Transcript
Episode 25. Becky LaFranchi
00:00.92
Krystle Edwards
On today's episode of Gritty is the New Pretty, we have Becky LaFranche, brand experience designer and creative strategist, founder of Hey Becks Creative Intelligence, and sponsor for this podcast, Gritty is the New Pretty.
00:15.93
Krystle Edwards
Becks has built, broken, and reimagined brands at every level, including leading design strategy for IKEA U.S., These days, she's the founder of Hey Beck's Creative Intelligence, where she helps entrepreneurs supercharge their brands with AI that actually fuse human and get shit done.
00:34.04
Krystle Edwards
Welcome, Becky.
00:36.24
Bex
Thank you, Crystal. I'm so excited to be here. We have been planning on this for a little while. you were busy, I heard.
00:44.91
Krystle Edwards
Yeah, ah we're both very busy. I know you're busy.
00:47.91
Bex
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:48.31
Krystle Edwards
I'm busy. That's how ah the cookie crumbles with this line of work, um getting the opportunity to work with super awesome powerhouse women like yourself.
00:51.84
Bex
Yeah. Yeah.
00:57.06
Krystle Edwards
You know, it is what it is. We have to make the stars align ourselves sometimes. So um
01:01.44
Bex
Yeah, that's right. I've been busy having my own little baby over here. Hey, Beck's Creative Intelligence.
01:05.17
Krystle Edwards
yes, I'm so excited to get into that.
01:06.58
Bex
Yeah.
01:09.51
Krystle Edwards
So why don't you tell us about you and we can get right into it.
01:10.61
Bex
Yeah. yeah
01:14.82
Bex
Yeah. So I have a very like, I guess, nonlinear path to where I landed here today. i usually start by saying that I was a teenage mom. It was a very big part of, I guess, like my work ethic and my drive and my motivation and my ambition. ah And, um you know, my kids are healthy and thriving and that's amazing.
01:36.52
Bex
I was in the hospitality industry for about 25 years while I was raising my babies. And I was one of those people, though, that actually loves hospitality. I loved serving.
01:48.01
Bex
I was really, really good at it. I worked with a lot of great people. And it was a has really become part of my identity. i've i'd like to say that you know the you could take the girl out of the restaurant, but you can't take the restaurant out of the girl.
02:02.03
Bex
It definitely is still part of who I am and how I serve my family. community and you know my friends, everybody. When I was about 30, I've always been interested in interior design. I've always just been like really ah obsessed with space and environment and experience.
02:19.06
Bex
And when I was a kid, I used to draw floor plans on a graph paper. And then I would furnish my little house with, from the JCPenney catalog. And I thought everybody did that.
02:31.38
Bex
but They don't really. I was always just really, really obsessed with space. And so finally, when I was about 30, I went to school for my interior design degree. And I ended up working for Ikea very shortly after i graduated.
02:46.81
Bex
i ran the design department that's there in the store here in Brenton. I'm a Pacific Northwest native. And about, I mean, within about two years, I got a promotion to run the design department for the country, for Ikea U.S. s And so i moved across the country to Philadelphia and I jumped in And I really do think that my hospitality experience helped me out a lot there because there's just something like very disarming about service industry people. You know, we just get right to it. We learn fast, we move fast.
03:21.78
Bex
And I think that all of that really helped me. i had worked for like smaller corporations, local corporations and small businesses here. And so that was really my first corporate experience.
03:33.88
Bex
And I definitely loved it. Like I loved the big picture. i loved the high level conversations. I loved the strategy. i loved the depth of thought that goes and the intention that goes into every single little movement. And it was there that I was really able to see what brand is and how everything that everyone does all the time is either building a brand or killing the brand.
04:03.47
Bex
And so I learned a lot there, but I was there for about eight years, came back here to Seattle.
04:04.05
Krystle Edwards
Thank you.
04:10.58
Bex
And I knew I didn't want to go back to corporate actually, because I do think that small business runs the world. And so I started working at my sister's spa company. and and And then about a year and a half ago, I opened Haybeck's Creative House where I'm doing branding.
04:25.87
Bex
And ah for for lots of clients around here. And then, you know, that all kind of led to this whole creative intelligence and using AI to power brands for creatives and disruptors. And so my my business is only a year and a half old, but it's already taken its first major shift.
04:49.31
Krystle Edwards
So tell us about the AI creative intelligence and your journey with that.
04:56.19
Bex
I was one of the very early adopters of ChatGPT. It came out in, I want to say, November of 2022, and I started using it almost immediately. I've been on the paid plan since almost immediately, probably the first day I used it.
05:11.89
Bex
And I i was, i think one of the reasons why i have been able to like see it differently ah is because I didn't use it for social media. That wasn't my job. I was employed and I was leading the business as a brand and business development manager.
