Latest / The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson / The Future of Small Business in an AI World with Heidi Cramer

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The Future of Small Business in an AI World with Heidi Cramer · The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

0:37
Jennifer Johnson: We're living through what feels like an AI revolution.
0:40
Jennifer Johnson: And everywhere you turn, someone's telling small business owners that AI is either going to save their business or completely transform their industry.
0:49
Jennifer Johnson: But here's what I keep wondering: with all the buzz and all the headlines about AI, how much of this is actually helping for small business owners that are actually trying to solve problems?
1:01
Jennifer Johnson: And how much of it is just hype?
1:03
Jennifer Johnson: Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Heidi Cramer.
1:07
Jennifer Johnson: Heidi is an AI and technology integration strategist and a business growth consultant with over 35 years of experience in driving technology-driven innovation across diverse industries.
1:22
Jennifer Johnson: We're going to cut through the noise and talk about practical ways that small businesses can actually use AI and harness it in their business so that it can actually do something spectacular for them.
1:35
Jennifer Johnson: Welcome, Heidi.
1:37
Heidi Cramer: Okay.
1:38
Heidi Cramer: I'm glad to be here.
1:39
Heidi Cramer: This will be a lot of fun.
1:40
Jennifer Johnson: It's going to be, and it's going to provide a lot of information to our listeners.
1:45
Jennifer Johnson: Now I know because this goes at the speed of light, meaning all of the AI stuff, you wake up and you know, we'll wake up tomorrow morning and there'll be something new.
1:54
Jennifer Johnson: So some of the things we may talk about may be a little bit different, but we're talking about basics, I would say.
2:01
Jennifer Johnson: And when you originally heard AI, and I know because you're in that world and you've been in that world for a while, when you hear the world AI for small business, what do you automatically think?
2:13
Jennifer Johnson: I think of democratization.
2:15
Heidi Cramer: So it for the first time, and I this is I I hate cliches.
2:20
Heidi Cramer: So for the first time, small businesses are actually we're going back to the cottage industry.
2:28
Heidi Cramer: We're going away from the industrial revolution and back to small businesses for the first time can do what today we have the picture that a hundred percent business does.
2:37
Heidi Cramer: So you can do you can do using AI.
2:40
Heidi Cramer: And that's not just hype and it's not just cliche.
2:43
Heidi Cramer: That's that's really how I think of it.
2:45
Heidi Cramer: And I see it every day.
2:47
Jennifer Johnson: I'm sure you do because it's the space that you're in.
2:50
Jennifer Johnson: So I want to hear about your journey and what got you interested in AI from the onset of us.
2:59
Jennifer Johnson: I mean, I'm sure you probably heard of AI before the rest of us did, because that's your space.
3:04
Jennifer Johnson: But what was it that really interested you about that that made you really dive deep?
3:11
Heidi Cramer: I've been through I've been through several tech launches.
3:13
Heidi Cramer: So matter of fact, I remember sitting in conference tables with very important men convincing them that they would have a number of their own.
3:22
Heidi Cramer: They would not go directly to their secretary.
3:26
Heidi Cramer: So that's that's how long I've been around big changes, right?
3:30
Heidi Cramer: I mean, we forget how many big changes have been even done in our life, right?
3:34
Heidi Cramer: And so um, so the way I saw AI and the way I still see AI is really it's just, and I know just, right?
3:42
Heidi Cramer: But data availability.
3:44
Heidi Cramer: So for the first time, we have the ability to process and these huge amounts of data, and now we have the ability to say, of all this data we have, of all these camera pictures and of all of the detail we have about any human being, what is the most important to predict their next step?
4:05
Heidi Cramer: Or what is the most important piece to predict what's the better path to take, you know, for a business?
4:11
Heidi Cramer: So the example or from my world, by the way, the answer in terms of a year was 2019.
4:16
Heidi Cramer: So there's your year answer.
4:19
Jennifer Johnson: Really?
4:20
Jennifer Johnson: That seems like it's not even been that long.
4:23
Heidi Cramer: It hasn't at all, but the re but what I saw and what we know today of AI, at the time, I now I come from mostly the sales side by choice, started out coding and as an engineer and moved into the sales side of the tech world.
4:37
Heidi Cramer: And so um way back when I was running sales teams all over, mostly B2B sales, running them all over the nation, and I could see very quickly that the data we were gathering about your sales funnel and about the type of client to approach, and about what messaging or what product packaging worked better for different types of clients, we were quickly gathering that data and not quite knowing how to use it.
5:02
Heidi Cramer: So I could take, you know, I had 2,000 salespeople.
5:06
Heidi Cramer: So I could take 500 of them that went into maybe a specific trade, like they were after electricians and plumbers, you know, they were working with tradespeople, for instance, and I could take just those and use all the funnel data, you know, where they were located, how many times in a month they worked with those people, uh, each of those different companies, what the companies needed, you know, what was moving in plumbing.
5:30
Heidi Cramer: And I had all that data available.
5:32
Heidi Cramer: And how could I use that to better align these 500 people and to better create products for all of, for instance, that vertical, all of the our our great infrastructure and trades vertical.
5:44
Heidi Cramer: And so in 2019, I went to um, you know, you see them all the time now, but I went and got a business analytics part-time certificate uh just to focus in that.
5:54
Heidi Cramer: I have the first decision sciences degree ever given out in the US.
5:57
Heidi Cramer: I won't tell the year, but it's embarrassing.
6:00
Heidi Cramer: Wow.
6:01
Heidi Cramer: But so I've known for a long time that this has always been about analytics and decision sciences.
