AI For Non-Techie Beginners: Why You Need to Learn and Easy Ways to Start

In this special bonus episode of C-Suite Sidekick, host Summer Poletti steps away from her usual revenue growth topics to offer a beginner-friendly guide to AI. Designed for non-techies and those who may feel hesitant about AI, this episode is packed with simple, practical tips to help you get started with tools like ChatGPT. Whether you’re a knowledge worker, in the C-Suite, or just AI-curious, Summer breaks down how AI can enhance your daily tasks and boost productivity—without needing advanced tech skills. Know someone who hasn’t tried AI yet? Share this episode with them! Plus, grab the free downloadable guide to get started today! 

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• Visit Rise of Us for more information about Summer's services
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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the C-suite sidekick. I'm your host summer Polenti. And today we are setting aside our normal discussions around revenue growth. And we're talking about why knowledge workers, regardless of your career stage, can't afford to ignore AI. You can't ignore the latest tick tock craze or the newest platform branding itself as a LinkedIn killer, but AI, especially a tool like chat GPT is too transformative to overlook. It's not just a trend. It's a tool that is changing how we work, communicate, and solve problems. The way I imagined Microsoft word disrupted the office, because when's the last time you saw a typewriter or used a physical dictionary. Whether you're just starting out your career or sitting in the C-suite AI is going to touch some part of your work. It's already being used in customer service, finance healthcare, and almost every other industry. But it's not just for tech experts. AI tools like chat, GPT, or designed to be user-friendly, which means anyone can leverage them to become more productive and efficient. I recently saw a stat that said 75% of people hadn't tried chat GPT yet, which seemed high. So I ran the question through three different search engines and indeed pure research stated that at the end of 20, 23, only 14% of us adults had tried chat GPT, despite most knowing about it. And Technopedia reported that in 2024. 75%. There we go. Of people had yet to try it despite its growing awareness. So I decided to, again, set aside the revenue talks to talk just specifically to knowledge workers. If you don't know me personally, I care a great deal about people, workers, especially. I was aware of and care about the effects of ageism in the hiring process long before I felt it personally. And trust me, it hits you before you're ready for it. We have to work until we're 70 or so yet many men find it hard to get hired after they're 50 and women after their 40. So are we supposed to live off of unemployment for two or three decades? That's a topic for someone else to tackle. But what I do know is that recruiters and hiring managers hold biases. That older workers are out of touch and can't use technology. So if you care about your current or future livelihood, now is the time to learn chat GPT. I'll be honest. I was a little hesitant at first. I'm pretty tech savvy for a long headed sales guy after all, but that's it. Early 2023. I was employing students to help me in my bike shop. And this just seemed like it was a tool that they used to help them cheat and do their homework. But one day I was stuck working alone and unsure of what to write about for that week scheduled blog and the rest, as they say is history. First let's break down some of the mystique. You're probably using AI without knowing it or thinking about it. Do you have an Alexa in your home? Do you ever take the suggested next word when typing out a message in Gmail? Does your robot vacuum know where your kitchen is, so that you can have it clean up a mess. Chiechi BT and similar models. Just take it one step further. And that's generative AI. Or Jen AI. And basically it's a fancy term. That means now it can generate responses based on what it knows no longer just suggestions it can write. And it does kind of mimic human writing. It has like everything ever written loaded into its servers. If you ask it to write something or to do research. You will see its power at your fingertips. Before we get started, it is important to note that it can't create. Yet. It uses what's already there and mimics responses. It's almost like we're, gurgitate. AI. So, how do you get started with AI if you've never played around with it? The easiest way is just to ask it a fun or silly question. Think back to when Siri first came out or when you got your first Alexa or Google home. My daughter, for example, used to ask Alexa how to spell certain words to help her when she was doing her homework. Partly so that I could get back to work, but I also wanted her to learn how to use the technology. You can start by asking chat GPT for a recipe or dinner ideas based on what's already in the fridge. Maybe it's first tasks can help you save a trip to the store. I ask it to tell you a joke or summarize movie reviews without spoilers. Just like when Siri was new or we started using Alexa, this is your first step in learning how to interact with AI. Don't overthink it, just goof around and gain some familiarity with what it can do. And you don't need to create an account or put down any money. It's there. It's free. In the little box underneath the prompt suggestions, just type it, something that comes out of your head and watch it work. It's pretty cool. If you've never done it before. You can also think about using it for the next search that you might do. Now Google already has AI search results summarized when you do a Google search. So going