# Education: He is helping individuals enter high-paying tech careers (UX design and AI) without a traditional four-year degree.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 12 Jul 2026, 27 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/be2dcdd5-7d28-4fe8-9db6-b47101191696/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Everett Swain. 🔷 Interview Summary Everett Swain, founder of UXD Academy, discusses how he is helping individuals—especially underserved communities—enter high-paying tech careers (UX design and AI) without a traditional four-year degree. The conversation centers on: • AI as both a threat and opportunity • Alternative education pathways (certifications vs degrees) • Breaking barriers in tech through accessible training • Building practical, job-ready skills quickly • Empowering individuals to change their financial trajectory Swain’s approach blends self-learning, portfolio-based skills, and real-world application to create career opportunities. 🎯 Purpose of the Interview 1. Expand awareness of non-traditional education paths • Show that high-income careers are accessible without college degrees • Promote certifications, portfolios, and practical skills 2. Reframe AI as an opportunity • Help listeners understand how AI can create jobs, not just remove them 3. Inspire career transformation • Target people: • Struggling financially • Stuck in low-wage jobs • Looking for a career pivot 4. Bridge opportunity gaps • Focus on helping: • Underserved communities • People without access to formal education 5. Provide actionable entry points • Direct listeners to: • Free resources • Self-learning paths • UXD Academy 🔑 Key Takeaways 1. AI is both a disruptor and an enabler • Two approaches: • Replace workers • Amplify workers’ productivity \[Everett Sw...II iHeart | Txt\] 2. Degrees are becoming less important in tech • Over 40% of tech companies prioritize skills over degrees \[Everett Sw...II iHeart | Txt\] • Real hiring focus: • Portfolio • Demonstrated ability 3. Skills can be self-taught • Swain learned through: • YouTube • Online resources • Practice • This model is replicable for others 4. Portfolio > credentials • Employers want proof of skill: • Projects • Real-world work • This levels the playing field 5. Fast income growth is possible • Swain’s trajectory: • $75K → $105K → $140K within a few years \[Everett Sw...II iHeart | Txt\] • Demonstrates rapid upward mobility in tech 6. Accessibility is key to opportunity • Training can be done: • On a phone • Without expensive tools • Removes traditional barriers 7. Learn-by-doing model works best • UXD Academy combines: • Training • Real client projects • Apprenticeships 8. AI tools require minimal technical background • No-code and low-code tools allow: • Beginners to build apps, bots, workflows quickly 9. Small businesses are the biggest AI opportunity • AI can help: • Automate operations • Improve efficiency • Scale growth 10. Traditional education is slow to adapt • Colleges struggle to keep up with: • Rapid tech changes • Agile programs like UXD Academy fill this gap 11. Mindset shift is essential • Success requires: • Initiative • Discipline • Self-learning 12. Exposure creates opportunity • Many people don’t pursue tech careers because: • They don’t know they exist • Awareness is the first step 💬 Notable Quotes On AI’s dual impact “Companies are either using AI to replace people or to amplify their people.” \[Everett Sw...II iHeart | Txt\] On degrees vs skills “Over 40% of tech companies do not care about degrees anymore… they care about your portfolio.” \[Everett Sw...II iHeart | Txt\] On education alternatives…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: My guest is the founder of u x D Academy.
[0:03] Speaker 1: It has grown into a beacon for career switchers and
[0:06] Speaker 1: aspiring designers who lack the means or desired to pursue
[0:10] Speaker 1: a traditional four year degree. He has prepared ux D
[0:14] Speaker 1: Academy to the fourth from the AI and Design Education.
[0:17] Speaker 1: Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Master Class, every train.
[0:21] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[0:21] Speaker 3: How you doing, Everett, I'm doing well. It's my first
[0:24] Speaker 3: time in Atlanta, so I'm excited.
[0:25] Speaker 1: Well. Good. First of all, mister Swain, it's important that
[0:29] Speaker 1: people understand when you say AI, what does that mean.
[0:32] Speaker 1: Let's educate them about that first.
[0:34] Speaker 2: Yeah, so AI is the book.
[0:36] Speaker 1: Because people are saying AI is taking job. Now, you
[0:38] Speaker 1: said AI will able people to have a career.
[0:42] Speaker 2: Yes, yes, so. AI.
[0:44] Speaker 3: Artificial intelligence is a buzzword right now. Everybody's probably heard
[0:48] Speaker 3: it at some point. But there are two schools of
[0:51] Speaker 3: thought with AI. One, companies, unfortunately, are looking at AI
[0:55] Speaker 3: to replace people. And then there are the top companies
[0:59] Speaker 3: that are using AI to amplify their people. So giving
[1:03] Speaker 3: them AI as a means of a co pilot to
[1:05] Speaker 3: help them with roles or tasks.
