How to Best Navigate the AI Landscape to Boost Your Author Marketing - BM391

Susan Friedmann [00:00:31]:

Today my special guest is James Feldman, CSP. James is a seasoned growth advisor with 30+ years' experience, bridging the gap between Fortune 500 giants and startups, generating billions in sales. He's written 16 influential books on change management, including "Shift Happens: Think Inside the Box Using 3D Thinking."

James is a visionary leader, a self-proclaimed "NOW-IST," who aligns strategies with business objectives. As an early tech adopter, he's transformed global organizations, delivering over $3 billion in revenue. Honored as "One of The Most Innovative Persons in the 21st Century," he captivates worldwide audiences on innovation, AI, and a whole lot more.

A long time speaker colleague and friend James it’s a pleasure to welcome you to the show.
And, thank you for being this week’s guest expert and mentor.

James Feldman [00:01:56]:

And to you as well. I'm so honored to be here.

Susan Friedmann [00:02:00]:

Well, it's been a long time coming. In fact, As I said to you, I thought you'd been on the show, and you said, no. I haven't. I was like, well, we're going to  change that. So I'm thrilled to have you here.

James Feldman [00:02:10]:

Thank you.

Susan Friedmann [00:02:12]:

James AI, it's a hot potato. People are either embracing it or they are scared to death about it. First of all, let's decide, is this a trend, it. Or is it something that is here to stay?

James Feldman [00:02:32]:

You know, when the Internet came out, they called it a trend. I'm sure when the caveman discovered fire, they called it a trend. I will tell you that in my personal opinion, This is more disruptive, more powerful, more useful, and probably more scaryThen anything that we will see in our lifetime, it's here to stay.

Susan Friedmann [00:02:56]:

That's really good to know. I mean, I've embraced it. I absolutely love it. I call Chat GPT Chatty, and people are like, who's chatty? In any event, let’s talk about AI as it relates to, authors, as you know, who are our listeners here. When it comes to their marketing, how best do you feel that they can use AI sort of make it easy and simple for themselves.

James Feldman [00:03:28]:

Let me establish the ground rules and try to make it as simple as possible because There are so many permutations and so many misinformation about AI,Chat GPT, Jasper, Watson, Bing, you name it. If you think of it as a personal assistant, you want to hire the smartest assistant you can and normally pay them the least amount of money. So access to this marvelous tool is everything from free to, the most expensive I've seen for any tool, 30, $40 a month. Who are you going to  hire for $40 a month that can do anything? But let's go back and think of it as your assistance. And here's how I describe it to anyone who's willing to listen to me. This assistant is the smartest person you could ever hire, speaks 39 languages, has graduated from almost every Ivy League prep school out there. Has every degree, every professional certification, never run a business, Has no emotion, needs a lot of handholding, and doesn't check its own work. That's your assistant.

Susan Friedmann [00:04:56]:

That sort of sounds dangerous to me.

James Feldman [00:05:00]:

So let me ask you, Susan. You would hire an assistant. Would you immediately say to the assistant, go and do the research on my book or edit my book or let's figure out who my target audience is and then never check it? Of course not. You have to do what's called a prompt, And a prompt is just another word for a set of instructions, period. So you a Say to your assistant, and I will say to your listeners, name your assistant. Because the moment you name your assistant, You think of it as a person instead of a thing. You think of it as a living, breathing entity instead of a bunch of, you know, zeros and ones or electricity or whatever you want call it. You want to assign them things that you believe they can do with the understanding that the more that they do, the more you're going to  give them to do.

James Feldman [00:06:02]:

And the more times they make a mistake, the more times you're going to  correct them. But, again, if you have identified it as a person. So in my case, mine is named mister Spock. Most people our age remember mister Spock. Unemotional, always writes, was able to digest a lot of data, and simplify it into some actionable advice For whomever was asking. He was cost effective. He was efficient. He could do lots of things, And that's really what AI can do.

