Power CEOs (Aired 01-27-2025) : E-Commerce, AI, & Brand Strategy Uncovered!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: SA. [00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome to Power CEOs the truth behind the business. I'm Jan Gode, your fearless host, investor, entrepreneur and business strategist. Why are we here? Because iron sharpens iron. And when we bring experts in their spaces and talk about what's working in business and maybe even some of what's not, we all learn and grow. As a result, our businesses grow and the ripple effect impacts not only ourselves, our teams and their family, but also our communities and our world. You are in for a treat today. I have got amazing guests. We are going to start start with all things E commerce and you're going to want to pay attention because we're going to even get into what's happening, what happens if my TikTok goes dark and more. We're going to of course have our AI segment of the week and then we're going to end on how can you optimize your brain so that you can be the absolute best that you can be. But without further ado, I want to bring my first guest today. I have Drew Morgan. Welcome to the show. [00:01:22] Speaker C: Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here, man. [00:01:24] Speaker B: I am too. I have not had somebody who is truly an expert in the E commerce space, specifically Amazon market space, in years, literally. So I'm really excited about this and I want to talk to you about something that comes up a lot in our audience and that's how do I build brand credibility and authenticity in an E commerce space, in an online space, in the Amazon marketplace, when it's so credit crowded? [00:01:50] Speaker C: That's a great question, Jen. So there's not a simple answer to this. Honestly, it's just like, it's just like, I think the best metaphors to think of it like a relationship when you're building a brand if you don't know what you're talking about and so think of it like a relationship. What are all the things you would do to build trust with a new friend, with a new girlfriend, with a new partner? And so those are the things like having good packaging, dressing well, like on a date. Well, have your package dress well. You know, you're trying to do good images and be authentic. Use influencers to kind of communicate your message in an authentic way. If you're not the influencer yourself for the brand, follow up. Just anything you can do from product quality to the packaging of the product to customer service afterwards the post purchase. Especially like on the Amazon marketplace where Chinese sellers are so dominant and they can be dominant with supply chain and cost of goods and Things like that. The way to really stand out as let's say an American made product or your selling here in the US and you're not getting product from China, how are you doing it? That's where you can really lean into content and really marketing yourself like an American brand, like a western brand as a way to stand out. So quality, I love it. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Quality over quantity maybe, but quality and authenticity for sure. And so talk to me about the marketing behind E commerce in today's world because let's face it, four years ago it was completely different. Ten years ago it was even more different than that. And you have been in this game for a really long time. So tell the folks how long have you been doing this and what does the evolution look like today from a marketing standpoint? [00:03:26] Speaker C: Okay, so this is, you know, 15 years. I've actually been doing this for 15 years. I went to school for computer science, got a job in networking out of school, networking and security at MasterCard actually. And I just hated the work. And so I took a chance at a startup selling car parts online back in the day and now I clean those things up. But at the beginning it was contacting manufacturers, really putting product up in mass. It's changed so much since then. And what used to be almost like just first to market or getting product up, when everything was, it was novel to buy online. And so simply having product online was almost like good enough. You didn't need all the best photos, you didn't need all the, the tactics and the strategies. It was just like a gold rush. Honestly today that looks quite a bit different. And there's even something called marketplaces now that didn't exist which is like the Chewy's of the world. And Amazon and Target and Walmart, these are considered marketplaces. And so you have a strategy for them that's different than you have a strategy for Shopify or a strategy that's different. If you're selling in grocery stores you might use like an Instacart where they can deliver your groceries. So each one of these channels has different strategies and methodologies that you have to learn and adapt to. And the one thing I can say about E commerce is it's not a career where you've done it 10 years and you're just amazing at it and you've got it perfected, you're learning. Even the best of us are learning every single year. We have to continue to adapt. [00:04:51] Speaker B: And I'm going to ask you the next question because like adapting is so incredibly important and AI we're in the dawn of AI. And not only that, we're in the dawn of AI meeting quantum computing, meeting all of these changes and everybody's changing their algorithms all the way, all the time. So how do you figure out what's the trusted source to learn? How do you find the trusted advisors? And who are the right people to listen to, who are going to help you along the way? Because I know you're one of those people, but back out and pretend that you're watching the show. How do I know you're that person? [00:05:21] Speaker C: I think AI is honestly a hard one to say, to talk about right now, because you can look at the Amazon industry, okay, and you can look up Andrew Morgan's online, Google, YouTube, whatever, and you're going to see a decade of content, a decade of me talking, talking and talking, walking the walk, so to speak. And you're going to see some consistency. Whether you like me and want to work with me or