AI Isn't Coming for Your Career Unless You Ignore It: What Women in AEC Need to Know

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Speaker B: hey and welcome to the Wine After Work podcast bringing you the perfect balance between unwinding from a hectic day and exploring the captivating world of careers and entrepreneurship. Hosted by Bryce Batts, Co CEO of Career Collective, a seven figure AEC recruiting and coaching firm. Here to share exciting stories, expert tips and intriguing conversations with industry professionals. So grab your favorite glass, kick back and join us on this delightful journey. We're glad you're here. Cheers.

Speaker C: Joan is an entrepreneur, investor, influencer and best selling author. Ranked the number four influencer in Voice AI. She is the CEO of Clarity AI building custom AI solutions and hosts the your AI Roadmap podcast featuring top experts from Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Her debut book featured in Forbes your AI Expand your career, Money and joy became an instant Amazon bestseller. Exploring resilience Networking and financial freedom in the AI era. With 10 plus years in AI development, she has led projects for Fortune 500 clients and including Nuance, Netavox and Versa Agency. She has closed six, seven and soon eight figure contracts and invest in startups like Clean AI and Agria. She's a sought after speaker and has presented at CES Voice Summit and Venture Beat. Her work appears in Forbes, Harvard Business Review and Google. She holds a PhD and let me tell you, she is a force to be reckoned with. Has so many great things to say and I am currently diving in her into her book and suggest you do so as well. Enjoy. Hey Joan, welcome to the Wine After Work podcast. Hello.

Speaker B: Excited to talk to you.

Speaker C: Yeah, so excited to have you on. I see your book sitting right behind you. So why don't we kick off with you telling us just a little bit about yourself and the book and we'll dive in.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, greetings from Seattle. I always like to say hi, my name's Joan, I am an entrepreneur, I'm an influencer these days and I have new book out. But the story I usually tell is that despite a PhD and building AI systems and data stuff, I've been in two large scale layoffs which I feel like used to be more taboo and now just like almost everyone is, ah, experiencing a family member or especially here in Seattle. But how I've been resilient through that is something that people keep asking me on my DMs, like how did you do it? Or I'm experiencing fear or this. I mean you get that much of uh, the same question. How to answer those questions is what this book is all about. So it's called your AI Roadmap and it's about future proofing your career and future proofing your income because AI is such a time of opportunity. Right. We hear that. And also super high volatility. Like I was in a layoff where 30% of the company let go in a day.

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker B: So although it felt personal, you know.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: I'm sure these are ups and downs of businesses we're seeing and I wish I'd had this book and these resources back I back in the day of how to take care of yourself and your family, it's really how I, I'm trying to give back at scale if that makes sense. Yeah, I love that uh, rear and income place.

Speaker C: Well, they say you always write the book that you need to hear yourself. So it sounds like that's what it was born from. If readers uh, are reading the book, what Key messages do you hope they take away from it?

Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, some people I think will come for the queer stuff and some people will come for the real talk on money which we don't have to cover. But some. I did not have that education growing up so I needed it for sure. The three things, if people are, you know, days after work and drinking their wine listening to this and the three things I'd recommend. Personal branding. When people find you online or they google your name, what do they find? Who is that person? I take more and more customer calls and they've already creeped my socials before they. Oh yeah, and that's very common for recruiters too, right? They 70% of recruiters say they search a candidate and make sure their LinkedIn is, you know, before talking to them. So personal brand, does it look like you are you seen for the work you've already done? Networking boring but required. Do you have a flywheel of people? We could go more into that anyway. Personal branding, career stuff and then personal finances. Emergency fund based at. Most Americans don't have an emergency fund. So just starting with the basics. I'm not a wealth, you know, I'm not a CPA person but I do have recommendations of nuts and bolts. Basics that I wish I had done back in my early 20s. So just those three things, personal brand, networking and basic fiscal management are things that I recommend to almost anybody and most of them go I want to triple down into one of those topics or those things I've got a growth area and then uh, I can explore it with them for that.

Speaker C: I love that. Well it seems like you're, you're hitting all the topics then um, with those three things, I mean career, money, personal branding, which I just think is so important and it's so true. It's funny because I will message people that I'm interested in recruiting for a job and then they immediately look at my LinkedIn so I know they're doing their research as well. So everybody is looking at your socials for sure. Yes. Well given, given your insights into AI layoffs, how do you see these changes impacting the job market in the coming years?

