Hey Reader,

Last week 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 six students, were, like myself, skeptical of investing in their ongoing education, but then went on to be featured case studies in our Innovating with AI 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• What if it goes out of date, since AI is moving so fast?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 last week'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 Incubator 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 the Incubator worth the money?”

​Erich Archer, Emmy-winning television producer:

“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​
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​Laura Davies, Psychiatrist:

"Education and travel, those are my primary values and have been my whole life. And looking at this as education, it was a no-brainer. And what happened is: I got a great education. I have transferable skills. I have learned so much.

I now have a community of people. I've met physicians. I've met business people. I've met people with different skills. I've met people with overlap. We're all very engaged in this space. We're interested. We've got resources that we can share." Full Video​
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​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.

The other amazing thing is that [after presenting at Demo Day] I ended up with over 50 people who've participated in the beta program I'm developing.” Full Video​

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

​Jessica Boyatt, Clinical Neuropsychologist:

“[My project] time [is down] from 8 hours to 1 hour… and I’m not really an expert in AI or software or any of this stuff...

I think it will give me a lot more time to do the important stuff. The other thing that it will do is free up time to do more of the social entrepreneurial stuff while keeping that income stream going with less of my time required...

Having some accountability – I think most people are really busy and knowing that meeting was coming... eventually there was enough steam rolling up that I was prepared." Full Video​
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​Sonja Sulcer, Author:

"Demo Day was great. It actually gave me a deadline to to get focused and to stay focused as I created my app. And it gave me an incentive and an opportunity to gain exposure to a very large audience." Full Video​
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​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​

•••

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

​Sonja:

"I was looking at various opportunities and one of the things that sold me on the program was the personalization that you, Rob, brought. I was really impressed when I read some of your emails and then at the bottom it says, 'please reply because I will respond' – and you did.

You responded to the emails as well to Slack messages, and you continue to respond. That's one of the things that sold me.

And it meant to me that you really cared – You're not just selling a program, but you really cared about the student, their concerns, and the outcome."
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​Jessica:

"My brother was doing like a 'prompt training' thing, and it was so clear to me how different the Incubator was, and especially at the Private Mentorship level, to what he was doing.

He learned very teeny tiny dots of, how do you write a prompt for one teeny tiny thing.

But the real benefit [of the Incubator] is that you zoom out and you zoom in. You get the big picture of, what AI could do. You think broadly about your ideas. But then, because I have access to you and we have weekly meetings, it holds me accountable."
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​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.”
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What if the Incubator 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 Complete Program – 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 to the Complete Program 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.
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​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.”
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​Enrollment in the Incubator is open now, and closes this Friday, April 26. 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