not, you're going to see those things right in the AI space. And experts around AI and consultants around AI. It's new. There isn't a decade for someone to go back on, to kind of like lean on. So I think anytime there's something new coming out, you might look to someone that you've trusted before and see what they're saying about it and kind of lean into something new that way. But honestly, in the marketing space, a lot of times when you talk to customers or clients or partners, they've been burned by a marketing company before, they've been burned by a consultant before. And so when I was really coming into the space kind of somewhat even late to the game in marketing in general, seeing Amazon as the opportunity. I come from a missionary background. I come from, my parents were teachers overseas in Congo. And that's just my background. And so it was natural for me to want to be like, okay, I just want to present myself as a good person, as a good agency over time and prove that through different ways of integrity and authenticity and reputation. Those things, reputation can go hand in hand with brand. I think, like those two things can go hand in hand. And a reputation takes a long time to get and to build. A brand takes a long time to build one because it's kind of the same thing. So some of it's gut, some of it's knowing enough yourself to ask the right questions to someone else. And even the best of us are still figuring things out as we go. [00:07:05] Speaker B: You're absolutely right. I actually am moving in the AI space myself right now. And it is so funny how many gurus are out there. And I'm like, did you realize that I immerse myself every day in this? And I only know this much. And I know a lot, and I know a lot of very brilliant people, and they know this much. And so, like, there is no. We dominate the marketplace in emerging technologies, but when we talk about E commerce, it's kind of a market that's matured now, and we see a lot of people in it. And you talk about authenticity and brand and credibility, but it takes a lifetime to build that. But it only takes one moment or the wrong answer to sort of destroy that. And we've seen it play out in a lot of different brands with messaging that have come back and they want to put that genie back in the bottle. But once it's out, folks, like, once it's out in public, you can't put genies back in bottles. So how do you. In today's society, with marketing and so much of evolution of what's okay to talk about, what's not okay to talk about, what's happening politically versus everything that's happening in our society, how do you know this is where I'm going and this is how I'm showing up Authenticity, authentically. As the messaging has to evolve based off of people are now using these terminologies. We don't talk the same way we did 10 years ago, for example. [00:08:23] Speaker C: Man, that is a great question. And I think it's a balancing act. It's constantly, you're trying to be authentic, you're trying to be yourself. So many times I've been at a conference and had someone come up to me and pull up a podcast or pull up this example of something that I said, and I'm just like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe I said that. Honestly, I'm like, I said that. Who was I? And I still believe whatever I said, but it might have been a curt response or something, kind of like a hot take, so to speak. But sometimes that's what really sets you apart is being like, whether I'm right or wrong. I think people look, look to Andrew and say, like, Andrew's gonna say what he feels in his heart, what he believes to be the truth, whether it's right or not, if that makes sense, it's my truth. And so whether you're. You're following that or not, I'm not just wishy washy. I'm not going all over the place saying, like, this technique, let's try this let's try this at the same time, at least in the Amazon space, there are things 100% that I believe that I would advise against that now I have more of a moderate approach to that. I'm like, look, there's advantages to that and advantages to this. And I used to just be strongly pro this and don't, you know, don't do this. For example, there's a way of selling on Amazon called vendor central. It's where you're selling to Amazon direct. And there's a way of selling third party on seller central. And at the time, Amazon was just making it so hard for vendor sellers. You couldn't control your data, you couldn't control your price point, map pricing, all of these issues and you're selling to Amazon at a wholesale rate. When I can sell direct at 100% MSRP, I just didn't understand why I was a younger business person. I was younger in this and I didn't understand why someone would want to do that. And so I really always pushed everyone toward the third party play. If you can get away from Amazon direct and you can sell like in your own way and control your day to do it. Now I've learned I'm different. And if someone went to my content six years ago, they might hear me saying that. And today I'm saying this is what I know to be the truth now. And I just try to own that and say, you know, it's a silly example, but I just try to own that and say, this is, you know, I've learned more since I, since I had. That was my truth. And now I have more experience to share with you guys. [00:10:35] Speaker B: And you know, I don't think that it's a matter of right or wrong. It's right at the time. [00:10:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:10:41] Speaker B: And we are only where we are. And I think it's a, I think the big takeaways for you at home, if you're listening, are be authentically. You don't be afraid to take a stand in something that you absolutely believe in and, and speak your truth. Because just like in your example, Drew, when things change or the market changes or there's another reason, or you learn something new, you can always come back and say, you know what? I know I've said this in the past and this is what's new and this is what has evolved and now this is what my recommendation is. And we all have that. It's just like in business, there were things that worked really well in business before the