Nicole: Hi, and welcome back to the Lead Better Podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Harlow. And my guest today cut a 60-hour work week in half and then in half again. She's taken a full week off every single month since 2018. When I asked her how she pulled that off, the answer was a lot simpler than I and probably you expected. Michelle Rogers is the founder of the Wellthy Woman. She trained at Bastyr, spent four years as a primary care provider, and two more in a cash-based private practice in Portland, and then walked away from the brick and mortar model entirely to build something online. She runs her business from Mexico now, so jealous. And she spends her days helping other health practitioners make that same shift. We got into her flex week and how she actually protects it, the four-box system she uses to decide what to hand off first, and then we went deep on AI. Michelle has built a whole team of agents, a two-way assistant that reports in every morning, and a chatbot trained on her own material that answers her students the way she would. Somewhere in the middle, we landed on the same thing, which had nothing to do with tools at all. It actually surprised me that we went there, but it's so just refreshing to see other business owners having like a similar experience with AI that I am super excited for you guys to listen to this conversation. It was definitely eye-opening to me in a few different ways. And I am like heavy in building with AI and building operations. So some of the things that Michelle said gave me a laundry list that I'm excited to start checking those things off the list. So without further ado, let's introduce Michelle. I've got Michelle here with me. I'm so excited to have this conversation today. Thanks for joining. Of course. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me. So I don't want to bury the lead. So one thing that I do when I'm prepping for these podcast episodes is I love to go into the guest's social media. So I've been like scouring your social media, you have posts, and that's where I find my questions I want to ask. So I'm like, I'm looking at like hooks and being like, whoa, that's something that caught my attention. And something that caught my attention from your post that I was like, we have to talk about that. You said I cut my 60-hour work week in half and then in half again. You take one week off a month, and I friggin love that about you already. Like I am such a like hedonist, I'm like, I'm like a quintessential Taurus. So I'm like, let's create systems so we don't have to work harder, so we can take time off, enjoy our life. So what I want to dig in there is like I want to know kind of behind the scenes, like what are some systems that support you? Like, how did you get there? You know, like how did you get there? Because everybody here listening, busy practitioners, they're also wearing their CEO hat. Like that seems wildly like unaccessible. Yeah, like what the actual — like, dude, how do you take a week off a month? Like, what is happening? Yeah, like that is awesome. And I want to know, like, what are some of the steps that got you there?
Michelle: Well, it's actually kind of funny. I will tell you exactly how easy it was. Well, I started that, I guess a ritual. I started that ritual back when I was still practicing and seeing my own clients running my own online health practice. And I just knew that I have a tendency myself to be an overworker, a workaholic. I freaking love what I do. I go all in. But then I also know that I have this tendency to, as most of us do, to burn out. And it's not burnout of like, I hate my job, like that kind of burnout. It's just like I'm freaking exhausted and I need to have some kind of separation from the work that I'm doing and the passion that I have to be with myself so that I can show up even better for my clients, for my family, for my community or whatever. And so when I was in the online space, I just played around with the idea of like, what would it be like? Right. And this is kind of how I approach my business now is like if I could wave a magic wand, what would I want it to look like? And how can we get there? So at that point in time, and granted, this was many years ago, I've been doing this for probably over — I took my practice online in 2017. So I probably started it 2018, 2019. No, 2018. I definitely started in 2018. So I've been taking a week off every month since 2018. And initially, it was just as easy as blocking off my calendar and communicating with my clients. So I worked with high-end, high-performing entrepreneurs who are wanting to optimize their health. And so I think that was an environment where I had permission to do that kind of thing. Like they understood. They're like, Oh, I'm so glad you're taking this time off. But they want that for themselves too. I thought it was like — the response I was expecting. But it was really just like, hey guys, like, you know, I'm not gonna be available the last week of the month. I'll check in with you before, after, whatever. But that week is like, it's my sacred week. And that just took — it was literally that simple of creating that boundary and setting that standard and communicating. And that's all it took. And I've had several practitioners now who've worked with me who've now done the same thing where they do that now too. And it's crazy how simple it is. And now that I'm running a bigger business, a different type of business where I'm training, mentoring, coaching a bunch of other practitioners, running all kinds of systems and processes in my business. I have a full-time VA. And then, of course, on top of that, we're using AI like crazy. So there's several different systems that are supporting me during that time. And for example, I'm going out next week is my — I call it my flex week. So that's my week off. And I have told my assistant, I'm like, I'm going dark. Like, whatever you need from me, like let me know now, like whatever we're doing. Let's make sure we've got things in place. So, what do I need to schedule, record, whatever? And so, yeah, next week is my flex week. I am planning on taking the entire week off. I'm traveling and I know that she's gonna have it under control and that all of our systems are gonna have things under control. And I have zero stress about it.