[1:08] Speaker 2: That they do not want to do.
[1:10] Speaker 1: Now, how did you how did you get started? Was
[1:12] Speaker 1: your this is very technically driven? Technically driven? Give us
[1:16] Speaker 1: a background? I asked you be their expert.
[1:19] Speaker 3: Now, yes, so you know what's interesting. I took an
[1:23] Speaker 3: aptitude test. I said I was equally analytical as I
[1:26] Speaker 3: was creative, and I should do graphic design.
[1:29] Speaker 2: Now.
[1:29] Speaker 3: I went to school for that not knowing what graphic
[1:31] Speaker 3: design was, and then I couldn't find a job in
[1:34] Speaker 3: graphic design. Once I graduated, I stumbled upon an article
[1:37] Speaker 3: that says, what is UX user Experience design? And so
[1:41] Speaker 3: I understood what that meant. I was like, Okay, I'm
[1:44] Speaker 3: the one who gets to design how a product or
[1:47] Speaker 3: digital product works and so they make more money. So
[1:51] Speaker 3: I went to go that route, and then ultimately I
[1:54] Speaker 3: decided to teach people how to do the same.
[1:56] Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about this because you in the area
[2:00] Speaker 1: where there are a lot of professional schools that are
[2:04] Speaker 1: giving our certificates, and this interview is about people who
[2:09] Speaker 1: don't want to go to a four year institution. With
[2:12] Speaker 1: that being said, is it people don't want to go
[2:14] Speaker 1: to a four year institution or does people want to
[2:18] Speaker 1: or feel they can be success be successful without going
[2:22] Speaker 1: to a four year institution.
[2:24] Speaker 2: At K It's a combination of both.
[2:25] Speaker 3: I've been someone who is saying you don't need to
[2:28] Speaker 3: go to school for what I do, and it's it's
[2:31] Speaker 3: proven well over forty percent of tech companies do not
[2:35] Speaker 3: care about degrees anymore. They care about certifications. But ultimately
[2:39] Speaker 3: is your portfolio. Can you do the job?
[2:41] Speaker 2: Prove it? Let me see it.
[2:43] Speaker 3: So UXD Academy is literally showing people thirteen and older
[2:48] Speaker 3: how you can become an AI experience designer or an
[2:51] Speaker 3: AI automation expert without a degree.
[2:54] Speaker 1: You know, we've been drilled go to college, go to college,
[2:56] Speaker 1: go to college, go to college, get this degree. It's
[2:58] Speaker 1: wonderful lifestyle. Right now you're telling me a certificate?
[3:02] Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, People's eyes light up and say, wait, I
[3:07] Speaker 3: don't have to go into this massive amount of debt
[3:10] Speaker 3: to get this type of job that's paying you one
[3:13] Speaker 3: hundred and fifty two hundred thousand dollars. Sure, sign me up.
[3:16] Speaker 3: What do I need to do? That's more the reaction
[3:18] Speaker 3: that I get. It's not so much of like a
[3:20] Speaker 3: disbelief like wow, I could I can do that with
[3:23] Speaker 3: a degree. It's more like tell me how and show me.
[3:26] Speaker 1: How Now, with that being said, how was you XD born? Everett?
[3:32] Speaker 2: It was born from a question, to be honest with you.
[3:35] Speaker 3: So, my second job in my field, I had the
[3:39] Speaker 3: rare opportunity of working for a black manager in the
[3:42] Speaker 3: ux space, and it's extremely rare, and so I after
[3:45] Speaker 3: a few months working on his team, he asked me.
[3:49] Speaker 2: What do you want to do with this career?
[3:50] Speaker 3: I said, I want to teach a work in a
[3:52] Speaker 3: corporate space for about ten years and then teach it
[3:55] Speaker 3: at the university level. He asked me, why do you
[3:58] Speaker 3: have to wait to teach people? The girlfriend I had
[4:01] Speaker 3: at the time, I helped her successfully switch her career
[4:04] Speaker 3: and become a designer. He said, you talked to girl, right,
[4:07] Speaker 3: why can't you teave people now?
[4:09] Speaker 2: Two weeks later we founded UXD Academy.
[4:11] Speaker 1: What gap do you see in education of workforce development?
[4:14] Speaker 1: That u XD Academy was created to film the gap in.
[4:20] Speaker 3: The workforce honestly, diversity and not just skin color.
[4:26] Speaker 2: I'm talking about diversity and background.
