[Top Resource Series] Leveraging AI and Automation for Success

Ethan King is the Co-founder of Zeus’ Closet and Stuff4GREEKS, two custom apparel companies known for their creative designs and advanced embroidery for fraternities, sororities, and the entertainment industry.

Peter Bemko is a Business Strategy Consultant with WSI, the world’s largest full-service digital marketing agency network.

Glenn Dawson is the Founder of ResetU Fitness, a transformative health and performance program designed to help high achievers eliminate chronic pain and reclaim their vitality.

Steve Gumm is the Founder of LeadPass Marketing, a marketing strategy and consulting firm that partners with clients on a case-by-case basis to drive growth through innovative lead generation solutions.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[2:15] Ethan King on scaling his embroidery business through marketing automation and AI
[7:29] How OpenAI’s Sora 2 is reshaping video, social media, and storytelling
[11:26] Peter Bemko shares his favorite books, including Frank Herbert’s Dune series and Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans
[15:49] Glenn Dawson shares how he helps people reset from chronic pain and metabolism issues through ResetU
[16:50] Glenn talks about his 90-day “You Challenge” for dropping body fat and reducing inflammation
[22:04] Steve Gumm on LeadPass Marketing, the Gilded Box project, and his go-to apps

In this episode…

Top entrepreneurs and business leaders are constantly navigating rapid technological changes, mastering new tools, and refining their strategies. Without the right resources, they risk falling behind, losing focus, and missing opportunities. How do they stay sharp, scale effectively, and maintain a competitive edge?

Ethan King, Peter Bemko, Glenn Dawson, and Steve Gumm share how they use automation, AI, marketing strategies, and structured programs to grow their businesses and support their clients. From scaling an embroidery business and refining digital marketing approaches to transforming health and wellness and managing fractional CMO projects, they discuss their favorite books, podcasts, and apps that keep them sharp and innovative. Their insights emphasize the value of practical tools, continuous learning, and consistent habits for personal and professional growth.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Ethan King, Peter Bemko, Glenn Dawson, and Steve Gumm to explore actionable strategies for scaling businesses efficiently. They dive into lessons learned from real-world projects, the best resources to stay ahead in fast-changing industries, and tips for maintaining focus and momentum. Entrepreneurs will gain practical insights for growing their business while remaining adaptable, innovative, and balanced.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable moments:

“I scaled my embroidery business by leveraging marketing automation since 2011, and now I teach others to scale with AI without the stress.”
“The 48 Laws of Power is my go-to book; I reread it every year and consider it essential for every entrepreneur.”
• “Sora clones your voice and appearance in about five seconds — you just say three numbers, turn your head, and boom, they’ve got you.”
“With NotebookLM, it’s not just about consuming content but conversing with and interacting with information the way we want.”
“If you’re thinking about starting a podcast or gifting to build relationships, just do it — the ROI is incredible.”

Action Steps:

Embrace continuous learning about AI and automation: Stay updated on AI and automation trends to adopt tools that save time, reduce stress, and keep you ahead of change.
Experiment with new technology platforms: Test emerging tools to discover creative, productive, and efficient ways to enhance your work and daily life.
Curate and revisit high-impact resources: Regularly engage with books and podcasts to gain practical insights and continually refine your approach.
Build connections and learn from community experiences: Join communities and engage with peers to gain support, accountability, and shared learning.
Optimize personal and business systems with technology: Use integrated platforms to streamline operations, simplify workflows, and focus on strategic growth.

Sponsor for this episode

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Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.

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Insider Stories from Top Leaders & Entrepreneurs…

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Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, host of InspiredInsider.com. This is a special episode where I have some amazing leaders and entrepreneurs share some of their favorite resources, so stay tuned.

This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help B2B businesses give to and connect to their dream 200 relationships and partnerships. We do this in two ways. Number one, we are an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast for ROI. We do the strategy, accountability and full execution and production.

Number two, we are also an easy button for your company’s corporate gifting. We make gifting and staying top of mind to your clients, partners and prospects simple and seamless and affordable. Some companies even send gifts to staff from a culture perspective. All you have to do is give us the list of people you want to follow up and keep in touch with, and we do everything else from there. From gift selection to the card to your branding on the box.

