115 | How to future proof your business with AI - without losing the human touch

Speaker: 00:00:00

Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Hello.

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Welcome to episode 1 1 5 of

Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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Today I'm excited to cover a topic

that I'm actually shocked that I

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haven't covered yet, which is how to

futureproof your coaching business

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with AI without losing the human touch.

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So today's conversation might

feel a little bit different,

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but I promise it's important.

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We are talking about AI and more

specifically how coaches like you can

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use it to support your business without

losing what makes your work powerful.

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That real connection, trust,

and human led transformation.

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Because it's worth saying

that AI isn't going anywhere.

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Whether you are using tools like Chat,

GPT, or Claude or Canvas Magic Tools.

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Scheduling apps that record your

Zoom calls or write your meeting

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notes or something else entirely.

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It really is changing the way

we work, and if you are not

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using ai, you will fall behind.

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It's a bit like when the internet came in.

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And people thought it would be a fad

and you know, where would we be without

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being able to Google something now?

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So I really think if you aren't using

it yet or aren't using it much yet,

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it really is worth listening in today.

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And even if you are using it lots,

hopefully you will get some ideas as well.

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So I will cover how we can stay

current, save time, and support

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your business growth without feeling

like we are turning into robots.

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Let's start with the obvious.

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The goal here isn't to replace your work.

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AI cannot coach like you.

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I really don't think you need to worry

as a human being, it is our innate need

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to connect with other humans, so it can't

bring that insight, that warmth, that

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feeling of being seen, that emotional

intelligence that you can, what it

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can do is support the admin or reduced

decision fatigue, help you stay consistent

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with your marketing content systems.

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So here are three simple ways

you can start using AI right

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now without losing your voice.

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First one is content creation, writing

a blog newsletter, or LinkedIn post.

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I honestly wouldn't know where to

begin now, and I cannot believe how

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hard it must have been a year or

so ago before I started using ai.

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And therefore, if you are just starting

and lucky enough to be in this world

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of ai, then how lucky are you to be

able to create a post in three seconds.

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To be able to create a lead magnet

in 10 seconds because things

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used to take such a long time.

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The thought, the energy that

your brain would need to go

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through to do things was insane.

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So I just think we are so, so lucky

now that we can do all of these

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things at the click of a button.

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I would start with a few bullet points

about what you want to achieve and

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get a first draft, and then speak it

out loud and edit in your own voice.

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That sounds a strange thing to do, but I

promise you that most people won't do it.

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So if you are the one who does read

it out loud, you will be the one that

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really connects with other humans.

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So this isn't about outsourcing

your voice, it is about removing

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the blank page, and you never

need to have that anymore.

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It's so easy to go in and ask.

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I think the real challenge

is remembering to ask.

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So the things I do for my clients

using ai, they're like, why

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didn't I think of doing that?

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And it's just like, I don't

think about doing it for my own

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offer, sales page niche, whatever

it might be I'm working on.

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I will end up staying stuck, whereas

when I have a conversation with

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someone and they run it through

ai, for me, it's just incredible.

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I had a awkward situation recently where

someone pitched to speak on this podcast

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and I met them and I just thought I worked

really, really hard to build trust with

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my podcast audience and I didn't feel

like I knew this person well enough to let

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them share their message on my podcast.

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'cause there is that thing

such as borrowed trust.

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But I had spoken to them and I had

agreed as the people pleaser that I am.

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And one of my wonderful

masterminders ran it through Claude.

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When I shared that, I was like worried

and I didn't think I could do anything

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and I just have to proceed with this.

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She ran it through Claude and she sent

me the output, which was perfect, and

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I sent it to them immediately and I

got an absolutely fine response back.

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So again, it really, really does help to

have communication with real people that

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can actually assist you with AI as well.

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Another thing AI is great for is

repurposing what you've already said.

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So for example, I use it every week

to turn this podcast episode into a

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blog post, into a LinkedIn newsletter,

into an email, into a social post.

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So you can reuse all of the things that

you are doing really, really easily now.

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You can also turn live

video into a blog post.

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So for example, I'm intending

to be running a workshop on your

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first a hundred subscribers.

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I have probably already run it by the time

this is live 'cause it's on 23rd of April.

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But this episode now is a great

reminder that all I need to do is

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download the zoom transcript, upload

it into chat GPT, or whatever AI I

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like, and ask it to repurpose the

main core points that I can share on

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social media or in a follow up email.

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Another great thing AI can be useful

for is transcribing and suggesting

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headlines or calls to actions.

