Your AI Roadmap E-Book

Joan Palmiter Bajorek

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 426

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

As seen at VentureBeat, CES, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review

An uncomfortable truth of the age of AI is that everyone's day job is at risk, but we all still need money. We need to future-proof our careers and finances ASAP.

Your AI Roadmap is not just an advice book, it's a modern blueprint for your career and income. One part modern careers and one part wealth building, this book is your guide to securing financial success.

With humor and data-driven examples, serial entrepreneur, investor, and AI influencer Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek provides fresh and tactical career advice as well as ways to expand your income and get your finances in a world where artificial intelligence layoffs are announced daily. With a career in AI, Joan has lost her job in two large AI layoffs. She has built 22 revenue streams and closed business contracts that boost her resilience and path to financial freedom.

Playful, inclusive, and real, Your AI Roadmap includes frameworks and exercises that shows you how to:

• Learn financial literacy, saving versus investing, and money management
• Ride the workforce waves, even when your career isn’t smooth sailing 
• Set meaningful goals using clinically validated methods to achieve them
• Own your story and accomplishments and confidently communicate them 
• Build, grow, and optimize your personal brand online 
• Expand your network through coffee chats and modern people-first techniques 
• Uncover the three-step recipe for financial independence
• Find joy, confidence, and meaning by crafting your own AI roadmap 

Whether you’re early in your career or rebooting for a second act, this book is perfect for anyone from the classroom to the board room, including college grads, executives, pivoters, managers, directors, investors, founders, entrepreneurs, parents, and career counselors. Your AI Roadmap is your essential guide for career and money through the age of AI.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Choose Your Own Adventure: How to Read This Book

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Where to Find the Answers to Your Questions in This Book

Note

Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book

Goal of the Book

You and Me

My Story

Scope of the Book

Notes

PART 1: So You Want a Job in AI? Let's Accelerate Your Career

CHAPTER 1: Let's Future-Proof Your Career and Income: Volatility and Opportunity in the Age of AI

Future-Proofing Your Career Steps Overview

Resilience and Mindset

The Inner Saboteur and Thought Work

Imposter Syndrome

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 2: Goals, Dreams, and Purpose: Craft Your Goals with the WOOP Method

Blue Zones: 9 Lifestyle Habits for Living Long

Ikigai: Sense of Purpose

Investor Arlan Hamilton

5 Career Tips

WOOP Method: Clinically Validated Framework for Goal Setting

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 3: On Lily Pads and Rainbows: Job vs. Career, Paychecks vs. Income

Why I Focus on Careers and Income

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 4: People, People, People: Weak Ties Will Help Me Rise, 80% of Effort on Your Network

My 80% Networking Rule for Career Building

People-First Career Building: The 80% People, 15% Projects, and 5% Skills Recipe

Strength of Weak Ties and LinkedIn Research

Taylor's Dad

My Biggest Professional Opportunities and the Person Who Helped Me Get Them

Avoid Networking List: 11 Common Reasons and Excuses People Tell Me About Why They Hate Networking

Effective Networking List: 10 Ways to Prepare for Effective Networking Questions for You

The Power of a Cup of Coffee: Informational Interviews and Coffee Intros

Marion's Story: From Amazon Layoff to 55 Coffee Chats to Job Offer

Mentorship and Connectors

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 5: Personal Brand: Get Credit for Your Work and Hone Your Brand

Personal Brand

My Personal Brand

Personal Brand via LinkedIn Profile

Email Inboxes

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 6: Left, Right, and Center: Pivots, Resilience, and Connect the Dots via Storytelling

Own Your Story

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 7: Chasing the AI Rocketship: Your Next Steps for a Fleeting Job Market

AI Job Salaries

Projecting from Jobs Today to the Future

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 8: Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Degrees, Portfolios, and Getting Credit

Your Portfolio: Get Credit for the Work You've Already Done

Get Organized and Intentional

The STAR Method: Project Storytelling

Get Credit, Get Proof

Take the Next (Small) Steps: Prototyping

The Stories We Tell: The STAR and WOOP Methods

Your Personal Brand 101 Course

Recap of Future-Proofing Your Career Steps

Ready to Talk Money?

Questions for Reflection

Notes

PART 2: Beyond the Day Job: Future-Proofing Your Income and Entrepreneurship

CHAPTER 9: B*tch Better Have My Money: Beyond the 9 to 5, Finances, and My 22 Income Streams

Groceries and Trader Joe's Cheese

Income Expansion and Revenue Streams

My 3-Part Financial Freedom Recipe: Know, Grow, and Be in Control

My 22 Income Streams

A Note on Net Worth

The “Taboo” of Talking About Money and Who It Serves

U.S. Census Salary Data by Race, Gender, and Sexuality

Wealth and the City: 4 Fabulous Pals

A Note for My Beloved Older Readers

Hail Mary: Universal Basic Income

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 10: You Want to Be a Millionaire: Money in and Money Out

Shoot for Seven Figures

You Can Only Save as Much as You Earn, So Let's Earn More

A Note on Taxes

Debt: Credit Card, Medical, Student, and Auto Loans

Lifestyle Creep: When Living Expenses Balloon

My Beat-Up Car

Your Yearly Finances: Fill Out Your Current Financial Picture for One Year

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 11: Your Money's Making Money: Saving vs. Investing

Investing Is Better Than Saving

A Note on Inflation

Stocks and the Stock Market

Only One Stock Is Risky

Diversification: Complex Word, Easy Concept

Historical Stock Market Performance of 150 Years

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 12: How Much Money Do You Want? Goals, Retirement, and Financial Independence

Goal Setting and Financial Timelines

Retirement, Care, and Aging

What Is Financial Independence? How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?

