39):
it becomes theirs.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
You don't get to really take it. Yeah, it's a
team thing.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
So it's a team effort absolutely, and so that's one
of the things that even when you come out, like
I said, I came out, I was like, no more pttest,
no more weight management, all of the things that you
were like, I don't have to be at seven o'clock.
But I would just want to remind us when you transition,
(37:06):
don't lose all.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Of it, don't let go of all of it.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Still be mindful to your point on that though, because
you know, even as entrepreneurs we are our brand. We
are our brand. And whether or not people say first
impressions last. When you meet someone, you're not talking to
them right away unless you know them, so you know
they're looking at who you are. You know who you
(37:33):
are in front of them. So it does, it does
matter how we show up. And like you said, all
those things that the military instilled in us, they carry
forward because at the end of the day, if you're
not showing up for you, how are you showing up?
How can you show up for the next person? In
in integrity?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Right? So it all everything.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I say this to my students, I said, everything starts
with you, and it does apply to everyone. Everything does
start with you. You know, how you show up for yourself
behind the scenes when no one's watching is really how
you're going to show up to the masses. Right.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
How we do one thing is how we do everything.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
So yeah, so I want to ask you, what does
living unapologetically mean to you? And how do you make
sure you're living authentically like in your business and in
your personal life.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
So living unapologetically to me means that, I say, it's
one of those I said what I said, you can
apologize for what I said.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Now I may think of how the way.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
I say it, because you still want to make sure
that a person gets your message. So unapologetically to me
is standing on my beliefs, my morals, and my values
and not I call it being wishy washy. I'm not
a wishy washing person, and I had I've had people
(39:06):
say I'm trying to understand you.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
I'm like, what you see is what you get.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Yeah, and there's no I'm not looking for or coming
out here.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Well, I have an agenda. I am who God.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
Made me to be and that doesn't change.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Now. The delivery may change.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Right, but the how right that that delivery may change,
But I am who I am that part as I grow,
I change because you want to grow and be better
than you were yesterday. Everything I do today is meant
to be better than yesterday.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
So yeah, I also, just to chime in, I will
also add that it also helps to understand your audience,
you know, because you you know, just knowing who you're
talking to, how they may or may not receive what
you're saying.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
So I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
So you've stepped into a role the tech industry I
feel where a lot of women and veterans are underrepresented.
What do you think needs to change to give more
women in the military and beyond a seed at the
tech table.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
Okay, so what I'll say is this, there's a level
of confidence you have to have and you have to
work to that confidence.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
So if you know and you know you know that
you love technology, you just stay current with what's going on.
Right and even in the military, I would make myself
available to my leadership. Mine is a little different from
most people's because I worked for commanders most of my
(40:59):
military career, so I didn't have other people that were
like in the middle that I had to go through.
So for my career, I was able to go to
my commander and say, this is what I would like
to do, and a true leader will help you navigate
to where.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
You like to go.
Speaker 4 (41:18):
You still have to do the mission and things like that,
but you if you know you like something in particular,
it never hurts to share that with your leadership, your
your first sergeant.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Your commanders, if you have. If you have, it's.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
Having a relational relationship and I'm not I'm talking professional
relationship type of environment with the people that you're around.
And so you have to do that because otherwise what
you'll do. And just because other people don't know doesn't
(41:59):
mean you don't know. You know you, you know what
you like, you know what you're capable of, because sometimes
what we do is we get into a role or
a position in the military, and then we stay there
and we never move, and then we stifle ourselves.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
I can tell you for me.
Speaker 4 (42:21):
About every five years I change jobs because I got
complacent ord and I was like, Okay, is there anything
else I can look? Is there anything else I can do?
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Do I qualify for something else?
Speaker 4 (42:37):
And so that's what I would say, especially if you're
a female. The technology industry is dominated by males, right.
Sometimes they don't look like me, but it's dominated. And
the thing was I would go to those males and they.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Would teach me.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
Yeah, I would go over to the comm squadron and
those males say, what do you want to learn?
Speaker 3 (43:02):
You have to be open to learning, even if you're
not in that position.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
The more knowledge you have, the better opportunities you will
have even when you're coming out. I had the opportunity
to be certified, go to comp to you get the certification.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
This goes back to investing in yourself.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Rather you're still in or you're an entrepreneur, investing in certifications,
especially in the IT realm, learning and studying that is
what will help you to kind of crack the code.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
And don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to step in to.
Speaker 4 (43:43):
The IT world because it is challenging and it's ever changing.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
So with that being said, you know, the AI world
is changing. Like there are so many versions of AI,
and I mean, I can understand why some people may
be intimidated with it because there's chat, GPT, there's Gamma,
there's and you were telling me about a whole bunch
(44:11):
of other versions, But like, how do you, like, how
would you kind of help someone navigate these these changes,
you know, just even just to get comfortable with with
that program.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
And that was off that I came back to that
because it was just in my head.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
But yes, you're find So what I would say is this,
the biggest thing is to find someone that can help
you that's a prompt engineer. Right, So there's lots of
different software, there's lots of different online tools that you
can use, but finding a person that's a prompt engineer
(44:49):
because the real thing with the AI, especially if you're
talking about chat GPT, you're talking about Clode, you're talking anything,
because right now.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
So many goals. Yeah, Dolly is an AI, all of it.
