In this episode of the AG45 Soul Aligned Strategy Podcast, host Katherine Breuss, CEO, and founder of AG45, welcomes guest Nikki Lee, Co-founder and president of Genhead, an AI growth agency. Nikki shares her journey from her southern roots in Charlotte to her current life in Los Angeles, discussing the challenges and pivotal moments that led her to combine her passion for storytelling with a career in marketing and AI. She highlights the importance of intuition, adaptability, and aligning one’s work with personal values. Nikki also elaborates on how Genhead uses AI to help businesses optimize their operations and save time. The conversation delves into the significance of trusting one’s gut and making intentional decisions that align with personal and business goals.

Contact Nikki – https://www.linkedin.com/in/genhead-nikkilee/

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Welcome to the AG45 Soul Aligned Strategy podcast. We have a really special guest here, Nikki Lee from Genhead. Love that Nikki is on. We collaborate on a few things. So it’s amazing to have her here and what she’s doing is really cool. But I am gonna actually pass it over to Nikki. ’cause Nikki, I want you to share with the audience, who you are as a human, and then tell us about Genhead.

Nikki Lee: Okay. Wow. So much to share. So my name, like you said is Nikki Lee. I am the co-founder and now president of Genhead. We are a thank you so much. We are an AI growth agency that focuses on helping particularly small businesses implement the systems that they need to scale without the chaos. And then we come in and help fill in gaps where is needed. So whether that’s helping with things like branding, or other marketing services, you know, I have an amazing, amazing network of artists and collaborators who I’m able to and fortunate enough to bring in and share with these amazing innovators and visionaries. So it’s a really fun time for me.

Katherine Breuss: I love it. And can you share, and, and by the way, I wanna say that I have been working with Genhead for almost a year now in the CRM and now the marketing space and, um, the whole organizing your life, you know, I love that you said chaos. Um, you know, we all have chaos in different ways. And having a system is really important. So, you know, hats off because, um, love the system. And. In terms of, I wanna hear about you though, ’cause I know you’ve got a really interesting life. You’ve shared pieces of it, and I’d love for you to share a bit more about who you are to with the audience. Okay.

Nikki Lee: I see you. The elevator pitch was not enough. I, I got it. Um, no. No. So, uh, I was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. Um. So at my heart, I’m definitely a southern girl. Um, are you a Tar Heel fan? Um, oh, okay. So this is, so you put me on the spot because I definitely have friends that went to UNC that if I said I was not a Tar Heel fan, I would definitely be like, uh, uh, they would never speak to me again. Um, but uh, I am in my heart and soul, I bleed garnet and gold ’cause I’m an FSU girly. So when it comes to the ACC, I definitely am a Seminole. Um, but I have a lot of love and respect for the Heels. Um, and who doesn’t love that Carolina Blue? So, well, my sister, my sister and brother-in-law, they went to UNC. Oh, really? Well, so my mom and my sister went to NC State, so there’s a little bit of a rivalry there. Not as much as being, you know, um, a Duke fan. What is it? Duke Devils, sorry, sorry, sorry. Duke fans. Uh, but yes, so, uh, I know that there’s more of a rivalry there. I just usually go like Florida girly over here. Like, sorry. Uh, so,

Katherine Breuss: And you’ve lost that. You don’t have the southern accent.

Nikki Lee: I, yeah. So my parents are from, um, born and raised in Virginia, outside of DC. So they moved to Charlotte, um, right after they got married, right before they had me. Um, and Charlotte’s just sort of this really weird melting pot because it is this sort of like weird in-between city between Atlanta and DC. So you get, I feel like very rarely was I ever meeting people that were actually from Charlotte. So I think because of that I was spared from, from the, the crazy southern draw. But you know, I am not afraid to throw in a y’all every once in a

Katherine Breuss: y’all. I think y’all is one of the best words ever. ’cause I lived in Nashville for many, many, many years, and so y’all is like, I think it’s easy, it’s quick. It’s like, Hey y’all,

Nikki Lee: I am all about efficiency. So anytime that I can combine a bunch of words into one. I am all for it. Yeah. So, yeah. Y’all is great. I, I’m not afraid to throw in a bless your heart if you really, if you really get me going.

Katherine Breuss: Uh oh. I forgot about that. Oh yeah.

Nikki Lee: Bless your heart. Um, so, yeah. Yeah. Uh, sweet Jesus. Yeah. So, um,

Katherine Breuss: You’re bringing me back. It’s been a long time since I was in the south in the,

Nikki Lee: I definitely aspire to be like an old southern woman when, when the time comes where I’m just like sipping on some sweet tea and, and just rocking in a rocking chair and just like hearing about all the town gossip, like that will be me and I will be living my best life

Katherine Breuss: On the front white, like on the porch. And you’re like the rocker lounge, you know, you see like a Cracker Barrel.

Nikki Lee: Exactly. Uh, my potential husband if I’m married at the time, will have his like hat and he’s like fanning it with himself, like, Lord, it’s so hot out here.

Katherine Breuss: Yeah, you’d be going, I, well, I declare, oh my gosh. It’s hot outside.

Nikki Lee: For real. Um, so cannot wait for that. Although the reason I moved to, and I’m now in LA was honestly to escape the humidity. So the idea of getting back to that, I don’t know. That’s, that’s a hard ask. I think I’ve been too spoiled now for the last, you know, um,

Katherine Breuss: LA has got the best weather, like it seems like all the time. It is just gorgeous.