What Is Your Financial Independence Number?

Wants vs. Needs

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 13: Are You Ready for It? Wealth Expansion, 41 Ideas to Grow Your Income Streams

5 Common Paths to Becoming a Millionaire

Start Simple

5 Simple Steps to Make a Side Income

Thought Work Revisited

16 Fancy Obstacles to Avoid: List of Things You do NOT Need to Start:

Pineconing: Label and Address Fears

41 Income Stream Ideas, Easy to Medium Difficulty

Operational Costs

Quick Cash

Revenue Is NOT Profit: Important Pitfalls to Avoid

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 14: You Better Werk: Get Organized, Find Time, and Make Money

Founding UW French Club

Founding Women in Voice

Just Start: Online Businesses

Scaling to $1 Million in Revenue: The 3 Step PSS Framework

Five Secret Sauce Tips of Entrepreneurship

A Note on Time

A Note on AI for Business

The Goal of $1 Million in Revenue

Advanced Revenue Options

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 15: How Financial Freedom Feels: Fire Me, I Don't Care, My Income Is Future-Proofed!

Future-Proofing Your Income: On Wealth, Goals, and Values

Side Effects of Income Expansion: Warning! Results May Include Happiness

Future-Proofing Your Career

WOOP Method Goal for Your Financial Independence

Financial Freedom Power Hour: Make the Time

From Food Stamps to Multimillionaire

Your AI Roadmap: Future-Proofed Career and Income Framework

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 16: Haters Gonna Hate: Let's Say I'm Wrong

Results of Inaction: Unaware of Your Goals

Results of Inaction: Don't Take the Next Small Steps

Results of Inaction: No Network, Not Landing a Job, Not Bringing in Income

Results of Inaction: No Research on Compensation or Negotiation, Being Underpaid

Results of Inaction: Living in Fear and Financial Insecurity

Questions for Reflection

Notes

CHAPTER 17: Beyond AI's Horizon: Mindset and an Irresistible Revolution

Growth Mindset

Democratization of Wealth and Power

The Power of Yet

Joy and Meaning

Conclusions and Opportunities for Change

An Irresistible Revolution

Book Reflections of the Entire Book

Notes

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

Copyright

Disclaimer

Names and Pseudonyms

Dedication

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 1

TABLE 1.1 Thought Work Examples

Chapter 4

TABLE 4.1 People and Contact Method: Examples of My Biggest Professional Opp...

Chapter 5

TABLE 5.1 Your Personal Brand Colors and Adjectives

Chapter 7

TABLE 7.1 LinkedIn AI Job Study: Experience Level, April 2024

TABLE 7.2 LinkedIn AI Job Study: Contract Type, April 2024

TABLE 7.3 LinkedIn AI Job Study: Geographical Tag, Work Type, April 2024

TABLE 7.4 LinkedIn AI Job Study: Work Type, April 2024

TABLE 7.5 LinkedIn AI Job Study: Most Common Job Titles, April 2024

TABLE 7.6 AI Job Salary Ranges, United States, Full-Time, Entry and Mid-Seni...

Chapter 9

TABLE 9.1 Wage Gap as Compared to a Cis Straight White Man Making $100,000 U...

Chapter 10

TABLE 10.1 Money In and Out Subtraction Equation for a Year

TABLE 10.2 Yearly Money Examples: Grad Student $30k/yr, Average U.S. Income ...

TABLE 10.3 Track your own income and living expenses

Chapter 12

TABLE 12.1 Financial Goals by Time Frame Example

TABLE 12.2 Your Financial Goals by Time Frame

TABLE 12.3 Broad Financial Independence Calculation

Chapter 13

TABLE 13.1 41 Income Streams to Set Up, Easy to Medium Difficulty

TABLE 13.2 10 Ways to Make Quick Cash

Chapter 14

TABLE 14.1 PSS Framework Overview to $1 Million in Revenue in 24 Months...

TABLE 14.2 8 Digital Product Recommendations

TABLE 14.3 Marketing Strategies for Flywheel

TABLE 14.4 Payment Options Ideas

TABLE 14.5 Your PSS Framework: Scale to $1 Million in Revenue Starting with ...

TABLE 14.6 How to Get to $1 Million Revenue, Product Price Point, and Number...