[4:30] Speaker 3: One of the things I did not like about the
[4:31] Speaker 3: industry was the gatekeeping aspect. People were very pretentious against
[4:38] Speaker 3: people who did not have a degree. And then a
[4:41] Speaker 3: few years later company said we don't care about degrees,
[4:45] Speaker 3: and so the gap that I'm feeling is showing people
[4:48] Speaker 3: from all backgrounds, Hey, you can learn this, and let
[4:52] Speaker 3: me go ahead and create a curriculum that allows you
[4:54] Speaker 3: to perform better than people who have the degree.
[4:56] Speaker 1: So let me ask you that they can be frustration,
[4:58] Speaker 1: there can be in office. No, I won't use your
[5:03] Speaker 1: anger because there are people out there that go to college,
[5:07] Speaker 1: get your degree, may be in debt or may not
[5:09] Speaker 1: be in debt, and then somebody with a certificate comes
[5:12] Speaker 1: along and is competing competitively from a financial or salary standpoint.
[5:19] Speaker 3: Can that create a problem. I don't think that's it
[5:23] Speaker 3: can create a problem. But I think that was a
[5:25] Speaker 3: problem I'd say probably four years ago. Not so much
[5:28] Speaker 3: anymore because so many people are entering I have entered
[5:32] Speaker 3: the field without a degree from a four year institution,
[5:36] Speaker 3: So I don't think it's much of a problem.
[5:37] Speaker 1: Now, good, are you a four year graduate? I am okay,
[5:41] Speaker 1: So you a four year graduate? Give me your degree
[5:45] Speaker 1: background for it? Because this everything you're talking about is
[5:48] Speaker 1: technically driven. Okay, talk about you.
[5:51] Speaker 2: My background is I would say creatively driven.
[5:54] Speaker 3: So I was a graphic design major, which if I
[5:57] Speaker 3: had to boil it down to Layman's termsraphic designers about
[6:00] Speaker 3: creating pretty graphics or pretty images using color theory, psychology,
[6:05] Speaker 3: and things of that nature to create a banner, an image,
[6:08] Speaker 3: a poster.
[6:09] Speaker 2: Or whatever it is.
[6:10] Speaker 3: Well, that's sort of died a little bit with the
[6:12] Speaker 3: advent of AI tools like Canva and things like that.
[6:16] Speaker 3: Now I don't need to have a degree in graphic
[6:18] Speaker 3: design to create pretty images. I could just use Canva
[6:20] Speaker 3: to do it. And so I made the switch. I
[6:23] Speaker 3: reverse engineer my career. I actually said, Okay, I'm creating images,
[6:27] Speaker 3: or at least what the school taught me is to
[6:29] Speaker 3: create images. But I'm seeing where the money is money
[6:32] Speaker 3: is actually creating digital products. So I reversed engineer at
[6:36] Speaker 3: that taught myself how to do it, and I'm sharing.
[6:38] Speaker 2: The wealth back.
[6:39] Speaker 1: So how do you make money? It's money making conversations,
[6:41] Speaker 1: mass to classes. How do you make money?
[6:43] Speaker 2: So I make money a couple different ways.
[6:46] Speaker 3: Won by a consultant as a consultant for companies to
[6:49] Speaker 3: create digital products. Right now, it's the buzzword is AI,
[6:53] Speaker 3: so AI agents automated workflows.
[6:56] Speaker 2: But the cool thing that I've done is within UXD Academy.
[7:00] Speaker 3: I have built an AI experience agency called our Table,
[7:04] Speaker 3: and it's a way for me to not only it's
[7:06] Speaker 3: a way for me to create a learn and earn
[7:08] Speaker 3: pipeline where I can train people at UXD Academy. I
[7:12] Speaker 3: take the top ten percent of those and employ them
[7:14] Speaker 3: at our Table on a project basis. So I go
[7:17] Speaker 3: out and get small business clients via our Table, and
[7:21] Speaker 3: then I bring that work into the school so that
[7:23] Speaker 3: way my apprentices can see what real, real world work
[7:27] Speaker 3: looks like.
[7:28] Speaker 1: Everyone AI, what exactly is AI? You know it exploded
[7:38] Speaker 1: chat gt GPT right that came out like two years
[7:41] Speaker 1: ago and did it? But it's been out longer than that.
[7:45] Speaker 1: And so then you say, I'm a self taught AI person,
[7:50] Speaker 1: So how can you teach yourself AI? African American, black
[7:57] Speaker 1: person of color? And are you consulting? How are you
[8:02] Speaker 1: continually able to educate yourself and stay in front and
[8:06] Speaker 1: stay up because ever changing industry?
