Full Transcript for How to Stand Out From Competitors: What AI Can't Replace [MM282]

TRANSCRIPT 🔗

WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.980 Klarna recently split the difference by replacing 700 agents worth of work with AI, but then rehired people back because they found the hard emotional calls were better handled by people. 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:28.160 How do you stand out from your competitors when every one of them has the same AI that you do? 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:36.659 I was at an event with about 10,000 people sitting in a hall waiting for my friend Pat Flynn to take the stage. 00:00:36.659 --> 00:00:48.659 And right at that moment, a kid and his dad sat down right behind me and the kid turned to a total stranger and asked, do you have any extra cards? 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:54.500 What happened next is the part of your business that AI can't copy. 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:56.060 And let me tell you why. 00:00:56.420 --> 00:01:03.159 You know, last week we talked all about AI and which tool you should be using, what your choices are, and how to pick. 00:01:03.619 --> 00:01:11.859 This week we're going to talk about what is still yours once everybody has all of the same AI tools. 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:18.719 Because really, if everybody is using AI, won't all businesses end up the same? 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:22.780 Everything will just become a bunch of AI-generated junk, right? 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:30.459 It's a fair worry because your competitors are getting the same AI tools that you are, and they're learning how to use them. 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:38.079 Well, recently, I got my answer to this question in a place I didn't expect, a Pokémon card event in Texas. 00:01:39.379 --> 00:01:44.359 Pat Flynn and I have been online business friends since I started online in 2007. 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:51.700 He's pretty famous for building Smart Passive Income, which is one of the best-known online business brands out there. 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:58.000 And we've been in the same weekly mastermind every Wednesday for more than a decade. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.739 Now, these days, Pat's world is Pokémon. 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:12.520 His Deep Pocket Monster channel and his companion channel, Short Pocket Monster, are worldwide, well-known, and have millions of followers. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:19.840 And as part of that brand, he has created this Pokémon card event called Card Party. 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:30.180 It's a trade show floor full of vendors, stage shows, a huge community of collectors, and importantly, also their families. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:31.699 It's a spectacle. 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.120 The first Card Party only had about 1,500 people. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.639 But Pat's continued to grow the event over the last several years. 00:02:39.020 --> 00:02:46.379 And this year, in Dallas, he had 10,000 people, and he does this multiple times a year all across the United States. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:49.240 Now, I'm not a Pokémon guy. 00:02:49.620 --> 00:02:51.639 My kids went through a Pokémon phase. 00:02:51.699 --> 00:02:52.780 I think it's really cool. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:57.500 I collected baseball cards when I was a kid, so I sort of get it. 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:00.939 But I'm really an outsider at an event like this. 00:03:02.020 --> 00:03:11.860 So, in a way that only Pat Flynn can do, he struck a deal with the Gaylord Texan, which is a super fancy resort here in the Dallas area. 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:18.240 In fact, it's where my wife kidnapped me and took me for my 40th birthday, as a surprise. 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:19.659 That was some time ago. 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:25.620 And he drew so many people to the event, there wasn't even any parking at the hotel. 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:31.780 I drove up to the hotel, and I was greeted with signs that showed event parking off-site. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:39.240 Then I took a fantastic shuttle bus, and there were a sea of people waiting to register for Pat's event. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:46.379 Then I went to the vendor floor, and I walked through these double doors, and I actually thought I was in the wrong place. 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.500 Thousands of people, hundreds of tables. 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:51.479 It was a sea of humanity. 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:52.960 It was so amazing. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:04:02.259 I took a 360-degree video on my phone and texted my mastermind, and I said, Hey, guys, Pat may be underselling this thing. 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:12.560 Because he had created a sea of superfans, and if you haven't read Pat's book about superfans, that's a must-read as well. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:32.980 So after milling around with my mouth agape on the floor of the trade show for a while, I went upstairs to a behind-the-scenes event that Pat was doing with his top fans, where there were hundreds of people that were in there to understand how Pat actually makes his videos to meet Pat's staff. 00:04:33.379 --> 00:04:38.660 And they were all speaking from the stage, and Pat was bringing his superfans up on stage. 00:04:39.139 --> 00:04:41.759 The fans were finishing Pat's sentences. 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:44.199 They knew all of the inside jokes. 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:49.199 To my surprise, they knew the video editor and some of the producers by name. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:55.660 It was the kind of intimacy you really normally associate with things like podcasting. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:01.519 Pat's video channel fans were all there, and they were really part of a bigger family. 00:05:01.779 --> 00:05:11.699 And there was this binder guy there, a very famous man from one of Pat's videos, who actually sold his binder to Pat to make some money. 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:19.819 Pat finished the binder and was so moved by the guy's story that he gave it back to him, and now he's on stage at Pat's event. 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:26.540 All kinds of crazy things going on with kids in cosplay, parents chasing their kids around. 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:34.120 And the word for it that I could