Speaker B: Yeah, I gotta like smile and sound optimistic that um, I honestly what companies want to spend more on headcount. I see especially investors here in Seattle loving the idea of a three person team that makes a unicorn revenue type company. On the. I mean when I talk to employers who doesn't want to have amazing employees but uh, need and I think I talked to a lot of employees that are Just terrified, honestly. And my friend at Starbucks right now, they're going through huge layoffs at Starbucks as we record this in February 2025. And she says, no one is productive. No one is actually doing work because they're terrified of their day job being let go. So I think I see a lot of layoffs in the next couple of years. I'm gonna say that. But if we just live in that anxious place, I don't think we're serving ourselves. There's a reason why my book has actions to expand your career. Money and joy. What action steps can you take? What is actually going to move the needle for you, the individual, and at your company, you know, raising your hand and m being like, I want to be part of that new initiative. I'm curious, growing. So I'm, um, worried about nine to five jobs, but I think there's so many other opportunities that we can work on if we are willing to look outside something so traditional that may not exist as much in the future.

Speaker C: I love that. So kind of being open minded, thinking creatively and you know, I don't know what your stance is on AI, but I look at it as like, almost like an assistant for me when I'm doing work at my current job. And I was listening to a podcast this morning and it was talking specifically about recruiting and it was saying that, you know, probably 40 to 60% of our job can be done by AI. But I'm like, okay, but not all of it. It's just going to streamline these processes and it means that we can do more. Because in AEC there are so many jobs to be filled. So if I can lean in, um, to AI and have it help me do my job and, and do 40% of my job, well, then great, because then I can talk to more candidates, you know, So I think there's ways to really lean in and, you know, harness the power of what AI can do. And then also I loved your tip on having money, you know, saved up in case something does go wrong. Because I do think in your 20s, you're like, you think you're never going to get old, you're never going to die, things are never going to go wrong. You're just very optimistic. And then to have that safety net when they do is huge lower the anxiety you might feel.

Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think, uh, so m so many topics brought up. I absolutely see AI as a tool to enable you to. I mean, how much time do we spend doing clerical work that has to be done. But how fun is it how efficient are we? I mean, goodness only knows. I tried these tools. I'm like, woo. If this does provide me that productivity boost or like my team and I are efficient, can we be more productive? Can we get offline by 2pm and recharge as humans? Like I always talk about like getting work done and like working out with my dog. A really lovely life. Um, yes, in that way. But I think speaking to. Because I think if I only speak to the career stuff, I know plenty of people who don't have their financial house in order and that's what actually breeds that fear. And so I think emergency funds used to, they used to say three to six months. But I know people sitting on the job market a whole lot longer and have that chunk of money set aside. I'd recommend a high yield savings account if you're listening. So that my SOFI pays me to leave money there for emergencies. Literally they pay me almost 4% APY. So like I had my water heater break in the winter in Seattle which was sucked cold water for several days. I had the money set aside to buy a new water heater and get the old one removed. Like it doesn't have to be a job loss to have that money set aside. So yeah, I don't know what the stats are about people living paycheck to paycheck regardless of their income, but I think just really thinking strategically about your money these days. Strong recommendation. Sleep better at night.

Speaker C: Yeah. So smart. I had a boss many years ago say to me like if you have money problems at home, you those things you will bring into work because you're stressed out at home, you don't have the money to cover your bills or whatever it may be. And then of course you're bringing um, that to work with you and you're stressed out there. So it's nice to have that in order. So when you come to work you can just focus on that because work is stressful enough. Like let's be real, you don't want to also be worried about all these other things.

Speaker B: Seriously? Seriously. And I, I share a story in my book. It's true story of um, one of my friends who has like in theory she has it all. She has a C suite title at a big company. She makes 1.3 million a year on her base salary and yet she spends it and she doesn't have financial security. So even though her personal brand is fantastic, you know, like the career seems like when she was telling me she wasn't happy at work, there was still, that instability and how does that show up in her life at work, her life with her family, Like I was shocked to know anyway, you know, I don't know how she spends her money, but I think really being thoughtful of that, as we get to those tiers maybe or whatever goals people have, that, that has to be a piece of the underlying puzzle.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's so true for so many people. Your income rises and then so does your standard of living. And then you're like, I can't go back because now I've increased my standard of living and have all these things to pay for and you don't think about it until maybe you don't have the money to cover those things or the savings and then that puts you in a really bad place.