Nicole: Oh my god, I love that. And you're like inspiring me to do that myself. My wheels are already turning about how I can make that a possibility because I like that idea.
Michelle: It's the thing that I love about it, and people — some people think like, okay, you take a total week off, and it's not even that it's a week off. Like, I'm not putting these crazy strict rules around that week, like I cannot look at my phone or I cannot look at my computer. The freedom and flexibility that I want in my own life, like my definition of success, is being able to choose what it is that I want to do. Yeah, like what feels good for me. I want to wake up and be like, oh, what do I feel like doing today? What am I inspired to dive into today? Do I just want to hang out by the pool and lay in the sun or do I want to do a new project? I'm like feeling like this bolt of inspiration and want to like, you know, whatever, like it's that ability and that spaciousness to tap back into your creative side, especially as like a CEO type, like someone who is in that role. So I don't know if that makes sense, but that's kind of how I approach that week.
Nicole: It does, and I love that you call it a flex week. And I've had clients that I've worked with who have taken a week like that, but they've actually taken it to work on their business. Like they're not necessarily taking a week off, but they're like, I take, you know, three weeks where it's client focused. So I think that's another alternative way to think about this too, is like then I take week four to sit down and like I'm recording podcasts, I'm writing up, I'm working on my book, I'm strategic planning. Like, that's another way of kind of thinking about this as well, too. And obviously, sometimes it'd be a full week, but like sometimes I do that too.
Michelle: Like, yeah, it's such a great way to just take a step back and like assess how are things going, how was that month? What do I want to plan? Like, what could have run like smoother, better, simpler, whatever, and utilize that time to just get some like perspective, yeah, you know, instead of just being in it all the time constantly with your like blinders on and not able to improve or expand or do anything or have new ideas or find creative solutions to the problems that you have or like any of those things because you're just so in the grind.
Nicole: Yeah. And a lot of like what I'm really kind of thinking about as I'm listening to you is something that the practitioners I work with have a real problem with is like all problems rolling up to them, right? So like every decision has to come through them. They're constantly putting out fires, they feel like they're really the bottleneck. How did you work through that? Like with — so you have a full-time VA, someone that you can trust when you're away on your flex week. Do you have any advice for practitioners for like how to train someone, how to think about like, you know, whether that's like a practice manager, whether that's like any kind of secondhand, like who is your person or your team that when you walk away, you're like, okay, because the business is still running while you're not there.
Michelle: Like, do you have any advice for us for how to work with that in our job? Yeah, yes, a few different angles. So I think one, you need to get really clear on what things you want to offload. Like, I always talk about delegation as my favorite form of self-care. Like it's like — I was like, oh, I love delegating. That was not the case at first. I was definitely one of those typical, I think, practitioners and business owners that was like, I need to do everything. Yeah. Like, no one, no one can do it like me. No one can do my thing. Exactly. No one can do it as good as me or whatever. And I break it down into four almost four different quadrants where you've got things that you're good at and you like to do. There's things that you're good at and you don't like to do, there's things that you're not good at, but you like to do. And then there's things that you're not good at and you don't like to do. And so if you could break down different daily tasks, and I think inherent in that, in that statement, is having the awareness of what you're actually doing during the week and during the day. So keeping track almost like for a week or two of like what are the actual things you're doing every single day, week, whatever, so that you can see it, those repetitive tasks, and then breaking those down into those four quadrants. And the first thing that you want to delegate out are the things that you don't like and you're not good at. Like for sure. And so that's where you want to bring in a VA or someone to help you or potentially automate now with AI. There's so many options with that. And I think it's incredible. And I'm happy to chat about how I've balanced AI with my VA as well, if that's something of interest. But basically delegating all of those things out to free up your time. And I think a lot of people think to bring someone on can be very scary, like a VA or someone like that, because you're like, oh, I'm taking on this responsibility of like paying this person and they're depending on me, and like I need to do 20 hours or 40 hours or whatever. And it's like you can start a VA like an hour a week. I mean, like it doesn't have to be crazy, right? It's like to like figure out how much time those — that fourth quadrant of tasks actually takes, and just hire someone for an hour, five hours a week, something like that, just to free up your time. Because if you think about it as a practitioner, your time is worth $100, $200, $300, $700 for that hour. And it's like that amount of time that you can get back is incredible.