pandemic. Well, now it's completely shifted, specifically in marketing. Marketing has changed so much in the last four years and continues to change that what was true and the best strategy four or five years ago may not be the best strategy today. And so I think it's really important to have that. So if you're listening, I think your key takeaways are be authentic, do be true to yourself and then when things evolve, don't be afraid to own it and then share why. Because when we show behind the hood and that perspective is so incredibly important. We do have to take a brief break, but we're going to be right back with Drew after these messages. Foreign welcome Back to power CEOs the truth behind the Business. I am here with my guest Drew and Drew is an expert in all things E commerce. He's been in the Amazon E commerce space for 15 years and he is truly an expert in this. And before the break we talked about being true, being honest, really expressing and not being afraid to take a stand because sometimes that's what brings people to your brand and it helps you stand out in the marketplace. Another couple of really key things he talked about specifically with E commerce was really setting yourself apart, having really good photos. Folks, we can't just have like really crap photos on our websites anymore and expect it to go anywhere. That is so 15 years ago is not what's happening today. But I want to hit on something that's real and relevant in the topic of discussion and that's take TikTok because I know that you've done things and you've got partnerships all over the place. There's always new emergent social media platforms, et cetera. And now we're facing TikTok might go dark, might not go dark. Who knows what's gonna happen. What is your take on this and how is this impacting E commerce in your business? [00:13:23] Speaker C: Jen, that's this is a great conversation. And I think of Gary Vee a lot of times when I'm saying stuff because he always pulls like a 10 year photo or a 10 year clip of him and it's like him saying the same thing today and he's like I told, told you like 10 years ago, you know, and I think of that in these moments sometimes like saying something and then seeing what happens down the road and staying consistent to some of those things even though there's change involved as well. When it comes to TikTok, you know, it's, this would be the first time in our history that the federal government has shut down a technology like this. That's, like, open to the public. It's never happened there. You know, we allow Tinder and Bumble and all these other things that exist. And we're talking about TikTok and TikTok shop. And my marketing agency, Marknology, is a TikTok partner. You know, first it was pioneering Amazon. Amazon, Amazon. But as Walmart and TikTok shop and Chewy, and these things have come online and improved and gotten better, they've gathered our attention. So we're really a marketplace agency now. We've been on TikTok for a couple of years now. TikTok Shop even more recently. So I've been living and breathing it, and honestly, I don't see it going anywhere. I think in some ways it's a ploy to just get more attention to it. There's never been more viewers on TikTok than right now. There's been some crazy stuff. There's something called. It's like the red one. Have you heard of this Red one? Okay, so red one is like the Chinese version of TikTok. And there's been this huge exodus from TikTok users to go to Redone, and it's almost all strictly in Mandarin. And they're, like, welcoming these US TikTok users as, like, refugees. And it's, like, super funny. So you'll have to, like, check it out. [00:14:59] Speaker B: I definitely will. [00:15:00] Speaker C: So there's been like, this, like, migration. But honestly, there might be. There might be a pause from being able to download it on the App Store or the. Or the Google Play Store. But, you know, the next day. I think it's the 19th. The next day is when Trump gets inaugurated. Okay. And I just. There's been a huge swing in Trump's perspective toward TikTok from last campaign to this one. And he's very pro TikTok now. And I see it as almost this, like, win with Gen Z to, like, approve it and bring it back and find a way for us to still have TikTok here. So I'm making kind of a bold prediction. But, you know, inside my agency, inside the partnership is business as usual. Honestly, right now we're proceeding. We're still setting up brands and moving forward. I could be wrong, but I really see maybe even some, like, a little drama around not being able to download it, some policy like that. But I think within a couple of weeks, I see us coming back. It's a huge amount of GMV here in the US A huge amount of business. It's going to go somewhere. And the American users are like, we'll even go to the TikTok app. So the whole point was to not have a Chinese company having all of our user data information for national security, I guess. So that point is null and void. I think it's just a little bit of a play and I think it's only going to make TikTok more popular. [00:16:20] Speaker B: Fantastic. Well, you heard his prediction here first folks. And if he's right, then he's going to have the amazing art of saying I told you so. So something that I want to kind of dial into because I think it's really applicable to everybody here is scaling. You started in one area, you mastered the art of scaling your brand and pivoting and doing what you needed to do to stay viable and continue to grow. But also now you are helping scale and exit brands and doing that in a consulting manner. And through everything that you're doing, what is the key or the secret sauce or what can our entrepreneurs and executives take away regarding exiting and scaling brand? [00:17:05] Speaker C: Okay, so let's take it into two parts, just like the scaling part, because you can scale your business, not be preparing to exit. [00:17:11] Speaker B: Oh true. [00:17:12] Speaker C: And you know, as a young business person, I come from literally a missionary family. I didn't have anyone I knew in business. I didn't go to business school. I was really going for different reasons. So it's been a crash course for