6:06
Heidi Cramer: And so 2019, I said, well, time to brush up the skills and understand how we can use this.
6:12
Heidi Cramer: And so I went back, did a two-year program, and now I'm actually working among other things, but I'm working on my doctorate for AI specifically in research.
6:21
Heidi Cramer: So, how do we use this for our workforces so that people can learn better and faster uh using AI, using all of this big AI intelligence we know?
6:30
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
6:30
Jennifer Johnson: You know, I found it this interesting because I've heard you speak a few times.
6:34
Jennifer Johnson: And the last time I think you heard you speak, you were talking about how way back when you went to school for a certain degree and you walked in and you were the only woman in the class, and then you walked into your current class and you were the only woman in the class.
6:49
Jennifer Johnson: That's right.
6:50
Jennifer Johnson: I know.
6:51
Heidi Cramer: So here's I'll tell you this story.
6:53
Heidi Cramer: So um I there an AI institute was having a class, and I was like, time to get back into coding.
6:57
Heidi Cramer: I mean, honestly, I probably would have stayed in coding if I would have had vibe coding because I hated debugging.
7:02
Heidi Cramer: Well, AI, nothing better than AI for debugging.
7:04
Heidi Cramer: Right.
7:05
Heidi Cramer: And so I went back, I thought, well, let's shake it up a little bit.
7:07
Heidi Cramer: Let's, you know, shake up my Python skills a little, and you know, and so I went into class and I walked in, and so back in 190.
7:16
Heidi Cramer: Oh, I was I was the only woman in class.
7:21
Heidi Cramer: There was one other woman, she had been an engineer in Ford.
7:24
Heidi Cramer: So she would be in my classes, in my, you know, the I have a master's in information systems.
7:28
Heidi Cramer: So it was the only the two of us in the master's class, and then undergrad, it was always just usually me.
7:34
Heidi Cramer: And so I walk into this class, and I'm not kidding you, 35 people, and I'm the only woman.
7:40
Heidi Cramer: And then a call and it was for college student age, so I was really trying to shake up my skills, and the uh young college student walks in about 15 minutes into the class and came and sat down by me.
7:51
Heidi Cramer: And so, at you know, on a break, I had to lean over and say, Are you still the only woman in these classes?
7:58
Heidi Cramer: And she said, Yes, it's so good to see you here.
8:01
Heidi Cramer: So I hate to say it, but 30 some years later, it's still the same.
8:06
Heidi Cramer: That's one advancement we haven't made.
8:08
Heidi Cramer: I'm still the only woman in that class, but now we have two.
8:12
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
8:13
Jennifer Johnson: That's just crazy, crazy to other than wrap my head around.
8:16
Jennifer Johnson: So I want to get real for a second and get practical for our small businesses who are listening.
8:21
Jennifer Johnson: What is the lowest hanging fruit that they can use AI for?
8:27
Heidi Cramer: Um there's lots, obviously, but the two lowest hanging, well, actually, there's three email assistant, right?
8:33
Heidi Cramer: So if you if you find yourself as a CEO or as a COO or whatever your role is, because we know you're chief bottle washer and everything as a small business, just like you, Jennifer, if you find yourself spending any kind of time answering any standardized emails, maybe uh looking up and maybe looking up where's an order, maybe just simply scheduling, scheduling yourself, right?
8:58
Heidi Cramer: If you're doing, if you find yourself doing more than two hours as a business owner or business leader doing anything in a day, or even more than two hours every three or four days, it's usually email.
9:11
Heidi Cramer: And it's not hard to build agents to respond to email.
9:15
Heidi Cramer: Um, and we'll talk, we can talk about that.
9:17
Heidi Cramer: But that would be the first place I would look, honestly.
9:19
Heidi Cramer: You know, how and what platform are you on and are you using?
9:23
Heidi Cramer: And some of them have it already built in.
9:25
Heidi Cramer: I won't name names because you're right.
9:26
Heidi Cramer: They're three months later or whatever might be different names.
9:29
Heidi Cramer: But um different, right?
9:32
Heidi Cramer: Exactly, totally different names that are the priority what people use.
9:35
Heidi Cramer: But email is obvious one.
9:37
Heidi Cramer: A funny one that I that I always work with my clients on, that is always extremely useful, surprisingly, and we can talk about this with data, but a lot of people are using free services.
9:50
Heidi Cramer: Well, what you pay for free services with AI is you're paying for your data.
9:53
Heidi Cramer: So everything that you're uploading is going out there as training data and is open to the to the cloud, right?
10:00
Heidi Cramer: So this is the time for small business owners to all look out there and say, what are my competitors doing?
10:06
Heidi Cramer: You should be asking.
10:08
Heidi Cramer: You said, what is a low-hanging fruit?
10:10
Heidi Cramer: You should be absolutely asking.
10:12
Heidi Cramer: And I always say, and Jennifer, you've probably heard me say this, once a week, Friday afternoon, when you're sitting there and everybody else is done and ready to go and you know you're still cleaning everything up, you should be saying, So, hi, hi, chat, hi Gemini, whoever you are.
10:27
Heidi Cramer: Can you please tell me what my competitors have been up to this week?
10:31
Heidi Cramer: Can you please tell me where my digital presence is and how I'm positioned against my competitors?
10:35
Heidi Cramer: Because they are making changes all the time, and they have people within their companies putting out all kind of information that is now available to you, and you better be taking advantage of that.
10:47
Jennifer Johnson: I heard you say this before, and I love that because now that is on my list.