TABLE 14.7 16 Advanced Income Streams

Chapter 16

TABLE 16.1 Counter Argument, Result, and Topic in This Book

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1

FIGURE 1.1 Rooms full of male-presenting people at AI events in Seattle in 2...

Chapter 2

FIGURE 2.1 Ikigai overlapping Venn diagram with four concentric circles

FIGURE 2.2 Joan holding Corgi puppy Luna

Chapter 4

FIGURE 4.1 Strength of weak ties

Chapter 5

FIGURE 5.1 Joan's professional headshot

FIGURE 5.2 Joan's LinkedIn profile header, Spring 2024

FIGURE 5.3 Email signature

Chapter 6

FIGURE 6.1 Joan's storytelling LinkedIn post

Chapter 8

FIGURE 8.1 @WomenInVoice tweet calling for leadership on a Google form in 20...

Chapter 9

FIGURE 9.1 Net worth

Chapter 10

FIGURE 10.1 Savings examples from grad student, average U.S. income, and boo...

Chapter 11

FIGURE 11.1 Savings versus investing across 10 years

FIGURE 11.2 VOO Top 10 holdings from June 2024

FIGURE 11.3 Stock portfolio example, 28.5% increase in past year

FIGURE 11.4 Stock market across 150 Years, 1870 to 2020

FIGURE 11.5 Probability of losing money (%) versus years invested based on 9...

Chapter 12

FIGURE 12.1 Financial portfolio tracker

Chapter 14

FIGURE 14.1 Marketing flywheel example for Your AI Bootcamp

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Disclaimer

Dedication

Choose Your Own Adventure: How to Read This Book

Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book

Begin Reading

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

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Your AI Roadmap

Actions to Expand Your Career, Money, and Joy

DR. JOAN PALMITER BAJOREK

Choose Your Own Adventure: How to Read This Book

This book is a labor of love, and I hope you read every word. However, if you are as desperate as I have been before, here are quick answers to the common questions I get asked often in my DMs and in person.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Where to Find the Answers to Your Questions in This Book

Jobs in AI:

How do I get a job in AI?

Build a network and have people connect you with jobs. This is the best way. Read Part 1, “So You Want a Job in AI? Let's Accelerate Your Career,” of this book and all its data. Take the steps outlined in Chapter 4, “People, People, People: Weak Ties Will Help Me Rise, 80% of Effort on Your Network.” Follow my recipe “80% People, 15% Projects, and 5% Skills.” Craft a list of 50 to 100 professionals and 20 to 50 companies that you'd love to learn more about and begin your outreach plan. Reach out to them asking to meet for coffee. People are your ticket into the job market. That's the short version. Don't want to go it alone? My team and I host Your AI Bootcamp, which is highly popular: YourAIRoadmap.com/Bootcamp.

Skills: Do I need to learn how to code to have a job in AI?

No, you do not need to learn how to code. You really, really, really, really don't need to learn how to code. Do you want to be a software engineer? Then, yes, you need to learn how to code. But there are so many other roles than being a developer! What will you need to do? You will need to craft your path and build your portfolio and network, and for that, check out Chapter 8, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Skills, Projects, Portfolios, Degrees, and Certificates.”

Job in AI: Do I have to get a job in AI to future-proof myself?

No, but you will need to future-proof your income to make it through this turbulent time of AI. Check out Part 2, “Beyond the Day Job: Future-Proofing Your Income and Entrepreneurship,” for more about that.

Job Loss:

I've lost my job in a layoff or believe I will lose my job soon. Any advice for me?

Hey, that sounds stressful. You're going to get through it. Get support from your personal and professional support system. Work out to avoid burnout,1 and go to therapy if you need to. Invest time heavily in your network. Save money for an emergency fund. We'll cover more about finances in Chapter 9, “B*tch Better Have My Money: Beyond the 9 to 5, Finances, and My 22 Income Streams.” Document your work for the projects you can speak to. Build your network and connect with the coworkers you like on LinkedIn who might provide you with references in the future.

Will AI Give Me Money?:

How do I make money in AI? People keep saying there is money to be made. It doesn't seem clear. How do I connect the dots? Where is the money?

AI doesn't make money in any legal ways I've found. What you need is a project that can be monetized. Whether you leverage AI to make something profitable or people buy AI you build, you need to connect AI to something monetizable. Did that sound too vague? Want more depth and concrete answers? Good news, we'll cover this topic in depth extensively in Part 2, “Beyond the Day Job: Future-Proofing Your Income and Entrepreneurship.”

LinkedIn:

I've heard I need a LinkedIn profile. How do I make a “good” one?

It depends on your goals, but 98 percent of the time, having a profile is helpful. A strong LinkedIn presence can be a crucial part of your professional and personal brand. To learn more about this topic, check out Chapter 5, “Personal Brand: Get Credit for Your Work and Hone Your Brand,” and Chapter 8, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Degrees, Portfolios, and Getting Credit.”

Certificates and Degrees:

What degrees and certificates do you recommend I pursue?

It depends on your goals. Don't waste your money on just any degree or program. Check out Chapter 8, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Skills, Projects, Portfolios, Degrees, and Certificates.”