me and I was just ingesting books, books, books, books, books, podcasts, podcasts, podcasts. And it was always cash flow and scaling that was the difficulties that would like, you know, hold someone back from being successful in business. So those have always been my priorities. I think I'm like, look, if I know nothing, focus on these two things, we might make it. And you know, so I was bootstrapped. You know, I bootstrapped everything I've built. We're a team of like 30 now at Myrnology. And so I've been somewhat successful scaling a service based business even more, 10 times, 100 times more successful scaling Amazon brands that are E Comm, D2C brands. It's a lot different, right, than a B to a B2B model. And on Amazon there's all these systems and on the marketplace there's all these systems that you can put in place to help you scale. And so it's really having a professional kind of come in, tell you where you can improve, where you can scale, whether it's inventory, whether it's supply chain, whether it's acquiring other products close to what you're doing. Or developing them from scratch. You know, whether it's acquiring another business and their customer list. There's a million ways to scale. Honestly, whatever you do, I like the bootstrap method because I think it just causes you naturally to be a little bit more intentional about where you're spending your money, where you're growing, it, it grows a little bit slower, a little bit more naturally. And I think it's a little easier to hold that growth the than when you're just bringing in big investment from the outside. Now that being said, the other one can be a lot more fun because it can be like, you know, you can just go 0 to 100 real quick, so to speak. [00:18:52] Speaker B: Yeah. There's also something called scaling too fast. Right. [00:18:55] Speaker C: And that's what I'm getting at. Right. It's like, you know, you can scale in so many different areas. And that's why I'm saying going slow, slower is honestly a lot of times more effective because you're growing in a healthy way. Right. Versus like, you know, if you lose a ton of weight all at once, you know, that could be unhealthy, you know, versus a natural way of losing weight in a healthier way. Same thing as scaling. I think sometimes you can scale too quick, you can lose culture, you can lose like, you know, your eye on the ball, the product, the customers, which are the things that really make a business day. And then the exiting part. So scaling. A lot of times it is scale to exit. And this is something that has honestly been my five year plan like for ten years probably truthfully. And really what I built with marknology is a digital construction crew that across all the marketplaces, Shopify, Amazon, we can do it. From my content team to my writing team to my ads team, we know how to do it. We've done it and now set up in a place that I can take a business, maybe a struggling business or a business that needs cash flow or a business that needs talent or resources and come in with my team of marknology and really fix it up. Kind of like a house flip or anything else like that. And it's a lot of fun. I still have a lot of fun doing that. And so I've done that for a lot of people through the last 10 years in the agency, the last three or four. I'm doing that for myself and partners that I have. So it's a little bit more like my piece of the pie. But it's a lot of times finding relationships I've worked with in the past are coming to me, it's not always just like, strangers that I'm coming across, people I've worked with in the last 10 years that are like, if I'm going to have someone help me exit this or skip it, I'm going to go to Drew. I'm going to go to his team. You know, there's trust there. Kind of that brand thing we talked about in the beginning is paying off. Now when I'm trying to do these mergers or a lot of times I'm merging. So if I have a warehouse in place and I have the marketing team in place and I have everything in place, acquiring another brand is really not a huge lift for us if it's already in place. So I'm cutting costs a lot by vertically integrating and just adding it to what we're already doing. And, you know, that's been a lot of fun. So I find something that I think has opportunity. Maybe they're just on. They have a great D2C brand. They're selling on their website, but they're not on Amazon or they're not on Walmart. They're not on Chewy. They haven't expanded internationally, looking for those opportunities and saying, hey, I think we can really add a lot of value here. And then, you know, setting a plan in place to say, hey, we want to go from one million to two and a half. You know, you don't have to have the biggest business in the world to exit it. It really just needs to be a healthy business. [00:21:22] Speaker B: It has to have the cash flow. It's all about the cash flow. So I really love that you brought that up because it's something that we talk about a lot on this show, and it's something on the hearts of a lot of people is how do I actually increase that? And I just want to highlight what you said. You said you built the infrastructure for it. You have the teams. It's about the right teams. It's about having the right processes and stuff, folks. It's not rocket science, actually. It's understanding what you want, reverse engineering your success. And Drew has done this phenomenally. Drew, how can people reach out to you? How can they learn more? Tell us about. How can they get in touch with you if they're interested in doing business with you? [00:21:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I would love to hear from anybody, even if it's not about doing business, if you're just an entrepreneur trying to get your start going. I'm on Instagram. Drew Morgan's on Instagram. That's more my personal life. Like my Thoughts, books I'm reading, places I'm traveling, more of like that. Just, just like personal drew, but businessmarknology.com, it's a mixture of marketing and technology made up of word is a lot cheaper domain. So that's a little trick for anybody new. But LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, I'm everywhere. [00:22:27] Speaker