We call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background to make it as stress free as possible for companies so they can build relationships and run their business. For me, the number one thing in my life is relationships, and I am always looking at how to give to my best relationships, and I’ve found no better way over the past decade than having them on my podcast featuring what they are working on and sharing it with the world, and also sending delicious treats in the mail every few months for years.

If you have thought about starting a podcast or gifting, do it. If you have questions, email us at [email protected] or go to Rise25.com to learn more.

I’m here with Ethan King and this is great people, great resources. And Ethan, just start off what you do and your website so people can check it out. And we’ll go through favorite books, podcasts, app software wherever you take me.

Ethan King: 02:15

Okay. Awesome. My name is Ethan King. I’ve been an entrepreneur for about 25 years and I’ve scaled my business, my embroidery business, which is very straightforward brick and mortar and e-commerce, B2B and B2C. I scaled that by leveraging marketing automation since 2011.

And now for the past three years, I go around the world teaching small businesses, entrepreneurs and their key execs how to leverage AI and automation so they can scale their businesses without the stress. I’m the author of ChatGPT To Double Your Business In 90 Days. My website is EthanKing.com.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 02:53

So for the AI stuff, can people go to EthanKing.com to learn more?

Ethan King: 02:57

Yeah, everything. They can learn everything about me there.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:00

So we’ll go into books, podcast, app, software. But I have to ask about the embroidery. You’ve had some cool clients throughout the years. I don’t know if you want to mention a few.

Ethan King: 03:08

Yeah. So we do a lot for the entertainment industry. Rick Ross has been one in particular, Tyler Perry. We were working with Tyler Perry back in the early days before he ever produced a movie. We did all the graphics for his plays and the merchandise.

We had jackets worn on the Grammys by Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five, the originators of hip hop music. We’ve done stuff for Marvel Studios, so it’s been a lot of fun having a piece, a small piece in all these little projects, these major projects around the world.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:42

Love it. So let’s start off with favorite books. Yeah. Some of your favorite books.

Ethan King: 03:49

I have so many as you can see behind me, I can’t even fit them all on the shelf I have stacks. I have like four stacks of books next to my nightstand. But if I had to pick a favorite book of all time.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:00

You could do a few. Yeah. Don’t limit to one. Yeah.

Ethan King: 04:04

Okay, okay. Well.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:06

We’ll get to you in a second. Good to see you.

Ethan King: 04:09

My number one go to would be The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. I think that everyone should read that book. You know, it’s up there next to the Bible, whatever the Bible is for your religion. Because it actually cites different Bibles and religious books and throughout history. And it’s, it’s tangible, it’s a reference.

I refer to it often. Yeah, I reread it every year. I have it in every format. But it’s life lessons on not how to be manipulative. I mean, you could use it for evil, but I advise people to know how to guard against it. So 48 Laws of Power. And honestly, all of Robert Greene.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:49

I was going to say he’s got a lot of books.

Ethan King: 04:52

Yeah. Laws of Human Nature, The Art of Seduction. He is definitely my favorite author by far.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:58

I think. I don’t know if it is true, but I know Ryan Holiday has. I don’t know, was Robert Green his mentor? Or I don’t know. I think Ryan Holiday’s mentioned Robert Green a bunch, I believe.

Ethan King: 05:08

I wouldn’t be surprised.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 05:10

So great books. What about podcasts?

Ethan King: 05:13

Podcasts. Oh, so many of those as well. So right now, keeping abreast of AI because it changes so fast. So podcasts have been a great source, a great way for me to stay on top of the changes. So one is called AI Explored.

There’s another one I think it’s called the AI Daily Briefing or This Day in AI one of those. And let’s see, Marketing School podcast is great. I love for me, the sweet spot is like 15 to 20 minute podcasts where that’s a good enough time, where they’re not like. I like Joe Rogan and stuff, but it’s just too long. I mean, three hours. I like Tim Ferriss too, but, you know. But that’s way too long. I mean, you’re taking up a lot of my day.

So I have several that I could mention, but anything dealing right now with marketing and AI or automation is kind of the sweet spot for me.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:08

And back to the book piece. I don’t know if you have yours handy. If you want to hold it up and just just mention your book again real quick.