Up to Date:

How do I stay up to date about what's going on in AI?

There are many resources out there for this, and they keep changing! I recommend the Your AI Roadmap podcast. As of the writing of this book, my production team and I have dropped Season 1 and gotten 600 downloads in a few weeks and more than 10,000 impressions on YouTube. On the podcast, I interview leaders building in AI from Microsoft, Google, Intuit, Adobe, and more who talk concretely about their projects. Check it out at YourAIRoadmap.com/Podcast.

Audiobook:

Why didn't you read your own audiobook?

I sure wanted to! Regardless, please know that my heart is in every page of this book even if you aren't hearing my voice on the audio version. You can hear my voice on the Your AI Roadmap podcast at https://YourAIRoadmap.com/Podcast.

Want to get personalized Your AI Roadmap ideas? Take the Your AI Roadmap Personality Quiz at YourAIRoadmap.com/Me. I hope these FAQ answers your pressing questions. The rest of the book has examples and explanations of modern advice about all these topics. Let's dive into why I wrote this book for you.

Note

1

   Burnout is out of the scope of this book, but check out the amazing research that talks about how 30 minutes of cardio can help you flush stress out of your body:

https://www.burnoutbook.net

.

Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book

A pesky truth of the age of AI is that everyone's day job is at risk, but we all still need money. This book has one job: to provide you with practical, data-driven tools to equip you with the ability to future-proof your career and income. I dare say we can have fun, too! If you have the desire to develop your career, expand your career opportunities, and make more money, you're in the right place. This book is all about the agency you have in your life to take action, upskill, and expand your life and income. But before we get there, I need to address the elephant in the room: fear.

No one's job is safe. Shifting sand under our feet and an often small safety net can be scary. Large-scale layoffs at companies fill our new feeds almost daily. Almost 50 percent of Americans report layoff anxiety.1 About 28% of Americans have already been laid off since 2021.2 While the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in these layoffs, the anxiety continues today. Does working in AI keep you immune to being laid off? Nope! Even the chief executive officer (CEO) behind ChatGPT, Sam Altman, lost his job in 2023 when the board tried to oust him. Luckily for him, he was reinstated a few days later.3

That's truly the age we live in. The age of AI brings both high volatility and opportunity. These types of opportunities did not exist even as recently as 2015, when I was in graduate school. In the age of AI, it is estimated that “69 million new jobs are expected to be created and 83 million to be eliminated,” says the World Economic Forum in their 2023 report.4 “The report finds that nearly a quarter of all jobs (23%) globally will change in the next five years.” That is a loss of 14 million jobs eliminated internationally. Even large companies previously considered relatively stable have had layoffs: Amazon, Meta (formerly Facebook), Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, Dell, Cisco, IBM, Uber, X (formerly Twitter), Xerox, VMware, Peloton, PayPal, Shopify, Indeed, Zillow, Airbnb, Wayfair, and Yahoo, among others.5

I myself have been in two large-scale layoffs. It's painful, but so common for folks working in the tech sector. When we look at the individual to the societal level, do the folks whose jobs are eliminated have the experience for the new jobs being created? Not necessarily. So begins a great time of upskilling to get new jobs, make pivots, and reconsider our life paths. This book is especially for you if you're at the crux of these career decisions.

Why do we have jobs? For some it might be a vocation that is meaningful for us personally. I know doctors and scholars who feel truly called to their work. For most people I know, jobs are about money. We work for a paycheck. We need to pay our rent, mortgage, student debt bills, childcare, and grocery bills, to name a few. We need money to live our lives. For people who were used to a world of stable jobs for 30 years, this is a pretty big change for so many to have such high amounts of job and career volatility. One interpretation from this is, “We are doomed! There is no more job stability! Gahhh!” Things are changing for sure. Doom and gloom is one way to look at it. I see this as a time of reimagining—a time when you question if a 9 to 5 job is what you want or need.

I'm wildly optimistic about your future. Yes, it's true that the age of AI is a time of great volatility. With great change comes great opportunity to democratize power and wealth. This is especially true for people previously excluded from wealth and agency in their lives and careers. You can build wealth today fast, ethically, and legally for you and your family. This is especially powerful for Black and Brown folks, women, gender expansive, caretakers, LGBTQIA+ folks, people with disabilities, veterans, and other marginalized folks in our world. Lucrative opportunities are now readily available to anyone with a computer, Wi-Fi, and enough time to take action. I am not saying this to diminish the digital divide and those who do not have the time or access to tech, which often are in marginalized communities. For those who do have access, my goal is to show how they can use these tools for good, for themselves, and to lift others up.

In this book, we will explore answers to the following questions:

Resilience in the Age of AI

:

How do we build resilience during the turbulent and opportunity-filled times of AI?

Careers

:

How do we future-proof our careers in the modern age of AI?

Income

:

How do we future-proof our incomes?

This book is a collection of answers. These answers have changed my life and the lives of those around me, and are bolstered by data-driven research and exemplifying stories. I'll share my own story in these pages, as well as the journeys of others who have different identities from mine.

