3 Entrepreneurs Share How They’re Making Money with AI

Solopreneurs. We can be like, hey, we need to post on all these platforms or whatever, and now with AI so we can make all the content so fast. So like, let's actually do something that plugs it in and makes it happen right away up.

Welcome to the next evolution of the podcast entrepreneur school in the AI era. We are here to figure out how to integrate AI into the business you've worked so hard to build in a way that still feels like you I'm your host, Kelly Sinclair, award winning marketer turned AI platform co founder, AI has fundamentally changed how I thought about work systems and what's actually possible. This show is about navigating that new reality together. It's going to be a wild ride, my friend, but I truly believe there's a way to leverage AI in a way that's intentional, human, centered and aligned. It's an ongoing evolution. So let's explore, because AI may just be the unlock you need to achieve the life first business you truly desire.

Hey, hey, entrepreneur school, I am bringing you a really fun little episode this week. I just got home from Social Media Marketing World, slash AI business world down in Anaheim. And if you are following me on Instagram, you already know that, yes, of course, I went to Disneyland. I know that was your main question, but I met so many fantastic people down there, and I did a fun little on site podcast recording with a few different individuals who are doing cool things with AI, different industries, different ways of monetizing AI and everything from content creation to social media to image generation. And so I just wanted to share these three really raw, short little interviews that I did with Maddie and Emma and Lauren, just so that you can get some ideas of different ways that AI is being used. It's just intended to spark some creativity, because that's what I learned at this conference, more than anything, is that just you know, different people have different applications, and that's really an important thing to look at is, how are other people using this, and how can I think about how that would work for my business? And I feel like when you open up an AI chat window like chat GPT or Claude, it's just a big white space, right? And sometimes that, in of itself, can be really overwhelming to go. What should I even do with this right now? So one of the things that I wanted to focus on, specifically, because I feel like this conversation was not really being had on the stages at the event was around monetization with AI and so how are we thinking about how we can help others, how we can sell our AI tools, and obviously that is why I am working with my business partner, Andrew, and we've developed wave dash AI, and that is a platform for monetizing your expertise into AI tools that we call bot squads. I was around handing out stickers at the conference and say my bot squad makes bank, and it's giving bot squad that one is courtesy of

my gen alpha children. Anyhow, I'm totally digressing. I'm going to get into the interviews now and make sure that you check the show notes if you want to learn more about how to connect with any of my impromptu guests. Oh, hey, I am here with Maddie Van Patton, yes, and she works in the wedding industry. And we were just having a little chat about monetizing AI tools for that industry, absolutely. So I just like love to hear what you're thinking about, like the opportunity that you see there, and what you're trying to do.

Maddie Van Patton: Absolutely. So what we are trying to do in the Central Valley of California is create bots and, I guess, exclusive prompt packages that enable the smaller businesses in the wedding industry to start competing with the big I guess, the big guns, the big fish that are existing right now in the valley, we are seeing outsourcing of our brides and couples going to places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Which phenomenal, by the way, but as a central valley, or we want to keep our Valley business in the valley, so we need to start utilizing tools to allow people to start being able to compete, and to start being relatable to the couples, to start actually polishing up the things that they are posting. Because unfortunately, in our area, after covid and. It's the return to normalcy. We're starting to see that the small business book isn't really connecting with the audiences anymore. Yeah, I think that's like, that's the opportunity. A lot of small businesses who are like, independent, they don't have a big team, really need support from Ai, because soon as you start leveraging AI in what you're doing, you're able to get so much done so much faster, like you're hiring a team, the equivalent to hiring a team of people without right the cost of that. So seeing, like, I love that you can see this opportunity, and that's something that you're creating with your expertise. And I'm like, I'm for you to build a bot squad.

Like, bot squad, get ready? Yeah, yeah.

Oh, hey, I'm here with Emma Teagan, and she is from?

I'm from England, but I live in Mexico.

And what company are you here with?

Smarter care? We are a social media scheduling tool.

yeah. So talk about how you're using AI in that.

Okay, so we have two ways. The first way is, if you haven't got a clue about how to set up your social media scheduling, you don't know what to be posting on which platform when you literally just tell us your business we tell you what times you should post, what days you should post, and what kind of content that you should post, and then it's all automatic. And then the second way is that if you're not sure like what to write with your post, to get the most SEO benefit out of each platform. We also do do that and write all of the captions for you.

Does it tie into like, one of the main ll lands? Or how does it work?

So it's a completely unique software. So literally, it's like, think of us like a Hootsuite, but less for enterprise and more for solopreneurs, busy business owners, authors, real estate, and we've got agency features as well now,

yeah, I love it because, like, solopreneurs, we can be like, here we need to post on all these platforms or whatever, and now with AI so we can make all the content so fast. So like, let's actually do something that plugs it in and makes it happen right away,

exactly so literally. Just think of it is where you can batch, create all of your content on one day, and then have everything go out for the whole month, see what's working, double down on that, and then get rid of the rest of the ideas you might

love it. Yep, I love all the creative solutions. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, hey, Lauren. Oh, Hi. How's it going?

