Dashboard: ‘ChatGPT on Steroids’

[Music] welcome to another 21 hats dashboard brought to you by our sponsor the great game of business I'm Lauren Feldman and I'm here with Gene marks to talk about the things we think business owners should be following this week welcome Jean Lauren it is great to speak with you as always hello hello as always great to have you here I appreciate you taking the time uh Gan I want to start today with a piece you wrote about a Microsoft product that's coming uh not available yet but it's called co-pilot that you say is going to be chat GPT on steroids can you tell us about that yeah so first of all this could take this might take up our whole conversation I know you had a few other topics to talk about but it's that important anyway okay because you know every business owner that I talk to just clients and whatnot and I've scheduled a bunch of presentations this fall on AI that everybody wants to know about AI you know like what you know we're all hearing it yeah it's probably going to blow up the world but before it does uh how can we take advantage of it and what does it mean for my business so you know if you start investigating AI you you just get buried in a bunch of that's out there every Tech person is out there with developer tools and all sorts of complicated what whatever so here's my advice to you if you're running a bus you're going there let me ask you this Jean have have you played around with it have you found any that you can do today that's useful oh 100% I mean I use chat GPT almost every day uh but that's what another convers we'll get to this in just a minute okay okay okay because I I mean chat gpts that okay this will dovetail into Microsoft because um most businesses in the country um use Microsoft products um there is a large percentage of businesses I know that use Google products as well uh Google um your workspace and G suite and I'm going to be writing about Google in the next couple of weeks about what they're doing with AI but if you're listening to this and you're using Outlook or team and um Excel and Word and all that kind of stuff Microsoft is going to be coming out with something that is really going to rock your world um and it is going to really disrupt your business and it's going to happen sometime before the end of the year um it's called Microsoft co-pilot and it is right now in testing with some of their larger Enterprise clients and what it is is Microsoft owns half of chat GPT it owns half of open AI which makes chat GPT so it's basically taking chat GPT and it's now Maring it with your business data uh chat GPT right now you can go on to it and ask it questions and have conversations and have it give you advice and recipes and things like that but it's only working on external data that it's scraped through September of 2021 when you're using Microsoft co-pilot it will be using external data too but also your own internal data and so Lauren let me give you some examples okay just to make this real life once once you have once you have Microsoft co-pilot in teams for example you Lauren can attend two meetings at the same time I have a hard enough time with one meeting let me explain let's say you've got two conflicting meetings on Microsoft teams as this happens you know a lot um you can tell Microsoft co-pilot to attend one of those meetings in your place it will listen to the entire meeting it will then provide you with a transcript of the meeting it will provide you with a summary of the meeting and if it hears your name being assigned tasks during this meeting it will schedule those tasks for you it'll reject them it'll say no he's busy it will it will assume those tasks and schedule them for you with any background data that you might need to accomplish those tasks as well all of that while you were attending another meeting that's an example what it will do let me give you another example let's say you use Microsoft Excel as a lot of us accountants do and a lot of people do running businesses once you have co-pilot there'll be a button in Excel you're going to have data in your spreadsheet you would tell to co-pilot can you please look at this data tell me what product lines are most profitable based on this data or tell me um which of uh my employees are working the most or the least hours based on this data or see this data in this worksheet create a chart form for me that separates out apples and oranges or create a graph that shows the same thing these are all things that you or most likely your employees are doing but you will be asking co-pilot to do it for you it will do it for you it won't do it exactly perfect I'm sure there's gonna have to be some tweaks and changes made well that's concerning well neither do your employees do things exactly perfect probably not either what the point of it is is that it be providing functions for you on your behalf without an employee doing it for you so that you can kind of pick up the ball and move it Way Forward than if you had to pay somebody to do that task for you sure and it's acting as your assistant is what it's doing and there's just a couple of examples I'm going to use it in presentations whenever I give a present like I'm giving a presentation on like Security in the financial services industry um it's like a group of Bankers in the fall and between you and me I don't know a whole lot about that topic but I'm doing a lot of research and I'm putting it all into a word dock I won't have copilot available for me but if I did if this was a year from now I could say to co-pilot look you know in this word doc create a PowerPoint based on my bullets in this word doc and it will take it and create a professional looking PowerPoint which I'll then have to go in and tweak it but it will save me hours of time doing that on my own is that does that make sense sure but won't you also ask it to do some research on its own maybe things that you haven't found yeah so you know right now if you wanted to do research externally I mean chat GPT can do that that's fine but where this is really going because it's leveraging your own internal data so depending on how much data you have remember this is Microsoft so Microsoft has its whole Dynamics product line that's it's accounting and its CRM applications as well which is what really excites me because co-pilot now uh well soon