Goal of the Book

This book provides robust answers to these questions as you craft your AI roadmap through the age of AI. Frankly, I'm really jealous of you! You have this resource that distills more than 30 books worth of career and finance content in what I hope is a clear and openhearted way. This book is about 200 pages. Roughly 100 pages are about careers, and 100 pages are about finances. Wow, do I wish I'd had this book even two years ago! I had to chart many decisions that were hard and scary alone. I'd love it to be easier for you! This book can provide actionable shortcuts.

As the author, I hope you can view me as a friend, rad cousin, or ridiculously bold niece/granddaughter who talks about careers and wealth in an open, inclusive, and modern way. I would love for this book to cheer you on and equip you with practical tools to be resilient and live in joy, freedom, wealth, and fulfillment.

Do you talk openly about careers and money? My family doesn't. I'll be honest with you, some of my family members can't stand how openly I talk about these topics. It can be deeply uncomfortable. Words akin to, “How dare you talk and post about how much you get paid?” In fact, “Oh, you know that other people are going to see this?!?!” is a heated discussion my mom and I have had at least five times across the years. I love you, Mom. Agree to disagree! I frequently get told at family dinner tables to quiet down and change the topic. People say that influencers are stupid, not realizing my friend, who is an influencer, brought in $3 million in revenue last year.

Pressured to work long hours? Are you pressured by others to work wild hours and never dream of alternate paths? Is it taboo to talk about side hustles? I have worked a job where I was pressured to work 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days per week. Life is too short. I definitely didn't stay at that job long. There are still people I know who work there more than half a decade later. That's a choice! Not what I want.

Some people in my life are indifferent to ambition. They blink at me when I mention negotiating large contracts, raising $500,000 for my nonprofit, or semiconductor stocks. They say, “That's nice, dear, so about our recent trip….” To protect my tender heart from shame and disinterest, there are some folks I choose to never talk with about money or careers. We instead talk about the weather and our current favorite show on Netflix. That's okay!

Is it a taboo for you to talk about your ambitions? To explore how you could expand your income? Perhaps you're from a family and community that openly talks about stocks, portfolios, and entrepreneurship. Lucky you! If you have ever felt like the odd duck out, I want to let you know: you are not alone.

You and Me

You and me, though? I bet you're here because we are on the same page. We are ambitious. We have goals to build our careers and bank accounts. We want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives. Not all of your family and friends may feel comfortable with these topics. Your boss may work from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the week. That's their choice. That's their journey. But there are other options. There's never been a better time to make a plan, take action, and make a change. Let's make it easier! I've got a great map to help you chart your way—this book!

Will all of it be easy? If I said “Yes, all of it is easy,” then I'd be lying to your face. It may be even hard if folks in your life aren't supportive. My advice? Create and enforce boundaries as a strategy for the haters and doubters. Prioritize friendships and people who cheer you on. Consider therapy (it's been awesome for me!). Keep eating your vegetables, working out, and increasing your wealth. It may be safer to build wealth in stealth! It sure has been for me! No one is coming to save you but you. Let's build that roadmap and achieve these goals.

My Story

Who am I to be talking about careers and wealth? My name is Joan.6 I am an entrepreneur, influencer, and investor living in Seattle. Before I share my story, please know that despite these accolades I'm about to share, I really don't have a big ego. In real life, I often get mistaken as Sarah, that brunette from yoga class, or Rachel, your mom's friend's daughter. Let me share my story.

I have always loved languages. But no one was sure whether that passion would ever pay the bills. I grew up in Portland, Oregon, to parents who have advanced degrees and a love of exploration and travel. In college at the University of Washington, I remember being around a table where people were saying their majors: computer science, pre-med, and chemical engineering, and when the question came to me, I said my dual degrees, “French BA and photography BFA.” People laughed and said, “Wow, I thought you were smart.” Ouch! I now have a vibrant career where I am thoughtful and persuasive with the language I use daily to communicate and have beautiful visuals across my work. These degrees helped!

After college, I moved to France and worked for the French Ministry of Education. I taught at underprivileged middle schools, working with more than 300 students in Toulouse. I applied and was accepted into graduate school and moved back to the United States. While working on my master's degree in linguistics at the University of California (UC), Davis, I came across the field of phonetics and natural language processing (NLP). This is the field that evolved into large language models (LLMs) and multimodal AI systems. Computers attempting to process human language was a comical idea back in 2015. People gave me the advice “Don't go into that part of the field; we're not going to solve those problems any time soon.” Yet, at the same time, products that used text, speech, and sounds were becoming more ubiquitous. I was enchanted by companies like Duolingo that were building language products with tech used by millions worldwide. How cool! This technology was incredibly powerful, and I longed to be in those rooms building impactful projects.