Speaker 4 (45:03):
So finding a prompt engineer because it is the prompt,
which the prompt is basically a series of words that
you're going to use to get AI to do what
you want it to do. But what happens is people
will use short prompts. They say, well, I just want
to know this, and sometimes you have to add detail
(45:26):
because AI is only going to give you what you
ask for initially, and if you don't know to add
details to it, then you may want a table format.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Well, chat DPT will do that.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Because it has the data analytics. In the paid version,
it has the written code to actually be able to
give it to you.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
You can also get it in the.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
Non paid version, but you have to know the language
to use again that word language and in what order
to put that language in so you can get the
output that you're looking for and saying like, I want
you to write code that will give me a table
(46:13):
that has monthly and whatever it is that you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
So so you're saying that the language for the free
version of changpt in the language. For the paid version,
it's different.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
It is, oh, because I can say certain things in
the paid version, and it's going to be more detailed
than in depth.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
And I don't have to tell it I want this
in English.
Speaker 4 (46:42):
At this level, it'll know because it's learned me, right.
The free version doesn't necessarily learn you, and when it does,
it is still giving you a wide view versus a
clone in answer to what you're looking for. But if
(47:03):
you say I want you to write first person English
as though you are a ghost writer for me, then
it will give you that.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
And that's putting it into the paid version. No, that's
putting it into the.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Free verse, a free version of that. I think that's
still a lot of information.
Speaker 4 (47:26):
It is when you say I want I want to
I'm trying to create a persuasive So it's the words
that you use.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Okay, okay, okay, I was so yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
So would you would you say that the paid version
is more accurate than the than the free version? I
know that matters sound like a stupid question, but it
all just by you explaining that. To me, it seems
like the free version will give you just as much
info as the paid version.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
What's the what's the big the major difference.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
The biggest difference is it's giving you general information from
the free version. It has a very smaller pull of
data that is pulling from, whereas the paid version has
a larger pool of data. Right, So it's giving you
more data from the paid version.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
That's why I always do.
Speaker 4 (48:22):
I start out with the free and if it will
satisfy my needs, then I keep it.
Speaker 3 (48:28):
But if I know I need more, then I go
to the paid version. And depending on depending.
Speaker 4 (48:35):
On how often I'm going to use it. So I'm
made like Gamma. We talked about Gamma before. I pay
Gamma when I'm needing it. So Gamma give you thirty
you know, it's like a month prescription. So I'm going
to use everything I need that month, and then I
might not use it for another three months, right.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
And then I'll look pay So I don't pay for
the year.
Speaker 4 (48:57):
But something like chat GPT, if I could pay by
the year, I would just pay for the year and
then I don't have to worry about monthly pay.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
So for those like I think just to go back
to this question though, so for people who are wary
of the AI and but maybe you know that it
could help them, how would you ease them intoto? Like
what am I trying to say? Just learning how to
(49:30):
use the especially for business owners entrepreneurs who may just
be a little worry about using it, thinking that you
know it's so robotic or whatever. What would your advice
be to them? And I may have access already, but
just from your explanation of that.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
Because there's so many versions there, right.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
If they're a simpler, would you say, would you recommend
just start with chat GPT?
Speaker 3 (49:57):
Is that the simplest version that there is. I would
recommend starting with chat GPT.
Speaker 4 (50:03):
And because you can go in there and ask simple questions,
you could say, I am confused about how AI works.
Speaker 3 (50:13):
Can you explain it to that?
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Right?
Speaker 3 (50:17):
And it will give you an explanation.
Speaker 4 (50:21):
And it'll give you and you can say I'm confused
about how AI works and I need a simple explanation, right,
And so it's going to simplify.
Speaker 3 (50:32):
It for you.
Speaker 4 (50:34):
You could say I'm weary of using AI because and
whatever your reason might be, and say can you help
alleviate my.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
Fear? Yeah, and chat.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
GPT you will write something for you that says basically
why are you afraid, because again I know that what
it comes down to is sometimes we are afraid that
it's going to take our information and hold it and
give it to other people.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean that's a real that's a
genuine fear.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Yeah yeah, it's like if I write something in here.
But guess what.
Speaker 4 (51:14):
There are features in chat GPT that you can take
off where it won't save what you've asked.
Speaker 3 (51:21):
But again, getting with someone who.
Speaker 4 (51:24):
Is giving a complimentary or a free workshop, those are
the things that you want to do.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
That's how you can be eased into it. Yeah, and
so I do.
Speaker 4 (51:34):
I have prompt books to help people ease into it,
like chat GPT one on one prompt books.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
Okay, you're going to get to your site. Are those
all on your site? Actually?