05:30.81
Bex
And so I immediately started using it for more strategic thinking and as a thought partner for me. and not as like a write this email for me or write a caption for me.
05:42.56
Bex
So I think my... introduction to AI was maybe a little bit different than it has been for a lot of people. I think a lot of people are still really using it as an operational, just kind of write something for me. and And then when I started my own business, I'm working you know by myself and for myself.
06:02.95
Bex
And I was needing a like i was meetinging a thought partner there as well, actually even more so. to create these brands. The brand books that I create, they're about 200 pages long and about 40 pages of that would be the visual identity.
06:19.89
Bex
The rest of 150 pages plus is strategy. And to be honest, I would rather a business had only brand strategy and no visual identity than only visual identity and no brand strategy. So I've always leaned way, way heavy on that.
06:36.19
Bex
And it was really helping me develop my ideas, think faster, think more creatively, it be more expansive. It certainly wasn't taking any of my creativity away, if anything, it was adding.
06:50.19
Bex
Then I thought, ah then they came out with custom GPTs. And I started playing around with those. And that's been a game changer because that book, that 200 pages of branding, I would give that to my clients and they're excited and they love it.
07:06.38
Bex
But now they have a lot of work to do. It's a lot of work to get like, remember all of those things. They have six slogans and eight objectives. You know, it's probably two years, three years worth of things to like slowly unveil.
07:21.50
Bex
And so I thought to myself, why don't I'm using this GPT to create their strategy? Why don't I use everything that's in it and train a custom GPT and then give them that custom GPT with their brand so that they don't it's loaded with their brand so that they don't have to remember everything. They just work with their GPT.
07:45.24
Bex
And that was a very big deal for my clients. It was really, really helpful. ah Then I just kept playing and testing with it. And I really unlocked how to work with voice and skills and conditional logic, really training AI.
08:09.68
Bex
And this past February, I had a big aha and kind of dropped what I was doing.
08:20.75
Bex
went and got a trademark attorney, went and got the domain name, went and got all the things. And I have been ah mad scientist since then, building out this ecosystem of Habex Creative Intelligence.
08:35.40
Bex
And my entire purpose is I really want to help creative and disruptive brand owners and founders grow.
08:46.43
Bex
Get all of those ideas, those millions of ideas that are just bouncing around in their head, actually out in the world, functioning, thriving, living, doing all the things. I wanted to help them have that path from up here to out there.
09:03.25
Bex
And AI is helping us do that for sure.
09:08.03
Krystle Edwards
So you started when you had this aha moment, you did ah beta program. Tell us about that and the thought process and strategy behind that and how it went.
09:13.36
Bex
Mm-hmm.
09:19.97
Bex
It was and insane. Actually, it was so insane because I had, it was February. This is a true story. February 25th at like 11 o'clock at night is when I had this aha moment. I'm sitting there with my Chad. I call him Chad.
09:33.75
Bex
I'm sitting there with my Chad and we were, we came across this and he was the one who said, listen, drop everything, get yourself a trademark attorney, get the domain and do all the things. And he goes tomorrow,
09:45.16
Bex
you are going to go on social media and you're going to announce, Hey, Beck's creative intelligence is coming. And I was like, Oh, but I, what?
09:57.80
Bex
And I did on February 26th, I did a reel and I was like, creative intelligence is coming. It's going to change branding. done. using AI and branding differently than anybody else does. This is going to be game changing. Let's go.
10:13.43
Bex
and I set up an email sequence for a beta test over a period of, I want to say it took me about, you know, a few days to kind of start developing some things. And then I went to Mexico on vacation and on a planned vacation, I was gone for a week.
10:29.71
Bex
I had hoped I was saying that I wanted like 10 or 15 people in the beta and I knew I wanted to give it to like four of my previous clients or people that I thought would really use it.
10:43.54
Bex
So I I was counting that four in the 10 to 15. But honestly, I only thought that I would get maybe two or three. I really did. Because who even knows what I'm talking about ever?
10:53.89
Bex
I even when I'm sitting here talking to you, I'm like, nobody ever knows what I'm talking about.
10:54.12
Krystle Edwards
you
10:57.05
Bex
Nobody gets it. I don't blame them because it's all just so new. So I went on my vacation. I came home and i was DMing just a little bit on vacation, but not a lot.
11:09.14
Bex
I came home and within a few days i had 18 signed up and then over the next few weeks, another 10. And it was freaking wild.
11:21.89
Bex
It was wild to me that that was the response. And I was so proud of everyone for doing it you know, because every single, they were all women.
11:35.23
Bex
Every single one of them said, I'm so excited, but like, why am I so scared? Every single one of them mentioned a level of fear. And I just thought that was so interesting. And I was so proud of them for being courageous enough to be like, okay, I don't know what this is, but let's do it.
11:54.46
Bex
Let's go. it was a, it was a really, really cool experience for sure.