As I navigated my next steps, I knew I wanted to go into tech. Tech was a place where I could have impact, live wherever I wanted, and be paid a good salary. To prepare myself to work in research and development, I earned a PhD. I applied and was accepted in the top 2 percent of applicants and the only one awarded a first-year fellowship in my program. In an interdisciplinary PhD program at the University of Arizona (UArizona), I thrived in a supportive environment. In my research, I worked on defining how we optimized multimodal products and did consulting for tech companies.7 Yet, it was clearer and clearer to me that the same biases of the white dudes around me were the same biases being built as default into these powerful, unregulated products deployed to millions worldwide. I grappled and processed my experiences of being “othered” with my PhD advisor. Dr. Mike Hammond8 gave me helpful advice: “If you lead with bias, people shut down and won't listen. If you lead with money, opportunity, or something else that everyone wants to listen to, then you might be able to talk to them about bias.” These words of wisdom have been invaluable. This book follows this advice, which I recommend you follow when it comes to the impact you may want to make in your communities and the world.

As I began to apply for jobs, there were very few women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)9 people in the room. In one interview loop, I wasn't sure there was another woman in the building. Yikes! I realized either I was complicit in normalizing this, or I needed to do something. At the time, I became more active on academic X (formerly Twitter). My tweets got noticed. So many people post, but few have the technical creds to show they know their stuff. It wasn't long until I was publicly listed as a voice AI Influencer in 2018.10 Becoming an influencer wasn't something I aspired to; it simply was a product of being public about my work. I founded the nonprofit Women in Voice in August 2018. In just a few years, I raised $500,000, expanded the number of chapters to 20+ globally, and built a brand with more than 56,000 followers worldwide. I published one of my PhD comprehensive papers in Harvard Business Review. By the end of 2018, I signed my first six-figure contract in AI (Nuance was acquired by Microsoft for $16B in 2021). I began to get invited to speak at fancy tech events and podcasts such as Dashbot and Voice Summit. In 2019, I spoke at the annual VentureBeat Transform conference as the CEO of Women in Voice.

Along my journey on the technical side, I secured jobs with titles such as “Senior,” “Head of,” “Advisor,” and “VP” at companies working on the backends of AI and data projects for companies like Verizon and Boeing. My base salaries ranged from $100,000 to $250,000 and more per year. Contracts I've signed include much more than just base salaries, including equity, paid national and international work travel, signing bonuses, annual bonuses, fundraising cash bonuses, and more. My net worth is more than $1.5 million as of the writing of this book. I have 22 income streams, which shocked even me when I documented them for you for this book—see more details in Chapter 9: B*tch Better Have My Money: Beyond the 9-5, Finances, and My 22 Income Streams. I'm not telling you this to brag. I want to share with you big milestones that I'm proud of. You can achieve big things, too!

Layoffs have come my way also. I was laid off in two large-scale AI company layoffs. Imagine how it feels when 30% of the company is laid off in a day. My coworkers messaged each other asking who got cut and who still has a day job. Yikes! I've been knocked down, and I've kept getting back up. I've learned how to be resilient. I grew my personal brand, network, and close group of friends and mentors. As an influencer and person who has cultivated my personal brand for years, that journey has paid off in spades. My network and entrepreneurial endeavors have been crucial to my successes.

One of the keys for me is entrepreneurship. After layoffs, I've taken coffee chats with people who wanted to hire me on the spot. Some offer me jobs, connections, and contracts. I have closed six-, seven-, and eight-figure contracts in my own name. Over time, I founded a company and became the CEO at Clarity AI.11 I decide what products we make, when I work (flexible), where I work (mostly my home office), and how much I pay myself. I hire people I want to work with, choose which businesses to partner with, and decide which customer projects to take on.

I keep my financial house in order. I have no credit card or student debt. My credit score is in the 800s. As an influencer, people DM me on social media with life-changing opportunities. I am flown around the world to speak on international stages and company campuses. I am a homeowner in Seattle in a beautiful, central neighborhood. I am on track to financial independence and to retire in my early 40s, or sooner.

Today, I have a portfolio career. I'm a CEO and founder of an AI company. I'm the founder of Women in Voice,12 a nonprofit organization. I'm an advisor to startups and companies, such as CleanAI,13 a company at the intersection of climate tech and AI innovation. I am an investor. I have invested in a dozen startups and am eager to invest more in the future. I'm a podcast host of Your AI Roadmap, where I interview my friends and connections who are leaders at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and more to discuss their projects and how they are shaping the AI landscape. You can listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and watch on YouTube: YourAIRoadmap.com/Podcast.

Honestly, I'm confident you might struggle to take my technical chops seriously because I'm a woman, I'm playful, and I'm writing you a book about careers and income. I am working to come to terms with that. For years, I've wanted to be taken seriously in technical spaces. I have worked to prove myself my whole career, and even after every gold star, people continue to question whether they might want to work with someone who looks so feminine and young. Woof, misogyny and ageism don't look good on ya! Since my first year of grad school, I was given the feedback “Your presentation deck is too readable. People won't think you're smart.” The world may not be ready for technical women who can create modern, readable, practical content. I won't be sitting on my thumbs waiting. My goals have shifted. I have goals beyond people acknowledging my technical chops. I feel called to share with you the powerful things I've learned along the way. I'm hopeful you can see I'm multifaceted, too.