James Feldman [00:06:44]:

And let's be very clear. Chat GPT is part of AI, artificial intelligence. The umbrella is AI, but in the umbrella, you've got all the spokes and all the permutations that are out there. And anybody that tells you that they're an expert at AI or Chat GPT, Don't listen to them because there's no such thing. You cannot be an expert at something where the game is changing by the day, By the rules, by the techniques, by the ways you interact. I gave a podcast recently where I was trying to assemble my top 50 AI tools. I did that approximately 3 weeks ago. And of the 50 that I started with 3 weeks ago, 26 of them have been replaced by something newer, smarter, faster, more efficient, and that's the real world.

James Feldman [00:07:49]:

That's why nobody can ever become an expert. It's just so dynamic in nature.

Susan Friedmann [00:07:55]:

Yeah. Well, I love it as I said, but keeping up with it is quite another thing. What I'd like to hone in on, James, is you mentioned earlier prompts, and I know that that is The foundation of anything that you do with AI, be it GPT, Jasper, as you said, or any of the other team programs that are out there on the market. Explain to us exactly to use prompts effectively and how to even put them together to use them.

James Feldman [00:08:31]:

Most people shortchange the prompt, meaning they go, get me blah blah blah, and it's 1 sentence. If mister Spock is sitting next to me or Chatty Cathy is sitting next to me, you would go on a journey with them. You would give them the latitude to experiment, to iterate, to refine their approach until you achieved the desired outcome, it isn't going to  happen the first time out. But the more specific you are, the more specific the response. And if you do not listen to your gut and you do not do your own homework, you potentially run the risk of having bad information. Because as I said earlier, the flaw is that it is unemotional, Has no business experience and doesn't do their due diligence. However, you can ask it to do its due diligence and give you citations and give you references, and then you go about checking them. So the first thing I would like for your audience to write down, Paste up glued to their forehead, whatever they do with it, trust but verify.

James Feldman [00:09:55]:

And once you do that, Then you understand how to write a prompt. The 2nd part of the prompt is be specific, But continue the conversation. Here's where people get into trouble. They write a prompt. They get a response. They open up a new chat. When you open up a new chat, it has no understanding that you're still in the same subject. So if, let's a Say, for conversation, you're working on a chapter in a book.

James Feldman [00:10:25]:

You open up that chat and you continue that chat day after day Until you get what you want, you do not go open it up somewhere else. Because the moment you open it up, it's like erasing all the notes on the chalkboard, you're starting all over again. The second part of it is use the tools to do its own homework. And the tool that I use for anything that's written is Grammarly. Now Grammarly has been around for a long time. It is now an AI powered Internet writing assistant that helps people write clear, concise, grammatically correct content. Plus, it provides real time feedback on grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, engagements, and now it will do citations.But there's a little button on the bottom right corner called plagiarism checker, and I run that on every single thing that I write myself or I get from chat or I get somewhere else.

James Feldman [00:11:30]:

And I try to find out if, in fact,It took somebody else's stuff that was published elsewhere. And if so, I rewrite it, get rid of it, or I attribute where it came from. So I would say no matter what you're doing in terms of writing, your go to assistance assistance is Grammarly. Ex

Susan Friedmann [00:11:50]:

It's funny that you should say that because I've been using Grammarly for a while, but I've never paid for it. And I thought, you know, I think it's going to give me more options if I pay for it. And so I bit the bullet, and it is amazing because, like you said, It really does change sentences and makes them read better, and I love it.One of the issues that I hear a lot, James, is it doesn't sound like me. If I'm writing something and a chat comes out with something. And I was like, that doesn't sound anything like how I would write it.What would you do? How do you make it sound like you?

James Feldman [00:12:35]:

Mister Spock, here's 2 chapters of something I've published.Put that into the prompt. This is how I sound. I would like for you to sound like this. The second part is I would venture to say that 90%, maybe more of the people on this call have not set up their chat GPT properly. What do I mean by that? And, Susan, this is going to make you and everybody else smile because you're going to  go, Nobody told me that, but here it comes. When you open up ChatGPT, there's a black bar on the far right side.Toward the bottom is your email, which is the signification of your account.

