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Are you fed up with the corporate bullshit holding you back? Welcome to Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast. The ultimate launchpad for entrepreneurs ready to seize control and unleash their creative genius. Hosted by Phil Better, the podcast mogul, each week he's breaking the chains of conventional work with bold strategies, raw insights and inspiring success stories from the entrepreneurs who took the risk and invested in themselves. This is your call to arms. Invest in yourself. Break free from someone else's rules and build the empire you deserve. Now let's dive headfirst into today's explosive episode.

Welcome back to another amazing episode of Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast. I am of course your host with the most feel Better the podcast Mogul. And I'm going to bring you closer to today's transformative minds in digital strategy and entrepreneurship. Our guest today is someone who's revolutionized how local businesses thrive in a digital world, equipping them with cutting edge tools to simplify operations, increase profitability and supercharge growth. Our guest is the powerhouse behind brand builders AI. With a rich blend of expertise as an entrepreneur, digital strategist and an AI innovator, our guest has dedicated her career to helping businesses harness the potential of AI for high impact results. Through her all in one CRM, AI employees and automated platforms, she enables business owners to streamline processes, cut costs and skyrocket client engagement, unlocking success with ease and precision. Known for her high, high ROI solutions and straightforward approach, our guest empowers businesses to not just keep up, but excel in today's competitive digital landscape.

She's a sought after speaker, sharing her insight on everything from leveraging AI to creating customer connections that last. Today she's here to dive deep into strategies that are helping businesses shine online and beyond. So get ready to be inspired as we welcome that dynamic, insightful and result driven Shannon Lavinia. Shannon. Did I pronounce that last name correctly or did I almost?

Lavinia.

Lavinia. I apologize.

So close.

So close. Shannon, welcome to the show. I'm very excited to have you here and learn all about you, so thank you.

Yeah, me too. I'm very excited to have this conversation and to help some people out today.

Awesome. All right, so we're going to dive straight into it because we got to get get this show on the road. Why did you become an entrepreneur? What made you decide to throw off the shackles of the nine to five world and become a free person in the entrepreneurial world?

This is such a great question because I was kind of the accidental entrepreneur I was a school teacher, taught high school biology for 8 years. Loved working with the kids, hated the politics of the education system, the public education system. And in 2002, so I kind of dates myself, my husband and I were getting married. And oddly enough, his managers did not come to our wedding. And we were like, wow, this is really odd. You know, where's, where are the guys from his job? And of course, because we work, could not take a honeymoon. I went back to teaching Monday. He went back to his sales job Monday.

His office had been converted into cubicles. And he was not fired, but put in a very awkward position where it was evident they really wanted him to quit. So there was a gigantic pay cut. You know, and for those. Anyone who's paid for your own wedding, you know, we had just bought a new car, a new house and paid for our wedding. And all of a sudden that six figure income was gone. And it was very shocking. So we, you know, did a lot of personal development, a lot of introspection.

We were newlyweds with a major financial crisis.

And on the horizon, just on the horizon.