B: Honestly, I highly recommend you get in touch with Drew because he really is an expert in his space. He's been doing it for quite some time. He is the real deal and he's got a lot to offer. So, Drew, thank you so much for being here. And before we break for commercial, if you have one piece of advice for the entrepreneurs out there who are maybe looking at scale and they're looking at their cash flow going, I want to improve this, what would that be? [00:22:51] Speaker C: One piece of advice, Looking to scale and looking at cash flow. I think sometimes, like the hardest thing for me has been to, I think that I'm in the mode of change. I'm in the mode of change. I'm learning, I'm not getting too comfortable. I'm continuing to have an open mind. And then a couple years pass and where I thought I had an open mind and was open to change, I'm really not anymore. And I'm still doing that. I'm set in my ways, doing my thing. So I know this is like a little bit out of left field advice to that and not straightforward. But my point is you don't know what you don't know. And this is constantly changing. You think you know and you just don't know because you've closed your mind off toward a certain thing or whatever. And so I really, I'm not trying to toot my horn or say hire me or whatever, but in the same, same way I was talking about AI or anything like that. If you don't know where to start, you know, with cash flow, like, I've just, I've got a, recently got a fractional CFO in my company. It was something I was doing myself for a very long time. I'm ready to go to the next level. And so I'm reaching out to someone to help me, right? And bringing on a fractional cfo. So to those like, if I'm giving one piece of advice, it would be take a, take a real account of where you are, how you feel about your skills, around what you're trying to do. Say, be honest with yourself. Between me and my team, do we have this skill set or do we not to get where we want to be. And if you don't go, try to find that help and support what you do. If you don't have that ability, you don't have that cash to do that. Pick up a book, find podcasts, obsess about those things because none of us really know what we're doing out here is the best thing I could say, especially in the e commerce space where everything changes. What you knew is now not there. So how can you say so? It's just about getting into it, really caring, being passionate about it. And I think once you have your focus locked in your plan and if you need help getting a plan, get the plan. But once you have the plan, the focus, whether that's cash flow or scaling, you'll be good. [00:24:42] Speaker B: Fantastic. You guys heard it here. Sage advice. If you don't have it on your team, it's about doing an autopsy. Do an autopsy of your business. Understand? Where are your gaps? Be real, look at yourself hard in the mirror, be objective about it and say, do I have the skillsets on my existing team? And if not, go out and get it or hire somebody who can help you with that. Read a book, educate yourself. We are always learning and growing. Business is ever changing, but the fundamentals are the same. So that is here. You heard it here. Reach out to Drew. And we do have to take a brief break, but we will be right back after these messages with our AI segment of the week. Welcome back to Power CEOs the Truth behind the Business. Yes, you're right. It is now time for our AI moment of the week. And of course I have my favorite special guest on all things AI, Dr. Alan Badot. Welcome back to the show. [00:26:04] Speaker D: Thanks, Jen. Great to be here. [00:26:06] Speaker B: So I want to talk a little bit about the keynote from Nvidia CEO at ces. He talked a little bit about the tech trends, the future of AI and how really this is a rapidly evolving scope. There's limitless potential of AI across industries. And I'm going to read the quote and I'm going to read. Sorry, I'm an Apollo. I don't usually read from something. But the quote is the IT department of every company is going to be the HR department of AI agents in the future. I thought that was really profound. It's something you and I have talked about before and IT right now manages and maintains a bunch of software right now from that industry. But we now need to maintain, nurture, onboard AI agents. And with that comes soft skills and so many other skill sets. I want to have you weigh in on Your thoughts about what he's saying and the implications for business owners? [00:27:09] Speaker D: Well, I think he's actually exactly right. As you know, we've been in the business of developing cognitive Personas for a few years, and we have tailored those specifically so that they are experts in a certain field. We're not trying to develop agents that are just general. But what that means is, is that as you are looking at how you're going to deploy them into your business, that means that your IT department is going to have to manage those new agents. And those agents can be HR experts. Those agents can be, you know, work on the back end on the financial aspects of it. They can work on the front end with your customers if you have a service desk. And so, you know, managing those Personas becomes very complex, means that somebody has to sit with them, somebody has to watch them, they have to have a manager. You have to keep a human in the loop. You have to make sure they behave and they don't go off the rails. And those challenges are, are, are not simple. And there are not going to be, you know, easy to handle by current IT departments, because that's really not their skill sets. Because, you know, these AI agents are going to be inquisitive. They're going to try to solve hard problems. They're going to try to do things maybe they shouldn't do. And so that's going to put a greater emphasis on what your IT department has to do. And so being able to understand them, being able to, to make sure that they're working the way that you anticipate that they will, means you're going to have to have a lot of HR skills moving forward because, you know, if you don't handle them the right way, it's going to be a problem. [00:28:57] Speaker B: And so I'm going to