Practical AI for Business Leaders
Stop experimenting with AI tools. Start using AI to focus on the business priorities that matter most.
Learn how to use AI to think strategically, find growth opportunities, strengthen your sales and marketing, and build smarter ways to work. Along the way, you’ll develop practical AI skills using your own business goals, challenges, and expertise.
Whether you’re just getting started or ready to explore AI assistants and automation, there’s a learning path for you.
Whether you’re just getting started or ready to explore AI assistants and automation, there’s a learning path for you. Choose where to start.
Choose Your Path
01
AI Basics
Build confidence with AI tools, learn the essential terminology, and discover how to use AI in your everyday business activities.
Self-paced;
Coming soon
Free
02
Practical AI
Use AI to strengthen your business strategy, sharpen your competitive advantage, and improve sales and marketing.
Starts Nov. 3;
Two weeks; live
$299
03
Agentic AI
Use AI to uncover business opportunities, identify smarter ways to work, and build your first AI assistant to support your business.
Starts Dec. 1;
Two weeks; live
$299
AI Can Help You Work Smarter
Most businesses start using AI to write emails, summarize meetings, create social media posts, or research ideas. That’s a great starting point. But it’s just the beginning.
AI can also help you understand your customers, uncover new revenue opportunities, spot gaps in your business strategy, and find better ways to work. The real advantage isn’t doing more with AI. It’s using AI to focus on the work that makes your business more valuable.
Scroll Down to See How I Use AI01 · AI Basics for Business Leaders
New to AI? Start here.
Build your confidence with AI before putting it to work in your business.
This free, self-paced introduction covers the essential concepts, terminology, and tools you need to get started. Learn how to use AI more effectively, give it better instructions, and understand features like memory, Projects, Skills, and connected apps.
You’ll learn:
- How AI works and what it can do for your business
- How to communicate with AI to get more useful answers
- The difference between assistants, agents, and automation
- How to organize your work using AI tools
Free | Self-paced | Coming Soon
02 · Practical AI for Business Leaders
Use AI to strengthen your strategy, and grow your sales and marketing.
Stop experimenting with AI tools and start applying them to your most important business priorities.
In this two-week live cohort, you’ll learn practical AI skills while working on your own business strategy, customer relationships, and growth opportunities.
Week 1 — AI for Business Strategy
Define where you want to go.
AI Skills You’ll Learn
- Use AI as a strategic thinking and planning partner
- Give AI the right business context for better results
- Use Projects and Skills to organize and reuse your strategy
- Ask AI to challenge assumptions and explore alternatives
- Learn how to evaluate AI-generated answers, recognize limitations, and improve results through better context, instructions, and fact-checking.
What You’ll Build
- Your 90-Day Success Target
- A first-draft business strategy
- Measurable 30 / 60 / 90-day milestones
Week 2 — AI for Sales & Marketing
Develop a plan to improve your outreach.
AI Skills You’ll Learn
- Use AI to research and understand your customers
- Analyze competitors and sharpen your competitive advantage
- Develop positioning, messaging, and marketing content with AI
- Explore connected apps and reusable AI resources for sales and outreach
- Learn how to capture your competitive advantage, expertise, brand voice, and values so AI can produce more relevant, consistent marketing materials.
What You’ll Build
- A clearer understanding of your target audience
- Stronger positioning and core messaging
- An AI-supported sales and marketing plan
Your Outcome: A focused business priority, a practical growth plan, and reusable AI skills to help execute your plan.
Next Live Cohort
November 3 & 10, 2026 — Tuesdays
November 6 & 13, 2026 — Fridays
Two-week program with live instruction on Tuesday and optional Implementation Labs on Friday.
Investment: $299
03 · Agentic AI: Workflows & Automation
Turn business opportunities into smarter ways to work.
Ready to take AI beyond conversations and content creation?
This two-week live cohort helps you identify valuable business opportunities, understand how work gets done, and build your first AI assistant—without requiring programming experience or complicated automation platforms.
Week 1 — AI for Business Opportunities: Pathways to Growth
Identify where better systems can accelerate progress.
AI Skills You’ll Learn
- Use AI to map your offers, revenue opportunities, and customer journey
- Research competitors and identify market opportunities
- Understand AI hallucinations and how to verify AI-generated research
- Find friction, bottlenecks, and repetitive tasks
- Use AI to outline the steps and information needed for a business workflow
What You’ll Build
- A map of how your business generates revenue
- A personalized 90-Day AI Roadmap with clear priorities, next steps, and opportunities to expand your use of AI.
- A prioritized list of opportunities for improvement
- A simple workflow outline for your first AI assistant
Week 2 – AI Automation: Build Your First AI Assistant
Reduce your busy work by putting your systems to work.
