Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: So hello, John Prather from Washington. It's lovely to have you on The Jo Show. Thank you for coming. a full-time engineer. There's lots to get into today. You've played professional football and you're building an online business. So when do you sleep?

John Prather: Yeah, well, I'm excited to be on the show. Yeah, definitely comes hard sometimes. And I'm a new father, which is another accolade to add on to there. But yeah, definitely busy, busy, but productive, which is great.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Yeah, okay, so what's the actual rhythm of your day now that you've got that in the mix as well?

John Prather: Yeah. Yeah. So, so as a, as an engineer, so kind of that, that nine to five, eight to five timeframe is obviously cornered off for, for job work. ⁓ and then that five to nine, five to 10 time period is really where I focus in and hone in on my business. I remember one of my mentors told me when I first started my business that, you know, nine to five pays the bills, but five to nine, you know, builds the lifestyle. ⁓ so that's kind of how I've been, how I've been doing it, you know, obviously balancing it, you know, three, four, five nights a week, ⁓ building my online business, but it's been fun. It's been. exciting and my wife and I, build it together. So it's been, you know, kind of a passion project for the both of us.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: That is fantastic. And I think with the pace of change, people are realizing that to be entrepreneurial is for now the way through that we see. So being able to do side projects as well as your main gig is so important. And I love that you've come on today and you can share a bit about how that's working for you. So what did you have to stop doing to make room for this?

John Prather: Yeah, yeah, no, I work with a lot of my clients on this is about ⁓ priority management. know, a of people say time management, which is important. You have to manage your time and do different things. But, you know, I feel like time just goes, you know, but you can manage your priorities. So for me, one of the things I had to kind of do like a time budget for myself and audit, you know, what's more important, what's less important. So for me, what I really started to cut out was obviously the scrolling time, the TV time, know, kind of those nonproductive tasks. And I started to funnel that time into my business. And I realized a lot of the things I was already doing, I could start doing, but now make a profit with, you know, like being on social media. You know, now if I just post content rather than consume all this content, I can start making money with it. You know, an online business, a lot of the products and services that I market are things that I use on an everyday basis, you know, water, you know, toiletries, different things like that. I was like, huh, well, if I just start to transition where I'm spending my money, I can just start making money with it and promote it to other people. So yeah, so it was a, of like a switch if that kind of makes sense to being a consumer to now like a producer.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: That's a fantastic point to flip it on its head to take the time you were already using scrolling social media and be a producer instead of a consumer and make it work for you. Bring in the dollars. that's great. What would you say to people who think they don't have time? Because we all think we're bit of a special case. know, I don't have time because...

John Prather: Yeah, I guess what I would say is it's to somebody just like myself. When I was, you know, new college graduate, just starting off in the workforce, you know, starting my own business, ⁓ it's taking one day at a time. You know, I feel like at least for me, I would always try to, you know, I was kind of an analytical thinker, you know, wanted to get everything perfect perfectionist. And, you know, that kind of stunts your ability to move forward. ⁓ so, so that would be my recommendation is just take it one day at a time. Don't overcommit, you know, to doing something for the next three to five years. You know, what can you do this week, this month? that can start to move the ball forward and then opportunities and windows will start to open up as you start moving forward.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: That is so gentle. That is actually beautiful. You know, rather than people feeling like they're going to be hit over the head with a massive program, they have to follow for something really good. Yeah. So you're using AI to make this work. Let's get into some specifics. So walk me through one thing that AI handles for you that used to take you hours, but now it's just saving that time.

John Prather: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the top thing I would say, I would say the top two things, the, the number one thing though is a sales funnel. So having something that can have a webpage that can be running 24 by seven that I can use as a call to action for people to sign up for and get some free information has been a lifesaver because I feel like in most businesses, cold prospecting, cold calling, reaching out to people takes hours and hours. And there is still an aspect of that that I do do. But using a sales funnel to be able to grab information so that I can reach out to my audience directly and being able to put my business offers in front of them has been a lifesaver. And then the other, you know, I'd say one B would also be kind of social media planner where it kind of like can post content for you so you can batch create it. And then you can have it go out, you know, on autopilot rather than having to sit there every day and post, add your captions and all this. ⁓ But the sales funnel definitely I would say would be number one. ⁓ biggest time saver for me as a business owner.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Okay, so what tools do you use? Can you name particular AI tools that you're using at the moment in your business?