ask you, because we think about future trends and one of the biggest things in strategic coaching and, you know, consulting in the business realm is we always plan for our next three hires. Like, doesn't matter where we are in the spectrum. Who are your next three hires? What are the next three integrations? What are the next three bottlenecks that we need to solve for? We're always looking in the Future because as CEOs, if we're in the now, we're kind of behind the eight ball. So I want to ask you, since traditionally IT experts and our IT department, they don't have these skill sets. These are traditional HR skill sets. It's kind of a merging of those two departments. Really, if you think about it what do you think? What should we be thinking about when we think about evaluating and assessing our teams? Because we talk a lot about do you have the right people in the bus? Are they in the right seats on the bus? Well, the answer is maybe that's they're not in the right seat in the bus if they're a traditional IT person. When we talk about AI agents, how should we be thinking about this strategically and looking at this as business owners? [00:30:02] Speaker D: Well, I think, I think you have to reevaluate your hiring practices from top to bottom, quite honestly. You know, we're developing today. This is not, this is not something in the future. This is today where, you know, agents, AI agents are subject matter experts in certain fields, whether it's, you know, executive coaching in some cases, whether it is, you know, a construction type worker, whether it's, you know, insurance, health care, whatever it is, you know, you have experts now that are AI agents. And so the question then becomes, do I have to hire an equivalent expert in the field if I need something, or can I back down what my requirements are and maybe hire a junior category and pair them with an AI agent? And so you have to look at that really from top to bottom, from your COO to your CFO to your cto, all the way down to your, your, your service desk representative, because that's how complex these relationships are starting to get. And so, you know, we've seen layoffs and you know, Meta has, you know, announced them in other large tech industries and we've seen where they've come out to say 80% of our software is going to be developed by AI going forward. Well, that means that you don't have as many software developers, of course, but you have AI software developers. But somebody still has to watch them as they're performing, check them, make sure they're behaving. And so the entire hiring practice is going to get flipped on its ear. And you know, folks just have to prepare for that. You've got to be willing to look at it from top to bottom. You're going to start to look at skill sets. And I've been saying this for a year and I've had educational industry companies tell me that I'm crazy, but you're going to start to hire skill sets based on somebody that can interact with AI as opposed to somebody that has a specialty. And I think that is something that really is shaking the foundation of our HR for our educational system and really everything in between. [00:32:23] Speaker B: You know, I couldn't agree more with what you're saying. And something that we've really been honing on with, with the clients that we have is thou shalt be training your entire team on soft skills. Even if they're not a leader, if they're, you know, a frontline customer service representative, or even if they're in a trade, like swinging a hammer, we must be training them on leadership. Because the leadership skill sets, the soft skill sets, effective, compassionate communication is how we have to interact with these AI agents because they learn from our behavior as well. And so I've been on that education bus for a while, and people think I'm nuts as well. And that's okay, because the reality is, is I know firsthand when I develop mine, my. My avatar is snarky because I'm snarky. So I watched the impacts of this as this was developing two and three years ago. And so it's really important that we focus in on this and understand that it's not just an IT skill set. It's not just an HR skill set. It's kind of an amalgamation of the two. And so as we move forward and we assess top to bottom, and we know that I can process faster than humans can. Like, the reality is, is they're going to have access and be able to scour things more. How do those of us with real subject matter expertise approach this conversation? Because there's a lot of fear in highly educated, I'm thinking engineers. Dr. There's a lot of fear attorneys. And what happens to me if they replace this? And I'm going to use the legal field as, as a, as a good example so that you can weigh in. Like, what do junior associates do? They do discovery. They're pouring through all the books, looking at all the things, doing all the research. Well, now an AI can do that in literally less than a minute, maybe four minutes at a maximum. They can pour through 4,000 pages of documents and spit out whether this is going to be used, discovery or not. So what happens when we take that part of the process away? How do we shift our thinking as entrepreneurs and as leaders in organizations? Because now that eliminates all of our junior associates. How do they gain the skill set? [00:34:37] Speaker D: Yeah, I think shifting your thinking is really the most important thing. And I'm not talking about shifting, you know, to a different field or something like that. What you have to do is you have to embrace the AI like it is a, you know, a sidekick, really, somebody that is there. And I said somebody. I didn't say something. I said somebody that is there. To help you, you've got to start to think about asking questions, turning the problem up on its head and looking at it from a different point of view, perspective. That's what I tell people. You want to try to get a lot of different perspectives on that. And you can't do that by yourself. You can't say, well, what if I apply this legal case to X, you know, and then run through all those situations? You just don't have enough time to do that. But with AI, you can say, why don't you find this