Episode 4 -Why Your Business Can’t Ignore AI

Real AI Use Cases: Business Owners Roundtable

AI as a Mentor and Marketing Engine: Business Owners Roundtable

Hosts: Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D. & Richard Gearhart

Guests: Joseph Varghese, Jen Rulon, and Alyce Frankel

Executive Summary

In this episode of the Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable, experts discuss shifting AI from a simple tool to a strategic partner. Key themes include creating Custom GPT “Mentors,” automating content for sensitive demographics (menopause and life transitions), and utilizing Deep Research for product-market consistency.

Cold Open: The Future is Powered by AI

Joseph Varghese: I use AI a lot in my business—about an hour to two hours a day. I’m able to recreate a mentor or a friend with vast knowledge. If you are an entrepreneur and you are not using AI, you are missing out. The most important part is getting the right prompt; you want to be as specific as possible.

Show Intro

Elizabeth Gearhart: This is the Real AI Use Cases Business Owners Roundtable. I’m Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., podcast consultant and marketing expert, here with Richard Gearhart, entrepreneur and intellectual property attorney. Today, we’re joined by Joseph Varghese, Jen Rulon, and Alyce Frankel to discuss how real companies are using AI right now.

Use Case 1: The AI Business Advisor (Joseph Varghese)

Joseph Varghese (Success Circles): I use AI as a virtual advisor. I’ve built a Custom GPT in ChatGPT trained on my past conversations with my mentor, Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth).

  • The Strategy: I tell the AI, “Put on the hat of this mentor and review my business plan.”
  • Blind Spot Analysis: One of my favorite prompts is: “Now that you know everything about me, what are my top five blind spots?” It’s a way to get “disrupted” in a healthy way.
  • Voice Interaction: I use “Megan,” my named AI assistant, to participate in live meetings and provide real-time advice on authenticity and community engagement.

Use Case 2: Content Strategy for Life Transitions (Jen Rulon)

Jen Rulon (JenRulon.com): I use AI to navigate complex content creation for women going through major life changes like perimenopause and menopause.

  • Research Efficiency: Instead of reading 500 research papers, I ask AI to take me back to the basics and provide hooks for women struggling to find their worth.
  • Multi-Channel Strategy: I use it to elaborate on social media hooks to create long-form blog content, ensuring I’m addressing exactly what my audience is searching for.

Use Case 3: Giving Ideas “Wings” (Alyce Frankel)

Alyce Frankel (The Clutcher Pillow): As a startup founder, I wear every hat. AI helps me give my ideas “wings” by ameliorating my initial thoughts.

  • Deep Research: I use the Deep Research features in Perplexity and ChatGPT to find specific keywords for the bedding industry with high search percentages (e.g., 89% search intent).
  • Brand Voice Consistency: I’ve trained my AI on the “Clutcher Pillow” brand so it maintains the same tone across TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). It turns five days of work into one.

Use Case 4: The 2026 Marketing Plan (Richard Gearhart)

Richard Gearhart (Gearhart Law): We recently used ChatGPT to draft our comprehensive 2026 Marketing Plan.

  • Collaborative Inputs: We fed it specific data about our team, social media presence, and publications.
  • The Result: It produced a plan in minutes that would have taken 4–5 hours to type manually, identifying high-priority points and new ideas we hadn’t considered.

Future Outlook: AI Agents

Elizabeth Gearhart: My “dream” AI is a specialized AI Agent—a virtual assistant that handles my Outlook, calendar, and phone. It would:

  1. Filter and reject spam calls.
  2. Text “potential spam” numbers to verify if they are real people.
  3. Check my calendar and tell callers I’m currently taping a show.
  4. Propose a specific callback time (e.g., 4:00 PM) and add it to my calendar automatically.

Joseph Varghese: That technology is being built right now with solutions like Agenic AI and Microsoft Copilotintegrations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How do I create an “AI Mentor” like Joseph Varghese? A: You can use the “Explore GPTs” feature in ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) to create a custom bot. Upload transcripts of past conversations, books, or articles by your favorite leaders to “train” it on their specific logic and tone.

Q: Can AI help with highly technical research for my blog? A: Yes. Using tools like Perplexity AI or the “Deep Research” mode in ChatGPT allows the model to browse the current web, cite sources, and provide statistical data (like keyword search percentages) relevant to your niche.

Q: Is my business data safe when using AI? A: Most platforms offer privacy settings. For businesses, using Enterprise versions or adjusting “Data Controls” in settings to turn off “Chat History & Training” can help keep your proprietary information private.

Q: What is an “AI Agent”? A: Unlike a standard chatbot that just answers questions, an AI Agent is a piece of software designed to complete an entire process (like scheduling meetings or managing emails) across multiple applications without constant human intervention.