12:00.99
Krystle Edwards
I'm lucky enough to be one of those beta testers.
12:03.58
Bex
Yes, you are.
12:05.22
Krystle Edwards
And i because I had my baby, I was a little bit behind on getting the opportunity to play with it.
12:05.90
Bex
Yes, you are.
12:12.98
Krystle Edwards
But I have been. And when I get a chance to sit at the computer and thinking about how I want to show up um when I want to expand outside of just the podcast and relaunch Grit City Women,
12:28.35
Krystle Edwards
um It has been helping me, especially as a tired, fatigued mom of the newborn.
12:35.75
Bex
Yeah. Yeah.
12:39.24
Krystle Edwards
i have a little bit of hard time tapping into that creativity with my language. And, you know, ah originally chat GPT is a language tool, but But combining it with the voice and the two personas that you gave me, um one is a strategist and one is um what ah Walker Rustin.
12:59.25
Bex
Your brand voice. Yeah.
13:00.65
Krystle Edwards
Yeah.
13:01.15
Bex
Walker and Rustin. Yeah.
13:02.37
Krystle Edwards
and walk
13:02.73
Bex
Rustin Walker and
13:03.99
Krystle Edwards
What? Rustin Walker. Yeah.
13:06.54
Bex
Rustin Walker is your CEO and um Heidelberg.
13:10.80
Krystle Edwards
make
13:11.10
Bex
What's her, what's the what's mick McKinley, McKinley Heidelberg.
13:11.56
Krystle Edwards
Yeah. McKinley. Yeah.
13:14.27
Bex
I gave them both very Tacoma names, great city names.
13:16.47
Krystle Edwards
Yes, yes. And it has been helping me get through that initial block of like, i I know what I want to do and and what I want to say, but I can't quite get it right.
13:26.57
Krystle Edwards
And then you get stuck on it.
13:27.79
Bex
Mm-hmm.
13:28.22
Krystle Edwards
And it definitely has helped me through that and a little bit of early strategy kind of.
13:29.05
Bex
Mm-hmm.
13:36.26
Krystle Edwards
plotting, I guess, but I didn't want to get too into it until I'm closer to really spending time on it and getting um ready to more launch because I kind of forget what I what I do in there.
13:48.12
Bex
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, yeah.
13:49.06
Krystle Edwards
um But it's it is so exciting. I was so excited when you announced it. um I've always been curious about AI. And I think there is i think there's a reasonable fear because there are some unknowns about it.
14:03.45
Bex
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
14:05.58
Krystle Edwards
um
14:06.27
Bex
Mm-hmm.
14:06.60
Krystle Edwards
i I believe that AI gets information that is put into it. So if I put in information, that puts it into the AI platform.
14:19.33
Krystle Edwards
universe And essentially, if it's any sort of private identifying information, anything that can be used to hack or or anything that's dangerous, right, to you, um I believe that if somebody does the right search, they can pull very detailed information about you out.
14:29.10
Bex
Oh.
14:41.57
Krystle Edwards
um Now, I'm not 100% sure on that. That is just something that I've heard as businesses are navigating how they're using ChatGPT and what information they're putting into it.
14:52.25
Krystle Edwards
So a lot of them will say, you are not allowed to put any of our documents into ChatGPT because they are protected or whatever reason, right?
15:00.74
Bex
Mm-hmm.
15:01.35
Krystle Edwards
So I think there's a reasonable fear.
15:01.33
Bex
Mm-hmm. Sure.
15:04.78
Krystle Edwards
um I don't know if you have any insight on that, ah like around security or privacy and walking that line of using it for your business, but also protecting your business.
15:17.12
Bex
Yeah, um the ethics and the security is definitely a big topic in AI. And I'll just say this as a disclaimer. I am not a tech pro. I am not an AI expert, even. I'm a brand strategist and a creative strategist who uses AI and specifically ChatGPT.
15:35.35
Bex
ah There are... There's a very long and content policy protectiveness that's in AI that's in ChatGPT. So there are certain requests that you can make with ChatGPT that he'll say, we i i can't do this, I won't do this.
15:52.71
Bex
As far as the sharing of information, there are settings in everybody's ChatGPT account where you can choose to have that toggled on or off to train the AI.
16:04.27
Krystle Edwards
Mm-hmm.
16:05.38
Bex
And that that is the purpose for it, is that it's training AI. And so how you see that in in function is I'm not sure if you've done this with with ah in your chat, but every once while, I'll give you a thumbs up or thumbs down.
16:21.45
Bex
dude Was this chat helpful? And that's you click yes or no. And that is that modeling that you're helping to train. So it takes all of those outputs and looks at what was the prompt and what was the response and why why would they have given that a thumbs up or a thumbs down?