Nikki Lee: Um, yeah, I’m, I’m absolutely spoiled and I am not afraid to admit that. Um, but this, I, the first time I ever, uh, was in California, I, it was for Comic-Con. Um, I was, um, debuting one of my short films at Comic-Con and uh, I got off the airplane and walked outta the airport and immediately was just like. What is this? Because I was in Florida at the time, which is, I mean, it’s like God’s armpit, like is sweaty. Um, so, so you were South Florida? South Florida. Um, I was north Florida. I was like basically Georgia. So, um, okay, just to give some context here, I, so I graduated from high school in Charlotte, uh, decided to go to Florida State. If you couldn’t tell, obviously from our conversation already, uh, what drove me there was, I was always interested in telling stories, uh, and was always at a young age really gravitated towards film and filmmaking. So I was the kid that was like getting those digital cameras that where you could like record movies on. And I was recording my friends in the neighborhood, like riding around in their scooters. Uh. Like pre jackass phase, um, and like recording it and we’re not as crazy, not as crazy as that. You know, I will not, we were, we were very PG um, and uh, basically just kind of fell in love with, with the, the medium and, uh, realized that I wanted to, and the best way to connect with humans was by sharing, sharing moments, sharing stories, and bringing people together to watch a unified experience. And then watching how it impacts everybody was just so fascinating to me. So, um, decided to go, uh, against my high school counselor’s, better, better wishes. Uh, he was like, “You don’t wanna be a doctor and go to go to UNC.” I was like, “No, I wanna be an artist.” So I, I went to Florida State, um, got my undergrad in creative writing minors in, um, business and film, and then stuck around to get my master’s and at the film program there, which if you’re not familiar with the, the film program there, it is one of, if not in my humble opinion, the best film school program in the country. It is the only, just, just a humble plug here, but it is the only film school program in the country, uh, where they focus on putting everybody on the, on a level playing field, and they pay for everybody’s. Films. Um, so you are not coming into the program like little old me from Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s not like, you know, Steven Spielberg’s my, my like, uh, godfather. Um, you know, so like coming in, not knowing anybody, not, you know, knowing that I have a love for the art, but not maybe any experience in that you didn’t need that. They really were looking for, um, true artists that, you know, that maybe didn’t have that background. And they put everybody on the same, uh, you know, playing field and they make you learn and run you through every single position on a film set. So I was directing and then I was ADing, and then I was literally running cable as Best Boy Electric. And then I was setting up light stands and driving big trucks around to film sets. So. That really instilled an amazing work ethic in me. Um, you know, punctuality and getting used to working long days where you’re talking minimum 12 hours, um, running, like I said, cables and sweating. And it’s in Florida heat like in the summer where you’re just, you’re, it’s just so swampy. It’s so swampy um, north. So it’s, it Tallahassee’s in, um, northern Florida. Yeah, it’s basically Georgia. You’re like 40 minutes from the line. So you’ve got the beautiful, like Spanish moss and like the old trees and it’s really, really pretty. Um, but I, I did, I did escape to South Florida any chance I could get. ’cause South Florida is just gorgeous. Um, so, uh. Yeah, from, I graduated from with my master’s in oh Lord, uh, 2017 and then moved out to LA like right before, like a few days, I think right before Thanksgiving. And I have been here ever since and just absolutely loving life. Um, I definitely always said that I wanted to move up to LA since I was a kid. Um, it just felt like my heart was always calling me to the city and, um, I’m so happy that I listened to my instincts because, uh, I really do owe so much of who I am today to, um. The city and the amazing connections that I’ve made here. Um, and so from that, uh, work started working my way through the film industry, uh, working on music videos for people like Lana Del Rey and Miley Cyrus, um, to working on promos for like Conan O’Brien, um, to, uh, uh, producing and ADing, uh, a feature for my friends, um, right before, literally right before COVID. So, uh, done a little bit of it all, um, worked my way through the ranks, um, and got to a point right around COVID where I think like a lot of people it was time to sort of reflect. I was on literally the last film set. That was operating before the shutdown. I mean, they literally told, um, the people working on set that we were gonna have to hold. ’cause remember at that time everyone was like, “Two weeks, we just have to get through two weeks.” They literally, well,

Katherine Breuss: I was in Australia and it was like, we call it like China down under, because we were like, if the US felt it was strong lockdown, oh my god. Australia was a thousand times stricter and harsher.