Nicole: So you made me think of something that — there was a video of Alex Hormozi, and he was talking about an exercise that I honestly haven't done, but I feel like would be really helpful for all of us to do. You have a set of timers, so you go through your work week, and it would be super annoying. I think that's why I have resistance to it. But like you set a timer for 15 minutes, and every 15 minutes, when that timer goes off, you write down what you were doing. And it is as granular as you can get around like what am I actually doing in my week? Oh, I thought I was working for four hours, but every 15 minutes I was scrolling Instagram. Then I went and answered an email and then I scrolled for a bit, and then I like sat outside, and then I was just like on Amazon looking over, you know, like so you could see it, like, or even just like when you're actually working, like what are you literally doing? Oh, I spent, you know, two hours just talking to my assistant about something, or training my VA. So I'm like, I think that practitioners would probably really benefit, which is like having a week, it's gonna be annoying, but you'll get a lot of data points around like what are you actually spending your time doing? Yep. How much time is it really taking you to do the thing, like whether it's creating a social post, writing an email? Yeah. I'm working with a client right now who is a registered dietitian. And the first, like, so when somebody hires us for like the automations and systems, I go to the place of the most resistance. I'm like, where is — because not everybody needs the same system. Yeah, yeah. Four hours making treatment maps. So I'm like, oh, we're gonna audit that system. I'm like, I'm gonna introduce you to Claude and we're gonna build a beautiful treatment map that has all of the pieces in there that are like the boilerplate pieces for everybody, and then what parts need to be — because she's like just spending time, right, you know, like I'm like, cool, that's a place where we can start because everybody has these things that are taking hours to do that, like we could create maybe a system and automation, work with AI. I mean, that's a place where I really want to get to with you in this conversation. It's just like, you know, how — what are some of the ways that you're using AI right now to help create systems, to help automate things, help make things flow better, move faster.
Michelle: Yeah, there's so much in what you said where I feel like something that's really important real fast before we dive into AI is to the conversation around time because I think that we have such a wild perception of time as business owners, I don't know, as women sometimes just being multitaskers. Sometimes it's like we think something takes five minutes, but it actually takes several hours, or vice versa. We have this — we procrastinate on this one thing that's literally gonna take us like three minutes, but we think it's gonna take us an hour. So we just keep pushing it away all the time. And then it just like — then it just like doesn't happen. And so I think exercises like this, like getting really real with the amount of time that it takes to do different tasks, is incredibly empowering because it helps us reclaim our control over our time so that our time is ours again, instead of it being this weird, amorphous moving target of a thing that just creates so much more procrastination than is needed. And then everybody's running around being like, I don't have time, I don't have time. It's like you do have the time. Like, yeah, like everybody has the same 24 hours every day. You know what I mean? But I guess you made think, yeah.
Nicole: Sorry, just — because one thing too before we like hop over to AI is just made me think about how really helpful it can be to start thinking about too, like for practitioners who are thinking about their work week and how do I like consolidate things, like batching like similar energetic tasks together. Because I think what we do as like a practitioner and a CEO business owner is you're like constantly context switching and it's exhausting. And so my gosh, even for myself, I started thinking like, okay, how — like I there are radiant days, I think about them. Today is one — podcast interviews, sales calls. That's me shining with somebody else shining, like extroverted, like like lights on kind of energy, which I can't do every day because I'm an introvert. So like I can only really do that max two days a week. So and I don't ever want to stack them two days together. Shining days, two days a week — today for me is Tuesday, Thursday. Then there's like strategy, seeing clients, seeing patients, writing treatment plans, like thinking about not just only how you're spending your time, but how you're batching similar tasks together, because I can go straight from a podcast interview to a sales call like that, because I'm already there. Like I got the motor running, you know, and but I would have a hard time going from a podcast interview to a deep strategy call because it's actually — or to do my own work, right? To do like that kind of like introverted, no interruptions work. Like I'm — I've got to decelerate, move into a different.
Michelle: So I just wanted to comment on that too. Because I love — that's another huge proponent of that — having those time blocks or even days where you have like exactly what you're talking about, like the dedicated like working in the business or working on the business and having those delegated out.
Nicole: Is that how you do your week as well? Do you have like — do you kind of block it? Yeah, yeah, exactly. What does it generally look like? What's like the cadence of like the week kind of look like for you?