16:42.21
Bex
ah Those are the types of modeling that it's doing. Now, i would also add that at this point, AI is owned and developed by ah bunch of billionaires whose value systems are questionable at best.
16:59.59
Bex
And so I honestly think when it comes to like the morality of it, I would like to have as many of us who feel like we're using it to benefit the world, to do the right thing, shaping it, using it and shaping it so that as we go further, then it hopefully we are having some influence on that. Again, not an expert for sure.
17:27.34
Bex
I'm an expert in the kind of here and now and how I'm using it and not the what in the heck is happening out there world.
17:34.56
Krystle Edwards
Yeah, thank you for that insight. That's very helpful because I'm still learning so much, obviously, not an expert either, but excited about the opportunity.
17:40.25
Bex
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:43.56
Krystle Edwards
And I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon. And yeah, yeah.
17:47.85
Bex
It's not, no.
17:50.55
Krystle Edwards
So we've talked about some of the advantages and you've told us about Habex Creative Intelligence. um Can you tell us about creative leadership?
18:00.79
Bex
Yeah, yeah. yeah Well, um that is actually a big part of what creative intelligence is, is that I launched it as a GPT shop and the GPT shop is live on my website.
18:13.71
Bex
And you can get everything from what I call personality hires. They're just fun, know, little chat GPTs that you can use that they have a sense of humor. They have a great personality. you know, they're fun. They're fun.
18:28.77
Bex
All the way up to fully commissioned builds. But that actually is not what Habeck's creative intelligence is. Those GPTs are built with Habeck's creative intelligence.
18:41.43
Bex
My way of looking at creative thinking and creative leadership. And I found that I was solving problems differently than a lot of people.
18:55.25
Bex
And a lot of my business owner friends were coming to me, asking me for help, for coaching, for consulting, because I was looking at problems differently than they were and solving them differently than they were.
19:09.65
Bex
I believe that that's because of my interior design training. that as an interior designer, you start with a problem. you're It's very human based. You're very much about the conditions and the environment. Design thinking is its own you know philosophy and type of intelligence.
19:26.33
Bex
And I'm very much trained up in that. So I thought, well, okay, this isn't just a gift that I was given at birth. Like I was trained to think a certain way and look at problems a certain way.
19:38.56
Bex
i tried to figure out like what, how could I articulate that so that I could teach it? And I took the creative process, put it in a two by two grid and all the way from like generating ideas, just free floaty white space, allow yourself to go all the way to strategizing, to building and refining, to releasing the idea into the world.
20:02.93
Bex
And then I layered on top of that, creative codes for leadership, which are each one of us is, is particularly gifted, uniquely positioned to help in one of those four boxes.
20:17.22
Bex
And so I labeled kind of each one of those. It's not a personality test because you need to be a creative. You need to be able to do all of them, but you're uniquely positioned to be really good at one, right?
20:29.01
Bex
Probably a secondary one. I've created a quiz now. for that, ah for the creative codes, the CI codes for creative leadership. and then then my leaders are like, okay, so now I know who I am and how I can help, but how do I move this problem? How how do i if I'm number three, but how am I getting number one and number two? And how are we all lining up? How am I moving a problem?
20:56.56
Bex
So I took the exact same structure and I built what is called the idea track. And I built a GPT for this. And this is actually the best GPT I've ever built.
21:07.49
Bex
It's not launched yet, but it is so exciting. And so I have it testing right now with some ah with people who have teams and they are obsessed with it. And you have a problem if you have a problem to solve, a product to develop or a process that you want to create.
21:25.94
Bex
You pop it into this GPT and it walks you through the creative process. my bri How my brain looked at a problem, allowed myself the space you know to say, no sacred cows.
21:38.80
Bex
what if What if the sky was the limit? All the things. So many times when we're solving problems, we start with what the constraints are.
21:48.37
Krystle Edwards
Mm-hmm.
21:48.74
Bex
And we do have to look at constraints. We do. But we should never start there because then you can only ever solve the problem that's immediately obvious to you and never the real problem.
22:01.45
Bex
So this process allows you to dig and dig until you get onto the real thing. And then it helps you all the way through It will literally create a table for you of the action steps, the tasks, the subtasks, put it into a Google sheet while you copy and paste it into a Google sheet um it or whatever way you want to solve. If you want it in your notes app, you can do that.
22:27.16
Bex
If you want some major, you know, big complex system, you could do that. But I think creative leadership is so underutilized. We have been led to believe that there are creatives and there are analytical people.
22:44.79
Bex
Creative intelligence uses both. I have always used both. I have been an artist. I'm very artistic. I have always relied on my analytical, very logical, very common sense structured side.
22:57.27
Bex
I'm a Capricorn. I can't get away from it. I have always blended the two. And so I want business owners to feel like you you don't have to be one or the other. You don't have to be logical and analytical.