Nikki Lee: Really? Um, yeah, it was crazy. I mean, I remember hearing the whispers of it coming here, like, and I mean, yeah, I, I just, I remember hearing it on the radio before everyone realized it, and I was like, “It’s about to happen. Like it’s gonna spread. Like this is, this is it. We’re, we’re on the cusp of a pandemic.” “No, Nikki, you are crazy. No way.” And then of course, like, uh, not even like. What, a month later or two it was like, “Okay, yes, it’s here. We’re probably gonna have to do a lockdown.” So, um, and I reme, I mean, it was, it was just utter chaos in the city. Uh, so still processing all of that, quite honestly, like, I think most people are, but I was on the last set, they literally told us like, “Hold onto everything” because like, like equipment and stuff like that. Like we’re talking like millions of dollars worth of film equipment that they’re literally telling the people on set, “Just hold onto it somehow in some way or shape or form, like the trucks at your house because, and we’ll just have to figure out how to get it from you once we get out of lockdown.” Well, it wasn’t two weeks. So, um, and I remember, um, you know, there was a lot of reflection. I lost my, my grandma during, during that time. Um, very sobering having to be away from your entire family. Um. Very, as I, you can tell, southern girl, very family oriented. My dad is one of eight kids. So big family on that side. And to lose my grandma during that time, to not be able to grieve with my family, to not get to, uh, be at the funeral and, and properly mourn her the way that she deserved. ’cause that woman was an incredible person. Um, and having to watch that through Zoom from my bed alone was, uh, going through at the time also a breakup, a very, very fresh breakup. Um, because my, my boyfriend at the time moved in literally a week before the lockdown. We did not know this was gonna happen. So it was just a lot. Um, and so in that, in that time of reflection, you know, I realized I was at a point where I could either. Continue on, continue on working in the commercial industry, um, very easily. Saw myself becoming a producer. Worked with several women in that space, um, and, and no shade to them, but I could see how the years of working in that kind of grind had kind of jaded them, the sacrifices that they had to make personally to be where they were, um, and, and what they were getting out of it. It’s like, “Okay, cool. So you’re a really grumpy old or woman, but like you have a really cool electric car and like you have a house on the beach, but like, was this your dream to like produce like, you know, a dog food commercial or a pharmaceutical commercial? Like, was this really it for us?” And so I, I had that moment where I was like, “Okay, I went into this. To work through the ranks from the bottom up because I genuinely believe that to be the best leader you have to, to understand how to do every position or at least be willing to do every position, I should never ask someone to do something that I am not willing to do.” Um, I really wholeheartedly believe that. So I, I was like, “I’m gonna, I’m gonna do the grind, put out the chairs, get the coffee, all of it, um, deal with the crazy personalities. Crazy.” Um. I am going to be such a better person for it, um, coming out of that. And I, and I was at a point where I was like, “Okay, I can continue to move up and start coordinating, start, um, managing, um, producing or I can, and, and literally just, just do that and fall into this trap that I’m seeing a lot of other, especially women become a gru of women. Yeah. The beach house. I mean the co the, the sexist comments, like, we can dive into that if you want, but they’re, they’re very much real and they’re very much there. I saw, I saw it all the time. Um, the number of men that told me like, “The only reason that you’re here is ’cause you’re pretty,” uh. Or that you’re asking too many questions and the only reason that you’ve been able to get this far is ’cause you’re pretty and being like, “Do you know me? That is not who I grew up as. I was not, I was not the popular pretty girl. I was, I was not the popular pretty girling class.” So it was very jarring to come from like, being like the nerd to like that. And I was like, “When did this happen? Uh, because no one told me I have not been using that to my advantage then properly.” Um, but so I decided to, I, my parents had started a, a small business. They start, uh, opened a franchise for an IT training company, um, in Raleigh, uh, North Carolina. And I saw that they desperately needed someone in marketing and I saw an opportunity to take my talents and help them out work maybe a more structured nine to five. But because I was on West Coast hours, it was, you know. It was gonna be six to two. And that would give me freedom in my day to work on my own personal projects, to be able to write again, to be able to work on, on actual passion projects and actually have the money, the money to be able to, to do that. Um, so I, I decided to, to shift. Um, of course everyone’s like, “Aren’t you so afraid you’re not working in film anymore? Doesn’t that mean you’ve given up?” And to me, I was like, “Absolutely not. This is, um, this is the way that I can give myself power and empower myself to take control of the time that I have and rather just be sort of another cog in the machine, like to actually, you know, have a say in how my, my time is shaped.” Um, because you only have so many hours in a day, right? So, um, I. I decided to work with my parents. And then from there I met my, my co-founder, Pat Riley, he was another franchise owner in Wisconsin. Uh, he hit me up and was like, “Hey, you wanna start a business together?” Um, and I said yes. And now here we are, two and some change years later. Uh, I am the president of Genhead and cannot believe that this is my life and that I wake up every day getting to do what I do. So, yeah. So, wow.

Katherine Breuss: That is awesome. Now, and what’s interesting is you, you said, you’ve said a couple things throughout.

Nikki Lee: A lot. I’m sorry.

Katherine Breuss: No, do not apologize. You’re a storyteller. You’re telling a story and it was, it was fascinating and I loved hearing it. And you know, I was listening to not only what you were saying, but how you were saying it, and when you, I think when you were talking about Florida. Yes. Um, and when you moved to Florida and you said, and then you moved to LA and you made a comment of, and this isn’t exact, but along the lines of, “I’m so glad I listened to myself,” or “I followed, I don’t know if you said intuition or, or intuition.” Mm-hmm. And, and so that was one. So it was like, oh, interesting. So aligned, you know, and then you moved through and you worked through the film industry. Sounded like you had an amazing experience and amazing time, but it, it feels to me that at some point along the way, maybe there was a misaligned, it, it started to be misaligned in terms of with the soul, you know, and this whole like, mm-hmm. You know, I don’t wanna be, or maybe it was like the future of it was like, “Oh man, that’s really the misaligned.” And then you moved through. So I was, I was hearing this like that you really listen it to what makes sense for you with your soul and how you align it to your life.

Nikki Lee: I’m just realizing some things right now, Katherine. So you’re making me laugh. I’m sorry, but yes, I do.

Katherine Breuss: Whatcha realizing? Share, tell, tell.