Michelle: So I have coaching calls usually once or twice a week. So those will be my outward. That'll typically be the days that I film videos for social media, similar to you, or it's like this is my like my expression or my outward, or I love how you said like your radiant — takes. It's great. And then other days where I'm just like, yes, I don't have any calls. So I'm just like sitting and like like diving in and like doing more of like the behind, like, I don't know, whether it be planning or strategizing or or finding things that we could optimize in our processes or things like that with my VA or like bouncing ideas off of her, but it's more of us being like in it as opposed to, you know, external energy. So I guess it's — I didn't put it together. I always thought about it as like working in the business versus on the business, but I love how it's like an external expression versus inward process. So, but that is how I've ended up doing mine. I'm an introvert too, so I wonder if that's a thing.
Nicole: Yeah, introverts, and I'm like, and actually I can't take full credit for that because Claude came up with Radiant Days. So shout out to Claude because I gotta train it on all my astrology and human design and every Myers Briggs, everything I can like learn about me, and just like, okay, this is what I want my week to look like. Yeah, and I'm a Leo moon, and so that's, you know, that's complex being an introvert and having a Leo moon. Like, I want — yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, but it's like I only have the capacity to do that a couple days a week. So it's just like, here's your radiant days. This is when, you know, like Leo moon, Libra rising, like I get to like, you know, let the sun come out and shine outwardly. But actually, I really — the days I enjoy the most are when I'm just working on projects undisturbed. A day for me with no calls where I just have like a fun to-do list that I want to build, you know, where I'm like working on. It is, it's like it is my self-care. It's just like, oh, I just get to like, I'm gonna set up a funnel for my test today.
Michelle: It feels so luxurious. I just like, oh, it's like taking a bath. Like, I don't know, it's so weird.
Nicole: And especially now that I'm like working with Claude, Claude for me specifically. I know everybody's got their like AI sword, no AI, which is totally, totally fine. But yeah, now I feel like I've got my strategic partner. So it's just like, baby, what are we gonna work on today?
Michelle: Yeah, we're gonna make so much stuff. Yeah, totally. I feel you on that for sure. See other Claude, yeah. So I am a Claude too. Yeah, just one more thing about time because I think it's so important, is the Parkinson's law thing, you know, like yeah, it's like the amount of time that you get something — so going back to batching, it's like you know, if you give yourself two hours to do one post, that one post is gonna take that two hours. And of course, you're gonna feel like you don't have time, you don't have time for content specifically. But if you're like I gotta get this stuff done in like 15 minutes, well, like that's like it's gonna be — anyway, that's a thing.
Nicole: That's a whole other conversation too. Because it's just like, you know, for me, I'm totally that person. Like, I am like the, you know, writing papers in college 7 a.m. before they're due. Like, you know, it just like I'm always like, oh, like just like get that, you know, it and there's a lot of business owners actually are, right, where it's just like we're, you know, you're kind of living off of adrenaline. And so like for me, it's been the balance between like that exactly what you're saying, just like how to kind of structure, like, okay, I'm not gonna give myself all day to do this. Can I get it done in 30 minutes? But also like yes, not get addicted to the adrenaline of like I can only do this if I'm procrastinating and I'm down to the wire, but that's very much like a personality thing, too. It's like anyway, I want to talk about AI because it's just so — I've had a co-interview. I know, where do we begin? So I want to know how are you — let me say it this way. What are some of the coolest ways so you feel like you're using it for your business? I feel like everybody knows, like, okay, I can have it write my social media posts, right?