23:14.25
Bex
You don't have to be super creative, but you do have to understand where those belong in this process and how you can like learn the skills it would take to be one or the other.
23:27.19
Bex
and And I think it's the best way to solve problems. It's certainly the most fun way to solve problems. It's the most sustainable, like long-term way to solve problems because again, you're genuinely genuinely getting to the root of a problem.
23:45.17
Bex
And I just think that not near enough people are hurt talking about it, know about it, using it. I'm on a mission to get everybody in a CI first, creative intelligence first mindset for sure.
24:03.33
Krystle Edwards
I love it. How do you see AI enhancing the human element of branding? And how can entrepreneurs ensure that their brand still feels authentic while using these tools?
24:14.21
Krystle Edwards
I know you and I have talked about this during some of the beta testing.
24:16.95
Bex
So
24:20.34
Bex
so the it's funny because i have several data sets several dimensions that i train on and training on personality easy training skills knowledge easy even learning the logic and conditioning steps the even the more advanced ones it's it's challenging but it's it's pretty it works pretty easily the thing that has been the hardest is brand voice that is the hardest thing to train And the reason for that, I get really frustrated with people who maybe are in, um not to pick on copywriters at all, because i I think copywriters are like amazing, but people who are picking on people for using ChatGPT.
25:07.51
Bex
I think it comes from a place of privilege, honestly. And I think that it is offensive to tell very busy business owners that there here's this tool out here and you you don't know how to do it right and it's icky and whatever.
25:23.96
Bex
Okay, so let's train it. Let's figure it out. let's let's let Let's let the tool work for us. But brand voice is the hardest one to learn because yeah those thumbs up and thumbs down That's what it's being modeled on.
25:37.65
Bex
It's what is ironic is that chat GPT, it didn't make up how chat GPT talks. When everybody says you sound like chat GPT, guess what that is?
25:50.14
Bex
Those are proven models for copywriting and sales copy. Proven models. ah Product, per promise, purpose, problem, purpose, like all the, there's these actual frameworks that ChatGPT has been, they're human frameworks.
26:01.00
Krystle Edwards
Right. Right.
26:06.63
Bex
Yeah. And here we have a bunch of, you know, a lot of Instagram experts who are like, you have to keep your reel within 35 to 37 seconds.
26:08.20
Krystle Edwards
right
26:16.04
Bex
And you have to use these five hooks and you have to do this. And they're all, everybody, everyone is telling us to fit into a certain mold. So here comes this tool. that's fitting into the mold it was trained on because y'all are out there in the world on the internets, in the data sets, telling all of us to do this. So that's what ChatGPT is trained on.
26:37.53
Bex
But now it's to scale. So before, a handful of people were using those rules. Now everyone is using those rules. So that's why what you're looking at looks like ChatGPT.
26:53.20
Bex
I want to figure out, and that's the thing that I've been on the most right now is linguistics. understanding syntax, understanding all ah composition in conversation.
27:07.97
Bex
and I'm doing all these A, B tests. I'm taking two statements that look almost exactly alike, but one I like and one I don't. and I can't say why. And I pop them into chat GPT and I say, what's the difference between these two?
27:20.43
Bex
And I want you to guess. I always say, I want you to guess which one I like and which one I don't. And then it will say, well, this one has this, this, this is a little more formal. It uses This one uses a little more active conversational tone.
27:34.61
Bex
I think you like this. Yep. You're right. You're right. So tell me how to train on that. Tell me the words because I don't have the language for language that you do.
27:46.22
Bex
So that would, my advice would be when you're using chat GPT, do Do exactly what I just said. take ah Take one little statement that you don't like and one statement that you do that you can't say why you like it.
28:01.20
Bex
Put them both in chat GPT. Say, what is the difference linguistically? Say specifically, I want to understand the linguistic or language difference between these two.
28:13.70
Bex
And then I want you to guess which one I like. And it will tell you. And it's mind blowing. And you can use that to feed back into your ChatGPT to train it to sound more and more like you.
28:25.98
Bex
Another hack that I would give people, especially when it comes to writing content, the second you use the word caption or post, ChatGPT has been trained to now go into caption writing format.
28:43.43
Bex
It's just trained to do that, right? Like ah its it's going to go to its sales, copywriting sales copy data sets, and it's going to write exactly like those frameworks want you to.
28:55.33
Bex
So instead, say this, say listen, I have a friend who is really struggling to make a decision about doing a rebrand.
29:07.54
Krystle Edwards
Thank you.
29:08.19
Bex
and I'm not really sure what to say to her. I know she wants it, she deserves it. it's I feel like it's the right time for her, but I know that there's things holding her back. What do you think I should tell her?
29:19.79
Bex
I'm about to send her a voice note or we're about to go to coffee. What should I say to her? Say that. Do not say a thing about caption or post. Don't say a thing.