Ethan King: 06:15

Yeah. So my most recent book is ChatGPT To Double Your Business In 90 Days. And if you’re looking at the video of this, this is a workbook.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:25

Wow. That’s crazy. I wasn’t expecting it to be that thick, I guess.

Ethan King: 06:30

It’s thick and they’re big pages. So compared to my last book, which is Wealth Beyond Money. So let’s see. This is a normal sized book compared to ChatGPT. And I’m always updating the ChatGPT book because AI changes so fast.

So when you buy it, if you get it from my website, EthanKing.com, you get automatic updates every time we update the book. You automatically get the most recent version sent to your inbox instantly.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:56

It’s kind of like a Tesla. You just, it just automatically updates the software.

Ethan King: 07:01

I say that in the book. I said.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:02

Oh do you? Oh, cool.

Ethan King: 07:03

Over-the-air updates like a Tesla. Exactly.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:06

So we have books, podcasts, favorite apps or software? It could be both.

Ethan King: 07:11

Yeah.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:12

Personal apps. Phone or desktop? On the computer. What are your favorite apps or software?

Ethan King: 07:17

Sure. So I’ll have to mention a couple because I just got access to Sora 2 the other day and that wow, it is so fun to use.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:29

What have you done with Sora so far?

Ethan King: 07:31

So far. So I just got back from, I’m on a speaking tour now, and I just got back from three cities this past week. I was in Boston, in Baltimore, in Des Moines, Iowa.

So I got access during the week. So the night before my Iowa presentation, I scanned myself into Sora 2 and I was flying over downtown Iowa. So I showed it in my presentation. And it’s a trip because it retains, it looks just like you, which is that’s the game changer for Sora 2. Like, I don’t think any other video apps do it as well and as easy. I mean it takes like five.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 08:04

Like you could tell the difference, right? I mean, yeah.

Ethan King: 08:09

Yeah. It clones your voice and your appearance in about five seconds. You just say three numbers. You turn your head from side to side and boom, they’ve got you. And you can always redo it at any time. But yeah, I’ve been flying over the city.

Oh, and the cool thing is you can, you can put other people into your video if they allow it. So some of my friends and EO forum mates, we put each other into different scenarios, like one of my forum mates put us, we had a meeting on his mega-yacht in Sora and we’re like, hey guys, come to the forum meeting. So it’s just a lot of fun. And I think Sam Altman is a genius by making that a social media app. I think he’s really revolutionized social media, and we’ll see that it’s going to get a lot of traction.

And that’s a big move for OpenAI because they’re getting their hooks into you. The more hooks they can get into more people than they’ve got you in their ecosystem. So with Sora 2, ChatGPT and all the other things that they offer. So that’s that’s the fun app. Aside from like entertaining people in my AI workshops with it, I haven’t yet found a real practical business application for it too yet. So that’s to come.

So I want to give your listeners one that I am using practically in business right now. And that’s NotebookLM from Google. Because what that does is, it’s the best tool out there that allows us to convert how we learn things. So you can drop in a bunch of PDFs, or website links into one side, and then you can convert that into a podcast with two AI people talking about it. Or you can convert it to videos, flashcards, mind maps. And I just love it because now it’s not about consuming content, but conversing with it and interacting with content the way that we want to do it.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:52

I love it. Any on your phone that you’re using regularly?

Ethan King: 09:56

Well, both of those I use on my phone, but pretty much, you know, honestly, these days, you know, I try to do as much as I can from the phone. And not have to be dependent on pulling out a computer. So both of those I use for my phone.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:10

I love it. Ethan, thank you for that. Again, as I tell people, you’re welcome to stay on, I know you. If you gotta hop off, hop off. I’m going to go to the next person.

But I appreciate your resources you shared. Ethan.

Ethan King: 10:24

Jeremy, thanks for having me. It’s always great to be here. Love the show. Yeah, I have to run. When I’m at home, I’m all in. I’m dad. I’m going to carpool to pick up my kids right now.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:34

Go do your thing. I’ll talk to you. Peter, thanks for joining me. This is great people, great resources. I have Peter Bemko and Peter, I’m going to start off.

Hey, Glenn. I’ll get you in a second.

Peter, just start off with what you do and your website so people can check it out. And then we’ll talk about books, podcasts and apps and software.