John Prather: the one that I use primarily for my funnels is system.io. ⁓ very popular one is called ClickFunnels ⁓ Russell Brunson. I know he has he's built that out as well. ⁓ it's super, super helpful. ⁓ The cool part about it is that back in the day, obviously, you had to kind of create your whole website from scratch. Now with a lot of these sales funnels, there's so many templates that it's ⁓ quick and easy. You know, it took me maybe an hour or two. you know, to really get into it now to tweak it, get it good. You know, I kind of, again, being a perfectionist took a little bit longer. ⁓ but the basic framework of it, you know, took like an hour or two and I was able to start gathering leads and, promoting it on my social media platform. So yeah, system.io is the one that I use. ⁓ I've seen as pretty affordable, but ClickFunnels is another one.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: But what I like is that all of these platforms are building AI aspects into the platforms now. So for people who might've once had to hire a copywriter, which I've done for hundreds of agencies where they'd say, can you write the copy for this funnel? they can prompt it well, ⁓ getting to the stage where they can get very, very good results out of it. So imagining that system.io is probably doing that. Is that the case? They've got little features there to help out or?

John Prather: Correct. Correct. Yeah. And anything that it doesn't again, chat, GPT, grok, all those, all those other AI tools are super helpful. Like you said, sort of the, the copywriting, the, know, even with email newsletters, those are super, super helpful. So it's able to help me keep my clients on my list engaged as I'm, you know, kind of moving them down the funnel, you know, cause like we were talking just before the episode, takes a couple of interactions for somebody to meet you, get to know you before they actually want to buy and work from you. So. those have been super helpful, you know, with, ⁓ you know, utilizing that AI and then also having some virtual assistants help out just to kind of give that human touch to it. But yeah, system.io has great features for AI implementation.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Yeah, it's a good setup actually. I've seen a number of people using it very, very well. So, and I think that the key now will be learning the art of prompting as we move forward so that people can differentiate their business from the others because everybody's using, you know, a handful of the same AI's to spit out stuff. And so the way we can have an edge is by crafting that prompt so that the output stands out. Let's talk about automated systems broadly with the AI features in them. If they've never used them, where would you suggest that they begin? You know, if they're sort of listening to this and going, ⁓ my goodness, I'm, working in the day for a job at a job and I want to earn some money at night. And what do I, what do I start with? You know,

John Prather: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I can definitely say, guess I can give a suggestion of where I started. ⁓ The first thing that I prompted myself to do, like I said, I utilized the sales funnels. ⁓ The first thing I did was I created what they call is like a lead magnet. So something that's free, but intriguing enough for your audience that they would want, you know, get value out of it, not just something that's, know, that doesn't have any value, but something that's free that they can, you know, ⁓ go to your sales funnel or webpage. give you their email so that they can be enrolled onto your email list ⁓ is the first thing that I did. So you can create something or you can also use affiliate offers. And that's what I would say would be the second thing, which is where you can really monetize it, where you can use affiliate offers or like myself being in network marketing, I have my own business, which is somewhat affiliate based where, you I don't manufacture the products, but I can use the manufacturers to make money with it. Then the second step, once you get a list of names, you can then funnel those list of names into a sales funnel. This can be email marketing. So you can start emailing your list, whether it be daily or weekly, ⁓ to present your offer to them. Or you can right after that freebie, you know, offer them an opportunity to buy something related to the freebie. That's a paid object. But I would definitely highly recommend for most people to start with some sort of an affiliate or network marketing type offer. That way you don't have to create it all from scratch, especially if you're brand new. because trying to figure out number one, you don't really know what works. So if you're utilizing an affiliate offer, you already know, hey, somebody is making money with this. So I just have to figure out how to it work for me. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So it allows it to kind of start without the huge hurdle of, do I create this big offer for somebody to pay me $3,000? It's like, just use somebody else's offer and kind of start from there. that free lead generation, that freebie, I like to call it, is a good place to start. Cause there's a lot of stuff on YouTube or social media where you could use as a freebie for people that are interested in those that click on it. Boom, then you can get their emails and then you can start playing around with giving them offers, obviously in a way that they like, so you don't want to spam them. That's obviously not what you want to do.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: And starting as an affiliate to give you those marketing tools to support you often with many setups, which is because there's a lot of psychology even to create a lead magnet. You know, you have to have it, as you say, valuable enough that people will exchange something personal, their email address for it. And then you have to leave them hanging enough that it doesn't quite solve the problem. It gives them enough to trust you, but they still, they haven't got that loop closed. They do need to take the next step and then they build that tension and having to. come up with the idea for that and create it in a way that is effective is a lot of effort. So I like what you're saying for people just starting out, just go with what's proven and cut your teeth on something that there were, where there are some tools to help you. So that's really, ⁓ really helpful. think people are feeling quite uncertain about the pace of change at work and how do they protect themselves? And if they want to have a different stream of income, that's a good way to begin. So.