will give you the ability to ask it questions where it can go into your CRM database and provides you answers back like uh which customers have not been contacted from us in the past six you know in the past six months it will tell you that instead of having to create a report to do just that or asking your CRM administrator to re you create the report for you could you ask it which customers are not profitable same thing it will look into your Dynamics database your accounting system and provide the same type of response back to you so yeah it will do that too not only that but in the next iterations you will ask it for my unprofitable customers um do an analysis for me and Excel what our new gross margin would be if we were to raise their these the prices on that group of customers by 5% and it can perform that analysis for you in a cell and back to your CRM system if you call out which customers have we not contacted in the past six months please U identify them and uh propose create this email to send to them reaching out and offering them uh discounts on these products you know do you follow me all of this is It's co-pilot so we're just it's not available yet it's but it's coming and people might think like oh this is scary or I don't want you know it's a lot of it's going to depend on the Integrity of your data but more of it is going to depend on on you Lauren and and me and business owners like us who who will can accept change and accept the disruption and say listen I I got to learn this and really leverage this stuff um make some mistakes with it because this is what the new generation of businesses are going to be using AI to do this exactly these types of functions and if we want to keep up with our competitors it's going to be critical for us to do just that otherwise we're going to be doing things the old way which is going to continue to cost us more than what our competitors are spending and therefore we're going to be out priced out of our businesses so it's critical critical technology that we need to learn now one final thought on it I just use Microsoft as the example because they're leading the way they're the ones that have these business applications it sounds like you've got some Advanced knowledge here I know you sell Microsoft products and you help people no no no nope nope nope this is all publicly available information I've been this is all public information absolutely a lot of reading on this a lot of research on this all from publicly available stuff anybody listening to this can do the same research they want as well and trust me when this comes out by the end of the year Microsoft will bury Us in more propaganda about what it does fair enough but let's just also remember that whatever Microsoft is doing and and I do think they're leading the pack right now all software companies will be doing this you know if you use QuickBooks into it is working on their AI type of you know functionality if you're using epicore and Salesforce is already introducing some of their AI functionality and Zoo they're all doing it it's just that if if you want to get your arms around where this is all going focus on Microsoft and look what they're doing with with co-pilot it will make you want it will really help you understand the kinds of features and functionality that you should be looking for asking your software vendors about and then leveraging so that you can be you know running your business that much better it's really important to do right now let me ask you some of the examples you gave it it sounded you know somewhat the kind of thing that I'm sure it's going to save you a lot of time time but it's the kind of thing that you could do yourself it's you know it's really just a question of time it's not breaking new ground what what what's most exciting to you what is breaking new ground that you think you're going to be able to do uh that you're looking forward to uh get more work done with less people I mean that's to me what it's all about somehow it always comes back to the employees with you je it always does it always does so when I look at the task that this will be performing and the ability for uh good loyal dedicated performing employees who are hardworking they will be able to do even more using this Tool uh than they were able to do before which means that uh businesses Can Shed themselves of the not so good not so loyal uh and competent people that they have to hire and put up with because they still need this work done even if it's done well or not this type of technology is going to enable our best people to be that much more productive and that much more smarter and you ask what excites me that's what excites me about it do you see it I mean really changing the trajectory of your business are you going to have more free time are you going to make more profits uh what do you think it'll mean to you so in my own business um just to give you some examples I I spend my own time you know analyzing the profitability of my business putting together PowerPoint presentations writing a proposals and quotes I see you know products like co-pilot saving me a significant amount of time in doing that in some cases doing that for me that's number one number two is I pay through the nose for experts that help me with SEO advertising on Google uh you know sending out you know marketing emails some of them good some of them not so good I I see myself paying these people much much less um if anything at all because I can leverage a lot of the AI tools to do that for me so I I do see that have like a huge impact on my business going forward because I just think it's going to make even a tiny tiny little business like mine that much more productive interesting I got to go back you said that you're using chat GPT every day what kind of things are you using it for so give you an example you know I write every day for every publication known to man yeah I do a lot of writing um so I I frequently will ask chat GPT to research something for me or to provide another source for some information that I'm looking up um if I'm writing something um I will I I I will copy and paste um a couple sentences and say is there a way that this can be said better um I asked chat GPT to you know check my grammar and I also use it for headlines because as you know it's all about you know the headlines