Send a question or message to Kate & Sam

Sam’s almost out of grunt work. Claude’s doing her payroll, auditing her tax, scheduling PSM’s yearly servicing in seconds and running her marketing tools. And it’s left her with a question she didn’t expect: what do you do with the time?

In this episode, Kate and Sam talk about a TED talk that asked exactly that, and why Sam’s determined not to fill the space with more work. Then they get practical about how you actually get there.

They cover:

• Why cutting from five days to four feels so strange when you’re used to working all the time
• How Sam got value from all the tools she’d paid for and never used
• Turning years of your AI chats into stories for your marketing
• Asking AI “can you do this?” before you start any task, and letting it tell you what it needs
• Sending AI in to look and report back first, with clear instructions not to change or delete anything
• Using AI for funnels, DNS and email setup, Xero fixes, Google Analytics and Search Console
• Why experts aren’t going out of business, and why their judgement matters more now

If you’re not there yet, start with the context. Get the free Why prompt at thrivingbusinesspodcast.com and keep an eye out for the Thriving Business Launchpad, launching before Christmas.

Catch the earlier episode on the two things AI needs, context and connectors, if you missed it.

Thriving Business Podcast 🌐Website: https://www.thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/

Thriving Business Launchpad 🌐Website: https://www.thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/thriving-business-launchpad

Connect with Your Hosts:

Kate De Jong, PhD | Inspired Business

🌐 Website: https://katedejong.com/

📱 Instagram: @katedejong.inspiredbusiness

✉️ Email: kate@katedejong.com

Sam Morris | The O8

🌐 Website: https://www.sammorrisconsulting.com.au/

📱 Instagram: @sammorrisconsulting

✉️ Email: sam@sammorrisconsulting.com

Send a question or message to Kate & Sam

Most small business owners never planned to be the salesperson. They started a business because they’re great at what they do, and then found out selling came with it.

Dave Edward from Touchpoint Sales has spent decades in sales, including 25 years in the UK bed business, and won salesman of the year by being the quiet one in the room. Now he finds where businesses are losing sales and fixes it. He calls it Kitchen Nightmares with a lot less swearing.

In this episode

• Why only 25% of sales is selling, and what the other 75% is
• The doctor approach: diagnose before you prescribe
• Why most business owners don’t know how many leads they get a week, and why that matters
• When to ask for a review, and why you should reply to every one
• “Sell up by selling down” and how it stops customers getting overwhelmed
• How speed of response wins the job before your competitors even call back
• The one-word change to a web form that flooded a client with better enquiries
• How to frame a discovery call so the price conversation doesn’t feel awkward
• Getting the customer to tell you why your offer works for them

Timestamps

• 01:24 The least salesy salesperson
• 03:12 Only 25% of sales is selling
• 07:15 Buyer’s remorse and why it happens
• 08:17 Dave’s start as a 17-year-old in a furniture shop
• 11:52 Marketing vs sales
• 13:50 The doctor analogy and the caravan “what happens next” document
• 16:57 Know your numbers
• 19:29 What if you don’t want to sell at all?
• 21:36 Reviews and the human touch in an AI world
• 23:59 Sell up by selling down
• 26:49 Working as an in-house sales partner
• 28:29 Action takers and Kitchen Nightmares
• 32:47 Becoming the obvious choice
• 39:14 The web form change
• 44:48 Your worst customer is the one you convinced
• 46:50 Framing the discovery call
• 49:28 How to bring up price
• 54:00 Dave’s booking reminders, and why every one includes the link

Links

• Touchpoint Sales: touchpointsales.com.au

Thriving Business Podcast 🌐Website: https://www.thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/

Thriving Business Launchpad 🌐Website: https://www.thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/thriving-business-launchpad

Connect with Your Hosts:

Kate De Jong, PhD | Inspired Business

🌐 Website: https://katedejong.com/

📱 Instagram: @katedejong.inspiredbusiness

✉️ Email: kate@katedejong.com

Sam Morris | The O8

🌐 Website: https://www.theo8.com/

📱 Instagram: @the_o8crew

✉️ Email: sam@theo8.com

Send a question or message to Kate & Sam

AI only does what you direct it to do. If it’s giving you rubbish, it hasn’t been trained yet or set up for success.

Kate De Jong and Sam Morris break down the two things that make AI actually useful in a small business: context and connectors. Sam shows how she runs three businesses with one AI executive assistant that reads her email, calendar and Trello board, then tells her every morning what to focus on.

Get the free prompt, “Why Should Anyone Pick You?”:
thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/free-prompt

Ready to train your AI properly? Grind to Growth: The AI Setup Workbook:
[link]

Questions? thrivingbusinesspodcast@gmail.com

Chapters (add your intro length to each):
00:00 Welcome back
02:07 AI only does what you direct it to do
03:51 Why you have to onboard AI like an employee
05:58 The builder who thought Copilot was crap
06:59 The two keys: context and connectors
08:30 Native connectors vs GitHub files
17:00 Step 1: one inbox, one calendar
19:56 Using Trello as the to-do list
22:24 The daily brief: how it plans the day
26:01 Payroll from days to minutes
32:24 Cash flow questions answered in seconds
34:25 Using AI to coach you, not replace your thinking
36:52 Building a staff intranet with Google Sites
40:58 “I don’t believe in AI”
43:45 Supervising AI from the couch
49:59 Where to start

Thriving Business Podcast 🌐Website: https://www.thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/

Thriving Business Launchpad 🌐Website: https://www.thrivingbusinesspodcast.com/thriving-business-launchpad

Connect with Your Hosts:

Kate De Jong, PhD | Inspired Business

🌐 Website: https://katedejong.com/

📱 Instagram: @katedejong.inspiredbusiness

✉️ Email: kate@katedejong.com

Sam Morris | The O8

🌐 Website: https://www.theo8.com/

📱 Instagram: @the_o8crew

✉️ Email: sam@theo8.com