Nikki Lee: Um, I have always in my life been that per like, if. You’ve ever met me at any point in my life and then we were to dis, we were to disconnect and then. Come back in again. That’s happened a few times with friends, just natural relationships, you know, people move away, things like that. Every time that they come back and we get together, they’re always like, “Oh my God, you’re the same.” Like, of course you’ve grown, you’ve, you know all of that, but you are still Nikki. And that’s because like, as long as anyone’s ever known me, I’ve always said, like, I, like people would ask, “Okay, so what do you wanna do growing up?” And I would say with the absolute confidence, I would look them dead in the eyes and I would say, “I’m gonna become a film director, and I’m gonna tell stories.” And I mean, even to this day, if you ask me like, “Are you like, what about that?” I am like, “I’m absolutely going to be a director and I’m going to tell stories.” I’m just, the way that I’m getting there is a little bit different. Um, but like every day, even right now, like I’m creating, I’m telling stories. Um, the, the industry’s just changed. So, um, I get this weird thing where it’s like. Some at this happened even with like choosing college. I just remember like Googling and reading the top schools. I saw Florida State. I’d always, because my grandparents lived in Florida, um, I always loved visiting them. Um, I wrongfully, wrongfully thought that and assumed that Florida State would be at the beach. It’s not. So that was a little bit of a shock. But, um, I just remember seeing like, I, I get this thing in my head. It’s like a one track mind where it’s like the second that I’ve decided something, like that’s it. And you can try and share your opinion with me. I love hearing counter arguments. I love hearing all of the reasons why I shouldn’t maybe pursue or do something or consider something because you should always be able to hear, um, other people’s opinions and maybe sometimes their perspectives. Are right and are worth, you know, giving weight to. But, um, usually a lot of my decisions are a hundred percent, uh, intuition or like a gut instinct where something inside of me is like “That, Nikki, that,” and then I just, I follow through. Like I knew nothing about LA but when I was 15, my heart was like, “You are moving to LA and you’re gonna tell stories.” And since then I was like, “I’m moving to LA and I’m going to tell stories.” And like that has always, that has always been it. Um, Florida State, “I’m gonna go and I’m gonna be in the film school.” I did not get into the film school the first time I applied. Um, I did so that I didn’t do my undergrad there. And I was devastated when I found out that I had to stick around a few more years to get my master’s degree because I was like, “My heart, like I’m supposed to be in LA. Like I, I can’t start my life. I can’t start telling these stories until I get out to LA.” Um. But with that being said, like I always knew, like my heart, I was supposed to go to Tallahassee. Like so much of my college experience has shaped me as a person. I would not be here today without those experiences. Like, so appreciative for, for every single second of it. So appreciative of everything that I’ve been through to get to this point. Um, so, so Genhead is very similar and the way that I, I do my strategic planning and all of that is a hundred thousand percent gut-based, um, weaving what some people might say, very ambitious and crazy ideas in my head, but I am just that crazy person that is like, “When I have decided something is going to happen like that is it, and it’s going to happen and you can either get in and buckle up and enjoy the ride or you can get out of my way.”

Katherine Breuss: Well, and, and so I, I love that. ’cause I actually, a lot of the stuff that I hear you saying. I mean, not the film parts or anything like that, but just this, when you see it, when you actually are clear about who you are and what you want, and then you align it, you align your life, you align your business, the people you hang around with, whatever, um, it is like, then the action comes because it is like you are a train that no one can stop. And it’s like, you know, exactly, maybe not exact steps in terms of how you’re gonna do it, but you just know “That’s where I’m headed, that’s what I’m gonna get, and I’m gonna do whatever it takes.”

Nikki Lee: Yes. I, it’s like freeing. It’s what it’s like freeing. It’s like liberating and you’re like, “Oh, I know.” It’s, it’s purpose. Right? Purpose driven. I’ve, I’ve, I’ve defined my purpose and now the sole purpose of my day to day is to. See through that, you know, see through that and like live that purpose and that makes you enjoy a journey. Right.

Katherine Breuss: So let me ask this though. And because there are, there have been times in my life where that. That, gosh, that crystal clarity and that alignment, it is so spot on to like, it’s like bullseye spot on and there is, there’s no stopping. There is absolutely no stopping. And you get it. You get exactly what you want. There have been times in my life though, where it has been, I am, you know, semi, you know, like clear, but it’s not that pinpoint bullseye clear and it’s that alignment and you get there, but it’s a little bit harder. And then there have been times where it was like, “What the, now I’ve been on this earth longer than you.” So there’s, that’s, there’s probably a lot more opportunities for me to f up, um, along the way. And I’m not saying implying that you will f up, but I’ll to be here. So it sounds like there is a lot of very clear bullseye. Clarity, alignment in action throughout your journey. Has there been though, like a time, whether personally or in the business where you’re like, you’ve either felt misaligned or you didn’t have that clarity, or you just look and you go, “Man, that was just, what was I doing?” Yeah, um, absolutely. So, um, I can have clarity all day.

Nikki Lee: That doesn’t mean the universe has that clarity on the same page, right? So, um, I’m at point A and I know point BI defined it and I know where I wanna get to the journey to get to point B. You know, I’ll map it out where I’m like, “Okay, here to here, easy done.” But the universe loves to say, “Nah, nah, nah, got other, we’ve got other plans for you.” And so what should have been a simple road ends up being a crazy rollercoaster of, you know, upside down and twists and all of those things. I mean, I, my clarity was that I was going to go to Florida State and I was gonna go into the, the film program. That was what I was going to do. And I didn’t get into that. You know, that was a big moment where, you know, I think a lot of people would go, “Okay, well, I’ll figure out, I’ll do something else.” I was like, “No, I’m gonna figure this out. I’m gonna continue to pursue film.” So then I, I was like, “All right, I’ll go and I’ll major in media communications.” Um, I was so overqualified to be in that program, but they, they did not accept me for whatever reason. I helped another girl out next to me and they accepted her. And it, they were not basing it on the correct. I, in my humble opinions, merits, um. Well, that’s, I think, welcome to a lot of universities. Yeah. And I remember the counselor, and I’m so used to this, like, it’s so backwards. I’m so used. Like I, I think like when you hear the classic artist store tale, like it’s the kid going and telling the parents and the parents being like, “No, why? Like, you’re so much better than that. Don’t do that.” Um, my parents were so supportive. My, I, the second I told my parents, they were like, “Yes, absolutely. Like they were figuring out how to get me equipment, figuring out how to get me into like classes and so I could explore that, that medium and that art and that passion. Uh, eternally forever grateful for that. But, uh, for some reason my educators and my counselors could not get on the same page about that. Um, so I went to Florida State, uh, you know, I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna do media, uh, communications, or sorry, media production.” Um. And I remember sitting in the counselor and the counselor was like, “Are you sure? Like that you wanna do this? Like, what if you don’t get in? And then I looked her dead in the eyes and I was like, “There’s no other option for me. So I’m either doing this or I will figure something out, but this is, this is the path that I’m taking. So this can either get aligned with me and you guys can be proud, proud to have said that I went through your program or not. That’s your choice. That’s not mine. I know what I’m gonna do.” And she, I don’t think that she was prepared for that response, but I just, I’m so, I get so sick of hearing people tr like, especially like, and maybe this was like the rebellious 18-year-old and me, but it’s like, “Why? Who are you? You don’t know me. Why do you feel like you’re entitled to tell me what I can and cannot do? That’s not your job as a counselor.” So, um, that happened and then, I mean, you know, I. Florida State promised, um, you know, college, college tuition’s crazy. They promised that if I moved there, I could like, uh, become, you know, I could move in with my, my grandparents become a, a Florida, um, like President. President, thank you. Yeah. Florida citizen, that’s not the right word. No resident. Florida resident. Um, and that in a year I could get instate tuition and they kept denying me saying that I moved to the state on tuition purposes, which was not what they promised me when I, when I went to, um, check out and tour the school. And I mean the guy at the registration, the registrar’s office was feared me. He would see me come in like he was always like, “Oh my gosh.” ’cause I mean, I did everything. I started a business in Florida. I did every other thing that I could possibly do. I was paying taxes in Florida. I was at a point where if I moved back to North Carolina, North Carolina could deny me in state tuition because they could say like, “Well, you’re a Florida, Florida resident, you’re not a North Carolina resident.” So I was like this weird stateless citizen of the United States of America. Um, and