James Feldman [00:13:19]:

If you click on it, You will see some things open up, and one is called custom instructions. You click on custom instructions, andChatt GPT asks you 2 things. Number 1, what would you like Chatt GPT to know about youto promote better responses, and it allows 1500 characters. The second oneis how would you like ChatGPT to respond? And it allows 1500 characters. So let me give you the short version of what I have said, not about me, but how I wanted to respond. This is exactly what I've said. Please don't waste time telling me that you're AI. Offer creative, innovative, and inside the box solutions.

James Feldman [00:14:09]:

Ex Refer to references. Be very precise and complete in your responses. Organize data clearly using bullet points and or a table format. If you don'tunderstand, then ask me questions to deliver the best results. Your answers can be long and complete rather than abbreviated,And give me references and any other material that you're using to respond. AndThat's the start of how I want ChatGPT to respond. And my ChatGPT has conversations with me, literally.It will come back with blah blah blah blah blah, and then it'll say, this appears to be what you were looking for.

James Feldman [00:14:57]:

If it is not, please let us know How we can help you or make it better, etcetera. And most people are shocked when they see me do that in real time.

Susan Friedmann [00:15:06]:

Ex I'm going to  have to relisten to that several times and write it down because that was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Now In the other part of it, would you put in your style and the tone that you want? Is that where you would put that?

James Feldman [00:15:26]:

Ex You can do 2 things. Once again, are you using the free chat gpt or the paid version?

Susan Friedmann [00:15:33]:

Ex Susan? I'm using the paid version.

James Feldman [00:15:36]:

Yay. Okay. When you go to chat GPT 4 And you put your mouse over it, a little menu drops down, and the little menu says default,Browse with Bing, analyze advanced data, and the last 1 is plug ins.When you click the plug ins, another little menu drops down and you scroll to the very bottom and you say plug in store.Those plug ins are, I think, about 1500 to a1000 now that are designed to help SpockDo what you want it to do. I'm just going to  type in writers, and it comes up with4 very quick. I just put in the word writer. One is create SERP based NLP friendly articles within minutes.

James Feldman [00:16:36]:

I don't even have a clue what that means. You may. I don't. The second1 is content writer.Enter any URL and have the text content rewritten for you. 3rd one,LetterWriter. Create sleek professional letters instantly, business letters, cover letters, recommendations, and more.And then the last 1 was my writing companion, find, hire, and manage remote human writersThe best way to ensure your content is engaging and accurate.

James Feldman [00:17:10]:

That's just the 4 that popped up immediately.So now you've got GPT 4. You've got plug ins. Chat GPT will only allow you to use 3 plug ins at a time, but it will allow you to have as big a library as you would like.So you go in when you start to give your new assignment, and you pick those promptsthat you want. So let's say you want to have something that you're writing for LinkedIn. Let's say you're writing a book. So as an example, I needed to write a book.

James Feldman [00:17:48]:

I was going to  create an ebook, and I put in my prompts.And I said, I want write this book in an outline form. I also want suggestions for slides. I'd like those slides to have any additional annotations like the kind of music or sound effects, and I'd liketo have a maximum of 30 slides, 16 by 9. And then I hit send, and it did it all.Spit it all out, gave me my outline, gave me my ebook, gave me my slide deck, and I was off and running. Start to finish, From the beginning to the end, slide deck, 38 page ebook, converted it to a PDF, converted the PDF to a flip book, Converted that to 7 articles that I published over the 7 weeks. In my slide deck, 51 minutes.

Susan Friedmann [00:18:40]:

Ex Woah. I'm blown away here. I'm like, oh my goodness. What am I missing out on? It's like,This is a Ferrari, and I think I've been driving, I don't know, a little something else.

James Feldman [00:18:55]:

So let me help you with that one because I'm with you. I refer to this as a hypercar. If you're not familiar with a hypercar, it'sfaster than a supercar. You don't drive it like your grandfather's oldsmobile. Why? Because a hypercar has an electric motor. It's not gas propelled, but electric propelled. As a result, it's instantaneous. I was in a sedan called a Lucid.

James Feldman [00:19:25]:

It was, $85,000,0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds. That's faster than a Ferrari, faster than a Lamborghini, faster than a Porsche Turbo.The same with AI. AI is that fast, but you would never get in a hypercar and think you knew how to drive it or you're going to  get seriously hurt because it can be out of control. You floor it, And you're thrown back against the seat, and that's the same thing with AI. AI requires training. AI requires practice. You cannot jump into it with both feet, and that's why we've come up with workshops and programs to help people.