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It's these things that can really

take a long time, and there is a real

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science in creating great headlines.

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You might call them hooks.

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In other words, the thing that

makes someone either stop and

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read your post or open your email.

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Many people say you should spend 80%

of your time on the headline or the

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first two lines of whatever you write.

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'cause if you haven't managed to

hook people's attention within that

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first second, you have lost them.

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And therefore, all of the hours you may

have spent writing that email or creating

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that social post is completely wasted.

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So it is so worth thinking

about working with ai.

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To create great hooks.

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Okay.

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Our third simple way that you

can use AI right now is client

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support between sessions.

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Think about automating simple

things like session reminders, check

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in emails, post session recaps.

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You are still the one delivering all the

value, but these small systems keep the

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experience really smooth and professional.

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I use Fathom to create a note of my calls

so it's really easy if someone misses

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a call for them to scroll through and

jumps immediately to the part of the

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recording that they are interested in.

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I've also been playing around with a

lot of AI images recently, so there's

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a great site called Mid Journey,

which creates beautiful images I've

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been using in my carousels recently.

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It does take a lot of time to find the

right image to suit your carousel, but

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it's so great to be able to create an

image that nobody else has ever used

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before in the matter of minutes, I would

like to say, but sometimes hours of trying

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to create the most beautiful images.

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But here is your warning to not

let AI make your business generic.

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It's really easy to fall into the trap

of pasting something directly from chat

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GPT or Claude into your LinkedIn post.

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The telltale signs I would look

out for are the long dashes between

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words, which you just wouldn't

do, and I don't even know how you

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can physically do on a keyboard.

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So it's an immediate AI giveaway.

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If I see someone's post with this

long dash between the words, I just

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switch off immediately because I know

it's ai, therefore I know it's not

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worth my time reading that content.

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So really think about the sort of trigger

words and things that AI uses a lot.

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So words like empower or certain things

it's just stolen the use of, because

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it's so overused with AI, and people will

immediately tell if your post uses these

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long dashes or overused generic words.

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So my invitation to you is to use AI as

a collaborator, not as a replacement.

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So bring your voice, bring your

stories, bring your experience.

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Let AI support you with

that, and you bring the soul.

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You can edit it afterwards to make sure

it feels like you and sounds like you.

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'cause people don't just want answers.

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They really want to feel that

you are behind that post.

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The way you explain things, the way

you hold space, the way you challenge,

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reframe, and coach them into clarity.

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So don't forget you in all of this.

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It's really easy to do in all honesty,

because I do run a lot through AI now

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and often I'm looking for my initial

draft as to how I can make it sound more

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me again, once I've run it through ai.

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Finally, let's talk mindset, because

I know AI can feel intimidating,

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like you are suddenly supposed to

become a tech expert or get left

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behind if you don't agree to use it.

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I would just recommend stay curious,

be open to learning, willing to try new

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things, decide what feels right for you.

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This isn't about chasing trends, but

it is about really future proofing

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your time, which is your one precious

resource, your energy, your capacity

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to be able to show up in your business

in a way that feels sustainable

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and is a great use of your time.

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So if you have been wondering

whether it's okay to use AI

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in your business, it truly is.

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I don't know many coaches now who aren't

using it or certainly I think lots

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of people do come and start working

with me and have never used AI before.

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And I think I'm so used to using it,

I assume the whole world is using it,

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which is probably why it's a great

idea to record this episode because

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you are just in the learning phase.

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We are all in the learning phase.

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The exciting thing is it's only

been around for about a year or so.

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So if you are worried, it will

dilute what you do, it won't.

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So keep anchoring into your voice.

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Speak the stuff out loud.

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Remember your values, your stories,

feed that to AI and all of your

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client successes, everything

that you bring to the table.

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But use the tools.

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Keep the magic.

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Thank you for joining me.

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In today's episode, I would love to

hear what AI tools you are using in your

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business to work smarter, not harder.

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If you'd like the fast track of this,

do join me inside my mentorship program,

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the business of coaching, where we,

every single week, will compare notes

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on what everybody's using right now

and what successes people are having.

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I love the fact that many of my clients

are acing it in lots of different

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tools that I haven't learned yet,

and I can help them learn all of

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the things I have learned as well.

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So if you want to do this

collaboratively, then you will

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find the details of the Business of

Coaching program in the show notes.

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And like I say at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe in

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yourself, and be the wise gardener

who keeps on watering the seeds.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.