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In 2023, I took a gamble with a $10,000 investment in AI education and it paid off beyond my expectations. This was a decision that reshaped my career and business strategy. Despite my accounting and business background, diving into AI and machine learning was uncharted territory. But before I dive into the implications of this decision, some background on me and some of the things I did in 2023.
One of the things I want to emphasize to people reading this article is that you don't have to go to school to really take advantage of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. Certainly, having a formal background is never a bad thing, but it doesn't prevent those interested in this field from exploring it. I went to school to get a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in business administration, earned my CPA license in New York State, and then self-taught myself in business intelligence and his AI/ML data science consulting. I can prove this statement because I have focused my career on this. – From scratch in less than 3 years he built a business that secured over 135 clients. Clients include Microsoft, Tory Burch, the U.S. military, and Danaher.
Why am I saying this?
Now, on November 30, 2022, I met ChatGPT3 for the first time, but I was just an end user. I was not yet an AI subject matter expert or guru who could break down concepts for people and develop business strategies for AI implementation. I was just witnessing the first debut of the large-scale language model technology era, and I knew at this point that this technology would change the world forever, and I was intrigued enough to want to learn more.
My mind began to ponder how generative AI would disrupt many career paths, but at the same time create a wealth of opportunities for individuals and companies who know how to use it effectively. It also happens. I immediately started looking for courses online to learn about generative AI. Unfortunately, there were no courses available at that time, but that didn't deter me. I started by deep understanding the basics of AI/ML without his learning and generation components and signed up for his two certification programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One focused on building data science solutions powered by machine learning and AI. The other focuses on building AI products and services and putting them into production.
Additionally, I took several courses on Udemy that focused on how to use OpenAI APIs and learned important prompt engineering techniques such as the COSTAR framework. Finally, I invested in subscriptions to AI tools like Midjourney via Discord and more. This allows us to join a network of other creators who want to use this technology. I joined numerous online networking groups across various platforms, which allowed me to absorb information and updates at a much faster rate than any medium could provide. The total cost of this education was close to $10,000, but it was 100% a worthwhile investment. There are three main reasons for this:
1. Expand your network
During my reinvestment phase in education, I identified my go-to AI network for updates and the exchange of ideas. This serves as a tremendous resource, especially since the pool of individuals within these networks is very diverse and represents companies, products, and services from a variety of industries. This network created further introductions and opportunities to expand our business and collaborate on other projects in an informal setting. As a result of this network, I have built an active community of his IT AI/ML Expert Group on Discord and LinkedIn, consisting of over 400 experts from various industries, and have been involved in several innovative AI projects. We have partnered with several experts.
2. New service line
Once we begin to truly understand and see how generative AI works and what skills people and businesses lack to effectively deploy these types of solutions and strategies. I've been able to build a team within my company that understands the market needs of companies looking to: Adopt generative AI solutions. This decision has allowed me to open additional service lines within my business, add more value to my existing customer base and referral partnerships, and capture new work in markets where I did not previously exist. Ta. For example, I started offering playbooks on Copilot deployment strategies for enterprises, provided training and education on prompt engineering for SMBs, and conducted enterprise-specific webinars tailored to business needs.
Related: Now that you've tested your AI tools, you don't need to. Here's what worked and what didn't.
3) I am now a paid official speaker for AI
Some people dream of getting paid for speaking. It's amazing to me that she can say that she's a paid speaker for $5,000 a time at foundations, small business organizations, women's entrepreneur groups, and other networks. Thanks to the education I reinvested along with my customer experience in this field, I'm able to leverage my understanding and knowledge of every genAI project I've worked on, or concepts I've solidly grasped, into entirely new revenue streams that I hadn't considered before. I was able to. I remember the first paid event I attended. It was a webinar for over 70 small business owners. We were excited to share the impact of AI broadly across businesses and industries, providing more ways to think about the technology's impact and its potential. related to their daily life. My goal was to provide as much value as possible, and based on the response and feedback, that goal was achieved.
Through this journey, I learned the value of continuous learning and adaptation in the rapidly evolving world of AI. For those of you reading this article, your next breakthrough business strategy may come from just one learning experience.
My motto has always been and always will be simple: “If you believe in something, do it with all your heart.”