Michelle: Like that kind of — the basic. That's actually like the thing I don't want to do with it, basically. Like, I don't — like I would think that is like the most unimpressive, like, like to me, just like I don't know. I'm just not into doing it that way. Oh. No, I've but I — I think it's for like most helpful, like, yeah, what are — what are — yeah? The — there's a few things. So I have, I mean, I have several agents that I've trained and built. So it's kind of like a team. I have someone for marketing, I have someone like — I have all these different agents. I have a two-way Telegram bot. So every morning, Monday through Friday, I get a report about like what's due, what needs my attention. So it's kind of like my personal assistant. It's a two-way, so I can communicate back. They send me a text and a voice note, actually. And so I can listen. Like — whoa, on Telegram's. Mm-hmm. Yep. What? So — well, you are — you blew my — blew my mind. So my agents talk to me. And I have like an overseer agent who manages all of my other agents. And so I have a command center as well. So I know exactly what's going on with my calendar, what to-do tasks — that's linked to my Monday. And my Monday.com is — that's just like a, you know, a task project — product management. Yeah, exactly. And so I don't even need to be using Monday, but since I have my VA, we use Monday together, but my command center is connected to my Monday. That's like some back-end stuff. It on top, I mean, the command center itself is pretty robust. I mean, it manages and it shows me things about financials, my MRR, my KPIs, my social media KPIs, like all sorts of things. It also does lead management. So if I get messages coming in through Instagram, I have an Instagram DM bot that completely holds conversations and does sales for me, low-ticket sales for me, which is pretty incredible. Love that. And so, yeah, there's a lot going on on the back end. What I'm most excited about right now is actually how to continue serving my practitioners in my group. And like, how can I make this process of helping you get your online practice up and running and profitable in the least amount of time possible and like make it as easy as possible? And so that's really what I've been working on. And specifically this past week, I created something that I'm calling the well. And it is — I've basically infused all of my IP into it. So it has all of my trainings that I've like ever done, which is insane. And like I uploaded coaching calls and all these things. So it has one — it's like a chatbot that my students can go into and ask questions to. And it's like me answering them, like going through, getting clarity, providing guidance. And then on top of that, there's an assessment that they take and it tells them where the bottleneck is in their online practice, and then it gives them tasks and it's broken down by a time. Like going back to time, it's like I have 15 minutes, I have 30 minutes, or I have more than an hour. It'll tell them exactly what they can do in that bucket of time, where to go into my trainings if they want to reference it, what to do. Like it's — it's so rad. And then it's like gamified so they can check off the boxes as they complete. It like changes what their priorities are. It's like — I'm really excited about it. Oh my gosh. Like, that's like the coolest thing that I've built so far. But — I — do you build this all yourself or do you — yeah, I do.
Nicole: Such a wild, awesome time to be alive, right? To be to just like iterate quickly and build. It's just like, it's like, oh, like I love you, like it's so wild. And I don't know about you, but there was something that happened around like March of this year, like February or March of this year, where it was just like AI went from being a glorified search engine to like something else. Yeah, it was like — that's when I just dove in and I was like, teach me everything, and just like really, you know, signed up for my business. I'm like, and she's like, let's max it out. It just like went crazy.
Michelle: But like — I got like two teenage stepsons that obviously love video games, and I'm just like, is this what it must feel like when you're like leveling up in mini games? Like, yes, like more credits, yeah, I'm at $200 a month too. And it's — happily spend that because I feel like my business and my skills as a CEO, as a decision maker, like have just gotten so much better since about that same time period that you're referencing, where it's just like — it's really weird. It's like — I'm weird and wonderful, but I haven't had this, and I've been in business now for like 18 years. I've been an entrepreneur. So like I can't say that there's ever been a time period where I think about my business less when I'm not working. It's kind of crazy. Like, it's always — I've said this on a couple of different podcasts. So sorry for anybody listening who's heard me say this before, but like I didn't realize how much stuff I had in my head. It was holding everything about the business, every detail, every client detail. I can remember like all of our branding clients, like what their astrology is, what their husband's name is, their kids, like I was just holding every — what platform are they on? What — like I didn't realize I was just like a computer where my memory was just was burning out because my brain was literally holding so much. So yeah, even though I take days off, I still feel like there was just this pressure. And I don't know if you know anything about human design, but I have an open head, two open head centers. And so, like I think I'm an open head also. You gotta watch out because you're holding — we literally hold questions for other people, and it becomes mental pressure. And so, like, if you're somebody who works, you know, and I don't know, anybody listening, you can find that out about yourself too. If you work with people who have — they literally ask you questions for a living. If you're a coach, if you're a practitioner, right? Like we can hold that pressure. So you're holding everything for your business as well as your own life, and then you're holding stuff for clients as well, not just hold it emotionally. Like we can literally hold their questions as pressure in our head. And working with AI in this way, the biggest shift for me has been to just dump a lot of that out of my head. So when I'm done working, I'm like, oh my God, I can think about whatever right now.
Michelle: Yeah, it's like my processor isn't like, oh my god, I gotta remember they're already a designer and they have six all the like — yes, yes, of like that were draining you that you didn't even realize were draining you. Like I've like jokingly, half jokingly tell my partner, I'm like, I've never felt so supported in my business. I feel so supported, like in that, and that like allows me to show up in a different way. And I think it's incredible. And I — it's like I want — I want more practitioners to experience that, you know. Yeah, yeah. But I think there's a lot of fear too. You know, a lot of people are scared of it and like or have their own reservations for, you know, one reason or another. But it's just — there's so much potential, and I really feel like it can unlock another level of care and presence and transformation for practitioners and for the people that they serve.