Great.

Okay, well, I'm so excited. I've just met Lauren Bain this week at Social Media Marketing World, at AI business world, and she is like the queen of visual creation with AI, which is something that I honestly am scared of doing, so I don't do a lot of it. So tell us about how you're using that and how, and then we'll talk about, like, monetization with AI and what you're

so I'm using AI. My biggest thing is that I believe that it's a process and not a prompt, so I've come up with a framework for prompting. But that's not where you stop. It's very much like, hey, we get this image. Let's get a couple more images. Let's see what else these bots can make for us using the exact same prompt, because every image is going to be different, right? Yeah. So then we take what we like and we don't like about some of these images, and we'll refine our prop, and we say, Oh, actually, I really like the light in this one, right? Like the way this she's sitting in this picture. And then you're able to kind of build your ultimate prompt right to get in the exact image that you're looking for. And now we've got models that are so good that it's like half the time. You don't even need to have a really good prompt. You just need to have a really good idea, and it can help you flesh that out. So using it for exploration and ideation rather than even final assets, is something that people can absolutely be doing.

I love that you brought up. Like, just ask it the same thing again, because this is a terminology I've learned developing a software company with AI, which is that it's non deterministic, which means, like, the input is going to be different no matter who puts it in, then the output will also always be different. So like, even without changing anything about the prompt, you're getting a different outburst

version of whatever it thought that that should be on that try so I can run the exact same prompt 10 times in a row. Every single one of those images is going to be different.

Amazing. Yeah, let me ask you about monetization with AI and like, what you are doing yourself? Like, how are you selling your AI tools or knowledge, or what are you up to? What are you doing?

So I've got a couple different ways of making the monies with the bots. So like you just talked about, with the framework that I created, I've actually turned that into a custom GPT and a Claude skill that I sell that's doing very well. People love her. She is super helpful. What's her name? Her name is pronti Poppins. I've also got one called bot muse, because my brand is bemused. And that one helps build brands, and people love her. And then I've also got a course called Foundations of photography that helps. People understand how they can be generating images, what that process looks like. Teach them about prompting, teach them about the different models to use for what because there are a lot of models. And so I've got that course, and then I'm also launching a paid membership called anti up. I have more AI anti, and so it just made sense from a branding perspective. But I love a good brand through line. But yeah, so that is going to be more of a place for people to come to get continued education. Since AI moves so fast. Yeah, I can launch a course, but what does that mean three months from when we launch it? Right? Some people are going to want to continue to get updated on what's going on with Claude, what's going on in the image space, what's going on. Can you show me, you know, use cases? Because I think that's a lot of why people like to follow me is I am very ADHD, and so my teaching style is very like, watch me work, watch me make the mistakes. Watch me figure out how to fix the mistakes, rather than just, like, here's the pretty stuff, right? So,

and I feel like even just the whole industry of online courses, and it's like, the idea of a static course now, just, it can't even be possible with AI, because things move so quickly, you could get something all launched up. I was somebody, was that I knew in a community, was like, writing a book about chat GPT, and then all of a sudden fell in love with collateral. Was like, now I could change my whole book, yeah. Like, that's why we need is, like, this, like, ongoing kind of, like, finding a mentor, somebody who, who you can be in a community with to, like, just keep working through it together. Because you're, you're just never gonna know everything, and there's not gonna be like, Okay, it's dead now, absolutely not.

And that's why, like, within my course, it is, I do have, like, bi weekly office hours so that I can constantly be updating people, like in the last two weeks drop just while we were here. This is what's in the tool now. And so there is that ability to do that. But that is also why I started the community, yeah, or the membership, because I do have a free community, but the membership is more a little going to be more,

yeah,

gritty, yeah. Sharing skills that I'm creating, sharing how I'm creating the skills, really just giving a lot of the information of all the ways that I'm exploring and using. Ai, amazing. Yeah? And they also do chatbots and chill sessions, which are like, one on ones with companies or solopreneurs and basically come in and say, Oh, this is how you're using AI. Let's fix that.

Yeah, yeah, amazing. Hey. Well, lots of good ideas there about how you can monetize. Bye.

Thank you for listening. If this episode got you thinking about how AI is impacting your business and what it might look like to integrate it in a way that actually fits. I'd love to help you think that through you can book an AI strategy chat using the link in the show notes. It's a space to talk about where you are, what's shifting, and how to move forward with intention. And if this episode was helpful, please share it with another business owner who's navigating this evolution too, and make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss what's coming next.