We live in an age of lightning-fast technological advancements, where new platforms and AI capabilities emerge almost overnight. For coaches trying to grow their businesses, it can be incredibly difficult to keep up. You formulate a strategy, finally feel like you’ve caught up to the latest trends, and then…everything changes again.
In this episode, Samantha and Leon acknowledge that struggle. They dive head first into forecasting the coaching landscape in 2024. What changes can we expect from artificial intelligence in the next year? How might viral platforms like TikTok disrupt established industries? Their insights will help coaches and service providers lean into coming opportunities instead of being blindsided by them.
If ambiguity about the future keeps you stuck in analysis paralysis, this episode will get your wheels turning again. Tune in if you want to future-proof your business in 2024 and beyond.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL DISCOVER:
- Will AI replace coaches or make them more efficient? (01:56)
- How can you use AI tools without losing your personal flair? (07:55)
- Why is your personal brand crucial for building trust this year? (08:55)
- What’s driving the mass appeal of short-form video? (10:24)
- Could TikTok dethrone Google as the go-to search engine? (14:18)
QUOTES
- “AI is not replacing things, it’s assisting.” – Leon Flitton
- “Storytelling is the oldest form of communication in the world…because this is how we learn, this is how we connect.” – Samantha Riley
RESOURCES
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW THE INFLUENCE BY DESIGN PODCAST
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Influence By Design podcast. If the information in any of our conversations and interviews has helped you in your business journey, please head over to Apple Podcasts, click the 3 dots in the top right corner of your smartphone screen, follow the show, and leave us an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver valuable content but will also help us reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you!
BOOK A BUSINESS ACCELERATOR CALL
If you want to be known as the leader in your industry, book a quick 15-minute call and we’ll work together to identify:
Your current situation and immediate opportunities for growth
Uncover the #1 thing holding you back from not being booked as an industry leader
Develop a 3-step implementation plan to increase your visibility
Click Here to book your no-charge Business Accelerator Call.
WHERE TO FIND LEON FLITTON
- Website: https://yourpodcastconcierge.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonflitton/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonflitton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChatWithLeon/
CONNECT WITH SAMANTHA RILEY
- Facebook: Samantha Riley
- Instagram: @thesamriley
- LinkedIn: Samantha Riley
- Twitter: @thesamriley
TRANSCRIPTION
Samantha Riley: Welcome to today’s episode of Influence By Design. Really stoked to be here with you today with my partner in business and life, Leon Flitten. And today we’re going to talk about the future of coaching. What we predict will happen this year in 2024. Thanks for joining me, Leon. It’s great to be here with you again.
Leon Flitton: Thank, uh, you. At least you didn’t say partners in business and crime because that’s not cool. I have said that life is fine.
Samantha Riley: This is my partner in crime. Yeah, we don’t really do crime, but life is good. Life is fabulous. Um, so we’re going to look into the crystal ball and give our five predictions that we foresee happening this year. Should we just dive straight in?
Leon Flitton: I think we should just jump into it.
Samantha Riley: Yeah. Let’s start off with number one. And this is exactly what everyone is going to be expecting from this episode. Let’s talk about AI because AI absolutely came out of the gates crazy fast last year. I think I first heard about Chat GPT only in maybe November 22. Maybe I was a bit late to the party, I don’t know, but I was like, oh, what’s this Chat GPT thing? And I remember by January I was like, oh my goodness, I need to know more. I need to know more. I need to learn this really quickly because I could see how fast it was going to be moving and I know that it’s just going to get more and more and more momentum. So let’s dive in. Prediction number one is that we’re going to see AI powered personalization. So what does that actually mean? One of the things that I see this year, and I don’t want to talk to this a lot because I’m not an AI expert and I don’t know enough about it yet, but one of the things that we’re going to see, I predict is really in the coaching industry, AI coming in and being able to offer tailored learning paths to our clients where AI will be able to use data and analyse clients past experiences, their strengths, their weaknesses, their preferences, so that we’ll get, uh, a created, customised, I guess not a customised programme, but customised paths for our clients.
