AI for Business: How to Use AI to Save Time and Boost Productivity

Have you ever wished you could do more in less time? Are you struggling to keep up with all your work tasks? Do you want to get ahead of your competition but don't know how?

AI might be the answer you're looking for.

In our latest podcast episode, we spoke with Joshua Boswell from Strauss Marketing. Joshua isn't just talking about AI, he's actually using it to transform his business while raising 11 children and training over 40,000 entrepreneurs!

Let's dive into how AI can revolutionize your workflow, boost your productivity, and give you the edge you need to dominate in your field.

The Bridge Builder Method: Connecting People to Their Goals

Joshua shared his philosophy called "The Bridge Builder Method." At its core, this approach recognizes that all human beings are on a value journey. We're at one place now, and we want to get somewhere else—whether that's more money, better relationships, or deeper self-awareness.

"In business, our role is to be the bridge builders," Joshua explained. "We span the chasm between where people are and where they want to be."

This perspective frames AI not just as a tool, but as a way to help people cross that bridge faster and more effectively.

The Net That Changed Everything

To understand AI's impact, Joshua shared a powerful analogy from Paul Zane Pilzer's book "Unlimited Wealth."

Imagine an island where everyone fishes all day to survive. One day, someone invents a net that can catch all the fish needed in a single throw. Suddenly, there's 90% unemployment! But what happens next is fascinating—people start exchanging value in new ways.

"The net, this new technology, created havoc initially, but ultimately allowed for advancement," Joshua explained. "In our world today, AI combined with advanced robotics is the biggest net in the history of mankind."

This shift is already happening. The CEO of NVIDIA recently said, "If it moves, we're going to automate it." Elon Musk says, "If it drives, we're automating it."

But this isn't cause for panic, it's an opportunity for transformation.

What Will Humans Do When AI Takes Over?

Joshua interviewed several billionaires and successful entrepreneurs about what happens when AI displaces certain jobs. Their consensus?

The future lies in relationships.

"The things that you can do as a human being, your personal growth, development, imagination, creativity, and the relationships you have with other human beings, none of that can ever or will ever be replaced by AI," Joshua shared.

When fishing (or routine tasks) becomes automated, we gain time to develop medicine, art, deeper connections, and solutions to complex problems.

From Knowledge Transfer to Knowledge Application

Historically, much of human progress depended on knowledge transfer, apprenticeships where masters would teach skills to the next generation.

"The vast majority of our mental horsepower and creativity was taken up just learning information," Joshua pointed out.

But AI changes this completely. Now, when you have a creative thought, you can instantly access the knowledge needed to implement it.

Joshua shared a simple example: His son and friend needed to fix brakes on a car. Neither knew how, but his son took a picture of the brakes, sent it to an AI, and instantly received step-by-step instructions. His friend was amazed, it was "like fire to a caveman."

This is just the beginning. Soon, AR glasses might highlight parts and explain procedures in real-time as you look at them.

Breaking the "Good, Fast, Cheap - Pick Two" Rule

One of the most exciting aspects of AI is how it challenges traditional business limitations. The old rule was that you could have something good, fast, or cheap, but only two of those at once.

With AI, you can have all three. You can create high-quality work faster and at a lower cost than ever before in history.

Practical AI Applications Joshua Shared

1. Creating Detailed Customer Personas in Minutes

Joshua showed how he can create comprehensive customer personas in minutes instead of months:

1. He collected LinkedIn profiles of several marketing managers

2. Saved them as PDFs

3. Uploaded them to an AI tool

4. Used a specific prompt asking for insights on demographics, psychographics, challenges, emotional drivers, etc.

In just 3–4 minutes, the AI produced a detailed persona that would have taken 5–12 months to create manually. The AI-generated profile was about 85–90% as accurate as one created through traditional research methods.

"Instead of six to 12 months, I just did this in a couple of minutes and synthesized information about a single individual," Joshua explained. "I understand their aspirations, health goals, psychology, I understand it all."

This approach works for any situation where you need to understand someone better, whether it's a potential client, your boss before asking for a raise, or a target audience for a new product.

2. Survey Analysis for Identifying High-Value Opportunities

Joshua also demonstrated a powerful survey analysis system:

1. He collects responses to three key questions:

   • What's your biggest challenge?

   • How hard has it been to solve?

   • How would solving it change your life?

2. The responses are scored to identify which problems people are most willing to pay to solve (the "pain on the nail" is bad enough to act)

3. AI analyzes hundreds of responses in seconds, focusing only on the highest-scoring ones

This approach helps identify exactly what people want badly enough to invest in—information that would take weeks to analyze manually.

"What if you had to read through every single one of those responses, assign it a mathematical equation, and then give it a final score? You wouldn't. But we just did that with AI in 30 seconds," Joshua pointed out.