John Prather: Yeah, definitely. And that's actually kind of on that same topic where would I work with most of my clients on is kind of in those beginning stages, what is the best lead magnet to start off with? How do you start generating, you know, revenue with an affiliate offer? And then as you get more comfortable and confident, how can you start creating your own offers? And it's kind of, again, it's organic, kind of like I said, with starting off with your time, you know, just commit to a little bit, you know, when you first get started, you know, and then start going, you know, slowly but surely, you know, like again, system.io, which I mentioned. they have a free offer where I think you can create two or three funnels just for free, you know, just as in their free package. So it kind of gives you a little bit to start playing around with. And then as you start saying, ⁓ wow, this is cool. I'm getting the hang of it. You know, then obviously you can kind of ramp it up, but, but yeah, I mean, you kind of hit it right on the head there. So.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: That's excellent. How do you decide what to automate and what still needs the human touch? You know, it's a bit of a balance there.

John Prather: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's kind of again, it's two sides of the same, you know, pendulum where it's like, you know, you want to have as much human touch as possible. Because again, like you said, almost everybody's utilizing AI. So it's like, people can kind of see when it's chat GPT and when it's you, you know, so, you know, but on the flip side is you don't want to do obviously everything for yourself, because then it wastes a lot of your time. So you do want to optimize. So for me, I mean, I think broad brush, generally speaking, what one of my mentors has taught me is anything that you aren't competent in, or you just don't want to spend the time doing, that's where you want to try to find a way to automate as much as possible. If you really enjoy a task and you are really good at it, I would recommend to maintain that under your umbrella of things that you do actively ⁓ until you get to the point to where you've automated it and you have some good, you can get AI up to the point to where it can kind of work as good as you. But it is kind of a balance. It's an art. I wouldn't say that every single person should do the exact same cookie cutter method. There are general broad brush things that everybody can do. Like we said, creating a funnel, having a lead magnet, using email automation. But generally speaking, when it comes to the actual content or what lead generation freebie that you offer people, it definitely is about the person. What are they interested in? What are they like? Because again, the audience you create, it's going to be easier if you like those same things to create an audience around that for sure.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: It's true. It's true. Over the years, I've sold plenty of things that are not anything I'm particularly interested in. the way I've kept the magic in there so that I can do it authentically is recognizing the benefit it brings to the person who actually wants to buy that, that they love it. And that's enough for me sometimes, but it does help if you love what you're doing. That certainly makes a difference. Has AI ever got it wrong for you and had a bit of a faux pas like.