Speaker B: Yeah, keeping up with the Joneses. I mean, I joke about my beat up car. I literally go to investor events, you know, I participate in these things. Be like, what car are you driving? I was like, cars are a depreciating asset. Car dies, I'll get a new one. But I want to spend my money in revenue generating ways. Or like, uh, it's a choice. And they can make fun of me and razz me, but there's so many ways to. About my financial portfolio.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So smart. Well, speaking of investing, you like to invest in startups like Clean AI and uh, Agria. Is that how you say it?

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I'm actually an advisor in both of those.

Speaker C: Very nice. So what do you look for when you're evaluating potential investments?

Speaker B: Oh yeah, well, I think I, I want to differentiate in this one. So I'm an advisor to Clean AI and Agria, which are great companies doing awesome things. I do invest in several startups. Different piece of the puzzle. I guess there's kind of two pieces when I think about my financial portfolio. It's kind of like a pie chart or something. Yeah, I've got real estate, I've got some boring stable stuff. Right. Things that hopefully help me in retirement life. But I also want to have some really high volatility, high opportunity things. I'd like to say 3 to 5% of your portfolio, whatever you're comfortable with, with risk, I could lose it all and that'd be fine. It could have 300 to 500% returns. Truly, it's really exciting. And so that kind of money I invest in startups, my thesis around AI, shocker, shocker in femtech. I think it's a really underserved and hugely lucrative field that I care about. I Think you and me and these listeners would do. And then also climate tech. I really want to outlive 2060. So kind of those things align with my values. Also potentially very lucrative. Also high risk.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: That those, um, could go under. So it's just a small piece of my portfolio, but really exciting when I get those investor updates. Uh, so just thinking about. And like I said, very high risk, I could lose it all. And, uh, I would be totally fine with it because the rest of it is so boring and stable in my mind. So I recommend. And you don't have to be phenomenally wealthy to participate in this. There are crowdfunding things like Republic or We Funder, where you can find startups and put in even a hundred bucks.

Speaker C: Oh, cool. Okay.

Speaker B: You can start little by little. And I think when you meet companies, you're like, this lights me up. I believe in these founders. I find it hard not to participate, frankly. But yeah, I recommend to anybody that your money matches your values. And for me that absolutely in a financially sound way for me adds up.

Speaker C: I think you said you grew up not being, you know, financially smart or, you know, how did you learn these things? Because it seems like you've got your finger on the pulse of it now, talking about your savings account and, you know, your high risk investments only being 3 to 5%. I love that. So how did you learn all these things over time?

Speaker B: With great curiosity. I participate in investor things. I have a bunch of mentors who I learned phenomenal things from. The financial feminist Tori Dunlap is someone I follow closely. I like her, love her, and I think just like hearing information but also doing my own due diligence. Does that match my life? What does that actually mean? Short term and long term. And I'll say my mentors have been transformative in expanding my thought process about. I mean, I say it in my book. I have 22 income streams and I list them out in my book. Wow. Because I wish. Or like I asked my mentor who helped me negotiate closing my first seven figure contract, and I knew the technical stuff, but that size of contract and the way it was structured out of my depth, not in my comfort zone. And he helped me figure out how to do that. And I was like, how did you learn some of these things? Like, I don't even know. I was like, did you get an mba? Like, yeah, only did I learn it from my mentors at golf courses. You know, these type of things are shared amongst certain folks. And so in my mind, if I don't share that and democratize that I am also gatekeeping and that's something I'm not cool with. So I'm not saying any of the listeners here, you don't need 22 income streams, you don't need to necessarily need to nuts and bolts know how to, you know, put together a seven figure contract. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying would it be interesting to see those things, you know, if you're interested in. I'd say you know, two to six income streams to help balance you out or think about scaling in different ways if you do lose your day job. Like I think that expansion of thought is where uh, meet people at. But yeah, I will say, I mean it was so taboo. Still is actually. I write about it in my book to talk about money in my family of origin, but it didn't necessarily serve. I felt uh, really lost and frankly made some now obvious money moves back in the day. I could be so much wealthier. But I that real talk, meet me where I'm at inclusive, not shaming like yeah, uh, little growth content. I couldn't find it at least back in the day. So I hope to give that to others.

Speaker C: Yeah, I uh, absolutely love that you're sharing your knowledge and passing it on to other women especially. That means a lot. You're not gatekeeping the important info that we all need. And your book emphasizes the importance of networking and resilience. Tell us about that. You know, can you share some practical tips on how to build a strong professional network?