AI Skills You’ll Learn
- Understand the difference between AI assistants, agents, and automation
- Create reusable assistant instructions using your business knowledge
- Explore scheduled tasks and recurring AI-supported activities
- Get an introduction to tools like Claude Cowork and OpenAI Codex
- Understand when AI can work independently and when human review matter
What You’ll Build
- A working AI assistant that supports a real business task
- Clear instructions and the information your assistant needs
- A plan for testing, improving, and potentially automating that task
Your Outcome: A reusable, business-specific AI assistant and a practical foundation for future automation.
Next Live Cohort
December 1 & 8, 2026 — Tuesdays
December 4 & 11, 2026 — Fridays
Two-week program with live instruction on Tuesday and optional Implementation Labs on Friday.
Investment: $299
Enroll in Both Programs & Save
Build your AI strategy in November, then build your first assistant in December.
Save $98 when you enroll in both.
$500
Build Your AI Roadmap
The best AI roadmap starts with your business plan, not a software stack.
As you develop your AI skills, you’ll learn how three connected business assets can help you organize what you know, make better decisions, and put AI to work.
Your AI Knowledge Base
Your business expertise, services, customer insights, competitive advantage, and strategic priorities all provide essential context for AI. A Knowledge Base helps you capture and organize that information so AI can deliver more relevant, useful results.
Your Business Command Center
Connect your business information and everyday tools in one organized workspace. Your Command Center helps you access information, track priorities, and use AI to make more informed decisions.
Your Business Engines
Business Engines are repeatable, AI-powered processes designed to support important business activities. Examples include researching prospects, preparing proposals, following up with customers, developing marketing content, or answering common questions.
You don’t have to build everything at once. Start with one business priority, develop the AI capabilities that support it, and expand as your needs grow.
Who Should Enroll?
The Practical AI series is designed for founders, executives, business owners, and team leaders who want to use AI to make their businesses more valuable—not just produce more content.
01 — AI Basics: You’re Just Getting Started
You’ve heard what AI can do, but you’re still figuring out the tools and terminology. You want a practical introduction that helps you build confidence before taking the next step.
02 — Practical AI: You’re Ready to Apply AI to Your Business
You’ve experimented with ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI tool. Now you’re ready to move beyond basic prompts and use AI to strengthen your strategy, sharpen your competitive advantage, and improve your sales and marketing.
03 — Agentic AI: You’re Ready to Put AI to Work
You’re comfortable using AI and want to do more with it. You’re ready to explore business opportunities, organize your knowledge, design better workflows, and build repeatable AI-powered processes.
Not sure where you fit? Start with AI Basics, or choose the live program that best matches your experience and business goals. No programming experience required.
How Each Week Works
Both live programs follow the same format: one hour of guided instruction each week, plus an optional 75-minute Implementation Lab.
Strategy Studio
Tuesdays · 1:00–2:00 p.m. (Mountain)
Each Strategy Studio introduces the week’s business focus and practical AI skills. You’ll see examples, learn the process, and begin applying what you’ve learned to your own business.
Strategy Studios are recorded, so you can catch up if you have a scheduling conflict.
Implementation Lab
Fridays · 1:00–2:15 p.m. (Mountain)
The Implementation Lab is optional, but highly recommended.
This is your opportunity to ask questions, work through challenges, and get individualized guidance. Whether you’re just getting comfortable with AI or ready to explore more advanced applications, we’ll work at your level.
Implementation Labs are live-only and not recorded. Participants can discuss business-specific or proprietary information in a setting designed for open conversation and hands-on work.
About the Instructor
Monica Poling works with organizations to turn story into strategy—and strategy into growth.
As a business strategist and AI educator, she demonstrates how leaders use AI to make better decisions, capture institutional knowledge, and turn what makes their business distinct into a competitive advantage.
For more than 20 years, Monica has helped organizations strengthen their positioning, develop growth strategies, and secure millions in funding.
Her AI projects have earned industry recognition, including winning the Space Fiesta Pitch Competition for her Space Stories Manifesto and being named a finalist in the global Make.com Designing Intelligent Workflows with Make AI Agents Community Challenge
She has trained thousands of business leaders through organizations including SCORE, NAWBO, the New Mexico Tech Council, the Better Business Bureau, the City of Albuquerque, and the New Mexico Restaurant Association.
About Monica PolingHow I Use AI in My Business
I took my first AI class nearly three decades ago—back when AI meant programming in LISP, not “prompt engineering.” When AI became commercially available, I began experimenting with ways to use it to accelerate my business. Not just for writing content, but for the work that helps my business grow.
Today, I use AI to support strategic planning, manage business relationships, and turn specialized expertise into searchable Knowledge Bases.