Katherine Breuss: It’s kind of like people who live overseas. We still have to pay US taxes even though we don’t actually do anything here. Uh, nobody knows that, by the way. So many Americans don’t know that. So for 22 years, had to still pay US taxes.

Nikki Lee: And I’m getting nothing. And, and you have, you know, everyone growing up, like, I mean, this is sort of the millennial condition is like, you have to go to school, you have to get good grades, you have to go to good college, and then if you do all of that, you’re gonna get an amazing career, which is absolutely not the case. We all know this now, right? Uh, but, uh,

Katherine Breuss: yeah, you’re like a hundred thousand in debt or whatever.

Nikki Lee: It’s, I wish, I wish I was that low. Um, so see that is just, oh God, don’t even get me on the bandwagon of the US education here. And, and yeah, my mom’s an educator, so it, it, this has been my whole life growing up. So, um, basically they got to a point where I had to drop outta school and live in Florida for a year and become what I would consider or call a red, a red shirt junior. Um. And, and I was so devastated.

Katherine Breuss: Wait, what does that mean? I have no idea. What does,

Nikki Lee: okay, so like in, in sports, and this is so funny that I’m saying this ’cause I am not, I would not say I’m a sports big sports girly, but, um, in, in college, um, oh gosh, I hope I’m saying this right. I know that you can be like a red shirt like freshman. It’s a way that like, uh, really awesome football players can stay on like another year. Because if you’re coming in a freshman and you have a lot of potential, you can be like a red shirt freshman. And I think it allows you, it extends your playing year. So you could stay and play like another year. I hope That’s right. However’s listening. Please, please don’t hate me if I’m wrong, but you have to like take off. So I was calling myself like a red shirt junior basically because I had to take a year off of school to prove that I could be at this school. Um, so that was fun. Um, and. Basically, I mean, I could get, I could spend an hour talking about just how messed up that whole experience was trying to enroll for, for a year and having like just adults looking at me, making, forcing me to read really awkward poems in their office and being like, but when you graduate and you become like a, a, a millionaire from making your films like this, this tuition cost will be nothing to you. And I looked at them and I said, can I get that from you in writing? So does that mean when, yeah, I don’t make a million dollars, you’re gonna pay for my tuition. So fur, and it’s so degrading, like as a like. A person trying to come into their adulthood. Right. Um, so I took, I took the year off, um, went back in. And so, and like so many people at that time were like, well, should you consider going back to, you know, going to a different school doing all these things? And I was like, this is what I am doing. This is what I know in my heart I’m supposed to be doing. I’m supposed to be in this program. I am not leaving until this happens. Um, even though, like in the background, I am literally, I’m, I’m crying because I realize like every day that I am not in school every day, I am not working towards getting my degrees. It’s keeping me from moving to la it’s keeping me from my purpose, which is telling stories. Um, so, uh, but I, I mean, I stuck it out and I went through the program. It was the most amazing experience. I am still so close with like, all of the people in that program. I, I hold them also near and dear to my heart. I love every single one of them. Um, and again, I am who I am today because of those decisions, and I would not take back any of those for an instant. So, um, as far as, uh, what you were asking though for, for not soul aligned, here’s what I will say. That was a really long buildup to this, so I apologize. Um, I always wanted to be in the film industry, so it’s crazy. I’m sure people listening are like, okay, why is she talking about the film industry so much? She just said that she works and started an AI growth agency. Like, how does this make sense? I watched the film industry completely deteriorate. COVID was this insane boom because everybody was stuck at home and just wanted content. It was like, please, please Netflix. More and more and more and more and more. So they were making, uh, exemptions. I mean literally, uh, California deemed, uh, people that were working in the film industry, uh, essential workers. So we were, we were one of the first people back at it, uh, before I would even argue people should have been back at it. I don’t know how safe I would say it was to be on set at that time. Um, and I was watching how things were shifting, um, how politics were shifting, how the work structure was shifting, um, how tech. Was shifting media sh and, and shifting film. I mean, we’re talking about big tech companies that are now have their hands in streaming services and now they’re the ones that are creating content and setting like what we’re seeing out on, on tv. Um, and I, I was looking at what, you know, the people I was working with, what I was essentially, I have this, this moment where I was like, I know that this is my calling. I know that this is what I’m supposed to do, but like, what if I wake up in the morning and I look in the mirror and I hate myself for it? Um, it was really scary deciding to work for my parents because, and shifting it back into marketing, um. I worked actually in marketing when I was a teenager. I was like one of the first people that was creating, um, ads basically online for companies like Dunkin Donuts and Clain. If they knew that it was like a teenager doing this, I think that they would’ve like been terrified to know that. But this was like the first time that people were taking like, literally converting, um, TV ads into like online content, online ads. So I was literally like, the questions that we were having in the room was like, how do we take, uh, a commercial that was, uh, recorded for, um, recorded with audio and scripted and make it nonverbal? Um, so all of that is to say like, I always felt like in my heart, I was like, I’m really scared that I’m gonna get back into marketing. And I was like, but that’s not what I wanna do. I wanna go into film. And then I had this moment where I was like, you know what? This has always sort of been, I think a part of me, and I think in some ways I’m fighting. My own ta, my own talents. Um, I’m fighting where the universe is asking me to move through. And I need to trust in my purpose. I need to trust in who I am, and I need to expl, allow myself the opportunity to, to shift. And yes, I was so worried about the perspe, uh, the perception, right? Everyone, like I said before was like, well, aren’t you so sad? Aren’t you so like scared that you’re out of the industry now? Like you’re never gonna get back in? And I was like, no. Because if I know that I’m waking up every day with my purpose of what I wanna be, of who I wanna be, um, the opportunities will always present themself. Um, I feel like a lot of people talk about, um, luck. Like very successful. People talk about, like, especially in the film industry, they’re like, oh, I just was lucky. I got lucky. Yes, luck is, maybe plays a part of it, but there’s, but what we don’t talk about enough is preparation about the prepper being prepared. So when that lucky opportunity presents itself to you, you’re ready to say yes. And so that was my shift. Um, I, I moved forward in that direction. And what’s crazy is that I never thought that shifting into, you know, it was kinda one of those things where I was like, well, if I can’t beat them, then join them, play them at their own game and then beat them at it, at it. So I was like, you know what? Maybe by moving in this direction, I’m actually getting closer to my ultimate dream. And now it’s shifted because not only am I trying to build my dream for myself, but I’m trying, I’m like, how can I build. The dream for my people, for my friends, how can I get them to be able to wake up every day and do what it is that they do and give them those opportunities, create that lucky opportunity for them. And that fills me with so much joy.