I want people to read my stuff I don't want it to be clickbait but I do ask chat GPT to evaluate um and optimize the search engine optimization for the the pieces that I write and the headlines that I write in other words you know chat GPT um you know I copy in you know a piece like I wrote a piece for Forbes I'll copy in the whole thing into chat GPT and say um recommend for me three search engine optimized headlines for this piece and it will come back and give me some really awesome headlines that I can use um that are keyword Maxim IED so that's a perfect example of some of the stuff that IED do you prompted in some way to avoid click baity headlines how do how do you get good SEO headlines without getting click baity um that's actually good I mean I've never really asked it not to be click baity I mean you know in the end whatever I whatever headlines I propose have got to be approved by an editor um so there is that level of of of you know scrutiny on them but I don't I haven't asked it but I'm sure you could I mean I'm sure I could try that next time and say you know you know suggest headlines but don't make them you know like clickbait and it you know I'm sure it'll make some suggestions for me the other thing I do with with it is um I do you know a lot of interviews of people and um I interview people that write books and I interview people for the articles that I write as well particularly for the inquire The Daily Herald I oftentimes s ask chat GPT to suggest some interview questions for me I mean I had to interview somebody on a book just earlier this week that I didn't um I hadn't read and I didn't have the time to read it so I cheated and I went to chat GPT and I said can you give me 10 questions to ask the author this author about this book luckily the book was written before 2021 and it gave me like 10 great questions to ask about the book and you know I realized I should have I said Jo I haven't read the book but I've got some questions I'm going to ask you anyway um and then once we started getting into the detail of the questions I could kind of run with it from there but CH GPT gave you a really great head start on doing that that's a great suggestion um I interview people too I'm I'm uh I'm writing that one down you know I tried I threw uh a transcript of a podcast into chat GPT and asked it to write a LinkedIn post uh for it based on the information in it right and and it came back with something that was kind of pedestrian it highlighted points that I thought were too unsophisticated for the business owning audience that I'm hoping to reach uh even though I thought the conversation was really good and sophisticated and I I didn't know whether it was my fault because I didn't prompt it well um or whether I should have no no that it just happens probably not I first of all it is a um it it is it's an art to come up with the right prompts and and by the way before I even mention prompts whatever you wrote uh and whatever Chad GPT gave back to you it is you know like we said this is not necessarily replacing people it's not going to be perfect it's an assistant you know what I mean so it's getting you started and it's getting your mind going and of course you know you're you're going to see it and you're G to make some changes to it and and take it but it gets the ball rolling with it you know what I mean and it is um you if it serves that purpose that's good now you mentioned prompts and I would I I'm glad you brought that up um prompts are critical to ask questions of of you know you know of chat GPT in particular to help you with your business and so everybody if you're listening laen I don't know if you have show notes to this or not but um Go Daddy published just a month ago this amazing document of prompts for small businesses with categories of uh starting a business productivity business operations um I can send you the link and you can share it but it is if you um you if you if you uh just Google GoDaddy AI prompt you know or prompt Library you will find a whole bunch of great prompts that will help you you know do you stuff in your business do you know what I'm saying absolutely prompts about asking about like advice forgetting I mean it kind of you all the all these small business experts that are out there you know it really you know it it kind of puts them all away because it's just you can ask Chad GPT any of these questions and it'll come back to you with all of these different you know with all of these different um prompts that you can ask it all these different answers to help you run your business through it you know what I'm saying absolutely that sounds really valuable it's very very valuable and it's been something I just like I've been recommending my clients to look at and it'll give you a real chance to really take advantage of chat GPT and just remember chat GPT is owned by Microsoft so everything your and they're hosted on Microsoft as your you know Cloud platform so everything you're seeing chat GPT do Microsoft's going to be doing as well and vice versa that's a a great suggestion I was concerned that I was not prompting well I see you making feverish notes I'm going to use that and I will put it in in show notes yeah you'll see that the library is just it's fantastic and it's very detailed and it's it's it's it'll you'll you'll really enjoy it all right we did spend a lot of time on that I want to hit one other thing uh Before I Let You Go which is uh you recently wrote for the Chicago Daily Herald uh about the 2019 retirement legislation the secure act and its followup the secure 2.0 uh we've talked about this before I know that there are a lot of great incentives for businesses to offer 401K plans and help uh employees who tend not to put enough money aside for retirement uh one thing is especially timely right now which is there's a way to help employees who have student loan debt uh which is likely to become an issue um depending on how how things continue to go there but in the light of the Supreme Court decision can you explain how that works yeah it is it's it's a big one I'm glad you brought this up because this is very much a um um a big issue for a lot of businesses I mean the whole point of secure 2.0 which was in December 2022 uh as the legislation got passed is it's providing all these ways for businesses uh to offer retirement