I also build custom AI solutions for organizations. I call these Business Engines.
You may hear them described as assistants, agents, or automations. I prefer Business Engines because the name focuses on the work being done, rather than the technology behind the work. And with AI tools and terminology changing so rapidly, that’s an important distinction.
Some of the engines I’ve built help research prospective customers, prepare proposals, manage follow-up, and turn business expertise into useful content.
None of this replaces the human part of my business. It reduces the friction so I can spend more time doing the work that matters most—building relationships, solving problems, and creating new opportunities.
➤ Read the full story: How I Use AI in My Business: Less Complexity, More Relationships
What’s your unfair advantage?
Get your free Sizzle Scan here
Reserve Your Spot
Practical AI for Business Leaders — $299
November 3 & 6; 10 & 13, 2026
Learn how to apply AI to business strategy, sales, and marketing.
Agentic AI: Workflows & Automation — $299
December 1 &4; 8 & 11, 2026
Identify business opportunities, design smarter workflows, and build your first Business Engine.
Take Both Programs — $500
Build your strategy in November. Put AI to work in December.
Save $98 when you enroll in both programs.
Live cohorts are limited to 20 participants to allow for individualized guidance.
Reserve My Spot ($499)Practical AI FAQ
What if I have never used AI tools before?
New to AI? We recommend starting with our free AI Basics course. You don’t need technical experience to join Practical AI, and we’ll cover some starter concepts, but familiarity with basic AI conversations will help you get more from the live sessions.
What if I already use AI frequently?
Our live programs are designed to help you move beyond everyday AI tasks.
Practical AI focuses on using AI for business strategy, sales, and marketing. Agentic AI takes the next step, helping you identify opportunities, design workflows, and build reusable Business Engines.
Choose the program that best matches your experience and goals.
Do I need to take Practical AI before Agentic AI?
No. The programs are designed to work together, but each stands on its own.
If you’re already comfortable using AI and want to explore workflows and automation, you can enroll directly in Agentic AI.
Do I need to attend every live session?
Each two-week program includes Tuesday Strategy Studios and optional Friday Implementation Labs.Strategy Studios are recorded, so you can catch up if you have a scheduling conflict.
Implementation Labs are live-only and not recorded. They’re your opportunity to ask questions, get individualized guidance, and work through challenges with the group.
Is this for solo business owners or teams?
Both. The programs are designed for founders, independent professionals, executives, business owners, and team leaders who want to use AI more effectively.
Private training and customized programs are also available for organizations and leadership teams.
Do I need to buy expensive software?
No expensive software or programming experience is required.
We’ll primarily demonstrate using Claude, with examples of how similar concepts work in other AI tools.
Some advanced features, integrations, and scheduled tasks may require a paid plan. We’ll identify those options as we cover them, but you won’t need to purchase additional software to participate in the core learning activities.
What if I only use ChatGPT?
That’s fine. The business frameworks and principles apply across platforms.
Although Claude will be our primary demonstration tool, we recongnize many people use ChatGPT and will do crosss-platform instruction whenever possible. You do not need to “know” Claude to get comfortable using it.
What is the refund policy?
You may request a full refund up to seven days before your program begins.
After that date, enrollment is nonrefundable, but you may transfer your registration to another participant or apply the full amount toward a future cohort, subject to availability.
If you enroll in both programs, the refund deadline applies separately to each program. Any refund for the bundle will reflect the discounted bundle pricing.
Do you offer private or team training?
Yes. Both Practical AI and Agentic AI can be adapted for individual leaders, organizational teams, and customized training programs.
Explore Private or Team OptionsWhat Clients are Saying
Erinn Fraser
I have had the chance to meet Monica in several networking groups, from Women Make a Difference to S.C.O.R.E., to Ignite Biz Advisors, and heard her talks. She is a wealth of knowledge! Also fun, funny and very intelligent.
She truly cares about your business’ wellbeing. I highly recommend Monica for help navigating AI, and also as a public speaker.
Carol Wight, Executive Director
NEW MEXICO RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION
Monica Poling’s webinar, ‘Simplify Your Restaurant Marketing with AI,’ was jam-packed with usable information for restaurant owners and operators. Monica effortlessly broke down proven tactics and free AI tools, tailoring every topic to the real-world needs of independent restaurants—from menu optimization with sales data to easy, effective social media strategies—even for those with zero tech experience.
Our members left with immediate, actionable steps and newfound confidence to boost their marketing while saving time and money. Monica’s ability to separate the true game changers from the hype makes her session a must for anyone serious about growing their hospitality business in New Mexico and beyond.
Reserve Your Spot
Founding Cohort: $499
Early-bird Rate: $399 (Book by Sept. 29)
Limited to 20 participants