AI Got Me In The Room, Then I Flopped!

Last year in December the man among men, Brendon Burchard, gave an insane wrap up to his high-paying ULTRA group.

I don’t necessarily remember what he said (lol), but I remember the feeling I had: people were afraid of AI and I knew that I could help them.

Luckily, I had spent a year figuring out how to use AI to solve my problems, and I had a series of frameworks that I could use to teach people how to use it.

The only thing that was missing was a vehicle to distribute it in. AI came in handy to build that out. Now I had a product…

But I needed to sell it.

Turns out, creating the product was the easy part. The real challenge? Mastering the fine art of selling.

Because AI can’t do that part for you (yet).

3 Opportunities to Sell, 3 Collisions, 3 Flops

Last Friday was a day of live meetings—a triple-header that tested every fiber of my readiness and resilience.

I was 1000% prepared for two of them, buzzing with the kind of confidence that feels invincible. But fate, with its ironic sense of humor, decided the first meeting was the one I was not prepared for. As the session drew to a close and questions about continuing to work together started pouring in, my confidence didn’t just wobble, it crashed spectacularly.

That moment was a beautiful kick in the butt that I didn’t see coming.

But hey, what’s a hero’s journey without a little drama, right?

Rallying from the ashes of the first debacle, I stepped into the next meeting (a webinar) with a vengeance, ready to conquer. Only, in my zeal to be the AI savior for every soul in attendance, I spread myself too thin. The result? Most of the crowd drifted away before I could even usher them towards the grand finale—my sale.

It was a lesson in the delicate art of time management (especially when running a webinar), one that I am struggling to learn.

Then came the third act, a local in-person event here in Utah (I was fetching pumped for this one)!

I drove to the building, parked my car, and sat there, head bowed, visualizing the evening before me. Though I was battling a lot self doubt from my (very) recent fumbles, I was determined to stick the landing. My intentions did not become reality. Time constraints forced me to skip most of my carefully crafted slides, propelling me prematurely into the sales pitch.

Another bomb.

Each presentation, with its unique brand of failure, underscored a vital truth: Selling is a skill, a craft that demands not just preparation (which AI helps me do quite well) but real-world, gritty experience.

And I had just gotten a metric ton of that gritty experience dumped on me.

It was fetching awesome, because I had decided to be in the arena of life!

It's in those collisions with reality where true personal growth happens.

This is where AI ends, and human intelligence (HI) begins, even if the I in human intelligence is really small.

AI Can Get You To The Starting Line. You Run The Race.

My trusty AI assistant was a wizard at churning out prep material, making sure I was armed to the teeth with problems, solutions, and a vehicle to make it all happen.

But when it came down to the wire, AI was like the friend who says they'll help you move but suddenly can’t lift a sofa (which may or may not have been me at some points in my life).

This journey has been an echoing reminder that there's a world of difference between knowing your stuff and having the skills you need to actually do it. AI can simulate a lot, but if I don’t show up for the simulation I won’t learn. And even then, it can't simulate the adrenaline rush of live questions, the need for on-the-spot improvisation, or the quantum entanglement of humans.

That's the human element—messy, unpredictable, and utterly irreplaceable.

So, while AI got me to the starting line, equipped with a killer product and a head full of knowledge, it was those face-to-face (and sometimes face-to-floor) moments that taught me the most this week.

Each of my 3 flops was a lesson in the human side of business—the side that requires empathy, adaptability, and a healthy dose of humility. AI might make the road smoother and faster. But it's the bumps along the way that shape us.

Even with all of these amazing tools, God will remind us of our need to develop our personal capabilities.

Build Yourself, With AI

AI is an amplifier, meaning it will take your current trajectory in life and multiply it.

This is great if you’re going UP. Not so great if you’re going down.

AI does not (and cannot) replace your own need to orient yourself properly and grow personally.

Define why you’re there in the first place (which for me is to prepare the world for my children), determine the outcome you’re after, use AI to get you to the door as fast as possible, and then honor the struggle of the moment.

Your friend and AI coach,
Sterling Long

P.S. If you’re someone who wants to truly understand how to use AI, eliminate your fear surrounding it, and build a life you love with it, then the Build With AI cohort is launching on February 27th. In the last cohort one of the members saved themselves 40 hours over the course of 30 days. I’m excited to make you that person.