[8:08] Speaker 2: For sure?
[8:09] Speaker 1: How did you make decision to teach yourself because you
[8:11] Speaker 1: went to be a graphic designer that's what you've been
[8:13] Speaker 1: trained in. This feels way more technical, it is well.
[8:17] Speaker 2: For for sure.
[8:18] Speaker 3: So YouTube University, I learned, Wow, practically everything that I
[8:24] Speaker 3: needed to learn about this from YouTube.
[8:26] Speaker 2: I found great content creators. I followed them.
[8:29] Speaker 1: They are.
[8:31] Speaker 3: Creating the waves or behind directly behind the people who
[8:34] Speaker 3: are making the waves.
[8:35] Speaker 2: So I just stay right in that lane and follow
[8:37] Speaker 2: what they're doing and test it out.
[8:39] Speaker 3: I tell people YouTube, Google and books taught me everything
[8:43] Speaker 3: I know about AI and what.
[8:46] Speaker 1: Is AI when a standpoint of the reason I keep
[8:49] Speaker 1: harping there because you know, a year ago, i'd use
[8:53] Speaker 1: AI lot. From a standpoint of I have my podcast.
[8:57] Speaker 1: It translates my podcast, It gives me a descriptions, it
[9:00] Speaker 1: tells me give me some marketing campaigns and things like that.
[9:04] Speaker 1: Am I under selling the more I can do with AI?
[9:09] Speaker 2: Yeah? So I like to tell people AI. Just think
[9:12] Speaker 2: of it as the.
[9:15] Speaker 3: It's the smartest person you know or the smartest intern
[9:20] Speaker 3: that you know, and you can train that intern to
[9:24] Speaker 3: work specifically for you. In a nutshell, that's why, and
[9:29] Speaker 3: AI really is like the greatest mimic on Earth. It's
[9:34] Speaker 3: just learning from things that we've already produced. It's not
[9:38] Speaker 3: really creating anything. It's more like mimicking and guessing based
[9:42] Speaker 3: off of its data. And so we have to feed
[9:45] Speaker 3: it good data and it'll give us a good output.
[9:47] Speaker 1: Okay, cool. You don't want to miss an episode of
[9:50] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, So right now, follow a subscribe
[9:54] Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations. It's free and you can find
[9:57] Speaker 1: it on the iHeartRadio, app, spotif Apple Podcasts, or wherever
[10:02] Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.
[10:04] Speaker 2: Please don't go anywhere.
[10:05] Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[10:11] Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me
[10:14] Speaker 1: with Sean McDonald. Let's get into more details here. You
[10:18] Speaker 1: actually Academy teaches design, design tools and AI.
[10:24] Speaker 3: How So I have an online platform built on school
[10:30] Speaker 3: skol and effectively what I do is I've created my
[10:34] Speaker 3: own curriculum in video format, so I put that on
[10:38] Speaker 3: that platform. But it also serves as like a combination.
[10:42] Speaker 3: The platform serves as a combination of LinkedIn Google Classroom,
[10:47] Speaker 3: so people can post which I encourage people to share,
[10:50] Speaker 3: Hey I built this, and then every two weeks I
[10:53] Speaker 3: do a free class where I show people, Hey, here's
[10:57] Speaker 3: what I'm actively working on, and here are the.
[10:59] Speaker 2: Tools that I'm using to build what I am building.
[11:02] Speaker 3: And so people can come in and ask me those
[11:04] Speaker 3: type of questions and then thirdly a mastermind a weekly
[11:07] Speaker 3: mastermind group where people can get guidance from me and
[11:10] Speaker 3: helping build their portfolio as well as working on client work.
[11:16] Speaker 1: Wow, so underserved community. I will tell you I won't
[11:20] Speaker 1: get on a soapbox bodyess, but I will tell you
[11:23] Speaker 1: that I feel that for the first time in history
[11:27] Speaker 1: that people of color, black people who are on these
[11:31] Speaker 1: programs or whether you can call the welfare program programs,
[11:34] Speaker 1: that well you actually with these certificates, like you said,
[11:40] Speaker 1: you don't have to go to a four year school,
[11:42] Speaker 1: four year college or to your junior college.
[11:45] Speaker 2: Well, you can change your life in a manner more literally.
[11:51] Speaker 1: Listen, Please let my let my listeners hear this by
[11:55] Speaker 1: going to your website and seeing the results because living
[12:01] Speaker 1: a life on section eight of staff programs, you don't
[12:04] Speaker 1: have to do this. No, you can live a better life,
[12:07] Speaker 1: live in a better community. I would tell you that
[12:10] Speaker 1: living in those communities under those programs force you to
[12:14] Speaker 1: maintain a certain lifestyle, force you to live a certain way.