James Feldman [00:20:08]:

Ex You see hundreds of people teaching, but it's a sit down and learn, and you don't. We talk about participatingSo that you can, as you said, learn how to drive the car and get the most out of it, at least get going in the right direction.

Susan Friedmann [00:20:24]:

Ex This is so fascinating. I'm just, like, blown away, which I knew I would be, but I'm even more so than I thought I would be.Before I have you tell us more about these workshops because I'm sure our listeners will want to knowThat, let's talk a little bit more about mistakes and, like, really simple mistakes that Authors or anyone using this dynamic tool, this hypercar, the kind of mistakes that they make.

James Feldman [00:20:55]:

Ex My favorite example is an attorney in New York had ChattCPT research some cases, and he presented them in court. And because there's a discovery process in court, he had to give that to the opposing counsel before he presented it. Well, they did their homework,And they found out that ChattCPT had made up all of the case law. None of it was factual. And this attorney presented in court. And because you are a representative of the court, the judge took his head off. And he is now I don't know the results because I haven't followed it, but he was put up for being disbarred because he had not representedHis, client very well because he took ChatTPT at face value. And then to addInsult to stupidity.

James Feldman [00:21:48]:

He actually said in court and it's on the record. But your honor, I got it off the Internet. I assumed it was right.There are 8 year olds that know you get stuff off the Internet. It's not necessarily right. Here's an attorney risking his client'sJail time, in essence, by not doing his homework. The making of a mistake, Susan, is, look, people, you're smart.At the end of the day, CheckTPT is a tool.

James Feldman [00:22:19]:

It's not a replacement for your brain. It's not a replacement for all these things that you've been doing all of your life. Quit trying to shortcut it.Use it for what it is. It's a tool. It's a tool that will generate content. It's a tool that will analyze data. It's a tool that will streamline processes.

James Feldman [00:22:42]:

It's a tool that will integrate all kinds of nifty thingsso that you don't have to work hard. But it's not perfect. What makes it perfect is between your ears. What makes it work is somebody looked at it and said, wait a minute. This didn't pass the sniff test. This didn't make sense to me. Let me give you an easy one. We all go to Costco's, and we know the hot dog is a dollar 50 with a drink.

James Feldman [00:23:12]:

The creator of Costco said that's never going to  change. So almost everybody at Costco's knows about the hot dog and probably buys it because it's the cheapest lunch you're ever going to  have.The second thing that hasn't changed price is the rotisserie chicken. So you go to Costco's and you say, I'm going to  get a hot dog, I'm going to  get chicken, And by the time you're ready to check out, you got $200 worth of stuff in your cart, and you have no idea how it got there. That's what AI is.The more laser focused you are, the better the results. Now that's not to say you don't fill your cart with lots of stuff,But think of it. Are you going to use it, or are you going to  throw it away? Is it going to  augment what you you're doing, or is it going to  confuse you? You can't just start filling up your cart with stuff like many people do at Costco's, and they go, well, I bought this 50 pound bag of rice.

James Feldman [00:24:05]:

It was really a good deal.Yeah. How long is it going to  take you eat it before it goes bad? Or what are you going to  do with it? Well, I didn't think about that. So you've always gotta think aboutWhat's the end result? Is it increased efficiency? Is it increased reach and market expansion?Is it better language? Is it better storytelling? Is it better illustrations? Okay. I nowI'm doing content. I'm now doing development. I now have a goal, and I can set a criteria for it. And then you start to play withwhat it is, and you leverage it.

James Feldman [00:24:44]:

I tell my clients that it's corporate night vision. It's the ability to see what the other players in the game don't even know exists, which is something that's an invaluable asset.But what do you do with it now that you've seen

Susan Friedmann [00:25:00]:

it? I think that's one of the things that I love most, the ideas that it comes up with.Things like you said that I might never have thought about or it might have taken me years to come up with this, a checklist or just ideas about what to write about, different aspects of the same subject because, yeah, there are onlyso many ways in which you can talk about something. So chat gbt really takes it to an extreme and things like headlines and suggestions for testimonials. I mean,There are umpteen things that authors can do with it. And, yeah, James, we've just stuckour toe, I think our little toe in the water here. So take it away and tell us about, you know, your services and Some of these incredible courses, programs that you offer.