10:51
Jennifer Johnson: And uh, you know, I I just think it's awesome.
10:55
Jennifer Johnson: I want to go back to the email thing really quick.
10:57
Jennifer Johnson: How do you set up a chat to help or a bot to help you answer your emails?
11:03
Jennifer Johnson: How does the bot know what to answer?
11:04
Jennifer Johnson: Okay, well, so this is the hardest part.
11:07
Heidi Cramer: So, and um uh the the key for AI is you can't think of it like a shift and lift, like IT has always been thought of, right?
11:14
Heidi Cramer: You know, this is not the big if you want to move, say, from one operating system to another, you know that you know that's gonna be a big lift for your whole company, right?
11:24
Heidi Cramer: Don't think of it that way.
11:26
Heidi Cramer: The way you should think of this is whatever you're on, whatever it is, um, it doesn't matter where your email is sitting, it may already have the functionality if you might be already in like a collaborative operating system and you may have that functionality, you just may need to go ask whatever your large language model is, right?
11:46
Heidi Cramer: So if it's Google, you need to go ask Gemini, hey, I need you to start, I need to start responding to these emails this way, right?
11:55
Heidi Cramer: Um, if it's that.
11:56
Heidi Cramer: There's there's also middleware that is just point and click that can link into your outlook, link into chat if that's what you use to answer emails, and say, hey, I need you two to talk.
12:08
Heidi Cramer: But the key is instead of the shift and lift, you need to think of this as, and you brought it, you just started there.
12:15
Heidi Cramer: What exactly do I want to change?
12:19
Heidi Cramer: What is exactly when I'm looking at these for two hours a day, what are the majority of these?
12:24
Heidi Cramer: And what's the trigger that makes me go look this up?
12:28
Heidi Cramer: Or what's the trigger that makes me go to my calendar?
12:31
Heidi Cramer: So always think trigger first, because an agent is not like a customer service agent in a call center, right?
12:40
Heidi Cramer: An agent that you hear about all the time, 2025 was the year of agentic AI.
12:45
Heidi Cramer: Everybody's agreed to that.
12:46
Heidi Cramer: Everybody said that in January, and we all agree that everyone was right.
12:50
Heidi Cramer: So an agent is nothing more than, hey, I'm responding to five emails a day asking me about where a product is.
12:59
Heidi Cramer: I go over to my CRM system or I go over to my ERP system, I click here, I click here, I look it up, I cut and paste, I put it back in that email.
13:09
Heidi Cramer: Right?
13:09
Heidi Cramer: An agent says for for this emails that ask this, this, and this, that just say order where is, go open that system, copy and paste from this field and this field, put it copy from there, paste it back here, write this email, and then you say put it in my inbox to check and send, or just put it to send.
13:31
Heidi Cramer: So that's how that's how you should think of AI.
13:35
Heidi Cramer: And depending on what you're on, that process is about as easy as I said.
13:40
Heidi Cramer: The hardest thing every one of my clients finds is getting it down to what are these five questions that are common?
13:48
Heidi Cramer: That's the hardest part, which is crazy because and here's the crazy thing doesn't matter, it matters, but it does, but you can build an agent for the one you get a day.
13:59
Heidi Cramer: And if you think of, you know, if you think of something that saves you 20 minutes to this for this one email that you get just about every day, multiply that times 30, you know, 30 days a month.
14:09
Heidi Cramer: Multiply yeah, exactly.
14:11
Heidi Cramer: You see how quickly that saves time, and it's and it's no cost.
14:15
Heidi Cramer: That's very cool.
14:17
Jennifer Johnson: So I want to talk about the elephant in the room because everybody's talking about this, everybody's afraid of this.
14:25
Jennifer Johnson: And we keep hearing AI is gonna replace jobs, there's gonna be people out of business, and it scares small business owners, big business owners, everybody alike.
14:35
Jennifer Johnson: What do you say to that?
14:37
Heidi Cramer: So here's the poly interview that I agree with it.
14:39
Heidi Cramer: So um, yes, it's gonna replace jobs as we know jobs, let's not pretend it isn't, right?
14:49
Heidi Cramer: And I've got to tell you honestly, I don't like that phrase.
14:52
Heidi Cramer: You won't be replaced by AI, you'll be replaced by people that use AI.
14:55
Heidi Cramer: I don't even like that phrase because a lot of times, yeah, I I I don't like that either.
15:01
Heidi Cramer: So here's the reality.
15:03
Heidi Cramer: And I saw a study, and it was done by McKinsey, I think, that was really good.
15:08
Heidi Cramer: It said, yeah, we're gonna lose 300 million jobs to AI worldwide, and probably within and definitely within the next four years, the next three to four years.
15:17
Heidi Cramer: And I think already of those 300 million, we've lost about 90 million, 90 to 100 million.
15:22
Heidi Cramer: Wow.
15:23
Heidi Cramer: But but once we harness the power of AI, and once we figure out things like how it makes salespeople more effective, right?
15:34
Heidi Cramer: How I target them better, you know, how I use how you use this, once, once you can understand, oh my gosh, I can develop two businesses in one day using AI to code because I just had two great ideas in the retail, in the retail resale industry.
15:50
Heidi Cramer: And I can turn those two things into businesses in the next 24 hours using AI.
15:55
Heidi Cramer: And knowing you, nobody knows this business better than you, you will be successful, and you're gonna hire three more people to run those businesses.
16:01
Heidi Cramer: Sure.
16:02
Heidi Cramer: So, and another I um train Florida Bar Association, often train legal firms.