Load full transcript

come up with was, it was just wholesome family entertainment. 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:42.180 So I'm sitting there in this room, and I'm waiting on this event to start with Pat on the center stage. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:51.459 And behind me, a kid and his dad walk into the room and sit down behind me, and I can hear this conversation between this kid and the dad. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:55.879 The kid is super excited that his dad brought him to this amazing event. 00:05:55.879 --> 00:06:03.519 And I'll admit it, I was totally eavesdropping because I was reminiscing about when I used to drag my kids around to stuff. 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:09.420 They were hunting, in this case, for these special event cards that were being handed out at the event. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.939 Honestly, I didn't even know what these gold cards were that they were looking for. 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:23.040 And the kid just turns to a total stranger, some guy sitting nearby, and asks him, Do you have any extra cards that I can have? 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:25.660 Something only a kid could get away with. 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:27.439 Something that a kid would do. 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:31.620 And then they got into this long conversation, this kid and this other adult. 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:36.319 And it turned out that the man did have extra cards, and he gave them to the kid. 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:40.639 And the kid lit up, and the two of them just talked about what they were collecting. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:47.160 And, you know, that's the kind of thing that my wife Paula has a name for. 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.639 She calls it a scrapbook moment. 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:57.540 This dad had his kid at this event with all of these like-minded people that were in community with each other. 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:05.259 And this was going to be etched on this kid's mind like the page of a mental scrapbook. 00:07:05.699 --> 00:07:08.980 Well, that kid got one of those cards from that total stranger. 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:15.720 And that is the kind of thing that AI simply can't provide. 00:07:16.579 --> 00:07:18.399 So back to the question. 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:23.560 If everybody has the same AI, how do you stay different? 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:25.399 This is the moat. 00:07:25.699 --> 00:07:28.040 Look for the human pieces of your business. 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:36.199 Human interaction, human taste, person-to-person moments, community, face-to-face service. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.079 You know, there's an old saying that I really like. 00:07:39.540 --> 00:07:46.939 People don't usually remember what you did for them, but they always remember how you made them feel. 00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:58.740 AI can make someone feel heard in a chat window, but it can't be the stranger in the next row who hands a kid a card who does something special because they can. 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:00.839 Fun side note about the quote. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:06.740 That quote

about people remembering how you make them feel is usually credited to Maya Angelou. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:11.759 But the earliest version on record is really this guy named Carl Buehner in 1971. 00:08:12.339 --> 00:08:13.439 Thought you should know. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:22.079 Now look, I feel really strongly about you looking for the human parts of your business as a way to differentiate. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:25.600 But this is also under attack by AI. 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.120 There are already things that can clone your voice. 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:30.439 ElevenLabs voice cloning is amazing. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:34.200 And things that can clone videos like HeyGen. 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:36.580 And that is also getting better and better. 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:45.700 And now there are even services like Delphi that build an AI clone of an expert by ingesting all their videos, books, and podcasts. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:52.000 And these things can answer fans' questions around the clock in the expert's clone voice. 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.259 And they can even do it in 40 different languages. 00:08:55.100 --> 00:09:02.019 So yeah, AI probably can answer a question the way you would from everything you've already said. 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:04.620 But AI can't go to a card show in Texas. 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:09.399 It can't sit in a hall and hear a kid ask a stranger for a card. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:15.519 And in a lot of ways, AI can copy what I've said and tell you what I said before. 00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:19.240 But it can't live what I'll say next. 00:09:19.659 --> 00:09:23.000 You know, the other thing that's under attack is the feeling of relationships. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:31.419 Therapy and companionship is now, according to a Harvard Business Review article, the number one way that people use AI. 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:39.340 About 1 in 10 adults use chatbots for emotional support, according to the American Psychological Association in 2026. 00:09:39.740 --> 00:09:45.179 So the phrase, my customers are talking to me, isn't a moat by itself anymore. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.179 A chatbot increasingly can be a good listener too. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:52.940 But what it can't do is put real people together like that kid and that stranger. 00:09:53.460 --> 00:09:55.259 And here's another thing to keep in mind. 00:09:55.740 --> 00:10:06.860 About 85% of consumers, at least right now, would rather talk to a real person than AI when they contact a business, according to AnswerConnect in May of 2026. 00:10:06.860 --> 00:10:19.879 Klarna recently split the difference by replacing 700 agents worth of work with AI, but then rehired people back because they found the hard emotional calls were better handled by people. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.200 So what does this mean? 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:23.580 Here's the takeaway. 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:27.519 Use AI for everything that doesn't need you. 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:33.019