Speaker B: Yes. I mean this is my number one thing on the career side that people, I think the chapter is called People, People, people. Anyway, every professional big thing of my career, it's because of a human. It's because someone knows somebody, they make the intro, you know, align the dots, etc. Yeah, uh, I find that a lot of people, especially technical folks like me, people want to build skills, they want to do things behind the scenes and hope someone notices. And by the time you're looking for a job, I believe you actually need to shift your energy and time. And I have a rule in my book, 80% of your time into that. People bucket into the networking into following up with those coffee chats. I literally recommend a spreadsheet kind of thing. But LinkedIn had this research that after Covid layoffs, 70% of people landed their next job based on an introduction.

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker B: So the people way isn't the side way, it's actually the main route.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it's actually data driven to invest that time and how Many times have I pinged somebody be like, hey, I'm interested in this. Like, I didn't even know. Like, oh, that that's something you're keen to do. And so letting people help you just as you would help them, ideally, I hope. But I see networking as this kind of flywheel of support and like good karma that we give. We pay it forward, we pay it back. I make intros like, how many times a week? You know, helping.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So really investing in your network has been wildly fruitful for me. I have tons of research in my book validating this that I didn't even. I was just like, I have this hunch, it's worked for me. And then diving. Yeah, uh, research and weak ties. But just like people are invaluable, ironically, to this AI machine, you know, software that humans are really what moves the needle for careers, as far as I see it.

Speaker C: Yeah. It's so true. And those are the statistics that I keep seeing as well. Like somewhere between 60, you'll read 65%, 70, 75% of those jobs are won by your connections, like leaning into your network. So I'm very big on that. And I, as you said earlier, it does seem that most positions, or most people looking for new positions, it's taking longer than three to six months now. You know, I'm hearing people who have been looking for nine months and I'm like, well, don't be discouraged because you're not alone. Because I've, I hear of people looking for that long before they can find something. But it really is leaning into your network and I think keeping, like you're saying, keeping in touch with your network and not letting it die. Not just LinkedIn, but just, you know, your network in general, uh, until you need them again. And no one knows what you're looking for, you know, unless you tell them. You have to stay top of mind and stay connected with folks. Absolutely important. Are you struggling to attract and retain top talent in your business? Hiring the right people is one of the biggest challenges for AEC companies and I'm here to help. I work with AEC consulting firms and help them with their talent acquisition strategies. Guys, strategies that actually work. Whether you need help optimizing your hiring process or creating a standout employer brand, I've got you covered. Let's make hiring easier, smarter and more effective. Simply send me a LinkedIn message and, uh, we will set up a call.

Speaker B: It's basic nuts and bolts, like going to that happy hour, you know, going to that Zoom call, posting on LinkedIn regularly letting people know. The first time I got laid off, I didn't want to tell anybody. I was in so much shame. And like, when I, my mentor finally was like, post online your strengths, what you bring to a team with your headshot. Oh my gosh, there's tons of people I didn't even know would be curious to hire me in my DMs. You know, like, hiding is not going to serve, even if it's painful. So I think leading with your strengths, being open about it and continuing to follow up, I'll be honest with you. How many times I'm like, sure, I'd be happy to do that. And they don't follow up. Yeah, this is an email one email away, so.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: I can't make you do. You know, you're an adult, so you do you. But, um, seemingly little things really can compound.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's so true. And speaking of follow up, we. I read a book recently that said now it takes like 10 touch points. And so we really preached that to our team. Like, yes, you can call, email, text them, but if you only do it once, you're probably not going to hear back. Like, unfortunately, you probably have to message them on LinkedIn and then text them multiple times, call them, email them. You know, it's like people are busy. They're not always in their inbox or listening to voicemails. So it's like, how can you reach them and be where they are? So you can get in touch.

Speaker B: 10 touch points.

Speaker C: Wow. Huh? Isn't that wild? That is. And then sometimes I get a text that says stop or something much worse. But I'm like, hey, they read it and they got back to me.

Speaker B: Right. Well, I think that's exactly the thing, though. I've heard people think, what if someone says no? Or what if someone doesn't respond? And I'm like, you're looking for the yes, the right person is excited to talk to you, but you will get no responses. You'll get hard nos. I mean, I just got. I'm, um, on my book tour right now, and I got a no, which I was really sad about. But I got a response from one of the biggest bookstores in New York and it wasn't, it wasn't, Joan, you're not famous enough. It was just like, we're booked that time. Thank you for your inquiry. I was like, I got a reply

Speaker C: like, yes,

Speaker B: no, thank you. Meant a lot to me because, uh, just an acknowledgement of what instead of frankly hearing no responses or no open. So Being comfortable with rejection to get to that yes. Yeah, opt in 100% success in that domain doesn't exist for me or my colleagues. Uh, being comfortable with some of those no's to get those yeses.