16:07
Heidi Cramer: And one interesting way of looking at it, and it's a perfect view in my mind of how the world is gonna change with AI and how these jobs will change.
16:15
Heidi Cramer: Right now, it's a seven to one ratio within the legal industry.
16:19
Heidi Cramer: Now, really, not right now, about three months ago, it's already changed, but it's a seven to one within the legal industry, seven associates for every one partner.
16:27
Heidi Cramer: So it is expected by 2032, so in seven years, right?
16:31
Heidi Cramer: It will be a one-to-one ratio.
16:34
Jennifer Johnson: Wow.
16:35
Heidi Cramer: Because of a exactly.
16:37
Heidi Cramer: So, what does that mean for firms?
16:39
Heidi Cramer: Well, this is what I love for small businesses.
16:41
Heidi Cramer: This is what I love for the creativity of you know, of everywhere, but particularly small businesses.
16:46
Heidi Cramer: It means these firms are going to be smaller, it means you're gonna be more nimble because all of the big research advantage and the intelligence advantage that you had in the large firms, AI gave you.
16:58
Heidi Cramer: It's giving you in the case advantage and the research advantage.
17:01
Heidi Cramer: So now, well, well, then they're saying, well, then we won't need all those associates.
17:06
Heidi Cramer: No, but we certainly still need the legal skills.
17:09
Heidi Cramer: But now we need it for more areas.
17:11
Heidi Cramer: Now we need somebody that understands, um, understands how to address legal issues for intellectual property within the retail industry.
17:20
Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely.
17:20
Heidi Cramer: Right?
17:21
Heidi Cramer: And that may be a three-person firm, but there'll be enough of those that it will easily match that.
17:26
Heidi Cramer: So the next part of that statistic in McKinsey is eventually that $300 million we lost will become $500 million we gain by the next five years after that.
17:35
Jennifer Johnson: People are shuffled around.
17:38
Heidi Cramer: Exactly.
17:38
Heidi Cramer: Exactly.
17:39
Heidi Cramer: The key is when does it release our creativity?
17:42
Heidi Cramer: When it starts, when it stops making us afraid and starts releasing our creativity and our development for people like you who are just crazy successful entrepreneurs.
17:50
Heidi Cramer: When it gets, when it when it does that, that's when we'll see that that's when nobody's gonna ask that question anymore.
17:56
Heidi Cramer: They'll just be trying to find the job they want to do.
17:59
Jennifer Johnson: Wow.
18:00
Jennifer Johnson: I know our daughter is in architecture school and she's already thinking, you know, where can I do a program where I can learn AI for architecture?
20:36
Jennifer Johnson: Because she already knows that that's where this is gonna go.
20:39
Jennifer Johnson: And she hasn't found one yet.
20:41
Jennifer Johnson: So I'd love to talk to you offline about that.
20:43
Jennifer Johnson: But she is um she can see that.
20:47
Jennifer Johnson: And I think that's so cool because it's going to touch every single um, you know, business out there in some way, shape, or form.
20:56
Jennifer Johnson: So, what questions do small business owners need to ask themselves before they start digging into AI, before they start deciding where they want to spend their time, you know, learning and and all of that around AI?
21:11
Heidi Cramer: So um so this will might make you check a little bit.
21:14
Heidi Cramer: So I'm gonna divide solopreneurs and entrepreneurs here a little bit, because not solopreneurs, but entrepreneurs, I promise you the first place you should dig is who's using it already in your company, right?
21:28
Heidi Cramer: And how are they using it?
21:29
Heidi Cramer: I there is not there's not a company out there with an employee that isn't using this somehow.
21:35
Heidi Cramer: Are they using it to respond to emails?
21:38
Heidi Cramer: Are they using it to answer FAQs?
21:40
Heidi Cramer: Are they using it because they find themselves seven times a day trying to answer client questions?
21:46
Heidi Cramer: There's nothing more important than their chat history, right?
21:49
Heidi Cramer: So for you to know what to do with your business, nothing more important than your chat history, right?
21:54
Heidi Cramer: For you to see my chat history.
21:56
Heidi Cramer: Oh, right.
21:56
Heidi Cramer: Exactly, right.
21:58
Heidi Cramer: So you look at your chat history, and then the greatest thing is use now that we keep it all, you know, that's just started right now that you keep it all, use AI to say, look at my chat history and tell me what would be the absolute best thing I could do to implement an agent within this company that would save me time.
22:14
Jennifer Johnson: Oh, I love that.
22:15
Jennifer Johnson: Can you tell the chat to organize all of your chats?
22:19
Jennifer Johnson: Because I sure do.
22:21
Jennifer Johnson: Like I'm sharing folders, like I they're just like so many.
22:26
Heidi Cramer: You tell tell it to run through all your chats and pull it out and then give give you advice on what's the best thing given what it sees you thinking about the most.
22:34
Heidi Cramer: So for instance, I'll give you a funny example you might enjoy.
22:38
Heidi Cramer: So I almost always start out with entrepreneurs about bring your finances.
22:41
Heidi Cramer: Let's, you know, talk.
22:42
Heidi Cramer: It doesn't have to be extensive, net income balance sheet, right?
22:45
Heidi Cramer: And we do um, we do the first thing I do is say, hey, AI.
22:50
Heidi Cramer: Now closed system, right?
22:52
Heidi Cramer: So the information isn't out there.
22:53
Jennifer Johnson: Would you ban for that?
22:55
Heidi Cramer: For what you're um but only paid.
22:58
Heidi Cramer: So you know I I would never in a million years put financial information in any.
23:01
Heidi Cramer: But a paid subscription.
