Brian Harris — AI for Small Business: Real AI in Action with Harris Vacations

Transcript

Brian Harris: The answer is yes. What can AI do? Yes, how do we get there? We can't do everything right now. So let's start with one task, one idea, and see if that works, and then let's refine from there.

Narrator: This is AI with Kai Practical ai. For real business leaders, we break down what matters. Talk with people using AI in real businesses and share one idea you can use right away.

Kai Gray: It's another great day to talk about ai. I'm Kai Gray, your host of AI with Kai. I'm here with producer extraordinaire, Tim Scott.

Tim Scott: Hey Kai. What's up man?

Kai Gray: And together we're ready to get this started.

Narrator: The rundown, five AI stories you need to know right now.

Kai Gray: First up, the White House rolled out its national AI legislative framework. This is the administration's playbook for how they want Congress to regulate AI going forward. The big idea is one national standard that would override a lot of the stricter, conflicting state laws, and that's making it very complex for the AI providers. And this is what the, the AI lobby has really been pushing.

Tim Scott: I wonder if they'll use AI to comply.

Kai Gray: They, they, they better, in fact, they should have AI be negotiating all of this. Next up, anthropic versus the Pentagon. This is a really big deal. So if you've been paying attention recently, anthropic who is the maker of Claude, was listed by the Pentagon as a national security threat. And that was a big deal because it meant that. Contractors to the DOD and their subcontractors weren't going to be able to use Claude. And so they went to court and recently a US district judge put an injunction on that saying that it was more punitive and basically that they weren't a supply chain risk. And if the DOD didn't want to use Claude, they should just stop using it. But it didn't mean that they were a national security threat. Speaking of Anthropic Zero, the accounting platform with almost 5 million subscribers, and maybe it's the accounting platform. You as a business use announced a multi-year deal with Anthropic to put small business financial data directly inside of Claude. So imagine asking. Ai. How's my cashflow looking this month? And it actually knows because it's connected to your books. This is a very interesting thing, and I think we're gonna see a lot more of this. This is an attempt to integrate with a small business platform. It won't shock me at all if we see an announcement around QuickBooks, right? That Intuit comes out with something very similar. Maybe it's a partnership with OpenAI or something like that.

Tim Scott: Is it already here? Or will there be a time where you can have your. Financial information right on your own machine and not putting it out there into the interweb space.

Kai Gray: Yeah. Yeah, de definitely, and I think one of the concerns for a lot of people is, you know, is my data se secure? Especially financial data. You know, if you're using QuickBooks in the cloud or zero or other accounting packages, you're already putting your financial data in the cloud, right? It's already on the internet. So. You've already sort of crossed that threshold. AI feels different to a lot of people, but sort of functionally it's about the same. But to answer your question, yes, you can absolutely run a model locally on. On a dedicated computer and it never leaves your office. The last story is Senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman a OC introduced a bill this week to pause the construction of new AI data centers, a full moratorium, and it's a really big deal, I would say, to southern Alabama because there's been a lot of backlash to a huge solar farm up in Stockton that was proposed and. That Solar Farm was dedicated to providing power to. Data center in Montgomery that Meta's gonna build, right? So this sort of thing has a real world local implication. Now how far they'll get with this remains to be seen. But I think it's, it's a very interesting thing. I think Congress and a lot of people, quite frankly, are starting to wake up to this idea that, you know, these data centers consume a lot of energy, right? And, and. We gotta figure out where we're going to get that energy from and what it's gonna do

Tim Scott: and who's gonna pay for it. Right.

Kai Gray: And who's gonna pay for it, right? You absolutely, like data centers themselves, I don't think are great money makers. They don't employ a lot of people. It's great for construction, but if you've ever been inside of a data center, it's, it's just machines. Um, you know, you can think of it as a windowless factory that doesn't need a lot of operators. We obviously need these data centers. They're not going away. We need to figure out, to your point, how we pay for 'em. Where the energy comes from, who they benefit ultimately, and their impact on the community. So do I think this, this full more moratorium is gonna stick? I, I don't think so. Right? It but the fact that it was even proposed is kind of a big deal.