[12:18] Speaker 1: For you at u XD Academy can bridge a gap
[12:21] Speaker 1: of academic freedom, financial freedom not only for the individual,
[12:27] Speaker 1: but for their family members and their family and family
[12:29] Speaker 1: members talk to us. You can soapboxes if you want to.
[12:32] Speaker 2: Sure.
[12:33] Speaker 3: The job I had before my career as a designer,
[12:37] Speaker 3: I worked at a mortgage linding bank.
[12:39] Speaker 2: I hated it.
[12:39] Speaker 3: I was making about fourteen dollars an hour, and I
[12:43] Speaker 3: got to the point where I said, I hate my situation.
[12:46] Speaker 3: I don't like this, and so I leveraged YouTube University
[12:51] Speaker 3: and went down a rabbit hole and started teaching myself right.
[12:55] Speaker 3: The routine that I had was I would get up,
[12:58] Speaker 3: I would go to work from seven to three. Then
[13:00] Speaker 3: I would work out from three to four, and then
[13:03] Speaker 3: from five to about two am. I am learning, I'm building,
[13:07] Speaker 3: I'm redoing my portfolio. I am putting my best foot
[13:11] Speaker 3: forward so people can give me a chance.
[13:14] Speaker 2: Unfortunately, that took me about three years.
[13:17] Speaker 3: Took me about three years, but somebody gave me a shot,
[13:20] Speaker 3: and I haven't looked back since I started.
[13:24] Speaker 1: When I got my.
[13:24] Speaker 3: First job, I made seventy five thousand. The second year
[13:27] Speaker 3: I made one hundred and five. The third year I
[13:31] Speaker 3: made one hundred and forty. So it's just gone up now.
[13:34] Speaker 3: Part of that I do know how to speak, I.
[13:36] Speaker 2: Know how to interview, will hered you well.
[13:38] Speaker 3: However, my portfolio is what got me that, and so
[13:42] Speaker 3: I am literally showing not only just people that looks
[13:46] Speaker 3: like us, but hard working people. A you follow what
[13:50] Speaker 3: I'm telling you, you can change your life in under
[13:54] Speaker 3: a year and a half.
[13:55] Speaker 1: Okay, well that next step, what do they have to do?
[13:57] Speaker 1: Will you say? Follow what I'm taking telling you? Where
[14:00] Speaker 1: they're going to have to go to follow what you
[14:03] Speaker 1: are telling us in this interview?
[14:04] Speaker 2: Perfect?
[14:05] Speaker 3: So of course you can go to my website, yes
[14:08] Speaker 3: UXD dot Academy. From there, it'll launchpad you straight into
[14:14] Speaker 3: the free community.
[14:15] Speaker 2: I offer a free community. That's the thing. I'm giving
[14:17] Speaker 2: away my information for free. What you're paying for is
[14:21] Speaker 2: my guidance.
[14:22] Speaker 3: So I take a do it yourself approach because that's
[14:24] Speaker 3: what I did. So I'm going to give you the
[14:26] Speaker 3: meat and potatoes of all the courses you need to take,
[14:29] Speaker 3: the certifications.
[14:30] Speaker 2: You need here, all the books you need to read.
[14:32] Speaker 2: I give you all of that, so there are no excuses.
[14:36] Speaker 3: If you want to take your own time, sure you
[14:38] Speaker 3: can get there in under two years. But if you
[14:40] Speaker 3: want that guidance, well then that's where you're going to pay.
[14:42] Speaker 2: It's just hey, let me give you the course. Correction
[14:47] Speaker 2: that you need.
[14:49] Speaker 1: Lit's say you have a graphics you have a four
[14:51] Speaker 1: year degree. I'm trying to really reach the people who
[14:53] Speaker 1: have neither that's lost here in this interview for the
[14:58] Speaker 1: very first time, trying to understand where they can fit
[15:02] Speaker 1: in it, trying to disseminate reality from their reality.
[15:09] Speaker 2: Talk to me.
[15:12] Speaker 3: So for that person that you described, what I teach
[15:15] Speaker 3: people are AI tools, specifically no code and low code tools.
[15:22] Speaker 3: So no code is exactly how it sounds. You don't
[15:24] Speaker 3: have to know any code in order to use this tool.
[15:27] Speaker 2: If you know some code, then that means you can
[15:31] Speaker 2: take a low code tool and push it to the
[15:33] Speaker 2: max because you actually know the language. That's me no cue,
[15:37] Speaker 2: so you know the language.