Another thing we've got to talk about is privilege. I am a white woman in a white patriarchal capitalist society. My parents and grandparents have greatly supported my career and finances. This intergenerational support ripples through my life and career. I have privilege. I have a different kind of safety net than other people. I started in a different place from other folks. This is one of the key reasons I am a founder and investor. I own a company that has a primarily female staff. Clarity AI has staff members who are parents, women, BIPOC, caretakers, and neurodivergent, and who are based all over the world. I invest my money in companies founded by Black women and men (CurlMix, PuffCuff, Runner, The Cru, Audios), built by white women (ViralMoment, It's By U Flowers), and established by female founders building amazing products the world needs (RuthHealth, Intentionalist). When I look at the missions of these companies, their work policies, and their ethos, I find these are workplaces that align with my values. They are new types of workplaces. I want to fund companies that are building better worlds. When I consider my legacy, this book is part of that. I want to help you build your career and achieve financial independence. If you have doubts about someone like you becoming wealthy, please know that Black women and men, Asian wealth influencers, and white female multimillionaires agree with me that anyone can build immense personal wealth. This includes:

Arlan Hamilton, author of

It's About Damn Time

and

Your First Million

Julien Saunders and Kiersten Saunders, authors of

Cashing Out

Tori Dunlap, author of

Financial Feminist

Rachel Rodgers, author of

We Should All Be Millionaires

Vivian Tu aka

Your Rich BFF

and author of

Rich AF

I continue to learn from their work and advice. As awards and opportunities keep piling up, people have been asking me how I did it. My DMs are exploding! “What advice do you have for me? What do you recommend I do?” This book is a direct answer to these questions. I'll be sharing with you my best strategies about crafting your career and finances throughout this book.

Scope of the Book

There are a few things that this book doesn't cover, such as an overview of artificial intelligence and venture capital investment. If you are looking for how to raise investor and venture capital money, that is not this book. This book also is not a comprehensive tome on artificial intelligence. I would love to write you a vibrant, inclusive, clear, and plain-language book about what artificial intelligence actually is. Please let me know if that's the next book you'd like me to write! The purpose of the book you have in your hands is to deepen your understanding of modern careers and money.

This book doesn't cover venture capital and raising investor money. It's out of scope for this book, primarily because it is a route only truly viable to white men who attended Harvard or Stanford.14 Please read that sentence again. More than 70% of startups that raised venture capital between 2015–2020 have a white male cofounder who went to Stanford University and/or Harvard University.15 In 2023, 98% of all venture capital in the United States went to startups with a man as a founder.16 Please read that sentence again. That's such a tiny sliver of the population! It's also many people who look the same and have a whole lot of privilege. I would like to work on changing this in my lifetime. Female investors can help change the game. For today, though, raising investor money is not the route for most folks in the United States. What about a path for the rest of us? Good news! You can build wealth and never need to speak to a venture capitalist. We're looking for paths that are realistic and data-driven.

Your AI Roadmap is not just an advice book—it's a modern blueprint for your career and income. You and I are going to talk in modern, inclusive, and data-driven ways about your career and income. I'm not satisfied by just building wealth for myself. I want to help to democratize wealth and power. I have learned so much along my journey. I want to share it with you as you chart your own AI roadmap. Where are we headed? Let's look at an overview of this book: The first part is about modern careers. In the second part, I'll give my broad recommendation about finances in this modern age. Ideally, your next steps are way easier than mine. Hurray! Let's do this!

Notes

1

https://www.harvardbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_01_managing-your-emotions-after-being-laid-off.pdf

2

https://www.harvardbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_01_managing-your-emotions-after-being-laid-off.pdf

3

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/18/sam-altman-greg-brockman-openai-board-timeline

4

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/future-of-jobs-in-the-age-of-ai-sustainability-and-deglobalization

5

https://layoffs.fyi

6

   My name rhymes with the word

stone

.

7

   Check out ImmerseMe, the company I collaborated with for my PhD research!

8

   Real name, not pseudonym.

9

   The appropriate terms for talking about these communities keep changing. Today, the term BIPOC is common but may not be tomorrow. I use these terms with respect and acknowledge that they may have changed by the time you are reading this book. To learn more, check out

https://www.thebipocproject.org

.

10

https://www.soundhound.com/voice-ai-blog/top-15-voice-ai-influencers-to-follow-on-twitter

11

 Check out examples of all the cool stuff my team at Clarity AI builds at

https://hireclarity.ai

.

12

 See our work at

www.womeninvoice.org

.

13

 Learn more at

https://www.cleanai.com

.