Nicole: Yeah. I got a question. What do you think? This is more on the practitioner side. Like, what do you think about, you know, I think there's a lot of practitioners who are kind of worried about like AI taking over their role as practitioner, right? Like the way that people can just come in and just like, you know, drop their lab tests into ChatGPT and say, tell me what I've got, you know. Like, how are you seeing these — how are you having these conversations with your clients around like the role of AI in, you know, health with practitioners. Yeah.
Michelle: I love this question. I think I actually made a reel about this, but basically how I see it is if anybody has actually put their labs into AI or asked a health question, there's like a bunch of different responses. It has its own opinions, it is very subjective, it is not an objective view. It doesn't know your history. It's in — it's in more cases than not, it's more confusing, right? That like it points you in all these different directions, and then you're like, I don't know. Like, I don't — do you remember back in the day with Dr. Google and like WebMD, and like every time you looked up one symptom, I was like, you have cancer. Yeah, like you probably have cancer, your brain tumor or cancer is like probably — probably we're gonna be dead in three days. That's like so insane. But I think, like, in all in all seriousness, when it comes to practitioners, the thing that cannot be replaced is your own ability to discern and bring your unique gift and perspective and lived experience to that person and see them as a whole human being that will never be able to be replaced in any way, shape, or form. Because so many practitioners, we're not just pulling from one modality and following this like template, right? Because that's all that AI is going to be working with, is a very strict like template, whatever it is, even if you uploaded all the templates in the world, it's still working with a template, which removes that ability to personalize and customize in a way that is truly unique to that human being with your essence, like as the practitioner. And that piece is — it's irreplaceable. Does that make sense?
Nicole: Yeah, no, it totally does. And that's kind of how I think about it as well, too. I think that like one thing that — my recently had a copywriter come on and we were talking about like AI and some messaging that's a bit obsolete for practitioners right now, like kind of just saying, like, you know, like I'll figure out everything for you, I'll connect the dots or something like that. Because like in some ways, AI can connect, help start helping you connect the dots. And so I think it's like a wide open space for practitioners to start kind of like rediscovering the relationship with like, what is it that I do that's unique that rather than like pretending like our, you know, patients are coming to us not having already chatted it out with ChatGPT or Claude, like just kind of making that part of the conversation, like okay, I know at 3 a.m. you were probably talking to ChatGPT about your labs. So here's how I can help you make sense of that information, right?
Michelle: Because like or maybe AI came back with like, okay, great, I see all of this. Here's 20 things you need to do. And they're just like, Do I really need to do all this? Do I need to do all this? Which one should I do first? And so as the practitioner, you get to come in and be like, this is the one thing that's gonna move the needle the furthest, the fastest. Yeah. And this is why. Yeah. Right. As opposed to like it — I think it just really helps to consolidate and create more connection, confidence, and like certainty for the person, instead of it being like, yeah, feeling confused or overwhelmed or just uncertain, because like, does this thing actually know? Because I don't know how many — you we've been working with AI a lot. How many times have you challenged it? And it's like — all the time. Oh, you're right. Oh, I just — and I'm just like, okay. All the time, yeah. Like I — like you just pushed back like a little, and it's like, oh, you're right.
Nicole: And that's one of the places, like, to your point, like I, you know, I think that the counter-argument to what we see a lot of, which is like AI is dumbing us down and it's making us not think for ourselves. Like, I actually think that that — at least working with Claude, maybe not ChatGPT so much, where it in its state that it was at when I stopped using it and moved over to Claude. Like, I feel like it helps my critical thinking get better. Because I'm challenging Claude. I agree. I'm going to agree. Yeah, I'm running that through my mainframe. I'm thinking about it, and I'm going, hmm, you know what? I'm gonna push back on that because I don't think that that's right for our avatar. I don't think this messaging is right. What do you think? Right. And so, oh yeah, you know what? I think you're right. But it's like it's allowed me to, you know, get rid of a lot of the junk and the, you know, processing energy that was happening, and actually feel like — I feel like I know my avatar more clearly than I ever have. I feel like I know my own messaging more clearly. I know my direction, and then throwing in some of the personality type stuff, like I'm making decisions better than I ever have. Because there are certain things now where, you know, you like — we're we've been in this space for a while. Like, I still get influenced by maybe we should be doing it this way. Maybe we should be — I think we should be on Substack. Maybe we should be this, maybe we should be starting. Should I be on LinkedIn? Like, you know, like I'm still — I still question platforms and ways of selling, you know, should we — because we're a platform, should we pivot more towards a SaaS model, more low-ticket DIY? Okay, well, does that work for — like to be able to run that through and say, does this actually work for my design? Will I find it satisfying to do this? Yeah, and to get a kind of clear answer that I can run through my own gut feeling, my own intuition, and say, Yeah, you know what? You know what I'm not gonna love is doing a webinar every week. That's why. Yeah, I'm gonna hate it. You know what else I'm gonna hate? Like a really big launch. Just like, nope. I and so like I think one of the ways that we can use AI is to just understand ourselves better and just be like a mirror for our own kind of intuitive — like you, you know yourself, but it's actually really — I find it very therapeutic to have that mirrored back to me.