Speaker 4 (51:46):
You sign up because again I'm a people person, and
so you'll get a chance to have a consultation with
me so that I can understand what your goals are,
what your fears may be. Because if you're talking to me,
I can walk you through how let's alleviate.
Speaker 3 (52:06):
Let me show you how to do this.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
And sometimes it's a thirty minute consultation because I believe
the interaction between people is important, and so on my site,
you would just sign up for a free consultation and
then we go from there.
Speaker 2 (52:23):
What about businesses that are a little bit more advanced
than chat Ept? And because like I was on Instagram,
I actually kind of get off of it because it
was just listing all these AI programs that you could
use to do so many things, and so what about
businesses that are a little bit more advanced than chat Ept.
(52:44):
What are some of those AI programs that you know
could help more advanced businesses.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
So there's there's so you have claud. It just depends
on what you want to do. Okay, you have.
Speaker 4 (52:58):
Gamma which will give you your PowerPoint presentations and things
like that. You have Loom you know to do videos,
you zoom videos.
Speaker 3 (53:11):
You have.
Speaker 4 (53:13):
If you want to do graphics, there's ideo gram.
Speaker 3 (53:19):
There's mid Journey. So it just depends on what you
want to do. And so those lists are good.
Speaker 4 (53:27):
I would I would say look through the list because
this is the thing. It's still going to be a
learning curve no matter what. Black there's a learning curve
and I have to go through. And so but you
want to always do the free version first, because if
you're not familiar with it. You have to get familiar
with it. And so I say do the free version first.
(53:49):
But this is this is the key. If you do
not have time to work through the free version, wait
until you have time, right, because when you sign up
for the free version and maybe it's two weeks and
you don't do anything in those two weeks.
Speaker 3 (54:06):
Yeah, that way your ability, yeah, to use that free version.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
No, if you could give any advice to female veterans
who are transitioning and wanting to jump into business or
into leadership, what would you say to them, especially with
you know, especially if they're coming out now and AI
is on the REMP the way it is, what would
your advice be to them?
Speaker 4 (54:37):
First, give yourself time. So we have to give ourselves
permission to do things. We want to jump out in
and just jump into everything. Give yourself thirty to forty
five days just for yourself, going back to.
Speaker 3 (54:51):
Learning who you are again.
Speaker 4 (54:52):
Yes, it's going to take you longer, but give yourself
time to slow down for a minute. Things will be
field to you when you've slowed down, true, it will
be revealed and open to you, and that will help
you kind of know. Okay, this is the direction I
want to go in. That's first, I would say, invest
(55:16):
in yourself. Find a and you may go to YouTube first,
but find a coach, a consultant and advisor, a program
for entrepreneurship or just for business from the beginning, which
is what I did. I found I got a couple
(55:37):
of coaches, but find a business coach. Be very specific
on the type of coach you find. Make sure it
is a program for you. And sometimes you may want
to just sit in a workshop that someone has before
you jump fully in. Just be cognitive that and like
I said, the biggest thing is to give you your
(56:00):
self grace and know that time is not going to
get away from you unless you allow it right. Time
is our most precious thing, and so we spend time
Russian Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian. When if you sit back
and relax and allow it, everything will happen in due
(56:21):
time the way it's supposed to.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Wise words, wise words, Anita, thank you so much. This
was an amazing conversation. You know, you've shown us what
it means to embrace change, lead on apologetically, just you know,
taking on new ventures and how to build a future
on your terms. This was truly inspiring and I thank
(56:45):
you for sharing. For everyone listening, make sure you check
out Anietsra. Oh you know what, Tell people how they
can find you? Tell them where do you find how
they can find you? Yes, you can find me on
faith book at a Niatra Lane.
Speaker 4 (57:02):
You can go to my website at aniitralane dot com
and that's spelled a n I t r a l
a n e dot com. You can find me on
Instagram it's a Nietra dot a v M. But if
you go to Facebook, it's all in there. My links
(57:22):
to all my other social medias are on Facebook, and
my website has all my links as well as some
blogs that you can read through to learn more about AI.
Speaker 2 (57:35):
It's all there, Lane, and it will be in the
show notes. So remember to connect with Anietra if you
are ready to scale your business with AI.
Speaker 3 (57:48):
And as always.
Speaker 2 (57:50):
Remember no matter where you are in your journey, you
are on the right path.
Speaker 3 (57:54):
You are always where you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Just keep pushing forward until next time, stay stay empowered,
stay bold, and just keep living unapologetically.
Speaker 1 (58:13):
This has been living unapologetically beyond the Uniform with your
host Renee Jones Hudson. We hope you found inspiration and
valuable insights in today's episode. Remember your journey of redefining, rediscovering,
and reaffirming your life post military is unique and powerful.
Stay connected with us for more stories, advice, and support.
(58:36):
Until next time, stay strong and stay empowered. Listen Fridays
eleven am Eastern on the
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!