Automate Yourself

What if AI's biggest opportunity isn't efficiency, but breaking 10,000 years of human survival mode? Danielle LaFleur is the founder of EasyAsPie.ai, an AI operations company helping businesses streamline their work and free their people. She built it after pivoting her 22-person marketing agency down to a 4-person team, rebuilt around individual values and natural strengths. In this conversation, she shares the company mantra ("we refuse to work for any company that will use our services to fire people"), why operations is the boring lever that lets people become their best selves, and her message for anyone worried about being replaced by AI: your job title was never your identity in the first place.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Danielle LaFleur
• 01:08 The Values Reset That Reshaped a 22-Person Agency
• 02:35 Why Operations Became the Leverage Point
• 04:06 Why Chris the AI Skeptic Came Around
• 05:04 The Nail Salon Analogy: Your Real Skill Isn't Your Job
• 06:27 Job Titles vs Identity in the AI Era
• 07:34 Automating Yourself Out of a Job as Liberation
• 09:19 The Mantra: We Refuse to Help Companies Fire People
• 10:11 Out of 10,000 Years of Survival Mode
• 13:39 Clifton Strengths and Finding Your Natural Gifts
• 16:50 Why You Need Honest Feedback Outside Your Inner Circle
• 17:23 What She's Building Now: A VIP Day for Small Businesses
• 18:16 Where to Find Danielle and Easy As Pie

Keywords

AI operations for small business, automate yourself, EasyAsPie.ai, Danielle LaFleur, values-driven company pivot, marketing agency to AI operations, automation frees people, Clifton Strengths, work identity, survival mode to creation mode, small business automation, AI for solopreneurs, AI ops consulting, find your purpose through automation

FIND ME ONLINE

• LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate
• Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com
• Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND DANIELLE ONLINE

• Website: https://easyaspie.ai
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@easyaspie.ai
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellelafleur/
• Substack: https://easyaspie.substack.com/

What does it look like to build a business that works with how your brain actually works, not against it? Brooke Wright is the founder of Wright Mode, an AI strategy practice that helps women founders and small business owners use AI to build their businesses. After a corporate career and a stint running women's running retreats, Brooke started using AI to bridge her own idea-to-execution gap. She's now on a mission to teach 10,000 women how to use AI by 2026. In this conversation, she shares the Brain Buddy GPT she built to handle her own to-do list, the coaching client who sold 3,000 copies of a custom GPT at $37 each, and her core message for anyone overwhelmed by the pace of AI: you're not behind.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Brooke Wright
• 00:45 From Corporate to Wright Mode
• 01:17 The 60-Second Origin Story
• 02:16 Building Self-Understanding (and Self-Compassion)
• 03:42 From Stuck-on-Ideas to Brain-Dump-to-Execution
• 05:21 Building the Brain Buddy Custom GPT
• 07:08 Automating Time Tracking, Invoicing, and Content Repurposing
• 08:17 Maintaining Your Voice While Automating Content
• 08:42 Moving From Builder to Teacher
• 10:05 Why Teach Others to Build Their Own AI
• 10:18 The Workshops She Runs
• 11:27 A Coaching Client Sold 3,000 Copies of a Custom GPT
• 13:24 Lead Qualifier Automations for a Marketing Agency
• 13:32 The Surprise Automation: GPT to Notion to Email Marketing
• 15:25 Discovery Call to Proposal in 30 Minutes
• 16:49 Reducing Mental Load with Automation
• 17:27 How Building Wright Mode Changed Her Identity
• 19:24 "You're Not Behind" -- Her Message to the AI-Overwhelmed
• 21:19 What's Next: AI Dream Team Workshop and a Podcast
• 22:09 Where to Find Brooke
• 
  

Keywords

AI for women founders, AI for small business, custom GPT, no-code AI, n8n automation, brain dump AI, automate small business, Brooke Wright, Wright Mode, ChatGPT for founders, content repurposing, AI workshops, idea to execution

FIND ME ONLINE

• LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate
• Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com
• Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND BROOKE ONLINE

• Website: https://wrightmode.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wright_mode
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wright_mode
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooke-wright-aistrategy