Michelle: Totally. I've experienced too where I feel more competent to ask for what I want or like stay, like there's some type of like communication enhancement that's been happening in my life just from this interaction. And I — that sounds kind of weird as I say it out loud, but it's like I maybe in the past where, you know, maybe in a human-to-human interaction, I wouldn't say that something didn't sit right or it doesn't feel right, or it's not aligned, or I disagree, or something like that. Whereas maybe I would have backed off a little bit in real life. I move, I lean in when it comes to the conversations that I have with AI, and I think that's translated to actual like to my real human interactions too, if that makes sense.
Nicole: Yes, I was just having this conversation yesterday because I think one thing that's been really empowering for myself is like as a Libra Rising, like I am a people pleaser, and so like I haven't been able, I think, thus far to be a really great boss. And I don't often get what I want because I'm not — I have a hard time asking for the amount of revisions that I would need for it to get to a place where it's like, yeah, this is right, you know. And so what I really loved is like having a relationship with AI where I don't have to — not that I'm being rude or mean. I mean like with my Claude, I'm always like, thank you, you're the best, like you're so smart, you know. I'm always like really complimentary. Smart. I just like you're doing a really great job, you know. So I'm like, I'm always really like positive, but I feel like I can be more direct in a way that I've not — and you know, I think there are — this is probably a personal goal would be to get better at that with human-to-human relationships, but like to be able to practice that and be more assertive and be more direct and not have to sugarcoat and just say, I don't like it, let's do it again. Yeah, it's — I'm getting more of what I like, I'm getting what I want, and I'm getting it closer. And that there's something really like cool and empowering in that, and just being like — Claude doesn't get offended.
Michelle: Yeah, like I get — and then you have this positive feedback of like, oh, I can say what I need to say. Like, yeah, okay, like it is safe to communicate in this way.
Nicole: And that is translating, but it's so true. I'm seeing that translate out into the wider world too. Just so I feel what you're saying, and like even within my personal relationships, like getting clearer on who I am. So it's not just been business, it's been personal and relationship-wise, like, oh yeah, you know, I'm getting more understanding of just like, ah, this is how I'm showing up over here, you know, or this is why I always seem to get in this particular kind of money block, or I'm getting this relationship with clients in this way. You know, we all have our little things like that we're doing work on, and that has been really empowering as well to just kind of like — voice notes are everything, you know, for me to just be able to like walk and talk and just be like, hmm, I'm gonna process. And in doing that, you know, I think — I guess is another part of it I've not really spoken about, but you, you know, you have a partner as well, and you're a business owner. I think we can — I've gotten in the habit over the years of really processing on my partner about work constantly in a way that's just like, ooh, can I just like shut up a little bit? But I gotta process — it's like it's got — you gotta go somewhere, like, you know, and so I need to like talk through the day, or even talk through like decisions that are getting made, or we sure do a lot every day, we think a lot every day, we decide — it's every day as business owners, and then as practitioners, and you've got another layer because you're in care with patients like all day, and you maybe you have a team, and so there's just like — like we're talking about the processing power going on in your brain. There's also like it needs to get released somehow, too. And I think like I've definitely been guilty in my relationship of using kind of together time to talk about work, probably a lot more than if I just had like a nine to five job. Like, I might come home and be like, I don't like my boss. It's like as a business owner, it could be three hours of just like I gotta talk through this decision and should I — should I do it this way? And what about that? You know, there's like — you know, it's so — and then now Claude's like, give it to me. Yeah, I'll take it. Talk to me for five minutes, and then I'm like, cool. So then I'm able to like go and be with my partner in a way that like I'm more — yeah, cleared out for the day. Yeah, like I've — Claude uses the term with me of like bridging my own — like I've bridged back to myself. Like I've crossed the bridge myself from like work me, work Nicole to like beloved time, and even just time with myself. Like there's something about — because I've never — I'm not a journaler. Yeah, me neither. Oh man, it's my — I always try. I always try morning pages. Yeah, I just can't. Morning pages, and like all over the years, I've tried. I've like, oh now I'm gonna — now I'm gonna do it on an iPad with a little pencil thing. So I can — that's like it's not the same work for me. It's a habit that never ever ever sticks. But what does it — like cool? It's the end of the day. I'm gonna spend five minutes just voice noting Claude into my project that's all about this CEO brain. Just like yeah, cool. This was, you know, whatever, whatever needs to get processed. And so that's, you know, like I know there's a lot of — we talked about a lot of cool ways that you're using it from a systems perspective, but I think we really got into a lot of the emotional stuff that you can use it for as well, right? The process — there's so much that you need to — serve myself. Totally, it's so cool. I feel like — I know we're running up on time. I feel like I could just keep having this conversation for hours. I really do feel like we just scratched the surface. We might need to do a part two. I know — absolutely. So I want you to tell people where they can find you and also like how can people work with you? I know you got like your Wellthy membership kind of thing. So, like, yeah. Talk us through where we can find you and work with you.