specific legal case and see if I can apply it over here? I know it's never been done before, but does it make sense to try it? AI will allow you to try those kind of things. You know, I, I call them thought experiments. I do them all the time. I love them. Because what they allow me to do is come up with some really crazy stu and have somebody, some, you know, an AI agent look at it and say, that's not going to work. Or that's a great idea. Why don't we try doing that? And then you can start to drill down every single field, whether it's medical, whether it's legal, whether it's engineering. They now have an opportunity to do that. And if you're a subject matter expert, that's where you can really gain some superpowers because you can then take all your knowledge and really start to question things and start to look at it from a wider, you know, point of view. And then, you know, you are going to be able to find opportunities that were not there in the past and that's what you will be able to do. Because I still can't do that. We're not any closer to AGI than we were, you know, six months ago. I don't care what the, what the press is saying and, you know, getting these bold statements, it's just not reality yet. But it's going to get there eventually. And until it does, that's where the human and the subject matter expert can come into play. That's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to think, you know, that there's no box and you can go anywhere with it. I will allow you to run those scenarios that you just can do before. [00:37:02] Speaker B: Yeah. And do it very rapidly, I might add. [00:37:05] Speaker D: That's right. [00:37:06] Speaker B: Thank you so much for your insights. We do have to take a break, a brief break. But Alan, how can people reach out to you? [00:37:12] Speaker D: Well, LinkedIn, easiest way to get a hold of me. Or they can come to you. Know my website AlanBedot AI or they can watch me on Now Media at 6 o'clock Central Time on Wednesdays where I have my show AI today. [00:37:25] Speaker B: Absolutely. Make sure you reach out to Dr. Allen if you have any questions on this. He is truly the expert and I know he can help you in everything from Are you ready for AI through integration? Thank you again for joining us. We do have to take a brief break. We'll be right back after these messages. Foreign welcome Back to power CEOs the truth behind the business. Yes. We just talked all things AI and now we're going to shift gears just a little bit because I have curated an amazing special guest today. I have Dr. Greg Eckel here and he's going to talk to you all about how we protect our greatest assets as entrepreneurs and investors. What is the our brain. Welcome to the show. [00:38:35] Speaker A: Thank you, Jen. [00:38:36] Speaker B: Okay, so talk to me. How can we protect our brain? Because let's face it, if we don't have our brains, we can't make the right decision the first time. Analyze, be strategic, have speed of implementation and actually drive our companies forward. [00:38:48] Speaker A: We need this processing unit to be in tip top shape and we have ways of bringing in new information with sound and light to supercharge our brains. [00:39:00] Speaker B: Wait, what? I need to know more about this. Tell me more. [00:39:04] Speaker A: We are doing laser activated and guided stem cell procedures directing the cells right to our brain. I am showing in pathology new neuron growth. Now imagine if you don't have pathology and you're working on peak performance. I'm working with Olympians right now. They are shaving seconds off the time trials. [00:39:26] Speaker B: Oh wow. So let me just get this straight. As entrepreneurs, we talk about this a lot. Entrepreneurs, especially successful entrepreneurs. We are business athletes. You're able to set to shave seconds off of our processing times? [00:39:40] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. [00:39:42] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. [00:39:43] Speaker A: It's happening in the Olympics where I have 40 year old Olympians beating 20 year old Olympians. [00:39:48] Speaker B: Wow. [00:39:49] Speaker A: And it is, it's so fun to participate in that and I love. My mission is to help folks get into heart and brain coherence. Dropping out of the brains into their hearts. But we got to get the brain optimized. So we're looking at peak performance, we're looking at optimization, we feed it oxygen, we're charging the body battery. So it's not just the brain. Right, because your brain. We think we can live in our gray matter up here and yet we're attached to our bodies. Right? Our brain connected to our body bodies. So we want people living in their bodies. But to optimize this thing, we got to work on blood flow. Well, guess what, you got to work on what's in your blood as well. Nutrition, supplements, the movement, oxygen, all of these things in carbon dioxide, waste products out, detox pathways, saunas. You know, the rage is cold baths right now of the cold plunges. Now you can overdo it on that. So. But the saunas have been time tested. And I think it's one of my favorite ways to help CEOs entrepreneurs detox. Get the waste out and then we supercharge the body by bringing in the information. [00:40:57] Speaker B: Wow. I think that's really fantastic. And you know, you and I, we've met before on other shows and you're doing amazing work. You just published a paper on reversal of Parkinson's. [00:41:08] Speaker A: I did, yeah. So excited about this. Now it was eight months to get it into a journal. We didn't get all of the information we wanted in there, which was, we had a DAT scan, which is a radioactive dye, looking at the substantia nigra, showing it was consistent with Parkinson's. Then after the echo protocol, it was consistent with their age. So we reversed the degradation and the neurodegeneration. So we're showing what shouldn't happen, which is neuroplasticity. We're showing the brain can heal itself, given the right information. Just happens to be your own supercharged V cells. V stands for Victor, S for small, E for embryonic, and L for like. So it's very small, embryonic, like stem cells. And then we direct that