Peter Bemko: 10:54

So, Peter Bemko, online digital marketer, helps manage service providers and IT consultants find their voice and refine who they’re trying to look for.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 11:06

Where can people check it out?

Peter Bemko: 11:08

They can check it out on WSIdigitaltech.com.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 11:14

Love it. And we’re going to talk about, we’ll start with favorite books. It could be multiple books. Doesn’t have to be one book. What are some of your favorites of all time that people should check out?

Peter Bemko: 11:26

Oh, of all time. I really like the Frank Herbert Dune series. Okay. The movies that they’ve created, the ones early in the 2000 and the ones that just came out completely different. Kind of the plot lines were similar, but the book, they tried to do justice to the books, but I really love reading those and going back because there’s just so many nuances, so many layers in effect in those books.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 11:58

All right. Any other business books over time that you like?

Peter Bemko: 12:03

So I’ve been re-reading Tim Ferriss’ Titans book. Right. Tribe of Titans because it’s just there are so many again, lessons inside of that based on what you’re doing. And you can just open up any page and get something out of it, whether it’s Tim on how it affected him and something he learned from it, or how the person uses their time or uses their space.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 12:32

Yeah. And I think, yeah, the Tools of Titans book, I believe he took a lot of podcast interviews and created that book, actually. Hey, Steve.

Peter Bemko: 12:42

That’s exactly it.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 12:43

Right. It’s great. So those are books, podcasts. Peter, what are some of your favorites?

Peter Bemko: 12:51

So, I’m a fan of My First Million with Shaan Puri and Sam Parr. Okay. They throw out a lot of stuff, both together and separately. So that’s a really great one.

I’ve been getting a lot into Greg Isenberg, right, of The Startup Ideas Podcast. He’s constantly pulling in people about how to utilize AI, and he promoted a hackathon a couple of weeks ago with Bolt New and bolt dot new is a new tool that allows you to use prompting in order to get stuff done.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 13:31

Any favorite guests on My First Million or the Greg Isenberg.

Peter Bemko: 13:37

Let’s see. For Greg Isenberg he brings on Cody Schneider. Right. Who is a marketing expert. So Cody’s been on for a bunch of different times and they really go into the source. That’s what I love about Greg is he really sits down and says, give me the details.

Don’t just tell me this is how it was, the fun that it was. And what I love about My First Million is that they’re really going between people who are very well connected and like, they talk. They’re one episode Shawn talks about going to the house of a billionaire and what they did during that point in time, versus a woman who made a bought an egg carton company, built egg cartons, but then moved it into a packaging company, and she bought it just through start through self-financing, literally. So it’s those types of stories, the whole gamut.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 14:35

That goes into apps and software. Some of your favorite apps and software you use in your computer or your phone could be any of those.

Peter Bemko: 14:43

So I’m literally, I’m working my way through Notion, right? Trying to get it to bend it to my will, so to speak. Right. Doing that. But definitely Midjourney is my favorite.

You know, talking about Sora 2, I’m going to start to check that out a little bit more. But getting into Midjourney and all of the changes that it started to do is great. And of course using ChatGPT, but I use all three between ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity because each one serves a different purpose. They have a different, quote, personality, so to speak.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 15:23

Love it. Peter. Thank you. You’re welcome to stay and hang out. People do. If you have to hop off. Hop off. No pressure.

Glenn, thanks for joining me. I know you are in the middle of kids and work and everything. So this is great people, great resources. I’ve Glenn Dawson. Glenn, let’s start off with what you do and your website so people can check you out.

Glenn Dawson: 15:49

I reset people from chronic pain and metabolism issues and my website is ResetU.com

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 15:56

The letter U.

Glenn Dawson: 15:59

Correct, the letter U.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 16:00

Yes. Awesome. I can vouch for Glenn. I follow what he says mostly to a T.

Glenn Dawson: 16:10

So mostly to a T. You hide it in that button up. Dude, if you were to take the button up off, it would shock people.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 16:20

Exactly.

Glenn Dawson: 16:21

How chiseled you are.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 16:22

The transformation. One day when I’m ready.

Glenn Dawson: 16:27

It’s okay dude. I mean, it’s good your wife gets to see it and other fathers at the pool.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 16:33

My wife and Steve Gumm gets to see it. That’s it. Yeah.

Glenn Dawson: 16:36

Yeah.

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