John Prather: I mean, there's definitely been times where, you know, when, building out, know, whether it be, you know, part of the sales funnel or in the emails, you know, it's kind of messed up certain things in terms of wording or lettering or how they want to break things down. So, ⁓ you know, one of the things again, kind of, like I said, I always go back through, you know, kind of with my own eyes and make sure that everything is kind of the way I like it. And I always like to put myself in the position of the person looking at whatever content I'm putting out, ⁓ and just making sure that, you know, okay, if I were. my ideal client, know, somebody that's looking for extra income wants to start their own business, like, would this connect with them? Would this be something that they would like? So there definitely are times, know, again, AI, like you said, you have to get the right prompt really to get it out. ⁓ But as long as you go back through it, you know, I've seen that it does get you 80 to 90 % of the way there, which is, again, really helpful in terms of being a time saver.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: I think keeping the instructions for your AI concise, detailed enough that it gets the vibe properly, but also concise, but also refreshing it periodically because it starts to deteriorate a little bit. It's getting better for how long it can cope, but just refreshing it periodically makes a big difference as well. So that's really great. ⁓ So with your mindset and your systems, You know, having a family, working full time, building a business on the side. I don't know if you still get time to play football occasionally, but what shift in your mindset made all of this possible initially?

John Prather: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. mean, I would say the biggest thing when I first started in business, ⁓ the mindset was definitely about making extra money. So I got started right after college. I was actually in the process of playing professionally in Canada and then in arena football. And it was during that timeframe when I first started my own online business and network marketing. And it was perfect timing, spare time, was able to keep working out, doing the things I wanted to do. Then subsequently ended up starting to transition to as an engineer, nine to five, and maintain that business. And initially the mindset was really just about money. You know, how can I make extra income? You know, kind of that dream of financial freedom, you know, wanting to quit my job as soon as possible, you know, all the things that you you think when you're young and, you know, ambitious. But I would definitely say as I've grown, it's transitioned into helping other people. You know, one of my mentors, Bill Britt always says, you know, the true definition of success isn't how much money you make or the things that you get, but it's the people that you help along the way. You know, so that's definitely been something as I've grown in my entrepreneurial journey, um, that has been kind of that motivation, you know, to, impact other people. Cause like you said, it's, time consuming, you know, it takes time away from family and things that you want to do to build a business. Um, so making sure that it's kind of in alignment with those goals and values, um, has been key. Um, but like I said, it kind of started off with money. is money. Obviously I want to continue to make more money, but you know, helping other people and, know, making an impact, leaving a legacy has definitely been. the transition I would say to where it is now.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: There's absolutely no shame in money being the motivation to start a business. think sometimes people, ⁓ I guess I come from a background where it had to be all about the mission, which is, as you say, it is very good long term, but there is that first instance where you have to sort of deal with Maslow's hierarchy of needs and get yourself clothed and fed so that you can lower the stress levels enough to think long term and go, okay, what do I want to contribute now? So yeah. absolutely valid reasons to be getting into business, that's for sure. What's the difference for you between building systems for your business and just working more to make more money and have more impact?

John Prather: Yeah, I think that the biggest difference is kind of, again, it's the mindset. It's what do I want to accomplish? How far do you want to go? Because again, the more you actively, you know, again, kind of as an engineer, analytical thinker, the more I want to control, control, control and do everything myself, to some extent, it's definitely beneficial, but it limits the amount of time I have to do other things. So it's definitely been something again, especially as I've had my daughter and, you know, growing our family, you know, it's been something I've thought about and wanted to be very intentional of. I really want to build out systems, you know, to the point to where it can operate just as good as I can as much as possible, but also making sure that I'm engaged and involved at the key important aspects, you know, so as much as I can automate, you know, for example, utilizing the sales funnels, the email marketing, you know, utilizing social media content to kind of get that reach, you know, reach those colder contacts, you know, and then as they start to come into my world, now my time can be more effectively spent on those warmer relationships. People like we were talking about who maybe have had two, three, four, five interactions with me on social media. Now when we first sit down to talk, it's not, hey, let's go through all the rigmarole of introducing myself and what I do, but it's more of, hey, you already find value in what we're doing. How can I help you? So it takes so much time out ⁓ from what I was used to doing to where we are now. So that's, would say, kind of the mindset. it's a balance. You can't go too far into systems, then it becomes kind of diluted and you're not needed anymore. ⁓ But you also don't want to be too hands-on because then ⁓ it obviously takes away a significant amount of time.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Hmm. It's definitely systems. Even I used to have a team for my marketing agency and I loved them to bits. And then I realized I actually prefer working alone about a year ago. And it, I'm not generally a systems person, but it compelled me to think, how am going to make this work? Because I suddenly had to do the work of, you know, three or four people. And it was before ⁓ all the recent explosion of our agents, particularly in the last month or so. But it's been a beautiful experience actually. I've found that systems bring a real sense of calm and certainty. ⁓ It's really, really good. I think as an engineer, you've got a head start on knowing how to construct those well.