Narrator: The spotlight, how real businesses are using ai.

Kai Gray: Alright, this week's spotlight, we're sitting down with Brian Harris. Brian is the CEO of Harris Vacations, a vacation rental business right here on the Gulf Coast. Welcome Brian, and thanks for your time today.

Brian Harris: Yeah, it's great to be here.

Kai Gray: Let's start at the top. Tell folks what Harris Vacation does.

Brian Harris: Sure. So Harris Vacations is a vacation rental management company based in Gulf Shores. So think about Airbnb, VRBO. Uh, we are managing those houses, uh, for the homeowner. Uh, so we're marketing the houses, we're cleaning the houses, inspecting the houses, we're marketing to the guests, uh, to make those reservations. Kinda that full, you know, full service picture. We manage right at 175 properties. We mostly focus on homes, uh, in the Gulf Shores, orange Beach and Fort Morgan markets. Uh, we have a little bit of Florida. Uh, but yeah, there is a lot that goes on in in the company. It's, it's a. You know, a fairly complex process, uh, going from, you know, marketing and sales over to, you know, asset management in the, you know, real estate, you know, realm. Uh, so a lot of, you know, cleaners, maintenance people, inspectors, uh, property managers. It's a, it's a big organization. So

Kai Gray: a little while ago you started using ai, you started using it for your business. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Brian Harris: Yeah, I think that, you know, I think a lot of people feel like, you know, the train is passing and, um, they wanna be on the train in some way. Kind of felt the same, the, the, the same. Uh, so we wanted to try to start utilizing it in some fashion. And, uh, I think one of the first things that we've had success with is. Reviewing our reviews.

Kai Gray: So these are reviews that your guests are leaving about the houses.

Brian Harris: Correct? Right. So, you know, and we we're getting, you know, let's say 6,000 reviews, you know, a year. Um, how do you process 6,000 reviews? Right. And we, we have done various, you know, projects. We would, you know, cut. Uh, the houses into different groups and have different people in the organization, like read all the reviews for that, those specific houses and come back with ideas like, we've done, we, we know there's good information there. Yep, yep. And over the years, we've done a very manual process of trying to, you know, squeeze some of that value out. The AI tools that we've utilized has helped us, you know, bring some of that to the surface.

Kai Gray: Talk a little bit about that. Like what, what are you doing right now?

Brian Harris: The first iteration of this was just an experiment, and I think that mm-hmm. That's where everybody should probably be.

Kai Gray: Yeah.

Brian Harris: Right. Absolutely. Um, just experiment, um, you know, having conversations with people that understand ai, you know, the, the joke is, you know, the answer is yes. Right. What can AI do? Yes. Right.

Tim Scott: That's right.

Brian Harris: Um, but it's. How do we get there? Right. We can't do everything right now. So let's start with one, you know, one task, one idea, and see if that works. And then let's refine from there. Right. And thinking about it, uh, we were really trying to focus on thinking about it in phases. Mm-hmm. Let's just take this one thing and see if we can get a phase one out of it. So phase one for the reviews. Was literally, I was preparing for an owner call and I knew that we had, let's say, 12 reviews of that property last year. Uh, I opened up chat, GPTI copied all of the reviews. I didn't do any formatting. Mm-hmm. I just said. Will this work? And I pasted it in there and I said, give me, you know, uh, feedback on this house. And, um, it, it did and, and we've done a lot of iterating off of that, you know, initial concept. But I think one of the, one of the key things is just try it.

Kai Gray: Yeah.

Brian Harris: Right. Like, that's right. Just give yourself the freedom to have a draft zero and just try something. Yeah. And see what happens.

Kai Gray: I think a, a lot of people get. Sort of tied up at that step, right? They think that they need to go into it sort of having already solved the problem.

Brian Harris: Right. Let me study coding so then I can start doing ai. That's right. Yeah. And, and the whole point is, and I literally had this conversation with you a couple years ago, like, Hey, God, I really think I should like. You know, learn coding.

Kai Gray: Yeah.

Brian Harris: You know, and your response to me was, you know, maybe you should just do the things you're good at doing.