23:03
Heidi Cramer: And also, just as a little aside for chat, um, there is a way in settings to turn off so it doesn't share.
23:09
Heidi Cramer: And then we know, you know, anthropic already has those settings, etc.
23:12
Heidi Cramer: But um, but anyway, so I'll put it out there and put the financial information and say, hey, give me the top three things that would make me stronger financially in the next 30 days.
23:22
Heidi Cramer: Give me the top two things that would make me stronger financially in the next 90 days, right?
23:27
Heidi Cramer: And you will be amazed at the depth.
23:30
Heidi Cramer: Now, of course, I prefer to click on deep research for that, right?
23:33
Heidi Cramer: So whether you know, if you've got a pro or always click on the research options for that.
23:37
Heidi Cramer: But you but for instance, I had one that came in and they wanted to launch a B2C, so a business to consumer.
23:44
Heidi Cramer: They're a business to business, they're a supplier to large businesses, and they said, Well, I want you to help me use AI to design a website and my marketing materials.
23:51
Heidi Cramer: And I said, Well, you brought your finances, let's do that first.
23:54
Heidi Cramer: Well, the first thing AI showed is that this company is probably gonna go under in eight months.
24:00
Heidi Cramer: Wow.
24:01
Heidi Cramer: A company had been in business for 18 years.
24:03
Heidi Cramer: And so I said, So why?
24:06
Heidi Cramer: And then I before you know got any further, I thought, let me dig into this.
24:10
Heidi Cramer: What's this mean, right?
24:11
Heidi Cramer: Why did they say that?
24:12
Heidi Cramer: Well, they had taken on a new client, and AI found all of this through nothing but the last two years' income statements and the last two years' balance sheets.
24:20
Heidi Cramer: No accounts payable, no anything.
24:22
Heidi Cramer: And it said they took on a new client.
24:24
Heidi Cramer: I said, okay, AI, tell me what we mean here.
24:26
Heidi Cramer: And it said they took on a new client in 2023, which is half of their business.
24:30
Heidi Cramer: So to scale it 4 million out of around 8 million, right?
24:33
Heidi Cramer: And that client is paying in 92 days.
24:36
Heidi Cramer: They now, in the last quarter, the last two quarters, have been hurrying to pay high credit card debt.
24:42
Heidi Cramer: So they're paying in an average of 23 days because they're using their credit card debt to fund that supply for that large customer.
24:49
Heidi Cramer: And so, so when I turned around and worked with the client, I said, Hey, is there any chance you're looking for B2C because you're looking for better cash flow?
24:58
Heidi Cramer: It's not that you need to launch another product line, it's that you're looking for a different cash flow model.
25:03
Heidi Cramer: And she said, Exactly.
25:04
Heidi Cramer: I was just asked to be, you know, CEO of this company.
25:07
Heidi Cramer: And I, and so we said, I said, well, let's have a different strategic decision first, because anything that you do on a new product line, as we know, first thing I ever learned in business school is it's going to, whatever I think it's going to cost me to launch a new product line or a new location, double that and start there.
25:22
Heidi Cramer: Right.
25:23
Heidi Cramer: No matter what it works, right?
25:25
Heidi Cramer: Hey, start there, double that, start there, then decide what your budget is.
25:29
Heidi Cramer: And so I said, well, how about instead of an expense, let's figure out how to control cash flow here?
25:35
Heidi Cramer: And then we talked about procurement.
25:36
Heidi Cramer: How do we work with could we offer terms to the supplier agent so that if they paid sooner, they could have a lower cost?
25:43
Heidi Cramer: We just needed to find, and all those things were implemented in the company's in good shape.
25:47
Jennifer Johnson: Wow.
25:47
Jennifer Johnson: All of that from uploading that to FPT.
25:52
Heidi Cramer: All I simply did was 23, 24, and year to date 2025, net income imbalance sheet, and it told me all that.
25:58
Jennifer Johnson: That's amazing.
25:58
Jennifer Johnson: And that would have taken an individual a considerable amount of time.
26:03
Jennifer Johnson: And it probably took, you know, what, two minutes?
26:07
Jennifer Johnson: If you oh, not probably not right.
26:10
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
26:10
Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh.
26:11
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, to do that analysis.
26:12
Jennifer Johnson: No, no, you did touch on this a little bit, but I want to talk about security and data privacy.
26:18
Jennifer Johnson: Because, you know, yes, we did talk briefly just about paid versions, but what are some things that you can do in these certain models to make sure that things that you upload are private?
26:31
Jennifer Johnson: Because I know there's going to be a lot of people having that question.
26:36
Heidi Cramer: Yeah, no, no, that's a good question.
26:37
Heidi Cramer: And that is a big issue.
26:39
Heidi Cramer: No question.
26:39
Heidi Cramer: So, first of all, please keep always keep in mind that no matter what you do and your employees do, anything they do on a free version, you are paying with your data.
26:51
Heidi Cramer: The reason free versions exist is because LLMs need more data to train on, more data to make decisions.
26:57
Heidi Cramer: LLM or large language models, chat and the rest.
27:00
Heidi Cramer: And so, so always remember that you are giving your data.
27:05
Heidi Cramer: Every single thing you're putting out there, that's what you are paying on a free version.
27:09
Heidi Cramer: So keep that in your head always.
27:10
Heidi Cramer: Doesn't matter what it's a free version, image creation, anything.
27:14
Heidi Cramer: So on paid versions.
27:16
Heidi Cramer: So then your question is well, on a paid version, and and I will tell you the different ones, um, I've seen different ones sell, you know, based on, you know, we focus more on your data privacy.