What if the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn't the technology, it's trust? Cien Solon has been on both sides. As a product leader in fintech, she built AI-powered decisioning systems for fraud, credit, and onboarding that served 7 million customers. Now, as CEO of LaunchLemonade.app, she's building a platform where anyone can launch an AI agent business. In this conversation, she breaks down what happened when her team hyper-automated everything, why you should always do it manually first, and her vision for a future where you're not going to be an employee -- you're going to be a business.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Cien Solon
• 00:43 Welcome and the Automate Yourself Philosophy
• 01:34 From Digital Transformation to Fintech Product Leadership
• 03:11 When AI First Changed the Game: The 2018 Chatbot
• 05:05 When ChatGPT Hit: Kitchen Hackathons and Building Mode
• 07:21 First Thing She Automated: Epics and User Stories
• 08:38 "I'm Going to Be Out of My Job" -- and What Came Next
• 10:09 The Hyper-Automation Mistake
• 12:30 Playbooks First, Automation Second
• 13:04 Three Obstacles to AI Adoption: Trust, Price, and Risk
• 16:09 Security Risks, Prompt Injections, and Mitigation
• 17:53 Advice for Getting Started
• 19:30 What Launch Lemonade Is Building
• 20:26 "You're Not Going to Be an Employee. You're Going to Be a Business."

Keywords

AI adoption, trust in AI, fintech AI, product leadership, hyper-automation, AI literacy, non-technical builders, AI agent business, Launch Lemonade, automation strategy, digital transformation, Techstars, chatbot, decisioning systems

FIND ME ONLINE

• LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate
• Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com
• Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND CIEN ONLINE

• Launch Lemonade: https://launchlemonade.app
• Substack: https://launchlemonade.substack.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciensolon/

What happens when a leadership development consultant who's never written code decides to automate her entire PhD? Nathalie Salles spent her career in human development at Facebook and Google, coaching leaders and scaling talent programs. Now she's doing a PhD on AI, workplace, and gender, and somewhere along the way, she became a builder. She taught herself n8n, built a pipeline to process over 1,500 research papers, and started creating AI agents for her coaching clients. In this conversation, she shares what human-AI collaboration actually looks like when you're learning it from scratch, why the software engineers were impressed, and how she's using AI to give power back to the people who need it most.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Nathalie Salles
• 00:33 Three Careers in One: Human Development to AI Research
• 01:33 When AI First Caught Her Attention at Facebook
• 03:09 Finding Her Tribe in Responsible AI
• 03:42 Automating a PhD: 1,500 Papers and Counting
• 05:23 Cognitive Load and the AI Highway
• 05:36 Building the Literature Review Pipeline with n8n
• 07:34 A Non-Techie All the Way Through
• 08:15 When Software Engineers Said Her Results Were Better
• 09:05 What Good AI Collaboration Looks Like
• 10:43 Leading the Collaboration: Setting Boundaries with AI
• 12:25 Building AI Agents for the HR Space
• 13:00 Creating a Team of 15-20 AI HR Specialists
• 15:06 Coaching Leaders with AI Mirrors
• 17:33 Giving Power to People Through AI
• 18:10 Advice for Getting Started with AI
• 19:59 Identity in the Age of AI
• 21:27 What She Would Automate: Finding Her Tribe
• 22:52 Outro: Diving In Instead of Running Away

Keywords

AI PhD research, human-AI collaboration, leadership development, talent development, HR AI agents, n8n automation, non-technical AI builder, performance management, gender equity AI, cognitive load, career reinvention, coaching with AI

FIND ME ONLINE

• LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate
• Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com
• Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND NATHALIE ONLINE

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaliesalles/

What does a 20-year CPO who walked away from the corporate track actually look like on the other side? Elena Luneva spent two decades leading product at Nextdoor, OpenTable, BrainTrust, and BlackRock, and then decided to bet on herself. In this conversation, she breaks down how a "no more hiring" mandate forced her team to get creative with AI, why 60% of managers are stuck rehashing information instead of making decisions, and what she wishes someone had told her about going solo: the product is you, and the go-to-market is the hardest part.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Elena Luneva
• 00:40 Elena's 20-Year Product Leadership Journey
• 02:29 Life as a Product Leader Across Industries
• 04:09 When AI First Changed the Game
• 07:25 Constraints Breed Creativity
• 08:46 60% of Your Day Is Meetings (and How AI Fixes That)
• 12:05 Going Independent After 20 Years
• 15:09 Self-Awareness in the Age of AI
• 15:42 AI Is a Packaging Tool, Not a Thinking Tool
• 18:05 The "Three Weeks to 20 Minutes" Moment
• 18:52 The Hardest Part of Going Solo
• 21:44 Building Is Easy Now. Go-to-Market Is the Hard Part
• 24:29 What's Next for Elena
• 26:14 Advice: You're the Director of Your Own Movie
• 28:46 Where to Find Elena

Keywords

CPO career change, product leadership, going independent, solopreneur, AI for executives, AI communication, career reinvention, product management, go-to-market strategy, automation, Maven courses