So there's more of you that you can use in the moments that do need you. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.960 Let's take my business, for example, this very channel. 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:41.059 I'm building it on my point of view because that's the part that AI can't replace. 00:10:41.460 --> 00:10:45.059 I don't even know what my point of view is going to be in three months. 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:46.960 Everything is evolving so fast. 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:59.299 AI can tell you what I've said, and it might be able to make a guess that's a mixture of everything that's going on on the Internet about what I might say, about things that haven't happened yet, but it doesn't know. 00:10:59.299 --> 00:11:03.240 Only I get to decide that, and I get to share that with you. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:08.440 There'll be plenty of AI talking heads with AI opinions, and that's absolutely fine. 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:13.059 But Mark Mason's point of view can only come from Mark Mason. 00:11:13.460 --> 00:11:18.639 Shoot, maybe in the end it's only handfuls of people, but those are my people. 00:11:19.019 --> 00:11:22.659 They're who I'm talking to, and they're who I'm taking care of. 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:31.480 And everything else, the distribution, the transcripts, the busy work, that's exactly where I use AI in my business. 00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.279 It's like I explained in the last video. 00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:46.460 Claude drafts blog posts for my wife for her personal brand based on other content that she's already created, which then she edits to make them hers. 00:11:46.460 --> 00:12:06.620 Her photo sessions are scrapbook moments for the families she shoots, where Paula's adding value is by composing shots, getting families at ease with their photo shoots, being present to take pictures, and of course, editing those photos one at a time in a way that delights clients. 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:12.340 So what does this mean if you're a plumber or an accountant or a shop owner trying to use AI in your business? 00:12:12.820 --> 00:12:37.440 It means that you should use AI first in the non-human pieces of your business, like maybe accounting or bookkeeping or reading invoices or doing inventory or other kinds of drudgery tasks that you absolutely have to do but don't want to do, so that that frees you up to spend some time to think about the human pieces of your business, like talking to customers. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:49.179 Or one of my favorites, Paula rents lenses from a company that oftentimes writes her a handwritten note and includes a piece of candy in the box with the lens. 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:51.559 AI can't do that, but you can. 00:12:51.899 --> 00:12:57.799 And you can learn your customers and care about them because they will remember how you make them feel. 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:00.399 What's the action for this week? 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:05.899 Use AI to find the part of your business that AI can't copy. 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:14.259 What you need is a prompt where you describe your business to AI or skip that if your AI already knows about your business. 00:13:14.899 --> 00:13:22.899 Have it ask you up to five questions first, one at a time, about your business and what you do on a day-to-day basis. 00:13:23.419 --> 00:13:27.039 Have it split your work into AI work and human work. 00:13:27.379 --> 00:13:33.820 Then you'll ask AI for a short strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threats analysis. 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:35.419 We call this a SWOT analysis. 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:42.120 On the human connection versus AI for your business and for these tasks that you've described above. 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:53.360 Then ask AI for three human moments in your business to either add or take advantage of and pick one that you can double down on this week. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:59.500 Now, I'll provide this prompt that I've already created for you in the description of this audio or video. 00:13:59.860 --> 00:14:02.480 You can download it or go to markmason.com to find it. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:12.460 But the point is you want to use whatever AI that you're using to identify a place in your business where you can start building a moat. 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:17.340 Here's a pro tip from this approach that you should be using anytime you use AI. 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:23.519 Notice that we ask AI to ask you about your specific business before it answers. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:32.700 That's the one move that makes answers come back specific to you instead of getting back generic AI slop. 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:36.600 And that's a whole method that we're going to talk about in a future video. 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:39.899 I'll be excited to deliver that to you in the coming weeks. 00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:42.580 So here's the takeaway. 00:14:43.299 --> 00:14:50.220 Use AI in your business for everything that really doesn't need you so that there's more of you for the moments that do. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:59.039 Next week, we'll get back to something a little more practical like how to set up Claude to do some tasks in your small business without doing any coding. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:12.940 Hey, thanks for listening to another episode of the Mark Mason Show. 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:18.759 For more content like this, hit subscribe or head on over to markmason.com. 00:15:19.139 --> 00:15:21.679 Hook up with us on social media or leave feedback. 00:15:22.179 --> 00:15:24.279 Until next time, ciao.

Edit transcript