to chat GPT, for example, is. A different way of doing that. Next time. You need to research something or search for something, try chat TPT also, now, after you've played around with it a bit, you can start thinking about how AI can help you in your daily life. I am going to take a work focus because that's what I do. But AI is equally useful for things like planning, vacation, itineraries, or exercise routines based on must see spots or your personal fitness goals. For me, I first started using AI to get unstuck during brainstorming sessions. I would ask it for ideas and boom. I was suddenly moving again. AI is also an incredible tool for speeding up research, whether it's for work or school. I use a lot of research in what I do, finding the need to keep small businesses on top of consumer trends. When updating coaching sessions, I used to search for hours to come up with new research insights and stats to share. Just last week I updated a research slide in a few minutes, cited sources and all. If you struggle with writing emails like I do, it's a lifesaver. I'm great with thanks. Have a great weekend. But when it comes to something more detailed, I might ask the AI model for help drafting or polishing it. If you're prone to rambling, like I also am. AI can shorten what you've written, keeping the most important pieces without changing your tone. Need to write a cover letter for a job application and you don't want to send something generic, but you also don't want to completely rewrite it for each job. You're applying to. And I can review the job description and highlight what you should include in your cover letter. I want to caution you against having AI, write your cover letter for you, which it can do, but it's not going to sound like you. Do you have something really long that you need to read, but you don't want to. AI can summarize it for you. And then you can ask the model questions. And it can help you get through a very long piece of text. And these are just a few of the everyday ways that you can start integrating AI into your life. Going back to my daughter. She has been selling things from our garage and closets on Poshmark, and she uses chat GPT to help her write compelling descriptions. Now that we've covered the basics. Let's talk about how to get the most out of AI tools like chat GPT, especially if you're just getting started. Number one, give it a specific task and roll. When you're interacting with AI, it helps to be clear and specific. Think about if you're talking to a four year old. For example, if you're mid-career and customer service within financial services, you might say. Act as my career coach and give me five ideas for how I can get noticed for a promotion. Notice how I gave it details and a specific task. And we gave it that role so that it can take on a coaching persona. This is a great way to get relevant results. Number two. Ask it for multiple options. Chat GPT. Isn't perfect. It writes kind of cheesy. It writes a little robotically because it's a robot. And it's not always going to hit the mark the first try. I often ask for five or 10 ideas because it increases my chances. Of getting something useful, it might deliver. An option that you've already thought of, it might deliver something that's way off base. And then you're going to find a couple of good nuggets in there. If you ask it for multiple solutions. Or suggestions. Number three. Try a less structured prop. While specific prompts or questions or great. Sometimes you'll get a surprising and creative result from a looser prompt or question. For example. I ask it for creative ways to improve team collaboration. And you might be inspired by something you hadn't yet considered. Number four. Double check the output. AI models are amazing, but they're not always accurate or natural sounding double check what it gives you, especially if it's something important. You got to check it because it can be a little cheesy. Or overly formal. You're going to need to tweak the results. As you can see AI can be your personal or executive assistant. It can help you brainstorm, get unstuck or speed up your day-to-day tasks. And the more you use it, the better you'll get at prompting it or asking it questions to get the kind of responses that you need. I am in my custom GPT constantly. I have different threads for different tasks that I do. It is my copywriting assistant. It is my marketing officer. It is my podcast producer. It costs me 20 bucks a month. It's great. One final tip, always be aware of the biases that AI models might have. That's a whole topic in and of itself, just remember, but the tool is only as good as the data it's trained on. And sometimes you'll need to double or triple check the answers. Or give it another revised prompt in order to give you back what you need. For example, if I ask it to show me. A successful sales person so that I can use the image in a blog. It always gives me a white guy. Who's about 30 years old. So sometimes I want to show a more seasoned professional and I will have to ask it for an older worker, or maybe I want to show someone female. You have to give it specific prompts. So that's your quick guide to getting started with AI, whether you're a complete beginner or just looking for ways to use it more. Effectively in your daily life or work. If you're curious about how to use AI feel free to reach out. If I can't help you. I know a number of smart, really nice people who can, you can find me on LinkedIn I'm summer. Paoletti rhymes with spaghetti. Or you can visit the rise of Dot com. If you found this helpful, or if you think someone in your network might find it helpful. Please consider sharing. And also I would appreciate a reveal. Thank you for listening and I'll see you the next episode.