John Prather: Yep, yep, absolutely, absolutely.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: With beliefs about online businesses, there anything that you had to unlearn so that you were sort of free to run with it?

John Prather: Yeah, yeah. mean, guess from the basic level of, you know, growing up, you know, I think most people are taught growing up, you know, that whole go to school, get a good education, get a good job mindset. And that's really what I followed, you know. So from a basic perspective, I definitely had to kind of grow out of that mindset of there's only a one track, you know, way to do things, you know, kind of, I think the book Mindset by Carol Dweck, she talks about obviously a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, you know. So definitely growing up, would say, I mean, there was definitely aspects where I had a growth mindset, but just overall the way that I thought about money and how to be successful was, was I would say very fixed. You know, it's, you know, working on a job for a long period of time, working your way up the ladder. ⁓ that was the first big barrier I had to break was to realize that, there's, there's other ways of making money. ⁓ there's different avenues that you can go down. And then another big one, which kind of ties into football a little bit. ⁓ but it's being able to handle rejection, you know, cause obviously in sales and business, not everyone's going to believe, ⁓ even though they might believe overall in entrepreneurship and business, they might not believe in what you do and they might not be meant to be a part of your team and what you're looking to do. So being able to kind of balance that, I feel like that last key part I definitely built through football, know, playing in college and then going on to be professional. There was a lot of opinions about what you should do, what you shouldn't do. So I feel like I was able to transition that into business as well. But I would say those are kind of the main things is, you know, having that growth mindset. realizing that there's multiple ways to achieve your goals and then being willing to embrace some rejection and realize that not everybody has to agree with what I'm doing for me to be successful at it and to move forward. And I feel like that's where it stops a lot of people, ⁓ you know, cause they just sometimes don't have a thick enough skin to just push forward, you know, right on the other side of their obstacle is oftentimes, you know, their blessing, but they just don't push through to get it. So ⁓ those are the three things I would say that I had to change.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: That's so valuable. But I think of all the times we, you know, might talk to friends who are overthinking something before they launch it because they're worried that it won't work and all that sort of thing. So being comfortable with rejection and looking at different ways through a problem is incredibly valuable. I'm so glad that you've shared that. Yeah. So if you hit a wall and something's just not working, like it might be a really stubborn thing. How do you go about troubleshooting that?

John Prather: Yeah, that's a really good question. of. I mean, the first thing that I would do is kind of obviously assess the situation. You know, is it something that I'm particularly doing that isn't working or is it something again, as a part of a system where it's like, hey, this part of the funnel isn't working. And then kind of going in and I guess, you know, really, you know, using that active effort, you know, so one example that I can give that that happened recently was one of the funnels that I was building out, you know, just wasn't getting the results, you know, I was getting some leads from it. but then transitioning some of those leads into actual buyers and clients, um, was just, wasn't progressing at the percentage that I would like. Um, so one of the things that I had to do is I sat down with my mentor. We kind of worked through it, saw the, saw the funnel and was like, you know what, this is a little bit overcomplicated. It's a little bit wordy. That's probably why it's not getting the results that you're looking for. Um, so we sat down and worked through it, you know, and decided, Hey, you know what, let's, you know, redo this a little bit, you know, and scrap this funnel and kind of just go with the more traditional one that we had been working on. ⁓ so, so that's what would be my thing is, you know, sitting down, trying to figure it out yourself, but then ultimately having a mentor who can sit down beside you and help you, ⁓ is invaluable, you know, cause sometimes they're, you know, they're just outside. It's like that bird's eye view, you know, they're not in the mess with you so they can see some of the answers that maybe you can't see, you know, being on the ground.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Yes. they can go, my goodness, why didn't I see that? That's fantastic. got a few questions that I just want to run off quickly and quick fire answers. ⁓ what's one AI tool that you think everybody should try this week?