Leon Flitton: Uh, what I think about how this kind of works, m it’s more like an assistant really, as well.
Samantha Riley: Yeah.
Leon Flitton: So it’s going to assist for coaching, so to speak. So I think it’s important to know it doesn’t replace things, but definitely assist.
Samantha Riley: Yeah, I really like that you say that because it actually doesn’t replace, it assists. AI makes things. Or the way that we think about it in our business is it’s not replacing things, it’s assisting and it’s making things more efficient. Using AI, because AI is more than Chat GPT, right. I think a lot of people when they think AI, they automatically, their head goes to Chat GPT. But that’s just like one tiny. Well, it’s not tiny, but it’s just one platform. Right.
Leon Flitton: AI has been around for a lot longer than Chat GPT and OpenAI as such. Uh, but I think what really triggered it was having the language models of OpenAI and chat JPT, which what really brought us the forefront, suppose usability of the industry that we’re in. So I think that’s what the big change was. And having that ability, as soon as chat GBT launched, exploded. That was a big difference. But AI itself has been around for quite a while in different bits and pieces over the last few years, but just really exploded with, uh, the Chat GPT.
Samantha Riley: Yeah. So I think we’ll see more personal AI powered personalization. We talked about tailored learning paths, then there’s going to be a lot of personalization where we’re able to build our own little AI. Let’s just call them bots. Uh, like I said, this is not my specialist, so don’t reach out and just go, oh my good, Sam, you’ve got it wrong, but there’s going to be a personalization there. You did mention about making things more efficient and this is a way that we’re using AI in our business, things like systems and processes. Now, I know that for coaches, they prefer to be creating training, coaching and not so much in the back stage as I call it, doing systems and processes and handling teams, that’s generally not their favourite place to be. So using AI to create systems and processes with programmes like scribehow.com or tango us like, all I can say is get on, uh, it. If you hate the processes, get on them.
Leon Flitton: I feel like the good part is, I know, I like working with you when we’re designing, creating stuff and when the admin part of it without having to record it all.
Samantha Riley: I love that.
Leon Flitton: That’s the boring bit m it’s got to be done. But I think for me and you, I know definitely the creating part is like the fun bit. So if you can do the admini part quicker and more efficiently, that makes way more sense to me.
Samantha Riley: Yeah, totally. So, yeah, we’re going to see a lot of AI, a lot more of it. Um, and we’re going to see our prediction for 2024 is it’s going to be more personalised. I guess if we were going to sum up that prediction, we’re going to see it more AI powered personalization.
Leon Flitton: Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a great thing, personalization.
Samantha Riley: Totally, absolutely. Let’s talk about number two. We’re going to come piggyback off the back of what we just talked about and I predict that we’re going to start to see a lot of blindness to AI written content. I can already see when someone hasn’t edited their AI written content 100% because I notice the patterns. I’m already noticing the patterns that Chat GPT uses and I know if I see something like that, I’m already scrolling because I’m like, well, this isn’t written by you. There was three emails I started to read this week from people into my inbox and I just went nut this is just AI content. This is just general something that’s been popped out without any of your unique genius or unique experience or any story in there. And I think that we’re going to see a lot of that. Going to be like an aibs radar, right?
Leon Flitton: Yeah, 100%. Well, everyone’s going to say so. Even some of the programmes that we’ve seen that produce copy, for example.
Samantha Riley: Mhm.
Leon Flitton: Which is what most people use AI for. The general consensus is amongst all our peers that it only gets you a certain amount of the way there and you always have to personalise it yourself. Just different articles. I’ve read whatever else from copywriters as well. They’ve said that they still have to have their own input into it and you can just tell if someone just pumps out an AI produced thing and sends it as a newsletter, you can tell straight away, 100%. Usually it’s the salesy spamminess of it, but anyway, you’re right. And then the format as well. The format definitely just shows up as it writes a particular way when it sets the format out. So it’s kind of a bit of a giveaway, but I think that people are going to have a BS radar as well. I think that’s going to be a big thing going. I don’t trust that I’m not sure about it.