Kai Gray: Yeah.

Brian Harris: Right. And the other thing that I think that I'm doing, and I've kind of given myself, you know, yes I am the CEO, uh, but I've kind of given myself the, the CTO hat. So how do I bring, um, AI or technology into the business? Uh, and I think one of the roles there is protecting people from, you know, feeling negatively about it at the very beginning.

Kai Gray: Yeah. I think that that's a point that I, I'd love to explore because I think a lot of leaders of businesses want to adopt ai. And they run into resistance from their staff. Mm-hmm. Because they're sort of. Pushing it down. Right. They get very excited about it.

Brian Harris: Mm-hmm.

Kai Gray: And everyone says, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like,

Brian Harris: yeah,

Kai Gray: what's going on

Brian Harris: here? Yeah.

Kai Gray: So,

Brian Harris: yeah, the mandate I think a lot of times is like, everybody start using ai,

Kai Gray: right? Right.

Brian Harris: And we actually had that as one of our, you know, rocks or projects for the last quarter. And it was, it was literally like, use AI and tell us how you used ai.

Kai Gray: Mm-hmm.

Brian Harris: And, and kind of round the room. Nobody was really able to like articulate what they had been doing. And I think we maybe set the project up incorrectly. So what we're going back to now is really just having one-on-one meetings. So me and you know, the director of revenue. Right. Right. And it's just, and it's not a. Let me show you all the AI things. Yep. It's a conversation about what are you doing in your, you know, daily, weekly routine that you feel might be a little bit cumbersome or boring or tedious, or, you know, has multiple mouse clicks or there's a pile of data that we're trying to kind of analyze. Then, then from that conversation saying, okay, well we could try this. Right? And I always kind of frame it with we could try this. Yeah. And we'll be on the call and I'll, you know, pull up, you know, the, the screen. It's like, I've never done this before. Yep. But let's try it.

Kai Gray: Right.

Brian Harris: You know? But

Kai Gray: that, that's the, your your draft zero mindset.

Brian Harris: Yeah.

Kai Gray: Which is great. Look at what you're doing. All day and then ask AI how it can help you.

Brian Harris: Right.

Kai Gray: Do those things.

Brian Harris: Yeah. Right.

Kai Gray: Where can it insert itself

Brian Harris: a specific example? We had a situation where we had a tenant and it had, they had a lease. And there was a question about, you know, who's supposed to pay for what, right? And the lease document is, I don't know, 15 pages.

Tim Scott: Mm-hmm.

Brian Harris: Right? My assistant was kind of reviewing, you know, this email thread and, okay, now I need to set aside 30 minutes, Brian, for you to look at the lease and figure out. I was like, you know, you're, you're in, you're in. Google Drive. Look at the lease. Right? Right. She's like, yeah. I'm like, why don't we just see if Gemini can mm-hmm. Can find the answer for us? And she's like, what is that? And where do I go to do that?

Narrator: Right.

Brian Harris: And so I'm literally from, for her, and she was very willing to try it, but for her it was literally like, what? Is the icon. Yeah. And where is it on the screen? Right?

Kai Gray: That first

Brian Harris: step. And I'm like, yeah. So literally first step of, you know, upper right hand corner, click on the thing that looks, I don't even know how to explain it. Like a diamond or whatever.

Kai Gray: Yeah, yeah. The universal sign

Brian Harris: for ai. Right. So it pops open the little sidebar and I, and she's like, well, do I have to talk to her? It's like, oh, I can just type in here. I'm like, yeah, just type in, you know, according to the lease, who's supposed to pay for the electric bill? And she did that. That's great. And it said, you know, on page 15, section da, da, da da. Mm-hmm. You know, the tenant's supposed to pay for it. And I'm like, okay, well just take that section right there and email that back to 'em.

Kai Gray: Yep.

Brian Harris: You know, and that saved, you know me. Uh, you know, 30 minutes of sitting down and finding the lease and, and

Kai Gray: also

Brian Harris: the

Kai Gray: latency between, you know, you getting scheduled to do that. Yeah. Right. May may have been a day or two before

Brian Harris: you actually got got to that. Yeah. It's just ask and see if it can find it. Right. And it did, and, and it showed us where it was and the document and, you know, boom, we sent it back to 'em and, you know, now we have the continual email thread and they're, they're changing the, the, the power bill or whatever. So next time, you know, she gets a, a question that is, you know, lease specific,

Kai Gray: right?

