Hey Reader,

Yesterday I shared how it took me 6 months to invest in myself, but, once I did, $5,000/mo became $1M+ per year. I also shared how 4 students, were, like myself, skeptical of investing in their ongoing education, but then went on to be featured case studies in our IWAI Incubator.

Today, you get a chance to meet those discerning learners and hear from them in their own words.

But first, I noticed something…whenever I talk to students who are in the process of researching the Innovating with AI Incubator, I get a lot of questions, but curiously enough, they break down into these four big categories:

• Is it worth the money?
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• Is it worth the time? (Variation: I don’t have the time.)
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• Is it different from the free stuff on YouTube? (Variation: What about the $10 Udemy courses?)
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• What if it goes out of date, since AI is moving so fast?

If you read yesterday’s email, then you know my own journey of investing in professional development – including how it shaped the way I learn and teach, and all the friends, colleagues and clients that my own professional development investments have added to my life.

Now I want you to hear directly from IWAI students on these four big questions, because sometimes, we learn best from others who are just a few steps ahead of us. Here we go...

“Is IWAI worth the money?”

Erich Archer, Emmy-winning television producer: “So these days, evaluating any professional development program requires careful consideration. Anything that takes time and money away from other things needs to provide a ton of value. And this program allowed me to cut through the noise, understand where my ideas fit in the big picture of AI, advance my ideas and network with some really amazing people.” Full Video​

Matt Farr, health and wellness coach published by Simon & Schuster: “Obviously you can spend a lot of money and a lot of time on something like this. And the beauty of this program is with relatively little money and minimal time, you can actually test your idea very simply and know whether it's actually got any real potential and yeah, that's certainly what it's done for me.” Full Video​

“Is IWAI worth my time?” (What if I don’t have the time?)

​Matt: “One of the biggest and most beneficial parts of the program I found was actually the Demo Day. It served me in so many different ways, really powerfully. One is, it gave me a deadline, gave me something to work to that I knew I needed to get things ready for, and that really provided a lot of strong motivation for me to work and be very meticulous and focused in that work to get things ready, which probably would have dragged on for a lot longer than it did.”

Keanan Koppenhaver, tech founder and investor: “It was definitely helpful to have a deadline on the project that I was working on. Before, it was open ended, but when I heard that Demo Day was happening there were a lot of features that I was either able to prioritize and finish in time for Demo Day, or cut and not include for that initial version. So it was really helpful to have a deadline to get a first working version shipped and ready.” Full Video​

Karl Lautman, kinetic sculptor and Stanford alum: “The launch in 30 days project, which forced me to develop my business faster than I would have otherwise. Having that deadline helped enormously in getting my MVP across the finish line rather than dragging it out indefinitely.” Full Video​

“Is it different from the free stuff on YouTube? (What about the cheap stuff on Udemy and Coursera?)”

​Keanan: “I think for me the biggest hesitation that I had was it seemed like all of the information that I needed to learn about AI was available for free online. There's lots of people sharing on Twitter and tons of documentation. But having it all in one place, and able to access in a step by step order that makes sense, was really helpful.

“Also the fact that there were longer videos that went more in depth was really helpful. It seems like a lot of the information that's available on the internet is kind of surface level material, but the fact that there were deep dives into specific topics was really great.”

​Erich: “The Demo Day opportunity was amazing. It put me in front of an engaged audience of AI enthusiasts, and I got fantastic feedback. And I had a lot of new LinkedIn friends afterward, and I've had the opportunity to connect with many new people all in pursuit of AI mastery.”

​Matt: “It definitely kept me focused both during the Demo Day and actually in the days after because of some of the opportunities I saw that might be coming my way through the Demo Day. So that was like an amazing kind of thing that was available in the course that was – I didn't expect to be so valuable.

“But also the other amazing thing is I actually ended up with about 50 people, in fact over 50 people now, who've participated in the beta program for the Intwelligence platform that I'm developing, which is all about hyper-personalized wellness programs. I would have had to do it another way, obviously, but, that's 50 people that I didn't really have to do any work for, to get involved and help me in developing this further with the beta testing.”

What if IWAI goes out of date?

This is where we bring in the Three C’s – Curriculum, Community and Coaching.

We’ve included a year of community access and monthly live trainings in the IWAI Incubator – so even after you enroll, you will be able to continuously work with me and your tribe of fellow students to ensure you are always on the cutting edge and never left behind.

We’re adding new trainings every month – and if you need advice or insight on a new advancement in AI, I’m always there for you every time you open Slack or Zoom.

​Keanan: “Rob was great with giving advice around which idea to pursue and both in person and in the business modules of the course. And I think that it really helped me clarify in my head which would be the most approachable and realistic to build. And then also the path forward of how to actually build that idea.”

​Erich: “Being able to connect directly with Rob is a huge bonus. He's incredibly knowledgeable and can be an incredible sounding board for ideas. The Slack community is a wonderful place to connect and engage with others, and I've met a bunch of fantastic people.”

Tomorrow, we’re opening enrollment in the IWAI Incubator. Your job is to be a highly discerning customer – just like everyone you heard from today.

If you have any questions as you do your research, I’m here for you – just click reply.

See you soon,

– Rob