Speaker C: Yeah, 100%. You've got to be resilient. I think you've got to collect the no's to get to the yes. And you've talked about layoffs. So how do you think professionals can cultivate resilience in the face of shifting job markets, AI and all these different things.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think we've talked about personal brain a little bit. Or at least that presence of when people Google your name. And we talked about the network piece. I think the part that. Anyway, when I. I just did a podcast episode about like what I'd recommend taking care of your mental and physical health, like, has to be top of mind. I know a lot of people who sadly aren't taking care of those things. This is a time to triple down on your workouts and your therapy and your. Because if you show up to that happy hour bedraggled, you are not going to make that connection.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: Like, if you are in this pit of despair anyway, it's really hard for me to do a 30 minute cardio workout and feel depressed and taking care of yourself through that job hunt or whatever will set you up in a better place from all these things. And I just, yeah, if you don't take care of your physical mental health, it could get a whole lot worse. So prioritizing that in addition to that personal brand and that networking flywheel and be resilient in it. And I guess the other thing that I'd recommend, I don't know. Some people may be looking for that next W2. They may be looking for that 9 to 5. Is there an opportunity to also think about that side hustle baking thing that you want to potentially pursue? I mean, I just. Especially when so many things can be automated, when teams are smaller, when my friends at Microsoft are worried, you know, like, is this a time also potentially of reimagining that thing you always wanted to do and see if you could scale it even in a small way. Prototyping, like things I'd rec. Like, there is a fancy donut shop near my house with a line around the block for gourmet donuts. She sells out daily and that's something, um, she loves to do. Like carpenters in Seattle make hand over fist because everyone else is in tech. Like, is there a way for you to think outside the box to make A roadmap yourself. So I just, if people want to, you know, grind it out and find another exact, you know, same copy of their pre. Yeah, go for it. But I would just say if you can have that space to consider it. I strongly recommend people do, do, do that.

Speaker C: Yeah, I love that. Really, uh, uh, you know, lean in and harness those things that you love to do and you know, create the side hustle or the passion project, you know. And I feel like that is part of taking care of yourself as well because it gets you excited, you know, maybe it gets you back networking again and then you've got another revenue stream. If you do land another nine to five, you've got the side gig as well.

Speaker B: It's so true. I mean that's. I literally practice what I preach. I have. I'm just about to close my first 8 figure contract. So excited about.

Speaker C: Congratulations. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker B: It's taking so long. The bigger the contract, the longer the close up.

Speaker C: Sure does.

Speaker B: But I'm not worried about my mortgage because I have my other income streams bringing in smaller amounts of money but more regular, you know, paychecks and revenue. So like I think anyone who's listening to this and they're like, oh, but you know, these big things, these small things, it's about how you manage that cash flow.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: That makes sense to anybody, you know.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Three, you know, three grand here, five grand here, $75. Like anyway, I methods. Yeah, it's, it's good thing to balance it out and I sleep better at night. Think of my mental health being so much better as related to this balancing act.

Speaker C: Yep. I love that uh, you've uh, worked with Fortune 500 clients and closed significant contracts or just talking about your eight figure deal, which I love. What are some key lessons you've learned from these experience experiences along the way?

Speaker B: Yeah. What have I learned? I think working with Fortune 500 customers. Something I didn't realize or learned along the way. My ex boss would call it like applied empathy. M Coming out of academia and my PhD, I thought it was all about the numbers and technical nitty gritty and kind of getting that right when I hit the technical workforce and how we serve customers. It is far more about applied empathy of what does that person need for their meeting. What does my sales team, the storytelling, the graphic like trying to sit in somebody else's shoes.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Relationship based thing is something that took me a little bit longer than I had to really. Ironically, the human side even if I'm literally building the technical infrastructure. You Know different parts of the team and for these contracts that I'm closing. Also something my mentor told me years ago and I didn't hear until like two years later. I'm so embarrassed. But he was just like, it's the people at every part of the business relationship based stuff. And I was like really? And then later I started noticing like there's a human that's going to give you a yes for the contract. The right, you know, the right signatory.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: Like at the end of the day when I do contracts, even digital ones, there are at least two humans signing on the contract on that sow. So even if everything like I'm literally building AI, right? And then there's these human pieces of it and uh, what they need. I think that emotional intelligence is something my customers and I talk about of anyway, just like I, that's something I've learned in business that I did not expect. Wish I'd learned faster. But like yeah, I have people with high emotional intelligence working with me and like, I don't know, sometimes I'm like why are we taking this meeting? And my customer's like, we need to stroke this person's ego. That's why we're taking that meeting. I was like oh, okay, well if

Speaker C: that's the goal, I can do it.

