Hi. I’m Dan, and I am an introvert. Always have been. Always will.

Often, when I tell people that, they don’t believe me. Happened just a few weeks ago, in fact, on a video call where I met several people l’ll spend time learning alongside in a few weeks at a retreat.

We were to share one thing most people don’t know about us. When it was my turn, I delivered a high energy, enthusiastic bio, then shared that I’m an introvert.

One person messaged me directly to disagree. Cute, I thought, but I know me.

Being in group settings drains my battery. The only thing that recharges it is time alone. To read. To reflect. Just to be with myself.

Yeah. Capital “I” introvert.

And while I like myself and the person I’ve become, I wonder if I can work with AI to learn how to show up differently in social situations.

So, because I’m preparing to spend three days with some of the most dynamic, interesting, and intelligent people I’m likely to have a chance to meet anytime soon, let’s see if this is possible.

Chatting The Chat

I turned to my current favorite AI tool, Claude from Anthropic, to have a conversation with the type of individual I have established is my ideal customer. This person is 45 or older. They’re a professional, maybe even a small business owner. And while they’re curious about technology and artificial intelligence, they really just want to be able to have confidence when they use tech and AI.

In my Brand Building Project, which contains unique instructions to goad me to build my business, keep on task, and maximize every moment I spend, I asked Claude to help me have a conversation with my ideal customer. It wanted to know what kind of conversation, and I selected a simulated conversation in which it would, ”roleplay as your ICP (a 45+ professional or small business owner in central PA) so you can practice your pitch, test messaging, and pressure-test objections before real conversations.”

And then it swung into action:

Here’s who I am:

I’m Linda Hartman, 52. I run a small interior design firm in Camp Hill with two employees. I’ve been in business 14 years. I use Canva, QuickBooks, and Instagram for my business. I’ve heard about AI but haven’t really tried it beyond asking ChatGPT one question six months ago and getting a weird answer. My daughter keeps telling me I “need to use AI” but hasn’t explained what that actually means. I’m busy, I’m profitable, and I’m not broken — so I’m not sure why I’d need help.

We’re at a local business networking event. You just sat down at my table.

Go.

My palms started to sweat.

Well, not really, but this is one of my absolute worst nightmares. It’s a situation I dread; the need to make small talk to connect with a new person.

Typically, at events like this, I stick with people I know and hope they’ll introduce me to somebody new. Or I sip a cocktail and attempt a remark about the weather or another lame topic.

Screw it, I told myself, and dove into the conversation.

Talking the Talk

I mentally read “Linda’s” name tag and crafted an opening question centered on her and her business. When she responded then asked what I do, I didn’t go right into a spiel but stayed focused on her, then slowly introduced my elevator pitch.

I tried to not overthink my responses, wanting to stay in the moment and, as much as possible, be top of mind so I could react to what she said. Leads for new avenues presented themselves. I followed them, and worked in a question about why her daughter is sending her AI articles to segue into the topic.

That opened an opportunity for me to introduce my AI Trainer service. I weaved it in gently after suggesting AI could save her hours each week because Linda’s daughter complained about her working late nights and weekends.

It went pretty well, but in the post-conversation recap, Claude pointed out I missed early opportunities to pick up on clues which had been peppered into responses. Perhaps, but the sum total of the test was to make me eager for a chance to try this with a real live situation.

Me. Mister Introvert. Eager for a social situation.

Walking the Walk

One chat is not going to rewire my brain or reverse the tendencies I’ve developed over decades. It’s going to take way more than that, and now I have a plan.

I’m going to keep the details under wraps for now, but I will share how this goes in a future post. And I promise you I will be candid about whether this is successful or not.

I’ve been in enough professional networking and training sessions to know when things are going well and when they aren’t. You’ll get the straight poop from me after the event.

For now, though, here are two suggestions for you.

First, if you’re in the same boat as me and you want to improve how you show up in social settings, have a conversation with your favorite AI tool.

Define who you are, the hypothetical situation you’ll be in, and the general type of person you’re likely to encounter. Then let the AI craft the details and see how well you handle the interaction. Afterward, ask it for candid feedback and ways you could improve.

The improvement component is key here. Once you get to that point, you can even ask it for suggestions for how you can work to improve or, like I did, for a concrete plan.

Second, if you’re curious about how I use Claude to do things like I described here and want a hand becoming more confident with using AI, book a free 30-minute call with me. We’ll talk about how you use AI now, how you could use it to give you a leg up in critical situations, and if my AI Trainer course is a good fit for you.

Thanks to “Linda,” I promise the conversation will go well.