[15:39] Speaker 3: But you can literally build a chatbot an agent in
[15:43] Speaker 3: ten minutes with these tools, and I'm teaching you how
[15:47] Speaker 3: to do that and then how to do it on
[15:48] Speaker 3: a larger scale. So I would say again, you actually
[15:53] Speaker 3: Academy's YouTube channel is a great place to start, but
[15:57] Speaker 3: in my community, I also list out the YouTubers that
[16:00] Speaker 3: I learned from. Right, and you watch one video, You're
[16:03] Speaker 3: going down the ramp hole and you can see the
[16:06] Speaker 3: phone that you have in your pocket.
[16:09] Speaker 2: That's more than enough to get you to it right.
[16:13] Speaker 1: And we know everybody lives off their phone nowadays, so
[16:17] Speaker 1: you know there are just many computers for sure. I
[16:19] Speaker 1: was those of my picking my phone. This is pretty heavy,
[16:21] Speaker 1: it is, you know it was supposed to be just
[16:24] Speaker 1: because they small don't be in their light exactly, which
[16:26] Speaker 1: means that a lot of technologies is crammed into that.
[16:29] Speaker 1: You don't want to miss an episode of Money Making
[16:30] Speaker 1: Conversations Masterclass, So right now follow a subscribe to Money
[16:35] Speaker 1: Making Conversations. It's free and you can find it on
[16:38] Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
[16:42] Speaker 1: your podcasts.
[16:44] Speaker 2: Please don't go anywhere.
[16:46] Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[16:51] Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me
[16:55] Speaker 1: for Shan McDonald. And let me ask you this effort
[16:58] Speaker 1: in the next twelve to eighteen months, what major AI
[17:01] Speaker 1: trends or technologies you believe will have the biggest impact
[17:05] Speaker 1: on a small business. I'm a small business. This shows
[17:07] Speaker 1: about small business businesses and entrepreneurship.
[17:11] Speaker 3: Talk to us, so I would say automated workflows, AI
[17:17] Speaker 3: agents and AI powered customer experiences. Those are going to
[17:23] Speaker 3: be the three biggest I say, major shakeups in the
[17:26] Speaker 3: next twelve to eighteen months.
[17:27] Speaker 2: This year was dubbed the Year of the Agent, which.
[17:32] Speaker 3: Effectively I just tell people an agent is a suped
[17:36] Speaker 3: up chat bot that can perform tasks for you on
[17:40] Speaker 3: its own or with you.
[17:43] Speaker 2: That's all it is.
[17:44] Speaker 1: And the reason you're on this show is that I
[17:46] Speaker 1: know that the world we live in is changing. The
[17:50] Speaker 1: way we view opportunities has to change too. And when
[17:54] Speaker 1: I saw what you were developing or have developed short
[17:59] Speaker 1: term opportunities through academic training, I'll point an example to
[18:04] Speaker 1: my audience. I'm based in Atlanta and Goodwill offer the
[18:08] Speaker 1: program where EV installations, and they were offering a paid
[18:17] Speaker 1: training period, and then after that paid training period was
[18:21] Speaker 1: over with, then you had a full time salary that
[18:24] Speaker 1: was over sixty five thousand dollars no education, and we're
[18:30] Speaker 1: talking about less than six months. This whole period, this
[18:32] Speaker 1: whole lifetime experience was changing. What are the obstacles in
[18:37] Speaker 1: your business and how have you overcome those obstacles.
[18:40] Speaker 3: The obstacles I have are trying to partner with educational institutions.
[18:46] Speaker 3: They still operate very in a very archaic way, and
[18:50] Speaker 3: so they are very much reluctant to change. I am
[18:54] Speaker 3: trying to convince them, like, hey, this is where we
[18:57] Speaker 3: are now. You need to adopt and need to train
[18:59] Speaker 3: Pece based off what's happening now. So that's been an
[19:03] Speaker 3: obstacle to try and convince them of that. However, I
[19:06] Speaker 3: don't spend that much time trying to convince people what
[19:08] Speaker 3: they can't see. I go and listen to the people
[19:12] Speaker 3: who I'm trying to help, and they give me a
[19:16] Speaker 3: great perspective because they are telling me what their problems
[19:19] Speaker 3: are and I'm attacking that head on. So I would
[19:22] Speaker 3: say the biggest obstacle is just not knowing where the
[19:25] Speaker 3: hell I'm going sometimes.
[19:26] Speaker 2: But I am grounded in what I'm doing and the
[19:29] Speaker 2: purpose that I'm doing. It allows me to overcome that.