27:26
Heidi Cramer: One thing to always keep in mind is there's, you know, not like the FAA where they're running around checking planes.
27:33
Heidi Cramer: There's nobody checking, right?
27:36
Heidi Cramer: There's nobody that opens up and knocks on your door and says, Oh, let me check if this is getting shared or by policy or not, right?
27:46
Heidi Cramer: No.
27:46
Heidi Cramer: So, so look at what you have, look at make sure that whatever you're buying, I and and you know, you might have heard me say this before, Jennifer.
27:55
Heidi Cramer: I have a crazy thing.
27:55
Heidi Cramer: You know, when you're design, when you're using chats and you're designing marketing material and you want it to be your brand because you know they learn from you, and you want to sometimes I say, particularly even for like marketing, um, you know, content creation, image creation, use a separate uh account for that that is only based on your brand identity and is locked into your company.
28:16
Heidi Cramer: So for small business owners that are two or three people, sometimes that's enough to start keeping things safe, and then never put your name on any other data that you use.
28:25
Heidi Cramer: You know, never put your company's name out there on anything else you put out there.
28:28
Heidi Cramer: So that's the that's the kind of the cheap and easy way.
28:31
Heidi Cramer: But and but make sure that you understand when you're even buying it, what the difference is.
28:36
Heidi Cramer: So, for instance, we talked a second ago about chat, it actually defaults to sharing the data, even though you're paying for it.
28:42
Heidi Cramer: So make sure you go into settings and say, I don't want to share my data.
28:46
Heidi Cramer: And that's across the teams too.
28:47
Heidi Cramer: So if you're buying, um you know, buying a uh subscription for your entire company, just remember that.
28:54
Heidi Cramer: Remember to watch how your settings are.
28:56
Jennifer Johnson: That is a good pointer.
28:57
Jennifer Johnson: Now, looking ahead on the AI landscape, what do you what does it look like for small businesses?
29:04
Jennifer Johnson: What do you see happening in the next six months, the next year?
29:08
Jennifer Johnson: I know you don't have a crystal ball, but I you have some great insights.
29:13
Heidi Cramer: Yeah, no, so so the key, so I will tell you, this might you might get a kick out of this.
29:21
Heidi Cramer: I have a client and we've been working together for a year and a half on, and it's AI-based, tremendous, uh, you know, combination of drone technology and IoT technology and all my favorite stuff, you know, where all this, where all the backbone comes from, where I came from.
29:35
Heidi Cramer: And so finally I had to say to him a couple, uh, I don't know, about a month ago, I said, just blanking launch.
29:45
Heidi Cramer: Just do the damn thing.
29:48
Heidi Cramer: And so he he now puts on a whiteboard behind him whenever he's on a Zoom meeting, just blanking launch, Heidi Kramer.
29:57
Heidi Cramer: So, what I wanted, the whole point of that is to say, where is AI going?
30:02
Heidi Cramer: Where are small businesses going?
30:04
Heidi Cramer: AI is going to keep giving small businesses more tools than their enterprise counterparts because enterprise have got to do a big lift and shift.
30:14
Heidi Cramer: You may have a CRM, you may have an ERP, right?
30:17
Heidi Cramer: It's not so easy for these guys to implement AI in there.
30:20
Heidi Cramer: It seems like it because everything always is focused at them in the news, right?
30:24
Heidi Cramer: But it's not so easy.
30:26
Heidi Cramer: To be honest, the thing I see with small businesses is now is your time to use every tool.
30:31
Heidi Cramer: And you may have heard me say this, Jennifer.
30:33
Heidi Cramer: I say if you're still running your client um information on Excel spreadsheets, stop.
30:39
Heidi Cramer: The CRM costs you 20 bucks, right?
30:42
Heidi Cramer: And AI is running the back end, and you can do a quick tie into your emails, and you got everything together like enterprise clients have had for years, right?
30:51
Heidi Cramer: So the so what I see for what I see for small businesses is be more concerned if you're not getting the basics done because it's cost, it'll it costs you 20 bucks a month for a subscription now at this point to have a CRM, to have an ERP, to you know, run run a link to to fix your email or to you know answer all your emails, right?
31:11
Heidi Cramer: Um to have an agent.
31:12
Heidi Cramer: A lot of what I work on, this may interest you.
31:15
Heidi Cramer: So I have one client, just won a huge contract for an entire country, every hospital in a whole entire country, entire country.
31:23
Heidi Cramer: So she just won this contract.
31:25
Heidi Cramer: She's a great small business with five employees, fantastic small business with five employees.
31:30
Heidi Cramer: And so she so she came to me and she said, anyway, I can do this with the same amount of employees using AI.
31:37
Heidi Cramer: So we worked through it and we went through all the workflow, and she actually used an employee.
31:44
Heidi Cramer: I worked with them, they learned how to write agents themselves.
31:47
Heidi Cramer: So they're learning and think of agents as automation.
31:49
Heidi Cramer: So she just learned to automate a bunch of stuff they do, added a CRM.
31:54
Heidi Cramer: You know how badly I believe in CRMs, right?
31:57
Heidi Cramer: And then integrated it in.
31:59
Heidi Cramer: And so part of what they have is when clients use them, they also have to keep updated.
32:06
Heidi Cramer: So a year later, you have to keep updated.
32:08
Heidi Cramer: Six months later, you have to, so now we've got all of that automated.
32:11
Heidi Cramer: Nobody needs to sit there and follow through 10,000 clients and a country's worth, right?