Brian Harris: She knows now that she can open that in Google Drive and open up Gemini and say, okay, according to the lease. What does it say about X? Right? And then she can say, okay, uh, she can bring that to me and say, Hey, they had a question about their lease, and the lease says this, and it's in this section. Is this what you want me to, so she's already solved it,

Kai Gray: right?

Brian Harris: She may wanna still get my approval. But she's already done step two, three, and four. Right. And we've already gotten to five. You know, so, so that's Sable leveling herself up to be more productive in her role. Yeah. Because she has a tool that she can now use. That's

Kai Gray: right.

Brian Harris: So if, if you have a mindset that's like, okay, I don't wanna learn any new tools. Right. In my job,

Kai Gray: it'd be a rough, rough life.

Brian Harris: Yeah. It's, well, it's, it's gonna, it's gonna limit you.

Kai Gray: Yeah.

Brian Harris: Right. It's gonna limit no question you, and it's gonna limit the, the additional value that you can bring. The frustration sometimes will be like, okay, what's good enough?

Tim Scott: Mm-hmm.

Brian Harris: Right. Well, good enough for today is, is not the same as good enough for two years from now, right? Like, because we may be ahead right now. But if we stop, then we won't be ahead in two years. That's right. So we have to always keep, you know, kind of pushing forward.

Kai Gray: It's gonna keep getting better and you as the user need to grow with it. Right. And keep trying things. Right.

Brian Harris: The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed. Right. Like, I don't know who that quote belongs to, but we should

Kai Gray: write a book with that title. I like that.

Brian Harris: It goes, I mean, it's, it's definitely, you know, true. And it's true for, you know, a lot of different facets. Yeah. But it's definitely true, uh, when you're talking about AI and how to use technology in your business. Um, the future, the future's here. It's just, are you going to start using it or not.

Kai Gray: Awesome. Well, Brian, we really appreciate your time. Thank you for coming in. Brian Harris, CEO of Harris Vacations. Check 'em out. If you're looking for Gulf Coast rentals,

Brian Harris: our Gulf Shores vacation.com for your vacation or if you want to invest, uh, in, in real estate on the Gulf Coast.

Kai Gray: There you go.

Narrator: The playbook. One practical way to use AI right away.

Kai Gray: Early this week, I got a call from someone who said. They needed to do a presentation to a larger group, and it was proposed to them. It could be a real video, it could be ai. So there's a couple of ways to go about this. Um, the biggest player in this space is, is a company called Hagen, and you can go to hagen.com and that allows you to record yourself. Create a digital avatar.

Tim Scott: So you just use your webcam, you just use your webcam, you set it up.

Kai Gray: I think the only thing that's important is you, you wanna dress the way you want the video to, to come out.

Tim Scott: So Kyle, we, we might need to dress you up a little bit more.

Kai Gray: Definitely, definitely. Yeah, definitely dress you. Um. I use this quite a bit. It takes, I dunno, 15 to 20 minutes to, to do, it's basically training itself on you. Uh, and they have this notion of sort of quick avatars where you upload a photo, things like that. Those don't come out very well. What you want to do is, is do the whole video recording. Now, one thing about them is the voice isn't great. It tries to clone your voice, but it's not great. So head over to 11 labs.io. And you do a voice clone, very similar to the video, but it's just voice. And you will read a script and it will learn your voice and it's really, really good. And you can link those two up. So when you're in Hagen, you can, you can tell it to use your 11 labs voice and that gives you a very. Good, realistic digital video that you can use going forward. Well, that's it for this week. Thanks to Brian Harris for stopping in. And remember with AI today is the worst it's ever gonna be.

Narrator: You are listening to AI with Kai for more episodes, practical tools and Business Insights. Visit AI with kai.com. Follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts and share it with someone building a business on the Gulf Coast.