Michelle: Yeah, I'm at wellthywoman.co, w-e-l-l-t-h-y-w-o-m-a-n dot co — Instagram and website and all the things. You can email me at hello at wellthywoman.co. And we've got the Wealth Collective, which is my membership. It's incredible. It's — I show up, I do live coaching, you get access to all kinds of guest speakers and trainings, and our community is phenomenal. We're actually running a challenge next month. We do a quarterly 10-day challenge, but yeah, there's tons of stuff. It's awesome. So that's where my time and energy and focus is.
Nicole: Amazing. And any places where you would recommend that practitioners get started, like any like guides or masterclass or —
Michelle: Oh yes, I do have — I have a very robust PDF called the Online Practice Bible that I created. It's 108 pages. I can send you the link for that if you don't — but I also have — I read the whole thing. So if you guys aren't down to like sit and read a PDF, I totally get it. I made a Telegram channel broadcast so you guys can just listen to me reading it so you can walk and hang out and multitask and all that stuff while you're absorbing all of the information too. So that's probably the best guided — it's very, very, very comprehensive. So you get a really good taste around like what I teach and my philosophy and all that good stuff.
Nicole: Yeah, we'll put the links down in the show notes. And the other thing I saw that I thought was pretty cool that I wanted to shout out is in your collective, it looks like your practitioners get access to some AI tools that you bring in too. It was like nine different AI tools.
Michelle: I'm just like, yeah, I've — I'm releasing one AI tool a month. I've got about 13 that I've built. I think that we've released — I'd have to check. We've probably released around six at this point. But yeah, they're incredible. So I have one that's really great called the Niche Clarity Engine, which helps you really dial in who it is that you serve, how you serve them. It even gives some messaging tips. We've got the Offer Architect, the Online Offer Architect, which I know can be a big block for a lot of people. Just like, how do I package my expertise into something that someone will buy? And so really breaks that down. I've got a client PDF generator, so an informational that you can just pop in your idea. It'll generate a beautiful PDF for you. There's a bunch in there. And again, the real goal is to help you do things quicker, faster, easier so that you have more time to actually live your life. So yeah, that's amazing.
Nicole: Well, you've inspired me in more ways than one in this conversation. There's a couple things I'm like already gonna take action on. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing. Thank you. Your brilliance. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thank you, everybody. I'll see you next week. Bye. Okay, that's it for this episode. If you're sitting there realizing that patients are coming in just fine, but things are slipping through the cracks behind the scenes — the follow-up, the systems, the back end that's all held together by you and some sticky notes and a prayer — I've got a few free resources that'll help you see exactly where those gaps are. They're all linked in the show notes, so just go grab whatever fits you where you're at right now. Also, come follow me on Instagram too and hang out over there. I share a lot of good resources at Nicole.leadbetterHQ. And if you're past the figure it out myself stage and you just want a team to run the operational side of your practice for you, yay! That's exactly what we do at LeadBetter HQ. We run the operations and intelligence layer behind the practice so that patients you already have don't fall through the cracks, right? We like to make sure that we're working with what's actually coming in. So if that's a thing that you've been looking for, book a call with us. I'd love to chat with you. The link's in the show notes, and thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I'll see you in the next one. Bye now.