John Prather: Absolutely. I would say it would be sales funnels, you know, build one out, start something, create a lead magnet and start playing around with it. You know, you'll see that your list will start to grow and it'll be exciting for you to start to send out offers. So a sales funnel for sure.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Okay, what's the biggest myth about building an online business?

John Prather: Biggest myth would be probably that get rich quick, you know, that you're going to make money overnight, that you're going to be somehow a multi multi billionaire just by starting your own website. ⁓ While there is a tremendous amount of wealth you can create, it does take skill set. does take work ethic, you know, even though it's different than maybe working a job, it does take a similar mindset of effort where you have to put in some work before you can get some results. So go in with the right framework where you're not expecting to be. you know, a multimillionaire, you might hit one of those opportunities, but for the most part, you're going to have to put in the work. So yeah.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Okay, so side hustle advice in 10 seconds or less.

John Prather: But I would say schedule your priorities, don't manage your time. list out the priorities, go through them effectively, because again, time is going to come and go. You can't stop it. You can't start it. Only God can. But you can prioritize what you do with your time. And that's ultimately what's going to make the difference. schedule your priorities, don't manage your time. list out the priorities, go through them effectively, because again, time is going to come and go. You can't stop it. You can't start it. Only God can.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Very good reminder. What would you tell your 25 year old self?

John Prather: Let's say two things. One, trust God and trust the plan. Follow through, keep going forward. Everything's ultimately going to work out. Like they say, ⁓ you've already made it through 100 % of the challenges that you've come across in your life. So just keep moving forward. You're going to learn the things you need to learn. The opportunities that you need are going to pop up at the right time. So just be willing to take it. Don't be too close-minded. Be willing to grow and trust the process that... Your path might be a little bit of a zigzag, but you'll get to the destination as long as you keep going.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: Yeah, it's great. Best business buy under $100.

John Prather: I'd say the best business buy would definitely be ⁓ system.io, you know, getting that funnel, you know, where it could build out multiple different funnels. ⁓ And that would be, you know, again, a huge time saver because it helped build up funnels, you know, email marketing campaigns ⁓ and a couple of other things, you know, building out a list and you can export that list to other places. So that's been probably the best buy I've used, ⁓ you know, so many, so many times.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: You've given so much direct, quick, very actionable advice for people who might be looking at where things are right now and feeling a bit uncertain at the pace of change. Who are working full time and want to start something for themselves, but maybe a bit scared or don't know if they can fit it in or don't know how to start. And you've just packed it all in. John, that's so valuable. Where can people find you online if they'd like to learn more about what you do?

John Prather: Yeah, absolutely. I would say in the show notes below, we'll have my plugin profit guide, which basically walks you through exactly how to start from where you are today, ⁓ to having your own AI based business built from home. know, especially somebody like myself who is working full time, it has different clients and stuff like that. That was something that was key for me. So if you download that guide below, it'll give you a, you know, walk you through the steps of how you can start from where you're at. And then ultimately we can connect and kind of dive a little bit deeper. One of my goals this year is to help five to 10 new people start creating an extra thousand dollars per month in their own online business. So if you want to be one of those five to 10, definitely grab that guide. ⁓ I'm sure also below you can, you can check out some of my social media pages, John Prather underscore one on all platforms. And then I do have a website, johnpratherone.com where you can also get some more info, but, but yeah, definitely check out the plug-in profit guide. If that interests you and you know, we can definitely work together.

Jo McKee  I  The Jo Show: It's a huge encouragement to people. John, thank you for your time today.

John Prather: Absolutely, thank you for having me.