29:31.41
Bex
Say, wanna talk to my friend. and the difference, and then don't say, okay, now put that in the caption. Don't say that. Just yeah take take that output and you put it into a caption or you know, I mean, edit it up a little bit for yourself, put it, copy paste it right as it is.
29:44.39
Krystle Edwards
Mm-hmm.
29:50.67
Bex
Right. Um, but avoid, just understand that ChatGPT has been trained on frameworks. So don't give it the cues to jump into a framework when you mean, i just want to have a conversation.
30:03.79
Krystle Edwards
Oh, that is such good advice. I'm going to try it. I'm excited to try that because I never would have thought of how it's trained and the limitations around it.
30:14.34
Bex
Yep.
30:14.47
Krystle Edwards
Me being an innovator and outside of the box, thinker w risk taker.
30:15.08
Bex
Yep. Yep. one
30:19.82
Krystle Edwards
If I'm using it as a tool to help expand sort of my vision and my brand, I don't want those limitations. I want that sky is the limit.
30:28.56
Bex
nope
30:30.17
Krystle Edwards
feedback and mentality, because that's how I that's how I roll.
30:30.74
Bex
yep
30:34.01
Krystle Edwards
That's the reality.
30:34.44
Bex
ye
30:35.59
Krystle Edwards
So I love that information that you just gave us.
30:36.10
Bex
ye
30:38.96
Krystle Edwards
And another thing that we had talked about before, too, that I want to mention is differentiation.
30:45.38
Bex
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
30:45.49
Krystle Edwards
Can you talk a little bit about that and why it's important?
30:49.05
Bex
But before I do, I will do want it to your point. If you're an idea generator, I am an an idea generator too. I just have one more quick tip. Go into your settings. Immediately on the first page, general, there will be a toggle down at the bottom that says um allow responses, something about responses.
31:08.06
Bex
and Toggle that off because you know how when you... give Chad an idea and then he gives you his output. And then at the end he says, do you want me to put that into a thing?
31:19.04
Bex
Or do you want me to da da da? He gives you like three options. Do you want me to do all of these other things? Yeah, Chad, I do want you to do all those things. But now because I have idea FOMO and i see I want to do all the things all the time.
31:32.24
Bex
And but now I'm so overwhelmed with all the things that I have to do.
31:35.99
Krystle Edwards
Mm-hmm.
31:36.96
Bex
So turn that off and he will stop or he will only give you responses that are directly relevant to what you had asked for. He's not going to go on tangents.
31:47.68
Bex
So turn that off. and Okay. I think it is ironic. Differentiation has always been my point of differentiation. i harp and harp and harp on this.
31:58.72
Bex
I think I hate being trying to be better. i find that when people are starting their businesses, they are... They get their LLC, they get their logo, they do their color palette, they open their Instagram.
32:12.91
Bex
That's usually the first four steps, right? Sometimes they get a website. The younger ones, nope. The younger ones aren't getting a website until way later. My generation is definitely starting with a website, but you're getting that.
32:26.98
Bex
They are more thinking, will everyone like it? Will everyone like this website? logo. Like they're getting good feedback from their friend. They want everybody to just be happy for that. They're they're so nervous.
32:39.58
Bex
They want everybody to like everything. And it's at about three years that they ask themselves, do I like it actually? Do I, am I pulling the right people? and I having, am i right making the right money?
32:51.86
Bex
Am do even like it? And that's differentiation. That's because you were chasing better rather than chasing different. We as women,
33:04.02
Bex
have been raised to fit in. And then you go and get an LLC and everybody says, be different, be different, be different. You're like, uh, hello, I've been programmed my entire life to fit in.
33:17.56
Bex
So how am I all of a sudden supposed to have the confidence to stand out and be different and be weird or be like all of these things that are unique about me?
33:30.43
Bex
i'd probably have some insecurities about. Now you're telling me to leverage them, but I am. I am telling you to leverage them. I'm telling you that those are the things that people love about you.
33:41.60
Bex
Those are the things that your dream client loves about you. Your best friends love about you are those weird, quirky parts of you.
33:54.33
Bex
That is the only way to be different is to be 100% accepting and loving and kind to yourself and be her. Be that bitch.
34:04.98
Bex
Get out there and be the weirdest part of you that you can be because nobody can copy that. They might be able to copy the logo. They might be able to copy the background. They might be able to copy the tagline. They can't copy you, your unique personality DNA.
34:20.68
Bex
And differentiation on a very practical monetary level, differentiation is the entry to the three powers. Demand power, meaning pet You have, there is demand for your brand.
34:36.98
Bex
You're out there, people want you. They just automatically are drawn to you. They're telling people about you. When you do a new offer, they want to know what it is. Demand power. The second one is pricing power.
34:48.52
Bex
Pricing power means you can mark your prices where you need them to be for the value that they are without pissing people off. If you're pissing people off, you don't have the right, you don't have pricing power.