James Feldman [00:25:58]:

Let me start it with, I'm not trying to sell somebody something they don't need. I'm trying to help solve a problem. And the problem is, What are you going to  do with this amazing resource, and how are you going to  leverage it for your business? The first thing is We offer a complimentary webinar. The next one is going to  be October 5th, and the easy way to get to it will be jfaDot tips forward slash chat GPT magic, and I'll give you those links, Susan. You can put them up. And, basically, it's a let's show you what it can do because most people don't know it'll write recipes. Most people don't know it'll write music.It'll create artwork.

James Feldman [00:26:45]:

Most people don't know because they haven't asked. But think about what I said earlier.Your assistant is the most talented, brightest person you have ever met and does everything. You want learn how to play the violin? He'll teach you. You want learn how to make, he'll teach you. You want know whether you should go to this movie or that movie? He will evaluate it for you. It's just phenomenal. But once you see what I refer to as drinking from a fire hose, You gotta figure out what you're going to  do with it.

James Feldman [00:27:19]:

So we've come up with an accelerator course, and the way it works is this. We meet once a week for 2 hours. 1 hour is to review what you worked on last week, and 1 hour is new stuff. So we're giving it to you in bite size, easy to digest ways to handle it. And everyone startsWith what is your end goal? What is the end result that you want? Pick something. Well, I want write my book. Okay. How long is the book? What's the book about, etcetera.

James Feldman [00:27:52]:

There's our goal. And believe it or not, by the end of 7 weeks, the book is done because we have held your hand to get it. Now you may want hire an editor. You may want have 20 different people review it. That's a different process, but we've gotten you over the heavy lifting. And so that one, again, starts the same way, jfa.tipsforward/ChatGPT workshop. And in that workshop, you basically come with other people. Almost everybody's from a different business, And we help you get through that process using AI with a specific focus on ChatTpT.

Susan Friedmann [00:28:36]:

And I'll put those links in the show notes. Now I know that by the time this comes out, James, that the 5th Will have passed, but will it be possible to put a recording of that in the show notes?

James Feldman [00:28:53]:

It not only has recording, Susan, but we took that into account. So someone signs up for the workshop. Let's assume they didn't see the initial workshop, but they want sign up for our program. The 1st day of the program, the 1st 2 hours is really a rehash. It's a further explanation of what we're going to  cover, how we're going to  cover it, etcetera. And if somebody says, no. It's not for me or it's way too complicated, We refund a 100% of their money. No questions asked.

James Feldman [00:29:22]:

We are not here to try to take somebody's money without giving themA 5 to 10 times return on their investment.

Susan Friedmann [00:29:30]:

That sounds amazing. Yes. I'll definitely put all those links because they were long onesin the show notes. Thank you for that. As you know, we always end offLeaving our listeners with a golden nugget, and I know you've given us so many already. What would you like to leave our listeners with?

James Feldman [00:29:52]:

Ex Don't let what you think you know prevent you from learning what you need to know.AI powered business tools. Help small businesses focus, focus, focus.

Susan Friedmann [00:30:09]:

Ex Such wisdom. Incredible. Yes. Again, listeners, you're going to  listen to this several Times. I know because there are some things that you're going to  want to write down, and although hopefully be in in the transcript. So we'll make sure that, you get all the links and all the information you want. This has been just a treasure trove of generosity sharing something that gives us a We're trying to use it, but we're not using it in the right way. So really appreciate that, James.

Susan Friedmann [00:30:53]:

And listeners, You know what I'm going to say? If your book isn't selling the way you want it or expect it to, let's you and I jump on a quick call together To brainstorm ways to ramp up those sales because you've invested a whole lot of time, money, and energy, and It's time you got the return that you were hoping for. So go to BrainstormWithSusan.com to schedule your free call. And in the meantime, I hope this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books. So until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.

Click here for James' Business Differentiation Mastery (ChatGPT Magic)