Bonus: The Date Night Planner

As a fun example of how AI can improve personal life, Joshua shared his date night prompt. He gives the AI details about his relationship, budget preferences, and time constraints, and it generates three months of date night ideas, from simple picnics to weekend getaways.

This saves hours of planning time and leads to more creative experiences than you'd come up with on your own.

How to Start Thinking in AI

The key to leveraging AI effectively is what Joshua calls "thinking in AI." This means training yourself to automatically consider how AI could help whenever you face a challenge.

When his son needed to fix brakes, he didn't panic or call a mechanic, he immediately thought, "Let me ask AI." This mindset shift is what separates those who will thrive in the AI era from those who will struggle.

Why You Should Embrace AI Now

If you're hesitant about adopting AI, remember this: You've already done the hard part. Your career experience, domain knowledge, and human perspective are invaluable. AI can't replace that, it can only enhance it.

"AI is not going to come and take that away," Joshua emphasized. "You know the questions to ask it."

By combining your expertise with AI's capabilities, you can:

• Deliver more value to clients or your employer

• Complete tasks in minutes that used to take months

• Focus on creative and strategic work instead of routine tasks

• Develop deeper relationships with customers and colleagues

• Create better solutions to complex problems

FAQ

Who is Joshua Boswell and what makes his perspective on AI unique?

Joshua Boswell is the founder of Strauss Marketing and author of "The Bridge Builder Method." What makes his perspective unique is that he's successfully raised 11 children while training over 40,000 entrepreneurs, and has spent nearly 20 years and close to $100,000 annually learning advanced marketing techniques from top-tier masterminds. He now demonstrates how AI can deliver the same level of insights in minutes that previously took months of research.

What is the "Bridge Builder Method" philosophy?

The Bridge Builder Method is based on the idea that all human beings are on a value journey from where they are now to where they want to be. As entrepreneurs and business leaders, our role is to build bridges that help people span the gap between their current situation and their desired destination, while creating value exchange (profit) in the process.

How does Joshua view the impact of AI on employment and society?

Joshua uses Paul Zaypser's "island fisherman" analogy to explain AI's impact. Just like a fishing net created 90% unemployment initially but led to new forms of value creation, AI will displace some jobs while creating opportunities for human creativity, relationships, and innovation. He believes AI will free up mental bandwidth previously used for information gathering, allowing people to focus on imagination, relationship-building, and solving more complex human problems.

What is the key to thinking in AI according to Joshua?

"Thinking in AI" means automatically considering AI as a solution when facing any challenge or task. Instead of spending hours or days on research, planning, or analysis, you can leverage AI to get 85-90% of the results in minutes. The key is understanding that you already possess the domain expertise - AI simply accelerates your ability to implement and execute on your knowledge.

How can AI revolutionize market research and customer understanding?

Joshua demonstrates a process where he can analyze LinkedIn profiles of target customers, upload them to AI, and get comprehensive persona insights in minutes. This includes demographics, psychographics, pain points, buying motivations, and behavioral patterns - research that traditionally took 6-12 months and cost tens of thousands of dollars.

What is Joshua's survey system and how does AI enhance it?

His survey system is based on three core questions: What's your biggest challenge? How hard has it been to solve? How would solving it change your life? The responses are scored mathematically, and only responses above a score of 20 (indicating real willingness to invest in solutions) are analyzed. AI can now process hundreds of survey responses and provide actionable insights in seconds.

How can employees use these AI techniques to advance their careers?

Employees can use Joshua's LinkedIn research method to understand their company's executives before salary negotiations or project proposals. By analyzing leadership profiles and understanding their motivations, communication styles, and priorities, employees can tailor their approach and demonstrate impressive preparation that builds trust and rapport.

Can these marketing AI techniques be used by non-marketers?

Absolutely. Joshua emphasizes that the domain expertise you've built in your career is the "hard part" - AI just accelerates execution. Whether you're in HR, finance, operations, or any other field, you can apply these research and analysis techniques to better understand stakeholders, customers, or colleagues in your specific domain.

What's an example of using AI for personal life improvement?

Joshua shares his "date night prompt" where he provides AI with context about his 30-year marriage, 11 children, and preferences, then asks for three months of date night ideas across different budget ranges. This demonstrates how AI can enhance personal relationships by handling logistics and planning, freeing up mental energy for meaningful connection.

How accurate is AI-generated market research compared to traditional methods?

According to Joshua's testing across hundreds of scenarios, AI-generated insights using his methods achieve 85-90% accuracy compared to traditional research methods that take months to complete. Following the 80/20 principle, this level of accuracy provides the vast majority of benefits needed for effective decision-making and strategy development.

What's the time investment required to learn these AI techniques?

The beauty of Joshua's approach is that it leverages your existing expertise rather than requiring you to learn entirely new skills. If you understand your industry and know the right questions to ask, you can start implementing these techniques immediately. The prompts and frameworks he demonstrates can be used right away by anyone with basic AI familiarity.