32:17
Heidi Cramer: Of clients.
32:18
Heidi Cramer: So we've automated all of these things together and sh and we added IoT into some of the equipment that is needed on site.
32:26
Heidi Cramer: So she can now sit there like you and I are sitting here in a different country and manage that entire experience for those clients.
32:34
Heidi Cramer: So we've got all of that integrated together, and she can launch a whole country with five with the same five people that she had originally.
32:42
Jennifer Johnson: That's a really great testimonial you need to get from her.
32:45
Jennifer Johnson: Wow.
32:47
Heidi Cramer: That is crazy.
32:48
Heidi Cramer: So that gives you a sense, you know, of what you have of how small businesses should be looking at this and where they're gonna go because you are going to be that size, but you got but now's your chance to get everything right and cheaper.
33:00
Heidi Cramer: Right.
33:01
Jennifer Johnson: Absolutely.
33:02
Jennifer Johnson: So because AI is changing so rapidly, how can small businesses stay informed as to what's next or what new tool is out there?
33:14
Jennifer Johnson: What is a good spot for them to learn?
33:16
Jennifer Johnson: And maybe it's more than one spot.
33:17
Jennifer Johnson: How do they stay in tune to that?
33:19
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, so that's a great question.
33:21
Heidi Cramer: Um, so uh so it first of all, the first thing I'm gonna say is AI is really the year, is really the launch of micro verticals, as I call them.
33:34
Heidi Cramer: So all these applications, like you know, we just gave the example of Jennifer's gonna have a great idea for a better way to do purses and resale, and you're gonna launch that company in 24 hours, and it's gonna solve a bunch of problems with purses and resale, right?
33:48
Heidi Cramer: I'll be in there later to get a wallet.
33:50
Heidi Cramer: I'm I need one today.
33:51
Heidi Cramer: Um I know I saw that, that's why.
33:57
Heidi Cramer: And so, so um, so we have the you have all of that, you can do that from a small scale.
34:04
Heidi Cramer: Those microverticals are gonna add all the AI marketing, and your name, your name as a resale store, will be everywhere.
34:13
Heidi Cramer: So they will be coming to you.
34:15
Heidi Cramer: So a lot of what you should be doing is a lot of what I spend clients clients will say, Hey, I just saw this one.
34:21
Heidi Cramer: They just popped up and they can integrate my CRM and they can do this, and they're in my microvertical, and they understand how I connect with vendors.
34:28
Heidi Cramer: This is what they said.
34:30
Heidi Cramer: How do I know that this is the right move to make?
34:32
Heidi Cramer: And so one of the things I always say is data, data, data.
34:35
Heidi Cramer: Where's your data?
34:36
Heidi Cramer: How will they transfer your data?
34:38
Heidi Cramer: How will they run your data?
34:39
Heidi Cramer: That's all that matters is data, data, data.
34:41
Heidi Cramer: So when you say, um, how do you keep up with it?
34:45
Heidi Cramer: A lot of times it's gonna be, it's not gonna be a pull, it's gonna be a push.
34:49
Heidi Cramer: Number one.
34:50
Heidi Cramer: Number two, their podcasts are launching all the time.
34:54
Heidi Cramer: I tend to do a podcast a lot.
34:56
Heidi Cramer: I get a lot of updates.
34:58
Heidi Cramer: I won't name any of them on here, but I I tend to get updates like I will listen to podcasts for AI for certain ones.
35:04
Heidi Cramer: Like I have one that will always give me a great daily update.
35:08
Heidi Cramer: I also know he uses AI, you know, too, but he gives me a great daily update.
35:13
Heidi Cramer: And he also gives me a great perspective from a here's the hype, and here's how the news had to say it, but here's what this really means.
35:22
Heidi Cramer: So I'll give you an example.
35:23
Heidi Cramer: Sam Altman came out recently and said, well, AI is hyped, you know, in and he, but here's why.
35:30
Heidi Cramer: He had just offered a buyback to all to all of the open AI people.
35:35
Heidi Cramer: And if he came out and said that, well, there's he he had to be very careful about how he said he had to walk that line because he could have been encouraging people to make a financial decision based on his advice.
35:49
Heidi Cramer: And so, for instance, yeah, yeah, and so everybody had you know, the headline was Sam Altman says it's all going to collapse.
35:56
Heidi Cramer: Sam Altman didn't jump right on this, he couldn't that day, right?
36:00
Heidi Cramer: Right, you know, and so he sent his senses said, hey guys, no, it's all going and it's going this fast and the world is changing.
36:06
Heidi Cramer: So I listened to podcasts, and then um, so one interesting thing that I've seen though, that's crazy because it's not the AA world, is um it seems like a lot of people are providing conferences within verticals.
36:19
Heidi Cramer: And the bet and so without question, I will tell you, without question, the best thing I have seen from every small business owner is to see how someone else has been using it within, particularly within at least if not their vertical, within their customer base.
36:35
Heidi Cramer: So if you're like a business to consumer, you know, how have people been using, how have people been using it?
36:41
Heidi Cramer: So some of these conferences, believe it or not, I think have absolutely had some great information when the doors are closed and everybody's talking.
36:49
Heidi Cramer: You know, if you can do that in your industry, I think it's been working great to keep people updated.
36:53
Jennifer Johnson: That's where the gold nuggets are dropped.
36:55
Jennifer Johnson: Yes, absolutely.
36:56
Jennifer Johnson: No question.
36:57
Jennifer Johnson: So we are in the final four section of our podcast.
37:00
Jennifer Johnson: I do this with every guest that is on.
