Transcription
So, two months ago, I had a conversation with my buddy who runs a tech recruiting firm, and he was pulling his hair out trying to find people with basic AI skills. And you know what he told me? "Shane, I've got companies offering 150K plus for people who can just use these AI tools properly. And I still can't find anyone." And that's when it hit me. There's this massive gap between what employers need and what people actually know. And the craziest part is you don't need to write a single line of code to cash in on this opportunity.
And today I'm going to be showing you exactly which AI skills are getting people hired right now, how much they're paying, and why this is the perfect side hustle to turn into a full-time income. So whether you want to just make money on the side, get a full-time job, or even do it as a side hustle or start a business, stick around because this might be one of the most valuable videos you watch this year.
Now, I'm in contact with a lot of different companies, and I always ask them, "What skills are they desperate to hire for in 2025?" And just about every company mentions AI. But here's what blew my mind. They're not looking for PhD geniuses or coding wizards or people that know machine learning or anything like that. They just need normal people who understand how to use AI tools effectively. And I'm going to make a prediction that might sound crazy, but within 18 months, I think being AI literate will be as essential as knowing how to use Excel. The difference is while everyone knows Excel, almost nobody knows how to properly use AI tools. And companies are desperate to hire people that do.
Just last week, I talked to someone who landed over a $100,000 remote job because they demonstrated just three AI skills that I'm going to show you today. And they weren't even doing it at an extremely high level. No coding, no degree, no technical background, just practical skills that anyone can learn in a few weeks. And today, I'm going to be pulling back the curtain on the whole thing.
Now, some of you know that I actually teach people how to grow and make money on YouTube in my content growth engine program. And I've been teaching these same AI-related skills specifically for content creation to my students and they're absolutely crushing it. So it just goes to show that you can apply these skills to just about any industry, just about any job. And there's so many opportunities out there if you have these. And today I'm going to be pulling back the curtain on the whole thing.
And let me start with some numbers that'll blow your mind. According to a McKenzie report that just came out, 87% of businesses are planning to increase their AI investment in 2025. But get this, 68% of those same companies say they can't find people with the AI skills that they need. So that is a massive gap between what companies want and who's available to do the work. And I'm not talking about some future trend. This is happening right now.
So why does this gap exist and why is it getting bigger? Well, three reasons. First, the technology is evolving so damn fast that traditional education simply can't keep up. Universities are still teaching stuff that might have been cutting edge like 3 to 5 years ago, which in AI terms might as well be ancient history. Second, there's this massive misconception that working with AI means you need to be some kind of coding genius. Wrong. That's like saying you need to know how to build an engine to drive a car. And third, most people who are learning these skills are keeping quiet about it because they're making an absolute killing right now. They don't want the competition. And I know this because my content growth engine students tell me this all the time. They're learning these skills and they're like, "Shane, please don't tell too many people about this."
And you really don't need to know how to code to do any of these cuz there's really two different types of AI professionals right now. You have your AI builders and your AI users. Now, the AI builders are the engineers and computer scientists who create and train the actual AI models. And yes, usually they do need to know how to code. But here's the secret that nobody's talking about. For every one AI builder, companies need like 50 AI users. And AI users are people who know how to leverage existing AI tools to solve real business problems. And that's where the massive opportunity is right now.
Think about it like this. When the internet was new, companies needed web developers. But they needed way more people who could just use the internet effectively for business. Same with social media. Companies needed a few developers to build platforms, but they needed armies of people who understood how to use social media strategically. And AI is following the same exact pattern. But the gap is even bigger because technology is more complex and changing faster than ever.
So, let me show you exactly what these skills are and why employers can't find enough people who have them.
Quick break.
All right, listen. I'm doing something that I've never done before. For the next seven days only, I'm giving away free YouTube channel audits, something I normally charge $1,000 for. And in this audit, we'll figure out where you are right now, where you want to be. We'll make a plan to get to where you want to be, and then we'll see if we're a good fit to work together or not. But here's the thing. I'm only doing this for one week, and then it's gone forever. And if you're seeing this right now, click the link and book your free audit before spots run out because we'll only be doing this for five people. But only do this if you're serious about growing and making money on YouTube. So yeah, book that call down in the description in the pin comment below and do it fast before the spots run out and we'll see you on the call.