[19:31] Speaker 1: You know, big fear. It's kind of an interesting interviewing
[19:36] Speaker 1: you because you use the word AIAI so much. And
[19:40] Speaker 1: the number one fear in the people who don't know,
[19:43] Speaker 1: especially in the minority community, is that AI is going
[19:46] Speaker 1: to take their job. I believe there are from a
[19:50] Speaker 1: robotic standpoint, jobs are going to be replaced. But again,
[19:54] Speaker 1: somebody got to run the robot. Somebody gotta program the robot.
[19:59] Speaker 1: Somebody gotta be able to organize a strategy to advance
[20:03] Speaker 1: the services of that robot. AI. I don't believe it
[20:07] Speaker 1: is going to replace the job. It's going to create
[20:09] Speaker 1: options for a job. When I say that, Everett, am
[20:13] Speaker 1: I incorrect?
[20:15] Speaker 2: No, I don't think you are AI will replace some job.
[20:23] Speaker 2: Yes it will.
[20:24] Speaker 3: So there are some reports I believe it was MIT
[20:27] Speaker 3: came out with a study and showed that ninety five
[20:29] Speaker 3: percent of AI polot programs failed. That's at the enterprise level,
[20:37] Speaker 3: that's not at the small business level. Small businesses have
[20:40] Speaker 3: sewn about eighty percent of positive ROI from using AI.
[20:45] Speaker 3: And that is where the biggest opportunities are going to
[20:48] Speaker 3: be is to help small businesses introduced safely, introduce AI
[20:54] Speaker 3: to them so that way they can scale.
[20:56] Speaker 2: That is going to be the biggest opportunity. And that's
[20:58] Speaker 2: where I flourished.
[21:00] Speaker 3: And companies that are less than fifty employees, they need
[21:04] Speaker 3: help and giving them AI by way of automating certain processes,
[21:10] Speaker 3: giving them AI what I call AI co workers, which is.
[21:13] Speaker 2: Just you know, effectively chat GPT as.
[21:17] Speaker 3: A coworker, right right, So those are going to be
[21:19] Speaker 3: the biggest opportunities from a small business standpoint.
[21:22] Speaker 1: You know what. I again, Everett, thank you for coming
[21:25] Speaker 1: on the show. I'm an interview and the founder of UXD.
[21:28] Speaker 1: Before we move forward, is there an app.
[21:31] Speaker 2: The platform that we learned on school that there isn't
[21:34] Speaker 2: that for that?
[21:35] Speaker 1: Okay? Cool? Talk to us about that.
[21:36] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[21:37] Speaker 3: So again, I built my curriculum on a platform called
[21:40] Speaker 3: School that's skool relatively new.
[21:44] Speaker 2: It's competing with products like Kajabi Go High Level. I
[21:51] Speaker 2: like School quite a bit. They do have a mobile app,
[21:53] Speaker 2: so again there are no excuses with me. You could
[21:57] Speaker 2: download the app.
[21:58] Speaker 3: And launch into my free community and right there you
[22:01] Speaker 3: have all the access to people as well as to
[22:05] Speaker 3: resources that you need to learn this business.
[22:07] Speaker 1: So because of the effort, what's your legacy?
[22:09] Speaker 3: My legacy is I want other kids to have that
[22:16] Speaker 3: mentality when they go through my course and say, oh no,
[22:19] Speaker 3: I can create my own reality with this. If I
[22:22] Speaker 3: could have helped a minimum hundred thousand kids, yeah, if
[22:28] Speaker 3: I could help one hundred thousands, and it is a lot.
[22:32] Speaker 3: But I believe in focusing on the future doesn't mean
[22:35] Speaker 3: that somebody above forty can't learn it. I have people
[22:38] Speaker 3: who are fifty five in my class learning and they're
[22:40] Speaker 3: doing great. But I really want to focus on the
[22:43] Speaker 3: youth and to show them another option exposure. If I
[22:47] Speaker 3: can help one hundred thousand efforts out there, that would
[22:51] Speaker 3: be my legacity.
[22:52] Speaker 1: Well, I like that because of the fact that the
[22:55] Speaker 1: youth really controls or changes the future. You know, you're
[23:00] Speaker 1: younger than me, I'm pouring into you. Hopefully by pouring
[23:04] Speaker 1: into you, you won't make the same mistakes. That's the
[23:07] Speaker 1: whole core of this show. Money making conversations masculine. I
[23:11] Speaker 1: want to I want people to hear you going, that's
[23:14] Speaker 1: a better job. There's a better lifestyle for you at
[23:17] Speaker 1: u x D Academy at least just look. Do your research.