with the laser, which the laser is a treatment in and of itself. [00:42:02] Speaker B: And so you're doing this and you've gotten this reversal. But what does that mean for peak human performance as this research comes out? And you've assured me that that's just the first in the pipeline. So, folks, this is like leading edge. This is just hitting research now. What does that mean for peak performance? For those of us who were executives, we're CEOs, we're investors, we're looking to optimize our brain. [00:42:25] Speaker A: If you're noticing any slowdown in your processor, any fatigue, brain fog, word recall, you know, a lot of those can be symptoms of stress. Well, guess what? Stress does. Stress, it leads to inflammation. You get inflammation in your blood, you got inflammation on your brain, it's going to slow down your processing, it's going to lead to degeneration. So one, we want to reverse any of that stuff if it's occurring for you, getting your hormones optimized, that's all piece of the puzzle of the foundational work in the Echo protocol. Then we layer in supercharged cells with the oxygen and the sound frequencies light iv. If you aren't performing up to your level, you know, maybe you've been at it 10, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it's time to do it. Right now. We are living at an amazing time. We have so many resources. It's taking advantage of this now so that you can actually perform for as long as you want at the top of your game. [00:43:27] Speaker B: And not only that, we're business athletes. We're always looking for what gives me that little bit of edge. And right now we're in the, we already talked about this. Today we're in the age of AI. If we're not on the train or on the bus and moving in that direction, we're too late almost. It's time to really get with what's going on. And that also means with our health, what is the cutting edge technology in our health and our well being and our peak human performance so that we can be firing on all cylinders so we can actually leverage the technology and take ourselves further. So, Dr. Gregg, talk to me a little bit about how can people reach out to you if they would like to learn more or find out more about the Echo protocol? What are some ways that people can start to educate themselves? Because let's face it, I'm going to do all my research before I go dive into a treatment. So where can people start to do this process? [00:44:13] Speaker A: Yeah, it's energy for the number. Lifecenters.com also brainregen.com is coming online. You can find me on my podcast, which is the Brain REGEN podcast with Dr. Greg Eckel. [00:44:29] Speaker B: And so as we get close towards the end of the show, if the entrepreneurs or executives who are watching, what is the one message you want to leave them with that they can take action on today? Because I'm very big on take action today, not tomorrow. Don't wait. Let's start this process. What would that action step be for the entrepreneurs? [00:44:48] Speaker A: My suggestion and my encouragement is to. The answer lies within you. Getting out of your head into your heart and listening. So that could be with breath work, that could be with meditation. Taking that first part of your day for you to tune in. How are you feeling? What is your body doing? Get in touch with that central channel of energy that runs through you, if that makes sense. Definitely look me up. [00:45:18] Speaker B: And then I'm going to ask you one other thing on a business note, because you're very successful in what you do. You have a wonderful state of the art facility. You've been doing this for some time. What's your secret to success? [00:45:29] Speaker A: It is just that I think it is what I just shared. You asked me for the one thing and I start my everyday with meditation and breath work. My wife and I do that together before we even get out of bed. And that grounding, that knowingness, knowing me, it's, you know, the old adage is physician know thyself, we all. The message now is it's not out here, it's in there. It's in here is the answer. I teach my clinicians deep presence with our patients, meaning we listen intensely and people tell us. You tell us exactly where the thread is in for you. There's not just one path is your path. And that's the one you're on, that's the one we support you on. That's where medicine is going. You know, we just talked about AI in the earlier segment and we've got an AI database on the back of 25 years of clinical data. And it's not here, it's here. We've separated it because you can't trust AI entirely with all of that data. But it is making correlations and connections that we could not see ourselves and so utilizing the best of both worlds. But ultimately you need to know yourself. [00:46:46] Speaker B: I couldn't agree more. You know, we are all on that path and I do see medicine going in that more individualized care. The actuary model has failed us. That's what has gotten us to where we are today. But specifically it doesn't address peak human performance. And as we know, if we're an actuary, we are a peak performer. It's like it just, there is no other way. And everyone I coach, everyone that I consult with, the businesses that I buy, everything, everyone is a high performing human being. And so I really enjoy the work that you're doing. Keep up the good work. And I heard that another book was on the way. Do you want to kind of drop that knowledge? [00:47:20] Speaker A: I do, yeah. I've got defying Parkinson's. So it's six years since my first book. This is the codification of the Echo Protocol. Protocol, the Eccle Diet, all of the learnings of the last six years, specifically with regenerating the brain. [00:47:35] Speaker B: Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today. [00:47:37] Speaker A: Thank you for having me on. [00:47:38] Speaker B: Absolutely. And you. Yes, you. Unfortunately, all good things do come to an end, including this show. But the good news is we'll be here same time, same station next week. Until then, win today, win this week, and I'll see you next time. [00:47:53] Speaker C: This has been a NOW Media Network's feature presentation. All rights reserved.