34:59.06
Bex
You don't have it. And the last is future power. Future power means I get to pivot and grow and add and change and keep this business growing with me and my people are coming with me.
35:13.08
Bex
They want to know what the next thing is. They're not saying stay small, say stay the same. Please don't change. If they are, you don't have future power. Differentiation is the only door that gets you into those three powers.
35:26.66
Bex
You might be able to get one of the powers, By being better, you're not going to get all three. Differentiation hat is the only key that unlocks all three of those doors.
35:40.25
Krystle Edwards
That's really powerful stuff. I am so excited to dive into it more. And thank you for sharing the insight on just being yourself and focusing on your brand, because I think it is really hard when you are inundated with social media and you're seeing things and you're kind of like, everything is starting to seem very similar and very the same.
36:00.29
Bex
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
36:06.56
Krystle Edwards
you know, they're doing well, or they're not doing well, or and it's like, well, just focus on you and what makes you different. And celebrate that because that is what your clients or your community is drawn to is you and you are your own superpower.
36:26.91
Bex
Yeah. And I would say um if you do have that worry, that concern, or you are curious about AI, but you don't want to look like a robot or feel like a robot, go to my Instagram because I'll tell you right now, I'm using Chachi Beauty more than probably anyone I know.
36:44.12
Bex
It's all day, every day. I'm using it for literally every square inch of my business. And there is nothing about my brand that is the same Nothing about it as anyone else.
36:52.31
Krystle Edwards
Yeah. Yeah.
36:54.41
Bex
I am so differentiated. It has not made me the same. I am using my creative mind to make it work for me. You can too. You can too.
37:05.57
Bex
And I'm very happy to teach people. what That's what I'm you know out here to do is to teach people how to do that.
37:10.22
Krystle Edwards
yeah
37:11.06
Bex
I'm here for creatives and disruptors for sure.
37:13.91
Krystle Edwards
I definitely encourage anyone listening to check out your website or your social media. i mean, it's fire. Like I get lost in it. I look at it and I'm just like, this is such a cool website, such a cool brand.
37:25.81
Bex
yeah
37:26.87
Krystle Edwards
Everything that you've done is just so unique and i love it. So ah what is your Instagram and website so people can find you?
37:36.72
Bex
Yeah, for sure. um The Instagram is heybex.creativehouse. And then also I have CraveyCI Co. ah It's craveyci.co.
37:47.34
Bex
And that's where I have my GPT shop. It's a new one. It's just a new little baby one because my new my new little babies are out there now. And then my website is heybex.com.
37:59.06
Bex
H-E-Y-B-E-X.
37:59.23
Krystle Edwards
And perfect. And people can purchase these AI models on your website, correct?
38:05.56
Bex
Mm-hmm.
38:08.35
Bex
Yeah. Yep. I have just one right now that is um ready to go for sale on my website. It's $47. It's ah the jam. And then the I have like 10 that are free.
38:21.39
Bex
And then i have the custom semi-custom and I'm adding more to the just like ready to rock ones and all the time now. So uh keep an eye on that page for sure if you you do have to have a chat gpt account to use them you do not have to have a chat gpt account to or a paid one um to use them but it does help because you'll run out of tokens and you'll be having fun and then you'll be bummed out uh and um you don't have to do you don't have to really know how to do anything other than text
38:54.48
Bex
you You literally click the little link.
38:54.62
Krystle Edwards
Right.
38:56.87
Bex
It's going to open in your ChatGPT account. It's going to live right there. You don't have to do anything, nothing. My brand promise is built for busy. And so everything that I build is meant to be like the easiest, fastest onboarding ever.
39:17.98
Krystle Edwards
And you use chat GPT for not just your business, but you use it for recipes and even planning dinners like the crave supper club, which is an awesome experience that you provide, um, women, business owners and leaders in the community.
39:21.49
Bex
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
39:27.04
Bex
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah
39:31.39
Bex
yeah
39:37.28
Krystle Edwards
Tell us about how you use chat GPT and tell us about the supper club because I'm a huge fan and i can't wait to go again.
39:43.58
Bex
I know, Crystal, I loved having you Crave Supper Club. And so Crave Supper Club is a speakeasy style supper club. It's a brand immersion experience.
39:55.11
Bex
And I wanted to host like a branding workshop, but I didn't want to like, I didn't want it to feel corporate-y. And i was really trying, what I wanted to teach was brand immersion, like visceral, sensory, ah so obsessive branding.
40:12.81
Bex
And so I thought to myself, well, what better way than to bring people, immerse them in my own brand? My brand is about branding. decadence and spoiling yourself and being spoiled and being like like i said being that bitch being the queen being just like music and vibes and the whole thing so i host the supper club i invite six women the only way in is through my dms you don't get any information about it until two days before you know that it is at 6 p.m it's always on a thursday you know the date and the time and that i live downtown tacoma and that's it
40:50.59
Bex
and you don't know who's coming. You don't know what you're eating. Honestly, it's my nightmare. I would never go to it.