Katherine Breuss: So it’s interesting too, because I believe when you had mentioned your purpose originally, and again, I I could be, um, taking it slightly different from what you said, but you said telling stories, um, or in film or in some place in film. Mm-hmm. And when. And I always say this, and this is a tip for everyone out there, is when someone attaches purpose to one particular thing, it can be a dangerous place. Because when that one thing like film doesn’t happen, then people can really lose. And I’m not saying you did, but people can really go, oh my gosh, hang on a minute. So like you hear people attach purpose to family or they attach purpose to this, and it’s like, no, the purpose is actually bigger beyond that. And so when you just said, just now, as I heard you say, telling story like one that is big and that you can do in many different facets. Ah, it doesn’t have to be film, but then you just said, helping other people live their dream, helping other people and that fills you up. And so there’s part of me that goes, Hmm. Um. That can be in any context, that could be within family, that could be within, you know, whether it’s film, whether it’s Genhead, whether it’s your friend, you know, all of these different, um, places. Anyway, so just things that I was hearing as you were, as you were talking.

Nikki Lee: It’s like, um, Dan Martell talked about this where he was like, yeah, it’s really cool making a million dollars, but do you know what’s cooler? Helping someone else make a million dollars? One of your employees making a million dollars because if they’re making a million dollars, that probably means that you’re making 5 million or 10 million or whatever. And that is so stuck with me and I was like, like you

Katherine Breuss: would hope otherwise you’re doing something wrong If they’re, if they’re making a million and you’re stuck. Actually, having said that, you do hear a lot of times business owners not necessarily helping their employees make a million dollars, but they don’t pay themselves. Yeah, they don’t pay themselves. And they’re, they are paying everybody else, but not them. Um, but I do love that, like if they, if the employee not love that, but love, like if the employee is making a million, you know, then yeah. The idea is that you’re making five or 10 or whatever.

Nikki Lee: Yeah, well, it’s like the same, it’s like with the client mentality too. I think a lot of that comes down to, and I, I definitely in the same boat, um, for better or worse, where it’s sort of this like, eat last mentality where it’s like, feed your people first, eat last. Um, and I think that that sometimes can come at the cost of, of paying yourself. Um, for sure. But, um, yeah, I think like, uh, going through the film experiences, the, the biggest thing that I would see in keeping something from being an amazing, great project was always like leadership, particularly usually the director getting in their own way. They were so stuck on what they wanted the movie to be, that they kept the movie from becoming what it needed to be. And so. And it’s funny because I literally, like, I talk about this all the time, I was like, learning filmmaking is actually what’s made me such a good, uh, businesswoman because it’s all so similar. Literally. So similar. Like if you’re out there and you wanna like learn how to make a film, learn how to build a business, it’s literally follow the same formula and you can do it from, from raising capital for your, for your film, all the way to like structuring your team writing all of that. It’s crazy. So I, I’ve always held that in my heart where it’s like, yes, I know what I want to do and what I wanna be, but yeah. Like what if, like what if tomorrow, um, filmmaking became illegal? Right? Like, what, what does that mean for me? And I don’t, I think like if your, the weight of your dream crumbles under something else that is under out of your control, then you probably need to. Maybe do a little, like visiting a little like self-evaluation and really ask yourself some hard questions of like, if this thing goes away tomorrow, who am I? It’s such a big thing that I see in la like people attach so much of their self-identity to who they are because it’s immediately, it’s like, hi, I am Nikki. Um, cool, what do you do? Right? That’s the first question that people ask. And then they, they judge and determine if they wanna know you by that answer. And I, I think that that’s a really dangerous trap to fall into because a

Katherine Breuss: hundred percent, and it’s not just la majority of people, their identity are their roles and, and that is incredibly dangerous.