[23:22] Speaker 1: He's already told you that. You go on YouTube and
[23:26] Speaker 1: verify what he's doing. He's just organized, and I think
[23:30] Speaker 1: that's the key component. You go to the website. He's
[23:32] Speaker 1: really hysterical. He has a video of himself. He's just
[23:34] Speaker 1: he's like a pitch man. He's just he's just constant,
[23:37] Speaker 1: just he's very entertaining. In fact, I would tell you this,
[23:41] Speaker 1: you're after watching your videos, you're not as hyped as
[23:45] Speaker 1: your website.
[23:47] Speaker 3: Why is that that's actually my natural disposition to be
[23:51] Speaker 3: honest with you. And it's because like I'm actually in
[23:53] Speaker 3: the wise learning I do need to work on, you know,
[23:57] Speaker 3: you know, animating my voice a little bit more. And
[23:59] Speaker 3: that is that I'm going to be doing as far
[24:01] Speaker 3: as helping out with the editing too, like show the
[24:03] Speaker 3: funnier side.
[24:04] Speaker 2: But I'm dead serious most of the time.
[24:06] Speaker 1: But which is great. Like I said, you know, I'm
[24:08] Speaker 1: not saying nothing negative here, but like I'm letting you know,
[24:11] Speaker 1: I've done my research. I'm watch it on go. He's
[24:14] Speaker 1: very entertaining. I mean, I'm gonna just put it this way.
[24:17] Speaker 1: There's a passion on your website. And that passion is
[24:21] Speaker 1: driven by because frustration, I think, you know, because of
[24:26] Speaker 1: the fact that people don't know and sometimes you have
[24:29] Speaker 1: to be amped up a little bit for sure to
[24:32] Speaker 1: try to get their attention to show this there's a
[24:36] Speaker 1: better way.
[24:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're you hit that right on the head there.
[24:41] Speaker 3: I am very much passionate on the front facing website
[24:45] Speaker 3: of things because I have to get I have to
[24:47] Speaker 3: get your attention and sometimes and I look, I've tried
[24:51] Speaker 3: working on it, but I've been told that you know
[24:53] Speaker 3: I could be very direct, very blunt, and sometimes it
[24:57] Speaker 3: comes off as harsh, but I'm like this, this is
[25:00] Speaker 3: no laughing matter, especially when we think about I'm gonna
[25:02] Speaker 3: bring them out to my soapbox to people of color,
[25:05] Speaker 3: black people, Look, we are at the bottom and a
[25:10] Speaker 3: lot of metrics, so there is no time for play.
[25:13] Speaker 3: Play like we have to we have to get on
[25:16] Speaker 3: the ball. AI is our opportunity to do that.
[25:19] Speaker 1: It is it really, it really really is, And I
[25:24] Speaker 1: hope more and more interviews. I do like that. I
[25:26] Speaker 1: try to be consistent. I'm not saying a lot of people.
[25:29] Speaker 1: In fact, nobody's doing what you're doing. But there are
[25:32] Speaker 1: other certificate programs out there. Google has a cificate scholarship program.
[25:37] Speaker 1: I just mentioned good Will here in Atlanta has a program.
[25:41] Speaker 1: I'm sure there are competing type programs out there that
[25:44] Speaker 1: are presenting salaries that can put you in a middle
[25:47] Speaker 1: class and came immediately as soon as you pass it.
[25:51] Speaker 1: That's a job waiting on you because that skill set,
[25:55] Speaker 1: you know, it's really amazing. It was like, you know,
[25:58] Speaker 1: there are a lot of things is that our current
[26:01] Speaker 1: president Donald Trump talks about and right now he's talking
[26:04] Speaker 1: about it. They try to build a chip manufacturing company
[26:08] Speaker 1: in Arizona, and now he's getting a lot of pushback
[26:11] Speaker 1: because guess what, there're nobody here can build the chips. Yeah, yeah,
[26:15] Speaker 1: guess but they can if you train them. And that's
[26:18] Speaker 1: the whole thing. That's what we're talking about at u
[26:21] Speaker 1: x D Academy. We're trying to get these we don't
[26:24] Speaker 1: have the workforce, we don't have the people qualified a
[26:28] Speaker 1: u x D Academy. He will get you qualified for
[26:32] Speaker 1: opportunities that will change your life. Did I say it correctly?
[26:36] Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Appreciates Now. If you
[26:40] Speaker 1: want to be a guest on my show, Money Making
[26:42] Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website Moneymaking Conversations dot com
[26:47] Speaker 1: and click to be a guest button. If you're a
[26:49] Speaker 1: small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer, a nonprofit, I
[26:54] Speaker 1: want you on my show.

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