Speaker B: That's why we're taking that meeting.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: Um, just to be aware of that is something I learned and would share with anybody on this.

Speaker C: Yeah. Well I appreciate your candor in that you're a sought after speaker as well. So what are some common misconceptions about AI that you often address in your presentations?

Speaker B: Mhm. Yes. Common misconceptions about AI. One of the top ones would be that like everyone needs to be a coder as their next thing. I, I see a lot of people being like, I need to upskill an AI. Like I just, you know, I'll learn more Python or like uh, I need to be an AI engineer. And I'm like that is one path but it is not what all stakeholders like. A lot of people I think are trying to future proof themselves in this. Aki.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And maybe they think by being a software developer that will save them or some kind of. Anyway, however they're coming to that question. I think it's helpful to know how these are set up. A little bit of Python could be helpful, but honestly software development teams are dwindling. That isn't a stable job. So there need to be people in product management and marketing who have AI savvy and know how to use those tools. Like it's really as we mentioned earlier, equipping yourself to be AI enabled that I believe is the long term or at least next five years recommend. Yeah, from me, but I think I'm um. Actually people have asked me so many times for this Bryce of like Joan, is there a course? So we're like dust AI 101, like nuts and bolts, like why? Or like simple thing or Anyway, I work in this. I have a PhD. I don't mean to, you know, they're like why is Nvidia important? Is a question I think most people at conferences could struggle with. Um, just kind of thinking about the hardware behind these systems. So I think if on the career side I recommend people like what works for your field. And are you in finance, are you in marketing? Work on AI enablement there on the like. This is going to stay. This is not NFTs trying to have a broad base of overall understanding. Yeah. Uh, something I recommend especially for executives to be able to sift through. Is this helpful? You know, is there an ROI or is this just a waste of time and money? You know, how do we sift through for the golden nuggets versus, uh, waste? So uh, those are definitely conversations I'm having at conferences, online or otherwise. The mean one.

Speaker C: I love that. Oh, you are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for sharing with us today. And Joan, tell us where we can get your book, how we can get in touch with you. I'm sure we can google your name and we'll see your personal brand out there, but tell us the best way to get in touch.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you can find me. My name is very unusual. So JoanPolman or Bajoric. I'm on LinkedIn mostly but a lot of big presence in building up my insta. My team told me I had to. And then your AI Roadmap, the book which is the future proofing your career and income very B2C book can be found on Amazon. Your AI roadmap.com you can look through more of the templates and worksheets. Very applied templates, handouts, data driven stories, but all of that. Yeah, Uriah roadmap.com is the main hub for all of that.

Speaker C: I love that. Well your team shared it with me and I've read just a little bit. So I look forward to diving into your book because I love what we discussed today and I see how it's so helpful for the next generations.

Speaker B: Thank you. Well, I hope people it's already gotten some great reviews and I really. I don't make any money on the book. I'll be honest with you. I make like $3 per book sold. I think it's $25 right now. I think the people who reading, reading it will get an extremely high ROI for any of the buckets we just talked about. I wish I'd had this book even two years ago. So, even just looking at the website and seeing if there's anything that you're interested, like the. The listener, if anything resonates with you, and reading some of the reviews of people who aren't me, I hope it meets people where they're at.

Speaker C: Oh, I'm sure that it will. Well, thank you, Joan. I really appreciate having you on.

Speaker B: Thank you so much. It's been delightful.

Speaker C: Before we wrap up, I have a question for you. Does your company have a clear and effective hiring strategy? If not, you're not alone. Many businesses struggle to attract, hire, and retain the right people. And that's exactly why I offer consulting services for AEC firms. From talent acquisition strategy to employer branding. I can help you. I, uh, help businesses just like yours build hiring processes that work. If you want to hire smarter and scale faster, let's chat. Simply send me a LinkedIn message.

Speaker B: And that concludes another engaging episode of the Wine After Work podcast. We hope you enjoyed your discussion today and learned something new. Remember, there's always more to explore when it comes to your career. So until next time, raise your glasses high, and may your evenings be filled with delightful sips and enriching conversations. Cheers, and we'll see you soon on the next episode of Wine After Work.

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