Nikki Lee: Yeah. It’s like if you put all of the weight on, on what you do and not. Um, who you are, like what that means to be who to be me. Um, it’s so easy to lose yourself in your career. I feel like so many business owners feel like their business owns them. And I’m like, okay, well if you attach your identity to your business, then like, not only are we talking about like you feeling like you’re not having control over your business now, you feel like you don’t even have control over yourself and your self identity and your self worth a

Katherine Breuss: hundred percent. And there’s this whole piece about, and obviously, you know, in what we do at AG 45, we see this, um, over and over again is that business owners and people, we do this. Even if you’re not a business owner, people go into the motion of life. They’re in the weeds of life and they’re not actually being intentional about. How they’re spending their time, why they’re spending their time doing that, what they actually wanna be spending their time doing. And when people are more clear about not only who they are, because the actions we take and the decisions we make come from us. So everything outside in our life is just a mirror of what we have decided and what we have acted on, um, for the most part. So when you are not clear about those things and when you’re not clear about your business and clear about the soul of the business and have a strategy with the business, um, the business is running you people, they, people are spending their time just where they’re like, oh, but I just have to, I’m just so busy. You hear this all time. I’m just so busy. I have no time. It. You get to choose how you wanna spend your time, it’s your business.

Nikki Lee: Yeah. Some of that I think definitely comes down to control. It’s, it’s so funny, I was just talking with actually my mom about this, this morning where I, one in my business is gonna care about, or honestly should care about my business more than me. I, I can’t ask someone to care about this more than me. That’s just not gonna happen.

Katherine Breuss: No.

Nikki Lee: And so I was like, you know, it’s up to me to set the vision, the mission, and the direction of the company and, and make sure that that is clearly, uh, stated and felt in our day to day. And she was like, you know, that’s so funny. You know, we, um, we felt the same way and then we hired a general manager and then he kind of. Getting at, I think is part of the beauty. Oh, wait, you skipped, you got you. You froze on the general manager. So what, what happened? They hired Oh, okay. So they hired a general manager who is incredible, but he had a vision for how he thought they should build the business. Right. And she was just talking about how that has had, forced them to maybe shift Right. The way that they’re thinking. And I was like, well, that’s the beauty, right? Of building an amazing team and why it’s so important to pick the right people, to pick your people when, especially when you’re starting out. Um, because the, if you’re, if you’re doing it right, there’s a really amazing collaboration that’s happening. Um, this happened with Genhead, right? I came in and I, the second that Pat offered me, uh, a position in the company, I knew I was going to find a way to build into it. Marketing and some form of marketing agency. I knew that. I was like, this is, this is what I’m going to do. And I, I mean, I was very clear to him from the beginning and luckily he was just like, okay. Um, but never once in my life did I consider until we met Cody that we were gonna have a play in sustainable ai. Um, or that we would be building out a, um, AI research lab, um, that’s focused on sustainability. Um, that wasn’t my vision. That was Cody’s Cody brought that to the table, shared his vision, and not only is it so beautiful and did every part of my body just like light up like a Christmas tree, like I was just like. Absolutely vibrating. I was like, this is so aligned with who I am. Like, are you telling me that I can wake up every day, get to do what I wanna do, and also feel good about it? Like be able to sleep at night? ’cause let’s be real, there are some very real concerns around AI and that technology and, and the pace at which it’s growing and that we’re using it. Um, so him collaborating, sharing that dream, I was like, wow. Not, it didn’t shift the dream. It made the dream bigger. And now it’s now Genhead is bigger than me, it’s bigger than Cody. It’s, it’s this beautiful thing that is taking a life of its own. And yes, it’s up to me, it’s up to Cody to shape that and make sure that we’re moving in alignment with the overall goals and the mission of Genhead. But I just, it gets me so excited to continue to bring in more people. ’cause I’m like, wow. Look at, look at this amazing, beautiful example of how one person has allowed us to be a part of a conversation that I never in a million years, that million years that I would get to be a part of. Um,

Katherine Breuss: so tell me actually how Genhead, you know, as we like wrapping it up like Jen had in time. Yeah. And this piece, you’re talking about AI and Yes, ai, there’s so many, I mean, we could go in so many directions with ai, but I would love to understand even more how, um, Genhead and the ai, um, growth piece can help business owners with their time.

Nikki Lee: Amazing. So, um, first things first in terms of time. Um, I think one, so I’ll start with this. I don’t know if you saw the MIT report that came out a couple months ago, but it said that 95%. Of, uh, generative AI pilots at an, at the enterprise level have failed since 2023. That means that 19 out of 20 businesses that have tried to put significant capital into starting and leveraging AI and implementing it into their business to grow revenue have failed. That’s huge. That’s massive. I feel like from the small business perspective, everyone’s so focused on AI and they’re like, well, if I’m not using it, I, I I’m behind. You’re not behind. Everyone’s behind. Um, and it’s not, it’s not their fault. It’s, it’s because of a few things. One, the models that they’re trying to use were not built for businesses. They were built for like research. So, um, you can’t, you know, cha GBT is great on the individual level, but when you try to scale it up for businesses, it sort of falls apart. Because it’s not scalable. Um, so we created our, our own model, um, building it off of an open source model, making it extremely efficient. And by doing that, um, it’s, you know, just for context, it’s 70%, at least 70% more efficient than most models out there because it is so efficient. It’s incredibly cheap. And so we’re able to offer it to everybody to use unlimited for free forever. Um, so you can actually do that by going to our website, Genhead.com, and you can create your, your account for free and start using it. And this model we has specifically fine tuned for business. So this is a model that is meant to help you. And then in the way that we’ve been building out our tools, time is so

Katherine Breuss: real quick, how does it help, how does it help businesses?