37:02
Jennifer Johnson: So I'm excited to hear your answers, Heidi.
37:04
Jennifer Johnson: What is your favorite book and what it has made it stick with you?
37:09
Jennifer Johnson: My favorite book to make it stick.
37:13
Heidi Cramer: Oh, so um, I know this sounds crazy.
37:15
Heidi Cramer: World according to Garp is my favorite book.
37:18
Heidi Cramer: Um and only because only because it stuck with me, I remember way back when I you know this, Jennifer.
37:25
Heidi Cramer: I do a lot of work with foster kids.
37:26
Heidi Cramer: And, you know, way back when it really stuck with me because for the first time he kept saying, Well, I'm an orphan, and that means that I have to always be useful.
37:36
Heidi Cramer: And I always spent my life, you know, hustling and you know, in careers and always being useful.
37:41
Heidi Cramer: And I always have thought of that book for a lot that, you know, always be useful.
37:46
Heidi Cramer: It's a way of it's a perspective.
37:47
Heidi Cramer: So absolutely.
37:48
Heidi Cramer: Now I will tell you right now, I'm reading God, human, animal, and machine.
37:52
Heidi Cramer: And it's a very interesting perspective from somebody who used to be a theologian on what is AI today.
38:00
Heidi Cramer: It's a very easy read, believe it or not.
38:02
Heidi Cramer: I know it sounds like it shouldn't be, but of course, audio read.
38:05
Heidi Cramer: Um, and uh it's really interesting because it's giving the theological perspective uh not anymore, agnostic, right, is moved away, but somebody that has lived on both sides, uh, even as a fundamentalist Christian, and can say, This is what I see.
38:20
Heidi Cramer: Um, this is, you know, is what is doesn't AI have some of the things that we as you know Christians have defined, has defined um is developing.
38:29
Heidi Cramer: So it's fascinating.
38:31
Jennifer Johnson: Hmm.
38:31
Jennifer Johnson: I'm gonna put that on my list.
38:32
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, it's fascinating.
38:33
Jennifer Johnson: Do you have a favorite quote or piece of advice that you find yourself coming back to time and time again?
38:40
Heidi Cramer: Yes.
38:40
Heidi Cramer: So I used to always tell my kids, do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do, right?
38:44
Heidi Cramer: That's always my big one, um, especially for my kids.
38:47
Heidi Cramer: And they and they would tell you, by the way, that my actual quote was get better or get used to it.
38:54
Jennifer Johnson: So it's a little bit true.
38:57
Heidi Cramer: Um so, but then um, if we were a busy family, uh busy mom and kids.
39:03
Heidi Cramer: Um, but then um I did heard hear something by Maya Angela one time I have always lived by after I thought of this, and it says, when someone shows you who they are, believe them.
39:12
Heidi Cramer: And I've and I've thought about that in AI too, because sometimes, you know, AI and I, just like many people do, we'll have a discussion about something.
39:20
Heidi Cramer: And AI a few times has said, well, given everything you told me before, why do you expect their reaction to be different this time?
39:28
Heidi Cramer: Why do you expect them to react differently?
39:30
Heidi Cramer: I'm like, AI and I needed to have that discussion because it's funny that that's an old saying that I've always thought of, and and now in the in it shows up in my chat.
39:40
Jennifer Johnson: And it's definitely the truth.
39:42
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
39:42
Jennifer Johnson: What is one habit or practice that's genuinely changed your life?
39:47
Heidi Cramer: Um, reading.
39:48
Heidi Cramer: Yeah, no question.
39:50
Heidi Cramer: I mean, I was I had my nose in a book from the time I I could hold a book.
39:54
Heidi Cramer: And so, and I love to read across everything.
39:56
Heidi Cramer: I will tell you in the last, we were talking about this yesterday with someone, in the last five or six years, it's really helped um that I have subscriptions across various different news things and in-depth, you know, peer-reviewed articles and go, because it really to you almost now need because it delivers what it thinks you want to click on for advertising.
40:16
Heidi Cramer: So I now need is now more important, and I tell, you know, everybody, all my kids this, that it's now more important you go seek out the information and then make your own decisions.
40:26
Jennifer Johnson: That's good advice as well.
40:28
Jennifer Johnson: If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?
40:31
Heidi Cramer: My grandfather.
40:31
Heidi Cramer: My grandfather died when I was seven, kind of the, you know, still absolutely the best person in my life.
40:37
Heidi Cramer: And uh, and I would want to go back and tell him all about my kids, tell him all about my life.
40:42
Jennifer Johnson: Kitty, this has been a a really packed podcast with lots of things about AI.
40:48
Jennifer Johnson: I feel like we could talk about this for hours.
40:50
Jennifer Johnson: No questions.
40:51
Jennifer Johnson: If our listeners are interested in getting a hold of you, how can they do so?
40:57
Heidi Cramer: Well, I will tell you what uh my uh email is uh hkramer at fgcu.edu.
41:03
Heidi Cramer: Um I'm with the SVDC.
41:05
Heidi Cramer: And then my phone, you're well always welcome.
41:07
Heidi Cramer: Everybody knows my phone number, 630-886-4977.
41:11
Heidi Cramer: So you're always you can always get a hold of me at either place.
41:13
Jennifer Johnson: Fabulous.
41:14
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you so much.
41:15
Jennifer Johnson: I appreciate it.
41:16
Heidi Cramer: It was wonderful.
41:17
Heidi Cramer: Thank you very much for the time, Jennifer.
41:19
Heidi Cramer: And this is a great format.
41:20
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you to my guests.