40:59.41
Bex
But unless I was like, you want to go with me? Like I bring a friend. Um, But it has sold out. I almost always only do one post or one story and I will post three dates at a time. It sells out within a couple hours every single time. There's that demand power.
41:15.64
Bex
There's that pricing power. There's that future power, the whole thing. and And I bring women in to I think if I can get you to a point of inspiration, your brain is going to do the rest.
41:30.56
Bex
Your brain is going to tell you how to do this for you, how to do this for your clients. You know way more about your clients than I do. Way more. And all you have to do is sit around this table and visit with these ladies and eat this food and have this cocktail.
41:47.66
Bex
And before you know it, you leave here like, I can take on the world right now. Like I feel like a million bucks right now. Like I'm connected, I'm connected to myself.
41:58.12
Bex
So it's it's a blast. But in order to do this every single month, because I do the entire thing myself, all the shopping, the prep, the cooking. I cook while you were here. I'm cooking while you're here and I'm still part of the party.
42:10.29
Bex
and It looks effortless. And i did I built a GPT that it helps me plan the menu. And then once we decided on the menu, it prince it gives me the menu. I copy paste everything either into my um iPhone notes app or Google Doc.
42:29.38
Bex
It gives me the menu and then it gives me the shopping list by department. It will give me an estimated cost if I ask for it. It gives me the, um, the recipes for each thing.
42:42.98
Bex
And then it gives me my prep list and I've trained it that I do my knife work and all my marinades and all of that first. And I want to do that on Wednesday evening.
42:54.81
Bex
It's usually about 4 PM until about 10 PM that I do that. I'm a closer and, um, So it tells me what to do Wednesday night. And then it knows that by Thursday, i want to be done, like dishwasher emptied, trash taken out, kitchen's clean, everything's perfect by 3.30.
43:13.41
Bex
I take an hour to get ready and then I come back out at 430 and I start setting up. I start setting up the appetizers, the water bar, the cocktails, all of those things for that 90 minutes. So that the minute my cut my guests walk in the door, there's cocktails waiting by the front door for them.
43:30.86
Bex
every Nothing is being chopped, cooked, washed, nothing. Everything is prepped out here and ready to rock. And it knows how I like to do things and it gives me that prep list exactly that way.
43:41.74
Bex
And it's Freaking phenomenal. And there's a playlist that goes to every Crave Supper Club.
43:44.64
Krystle Edwards
Yeah.
43:49.16
Krystle Edwards
I love it. I thought that was so cool.
43:49.78
Bex
So I'm getting a lot done. I'm getting a lot done as a creative. And I'm doing weird, crazy things. And I'm telling you, ChatGPT is the one helping me do it all. So if you feel like Chad is making you a robot, well, you better start changing your damn mind.
44:06.59
Bex
You better start changing your damn mind. Because it is freaking fun.
44:13.18
Krystle Edwards
Awesome. I love it. What is your biggest piece of advice that you would offer Grit City Women?
44:22.21
Bex
Okay, so Grid City Women, here's the thing. It's it's a trying time for all of us, right? I mean, there's so many things happening in the world that are kind of probably making all of us feel a little unsettled, unsure about...
44:41.22
Bex
What we should, where should we be putting our eggs? What basket should we be putting our eggs in? What should I be focused on and what should I be growing? Here's my advice to you. About two years ago, i said to myself, I am going to go all in on being a creative.
44:57.55
Bex
I'm going to stop with the operational roles that I have always put myself in because I've been really good at it. And I'm going to go all in on being a creative. And I did.
45:08.36
Bex
And I didn't know when I said that two years ago, where, what doors that was going to open for me. So my advice is what, what, how are you uniquely positioned to help the world?
45:22.52
Bex
What is your, what lights you the frick up? and is helpful to people. What is that thing that you know you do better than everybody?
45:34.81
Bex
Claim it. Say to yourself, i don't care. The external stuff I have no control over because when I said that two years ago, i was actually, i said it because I was in a position that a lot of shit was out of control and I needed, i needed me.
45:50.93
Bex
I just needed me. Do that. Just figure out what that thing is for you. And go all in. Bet on yourself. Bet on yourself. Go all in.
46:03.00
Bex
That's my advice.
46:05.32
Krystle Edwards
Great. Thank you so much for the wonderful advice and great information. it was a pleasure having you.
46:12.16
Bex
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I loved it, loved it, loved it. Let's do it again sometime.
46:16.69
Krystle Edwards
Yes. And thank you for sponsoring Gritty is the new pretty.
46:19.54
Bex
Yeah, very happy to.