Samantha Riley: Absolutely. However, don’t misunderstand us. I 100% think that using AO, uh, language model tools like chat, GPT or Claude, I think they’re fantastic and we should use them so that we don’t have blank pageitis. I think they’re really great. To start things off, I took, uh, or we, I should say took our clients through um, our method that we use with them called the AI artisan method, which is how to use AI to get started, but then how to use your uniqueness and your storytelling to bring your creative flair to your writing. So I’m not saying that we shouldn’t use it 100%. I think that we all should use it, but it’s how are you going to use it and integrate your own unique flair into your content so people don’t become blind to your AI written content?
Leon Flitton: Yeah, absolutely. Should be using it efficiency wise. And yeah, the whole white page thing, that’s terrible. But this still needs your personalised touch. So I think, yeah, 100% use it and 100% have a personalised touch to it.
Samantha Riley: Absolutely. Which again, brings us to number three. Our prediction for this year is that your personal brand will be more important than ever before because of the trust factor. Are you a real person with real thoughts, with real experience? Or are you just pumping out AI content so people want to connect with humans? When you do, you’ll stand out. I think that if you don’t really spend any time on your personal brand this year, you will get very lost in a massive sea of AI written content that’s going to, well, already is hitting, um, our social media platforms, our email inboxes. We want to see real people with opinions, with uniqueness, with stories, with quirks.
Leon Flitton: Yeah, definitely the story part of it. So piggybacking off the previous point, telling stories is something that I think will help differentiate because they’re real stories that really happen to you. So if you’re telling your story, it’s really going to help you differentiate from AI.
Samantha Riley: Well, storytelling is the oldest form of communication in the world. So the reason is, is because this is how we learn, this is how we definitely make sure that you’re really sharing your stories and getting this personal part of your brand out to the.
Leon Flitton: Definitely, definitely.
Samantha Riley: Do you want to take us into the next one, Leon?
Leon Flitton: Yeah, this is something that’s uh, probably all kind of piggybacks together, really, but something that uh, we both actually feel is going to be very big. And it’s actually been shown that if you see the data of it, that it has been growing probably since over the last couple of years anyway. But it’s short form video. Short form video, we know, is what’s grabbing the most attention right now, but for quite a number of reasons as well. So, one, the whole scrolling thing and stopping the scroll is one thing. Um, but video is what people are wanting to watch. And the short form video, which they can quickly snack on it and grab that bit of video, is what they’re wanting right now.
Samantha Riley: Yeah. So we’re talking things like Instagram reels, TikTok, YouTube shorts. People are really consuming this content to be entertained. If you look at the biggest creators in short form video, they’re all very entertaining. And even when they’re educational, they’re done in a really entertaining way. I predicted this back in 2020, and I was on another podcast and bit of a locked horns moment where me and this other person had to go. We’ve got our own opinions, and that’s okay. And my prediction back then was that YouTube long form video will not be watched as much, or people will prefer short form video, because even back then, I was getting frustrated with the fact that I had to watch this huge intro into a YouTube video with click and subscribe and do this. And let’s talk about this before we actually get to anything. And I understand why the videos are created that way. It was created that way because of the YouTube algorithm. But I was already over it. I was like, just give me the information. And right back in 2020, I was actually specifically looking for information on TikTok back then.
Leon Flitton: Yeah, I totally agree, because I look at the video and go on YouTube like a full video and go, an hour, uh, and then you go back to TikTok and go back to TikTok, and then you can just watch it in 60 seconds. Go. Right, got that. I’ve learned that. And we’re moving on now.
Samantha Riley: Remember, um, I found a recipe on TikTok. It was actually back in early 2020.
Leon Flitton: It was like, early 2020, TikTok. So good.