plans and and Elevate their retirement plans um and retirement plans are the top three benefits that are requested by employees so here the government is helping you do this so the student loan debt is is one big one you know it it's this you say to any employee if you are paying down um your student loans um you know a lot of people are a lot younger and they can't you know afford to put money away for retirement and they're spending money on their their student loans well as it turns out you know you that's a problem so the secure 2.0 legislation now allows employers to match those student loan payments so you've got an employee they come to you and they show you the statement hey I paid $2,000 down on my student loan great I can take $2,000 and I can contribute that to your 401k you won't get taxed on it um and I'll get a tax deduction for doing it it's just like a matching contribution based on the student loan payments that you're making and by the way people say that this is like a for younger employees but I I talk to I don't know if you know who Scott Thompson is but he's the CEO of a platform called tuition.io and it's a platform that that you know um marri's payroll platforms and loan repayment student loan repayment platforms for companies that are offering like loan repayment benefits and he says that a great number of employees that are paying down student loans are older employees they're parents of of you know kids and and they've assumed the loan and they're paying it down so don't think that this student loan match thing is just a benefit for just younger employees um you might have you know some older employees as well that could really take advantage of it and if you offer this kind of incentive man it could really help you attract or retain people yeah not just employees also candidates correct because let's remember that you know our um you know retirement benefits are they're a huge selling tool to attract people to your company so the more that you can you can enhance them are great you know one other thing on that secure act I just have to tell you Lauren is the uh which blows me away is the uh the the tax credit for matching contributions so like if you've got a business with less than 50 employees and you create you start you don't have a 401k plan but you start a 401k plan um you can match up to ,000 of an employees contribution $1,000 and the government will give you a tax credit for up to $1,000 per employee which is unbelievable so you know listen listen to this say you've got 49 employees they each contribute $1,000 to your new 401k plan and you match it so now the employees got $2,000 in their account and you just spend $49,000 matching your 49 employees contributions the government will give you a tax credit for $49,000 basically giving you the money back basically paying you to match your employees contributions to their retirement plans to get them started to get them going with contributions that's huge don't you think I do but it's only for companies that start a 401k plan now as opposed to have been doing it for years correct it's for new 401K plans correct um so that impacts people that are in startups and it impacts I think the numbers is something like it's it's close to 50% of small businesses with employees don't all for 401ks that's the whole reason why this legislation is so important so if you don't have a 401 plan just by starting one the government will give you a tax credit just to start one and then if you want to contribute to your employees you don't even have to pay the government will pay you to do that I it's like I think it's who would't do this can you drop an existing plan and start a new one to take advantage of that you cannot do that Lauren nice try you devious bastard no you cannot do that it has to be a brand new 41k plan under your existing Ein or employer ID number my God you come up with these schemes what are you working on Jean anything we should look for this week well I am going to work on that article uh for about Google uh and what they're doing with AI but that'll probably be sometime in the next couple of weeks um and other than that I um for the inquire I'm going to be writing I don't know if it's going to come out this week or not but I'm interviewing a young man who has a lemonade stand in Philadelphia um and North Philadelphia and is making a bundle and uh I'm going to go and meet him and his mom and the whole point of it yeah the whole point of the column is it's not like Hey kid has a sty it's more an advice column for parents that want to help their kids become entrepreneurs you know like what is she doing to help this kid because the kid's like eight years old so clearly it's the mom that's doing the stuff here so I'm interested in what she's learned and what advice she would have for my readers so I'm GNA be working on that yeah I I have to say I'm sometimes skeptical of those stories as a journalist I've run into examples of that where you know they want to make it sound like the kids doing everything but you know the parents are actually doing it everything and that's exactly the angle that I'm taking I mean like I mean with all due credit to the kid he's there he's he's eight years old so I just want to be like okay let's admit that the parents do you know the Lion Share of the work and it's cool but you know what is she doing and how has she helped him and um you know what advice would she have for other parents I think that's kind of cool well you can make sure he knows that if he offers a 401k plan now he can get a big tax credit out of it if he employed Microsoft co-pilot as well I mean he could be so productive he'll never need to hire those employees who would use the 401K plan right right Gan marks is a CPA who writes weekly on small business for the guardian the hill the Philadelphia inquire the Washington Times the Chicago Daily Herald Forbes and entrepreneur you can also hear them on ABC radio's eye on the world with John Bachelor Jean hosts two small business podcasts with paychecks Corporation and the Hartford this episode was brought to you by the great game of business which helps businesses use an open book management system to help build health healthier companies you can learn more at Great game.com thank you Jean thank you Lauren we'll see you next week have a great week everybody [Music]