FIND ME ONLINE

• LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate
• Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com
• Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate
• LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND ELENA ONLINE

• Substack: https://elenasletters.substack.com
• Maven: https://elenaluneva.maven.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaluneva

In this episode of the Automate Yourself podcast, Dina Levitan and Yves Junqueira, founder of Pipeboard and former Google SRE, explore the transformative power of automation in business. They discuss how automation can empower solopreneurs to do more and more with AI, and Yves shares insights from his journey in building AI tools. The conversation delves into how to integrate best practices into automation and the potential for AI to redefine career opportunities.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Yves Junqueira and His Journey

03:24 The Role of Automation at Google

06:02 Transitioning to AI-Driven Marketing

09:07 Empowering Solopreneurs with AI

15:06 Best Practices in Automation

16:18 Building AI Solutions for Business Needs

18:53 Final Thoughts and Future Directions

Keywords

AI, automation, solopreneurs, marketing, career transformation, Google SRE, Pipeboard, innovation, technology

FIND ME ONLINE

LinkTree:     http://linktr.ee/chillaborate

Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com

Podcast:      http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast

X/Twitter:    http://x.com/@chillaborate

LinkedIn:      http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs

Instagram:   http://instagram.com/chillaborate

TikTok:         https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND YVES ONLINE

LinkedIn:       https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvesjunqueira 

Website:        http://pipeboard.co

In this episode of the Automate Yourself podcast, Dina Levitan and Jacob Bank, CEO of relay.app , discuss the transformative potential of AI and automation in the workplace. They discuss how individuals can leverage these technologies to enhance productivity, redefine their careers, and focus on higher-impact work. Jacob shares insights from his journey in building AI tools, emphasizing the importance of understanding the unique capabilities of AI employees compared to human workers. The discussion also touches on the evolving landscape of job security, the necessity of human skills in an AI-driven world, and the proactive steps individuals can take to adapt to these changes.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Jacob Bank and His Journey
• 03:24 The Evolution of Productivity Tools
• 06:02 The Role of AI in Workflows
• 09:07 AI Agents and Their Impact on Small Businesses
• 11:49 Understanding AI Employees vs Human Employees
• 15:06 The Future of Work and Human Skills
• 16:18 Navigating the AI Landscape
• 18:53 Building AI Solutions for Business Needs
• 21:43 Final Thoughts and Future Directions

Keywords

AI, automation, productivity, career evolution, future of work, human skills, job security, AI tools, innovation, technology

FIND ME ONLINE

LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate

Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com

Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast

X/Twitter: http://x.com/@chillaborate

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs

Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate

FIND JACOB ONLINE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobbank

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@relayapp

Summary

In this conversation, Dina Levitan speaks with Deonna Hodges about the transformative power of automation and AI in the workplace. Deonna shares her journey as a software engineer at Netflix, discussing how she has embraced AI to enhance her productivity, foster community knowledge sharing, and redefine her professional identity. The discussion highlights the emotional journey of adapting to AI, the importance of leadership through knowledge sharing, and the potential for democratizing technology in various fields.

Takeaways

• Automating tasks can free up time for higher impact work.
• Embracing AI can renew enthusiasm in your career.
• Knowledge sharing is crucial for community growth.
• AI can significantly enhance productivity and efficiency.
• Building relationships is essential in a tech-driven world.
• Fear of AI taking jobs can be mitigated by using it effectively.
• Investing time in learning AI tools is necessary for success.
• Innovative projects can democratize technology for broader audiences.
• Leadership can emerge from sharing knowledge and experiences.
• Automation can redefine professional identity and career paths.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Deonna Hodges

02:05 Embracing AI in Software Engineering

05:00 AI's Impact on Work Culture

08:12 Sharing Knowledge and Leading by Example

10:50 Transforming Work with Automation

13:45 The Shift in Career and Skills

18:37 Addressing Fears About AI

22:47 Building Exciting Projects and Community

26:06 Outro

26:47 Automate Yourself by Chill Labs

Keywords

automation, AI, career development, software engineering, knowledge sharing, professional identity, leadership, community building, efficiency, emotional journey

Join Dina Levitan, former Google Site Reliability Engineer and founder of Chill Labs, as she explores the transformative power of automation in "Automate Yourself." This podcast explores how embracing automation can propel your career forward. Whether you're a product manager overwhelmed with updates or an engineer tired of manual tasks, discover how to turn AI anxiety into career fuel. Ready to automate your way into the future? Tune in and let's Chillaborate!

Join the conversation at ⁠newsletter.chillaborate.com⁠.