14

https://www.techstars.com/blog/pov/why-do-white-men-raise-more-vc-dollars-than-anyone-else

15

https://www.techstars.com/blog/pov/why-do-white-men-raise-more-vc-dollars-than-anyone-else

16

https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/female-founders-vc-year-in-review-2023

PART 1So You Want a Job in AI? Let's Accelerate Your Career

“Having a personal brand is no longer a choice; it's a requirement.”1

—Aliza Licht, podcast host of Leave Your Mark, and bestselling book author

“Your network is your net worth.”2

—Porter Gale, board director of Reddit

Notes

1

https://alizalicht.com/on-brand

2

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Network-Net-Worth-Connections/dp/145168875X

CHAPTER 1Let's Future-Proof Your Career and Income: Volatility and Opportunity in the Age of AI

“We don't have the money to pay you anymore,” said my boss. I knew the writing was on the wall when my boss asked me completely out of the blue for a one-on-one meeting. My heart sank, and I knew I would be in an AI layoff. He seemed genuinely sad as he told me how I would get my last paycheck. My termination was immediate. It was the first time I'd ever been let go from a company. It really hurt.

Just months before, I had been on top of the world! I spoke on one of tech's glitziest stages in the world, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. I had been flown to Australia to meet with the team and international customers. I had a gorgeous wardrobe. I got tech gifts in the mail regularly from Amazon and Google. Google's teams tried to poach me. They even did so in person in front of my boss at a meeting (awkward!). At the time, I had been happy with my manager and compensation. To be so wanted and seen! Wow, I felt like a high flier!

But then things changed. What had once been a growing company now lost contracts and enterprise clients that fell out of the sky. The CEO was transparent that the company was in financial freefall. There were regular meetings with a graph that showed a cliff. I was on the innovation and international expansion team. I spoke with customers about conversational AI projects. I collaborated with teammates on reviewing data and designing data-driven AI products. While my team pitched new companies regularly, the financials did not drastically improve. I can't say that this was a surprise, but that didn't mean I was completely ready for it. Then the layoff came. I was not alone in losing my job.

Thirty percent of employees lost their jobs that day. It was the first time I had been let go from a job ever. It was a huge hit to my ego. My team wrote me recommendations and offered to make me intros. I was a ball of shock and sadness. I was the only woman on my team, and now my team would be all men. My job was a huge part of my identity, and I lacked the vocabulary to talk about it. When family and friends heard the news, some blamed me. I felt the desire to hide my head in my turtle shell. As I went to therapy and worked out, I realized that this was more than just me.

It dawned on me that I could lose my job in a second. It didn't matter how hard I worked. It didn't matter that my boss appreciated my work. It didn't matter about work achievements. I could lose my job in a day. Talk about volatility! This is the reality in the age of AI. We see layoffs daily. No one's job is safe. Sadly, this can happen to you. So what comes next? How do we future-proof our careers and income? My answer: expand your horizon and income.

What happened next for me? My entrepreneurial skills kicked in. I scaled my side-hustle. I had been building my personal brand and network. I was passionate about supporting women in conversational AI and voice technology and scaled my community Women in Voice. The global community that I built on the side of my technical career flourished, even more so now that I had a lot more time for it. My team and I filed and made Women in Voice an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Within a few months, I closed my first six-figure sponsorship. It was with Google for a summit that co-promoted programming. In this book, I'll talk a lot about the paramount importance of people in careers and business. Although many may think of business as a corporate engine, the truth I've found is that for every contract, there needs to be a signature from both business entities. A signature from a person. A piece of paper and two humans.

At the end of the day, so so so so much is about people. During this time, I upskilled in contract business negotiations. I closed big deals and set up a business bank account. I began to pay myself and my team from money I closed. I took on other technical work along the way and scaled both my entrepreneurial chops of how to manage a team and cash flow in addition to working on incredibly innovative AI projects in the field of medicine, customer service, agriculture, waste management, and many more! My own career took more twists and turns before I got to where I am today.

I'm excited to share with you my best advice to future-proof your career and income. Some of the advice may sound counterintuitive to advice about getting degrees and polishing your CV. Some of the advice I bet you've heard before, but maybe through explanations and humorous stories I can convince you to finally take action. As mentioned in the introduction, I would love for this book to cheer you on! I want to equip you with practical tools to be resilient and live in joy, freedom, wealth, and fulfillment, and to help with that, I'll share some of my stories with you as well as those of other Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and female leaders and entrepreneurs in AI and beyond.

Future-Proofing Your Career Steps Overview

In the next chapters, we will cover the following steps of Your AI Roadmap to future-proofing your career:

Resilience, Mindset, and Thought Work

Goal Setting: WOOP Method

Job vs. Career, Paycheck vs. Income

80% of Effort on Networking and People

Professional Glow-Up and Personal Brand

Own Your Story and Share It

Mapping Your Work to AI Jobs (If You Want)

Professional Stories and Getting Credit with the STAR Method

Taking the Next Small Steps: Prototyping

Get Ready to Talk About Money

That's your AI Roadmap for careers! Let's start the first step on this journey by talking about your mindset.

Resilience and Mindset

Fear is a common emotion right now. Many people are worried about losing their job, they already have lost their job, or they might be supporting someone going through this. More than 517,554 jobs in the United States have been lost to layoffs in the past three years.1