Nikki Lee: So, um. The, we have a few ways that we use it at the, at the free level, right? Um, we have, uh, I’ve structured it out to be a lot more organized so people can organize their thoughts a lot clearer. Um, we’ve built out the AI to be like a personal agent for you. So in terms of memory, in terms of being able to understand, you know, the onboarding processes, it asks you information about how you like to communicate, uh, what’s your business, what are your goals, and so it really tries to learn and understand you, um, and it builds a relationship with you, so that way it can really help you with, you know, accountability, process improvement, and mapping growth. Um, and then we actually built in a time, uh, a time, uh, manager piece so you can actually, ’cause one of the things is like, we all have calendars, but we wanna keep those calendars clearest to have meetings. Um, but we wanna do time blocking. I feel like many coaches, um, I don’t know if you, if you coach on time blocking, but, um. Being smart and eff and effective with your day and efficient with your day by blocking out specific times and getting into a routine. I built that specifically in there and as it’s running through your day, it has a timer at the top. Um, and you can even add milestones. Okay, I want to achieve this, this, this and my time block, and it’s right there and I kind of gamified it a little bit. So it’s like, as you complete a milestone, you can click on the check mark and then it kind of like confetti goes everywhere for a second. And you can even like add points for yourself and like, you know, keep track of all of that. Um, and as you’re doing this, it’s all getting added to the, the agent, your personal agent’s memory. So it’s helping you reflect, you know, how did we do during this time block? Uh, do you feel like you used the time effectively? How can we improve this to be better? These are ways that I feel personally like AI can be used in the day to day that is not currently from what I see being pushed. To be used that is going to make the difference. Um, so, and then leveraging that into systems. So you can start there from the free model, but then we have, and you talked about this a little bit, gen suite, right? So AgTech ai, quite honestly, I think is where it’s at, uh, where it’s at. So did I say AI at where it’s at? So, um, we fine tuned it through re and created reinforcement, uh, learning opportunities so that way, uh, users can base and business owners can go in, use our software and train the model, train their agent on how they want their business to be run. While that’s happening, the agent’s making recommendations on how to optimize for your business. And through that process, that ai, human collaboration, which is so important, so important, cannot trust that enough. We’re basically training AI on how you. Want your business to be run. And so eventually you can start to put that your systems on autopilot and the AI is just managing sort of the, the day-to-day for you so you can focus on what fills your cup rather than data entry, organizing and managing systems and cleaning things up.

Katherine Breuss: That’s really cool. Can it do it with my house?

Nikki Lee: Um, that, so right now my focus is on business, um, but I definitely am like, how can I use this to like, help me with like grocery shopping and like meal planning and like yes. Cleaning like.

Katherine Breuss: I am actually, one thing I will say that I was not opposed to when I heard like the robots were coming out and stuff, I was like, man, if I could get one to do the cooking every night for the kids when I come home, I’ve got my, and clean the house. Oh my God. I would be like, sweet.

Nikki Lee: It’s a matter of time. Like I, I won’t say it just yet, but there’s definitely some really exciting things that I’m developing out with my friends on as far as connecting like gardening and like fresh produce capabilities with like bartering capabilities with your neighbors. And then also like how it can help you with like, um, making like home cooked meals and stuff like that. ’cause I feel like cooking is becoming quickly a lost art.

Katherine Breuss: Yes. And it’s sad. It’s because with time. Yes. Because no one has time to do it because of time.

Nikki Lee: Yes.

Katherine Breuss: And so Nikki, this has been amazing. One thing I’d love for you to share, if there was one piece of advice. That you would like to share with other business owners, what would that be? I’m sure there’s lots, but if, what is the one thing that comes to mind that you would like to share?

Nikki Lee: Okay. Well, to bring it back full circle, I definitely would say like, trust your gut. Mm-hmm. Um, your friends and your family love you, but they don’t understand your business. They’re going to act out of fear and love for you. So when you do something that has incredible risk around it and, and starting and running a business is risky, let’s be, let’s be real. I think they even made a movie about it called Risky Business, I think, right? So I actually don’t know what that movie is about, but, uh, but you know, so be careful about who you’re getting advice from because if your advice is coming from family and friends who aren’t doing the thing that you’re doing, you know, they’re thinking about, or AI or you know, KGBT does not, does not know you, does not love you. Let’s be very clear about that. And AI lies, it’s fine.

Katherine Breuss: Yes it does.

Nikki Lee: So, um, trust your intuition. Trust your gut. No one is gonna know or understand your vision better than you. And it’s your responsibility to set that and learn how to communicate that. And. Dig in when, when that happens. Um, and just for the sake of time and, and circling it back to time. Learn how to say no to things that don’t actually serve you or your business. That is a lesson I am still trying to learn myself.

Katherine Breuss: Amen. On that one. Yeah. And so we all are, but it is a great, it is a great reminder. And the more clarity and alignment mm-hmm. That you have within yourself, within your business, the, the more action you can take towards spending time on where you want to. It’s,

Nikki Lee: it’s like the, it’s the trap that you fall into when you’re build or like the fallacy trap that you fall into when you’re growing your business is like, I’m not in a place where I can say no to anything. So I have to say yes to everything. ’cause I need to bring in revenue to feed myself, to feed my people, but. What you don’t realize is by saying yes to this, you’re saying no to other things. Yes. And that’s actually where maybe the growth is. So maybe you’re actually saying no to your own growth because you feel obligated to say yes to this.

Katherine Breuss: It’s the opportunity cost. Love it. I love it. Nikki, it has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time and um, sharing it with all of us, and I really, I appreciate you.

Nikki Lee: Thanks. This is so fun. I’m so down to come back and do this again. Are

Katherine Breuss: you? Absolutely. A hundred percent love to.

Nikki Lee: Perfect. Thank you so much, Katherine. As always, it’s amazing to talk to you, so