Samantha Riley: It was earlier. It was before COVID because I remember it was 2019 because, uh, we were staying at someone’s house before the lockdown, and I had this amazing potato recipe that I cooked that I found on TikTok that I learned how to do in 60 seconds. I’ve now taught so many people this particular potato recipe, and everyone, pS, everyone that I’ve told it to loves it and uses it all the time. We now have renamed this potato recipe Lily potatoes. The very first person I cooked it for her daughter’s called Lily. And Lily’s just like, can you just. Sam, just keep giving me those potatoes. So we call them Lily potatoes. If you would like the lily potatoes recipe, please reach out and I’ll let you know.
Leon Flitton: I think she pushed everything else on a plate aside and said the potatoes only ate the potatoes.
Samantha Riley: So lily potatoes it is. But yes, short form video is where it’s at. Keep it short, keep it snappy, keep it entertaining. Uh, and that’s where it’s at. Number five, this is the final one that we’re going to talk about today, and I think that this is going to surprise a few people.
Leon Flitton: I think it absolutely will.
Samantha Riley: I predict this year that people won’t be using Google to search. I think the term Google is going to start going downhill. I feel that TikTok will actually take over from Google for searches this year. Like I said, it’s just a crystal ball. I don’t know this to be a fact, but that’s my prediction.
Leon Flitton: I think that’s a pretty good prediction, though. And it might seem like a big call. Um, but I definitely think that that landscape is changing and how we find, well, I mean, it’s obvious, like, we want to know how to make a recipe. Don’t look it up in a book anymore. You go online and the quickest thing that we can grab is TikTok because you know that it’s set amount of time. It’s short. It’s short, sharp, get what you need and, uh, move on. So it makes sense, right.
Samantha Riley: The reason I predict it is because I’ve noticed that I’ve been doing this for a couple of years and I only just realised it recently. You just do things and you don’t. Well, I’ll say I do things and don’t overanalyze what I’m doing. I sort of just do it and hadn’t really noticed. And when we were talking about predictions, I was, hmm hm. I’ll bet if I’m doing it, I’m not the only one, when I think about it. Chat GPT since I’ve been using it quite a lot, I’ve actually noticed very rarely hit Google these days. Very rarely.
Leon Flitton: And I, uh, was just going to say, I think that’s really why you need to have a. Because it’s prediction. You need to have a good brand presence on TikTok so they can find you.
Samantha Riley: Excellent. So on that note, because neither of.
Leon Flitton: Us do, better get on it.
Samantha Riley: Better get on TikTok. Uh, so today’s just a super snappy episode just to give our predictions for you to start to think about. Where do you need to maybe, uh, place some thought or some time for this year for me? TikTok absolutely. Leon.
Leon Flitton: I’ve been told consumer of content, yeah.
Samantha Riley: Uh, we want you to have a think about these things and start to notice your patterns, your trends, start to know other patterns and trends, because when we can predict them, then we’re early adopters and we get that sort of that foot up, that step ahead from other people in our industry. I certainly would have loved to have been one of those very first people that took off on know you can see them and it set them up for a really great brand. So thanks for sharing. What we would love you to do is head into our Facebook group, the coaches, thought leaders, and changemakers Facebook group. Let us know what are your predictions? What have we missed? What can you see? What’s coming up? Or what did you get from today’s episode? What shocked you? Or what did you, huh? Huh? Hadn’t really thought about that. Would love to continue this conversation. Connect with Leon and I on our socials. Our handles are below wherever you’re listening to this episode. And thank you so much for joining us today. We look forward to catching you on the next episode of Influence by design. Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Influence by Design podcast. If you want more, head over to influencebydesignpodcast.com for the show notes and links to today’s gifts and sponsors. And if you’re looking to connect with other experts who are growing and scaling their business, too, join us in the Coaches, Thought Leaders, And Changemakers Community on Facebook. The links are waiting for you over at Influence By Design Podcast.
Leave a Reply