Number one skill is prompt engineering. And I know you've probably heard this before, but I'm going to explain this in a way that makes it 10 times better because this is a skill that employers are desperate for, but it's also one of the easiest to learn. And at its core, prompt engineering is just knowing how to talk to AI to get the best possible results. It's kind of like knowing the difference between asking someone "how's it going" versus asking "what specific challenges are you facing with your current project?" One gets you a generic unhelpful answer and the other gets you valuable information.
So, let me show you a real example. Let's say you work in marketing and you need to create an email campaign. Here's a bad prompt: "Write me a marketing email." And of course, that's going to get you generic crappy AI slop. But here's a good prompt: "Write a marketing email for a fitness subscription box targeting working professionals aged 30 to 45 who struggle to find time to shop for healthy food. The email should highlight our June box featuring quick 15-minute meal preps. Address objections about price by emphasizing time saved and include a 20% discount code Junefit for first-time subscribers. Keep the tone motivational but not aggressive and limit it to 250 words." And of course, you're going to get something dramatically better. The difference is night and day and this applies to every AI tool out there. Chat GBT, Claude, Midjourney, Dolly, whatever. And companies are desperate for people who understand this because they've invested thousands or millions in AI tools, but they're getting garbage results because their employees don't know how to use them properly. And I've seen job postings specifically for prompt engineers starting at $85,000 and all they do is write effective prompts for different departments. So, yeah, unbelievably good skill to know. And there's a heck of a lot more to it than that.
Just as an example, one thing we did is we uploaded all of our sales calls into AI. And then we figured out what the most common objections are, the biggest problems people have, and the biggest things that they want to achieve. And that's helped us tremendously when it comes to actually closing sales. And you can imagine that putting that information into a prompt would help a lot when it comes to making content.
All right, skill number two is AI tool integration. And this is the second skill that's in crazy high demand and it's basically knowing how to combine multiple AI tools into powerful workflows. Now, this is where things get really interesting because while lots of people might know how to use one AI tool decently well, very few know how to make them work together. And let me give you a real-world example. A lot of the time you'll use AI to analyze data, but the tool that you would use to analyze the data is going to be different than the tool that you would use to actually make actionable insights or do something with that data. And so you can connect those two things together with a tool like make.com and then you could connect it with another tool that makes infographics that makes it really easy for other people that are not data savvy to understand the significance of the data. I think you see where we're going with this. The magic isn't in knowing each individual tool. It's in understanding how they can work together to create something much more powerful. And companies are catching on to this. I've seen job postings for AI workflow specialists and AI integration consultants with salaries ranging from $95 to $140,000 a year. And again, no coding required, just a solid understanding of different AI tools and how to make them talk to each other.
Now, by the way, I'll put some links to free resources and recommended resources in the description where you can learn more about AI integration and a bunch of the other skills on this list and also the certificates and courses that I recommend in general. And by the way, even if you're doing something completely non-AI related, getting an AI certificate makes your resume look way better because it shows initiative and it also shows that you may be able to help them out with their workflows.
The next skill is AI-enhanced data analysis. And this is a third skill that employers are losing their minds trying to find people for. And before your eyes glaze over, I'm not talking about becoming a freaking data scientist or even a data analyst in the traditional sense. That's the old way. I'm talking about using AI to interpret data without needing a technical background. And this is revolutionary because it's democratizing data analysis. And just as an example of this, we have used data analysis to figure out what types of customers we typically get for content growth engine. You know, are they newbies? Are they coaches? Are they consultants, online service providers, course creators, YouTubers, agency owners, etc. We know exactly where our customers come from because of AI. And before AI, we would have had to have paid a data analyst a lot of money to do that. And then you can just literally ask AI, "What are the key trends in customer spending over the last quarter? Which customer segments have the highest retention rates and why? What patterns exist in the customers who churn that might help us prevent future churn?" So, I think you see where I'm going here. Companies are going absolutely crazy for people who can do this because it's completely changing how businesses operate. Traditional data analyst roles are being transformed and instead of spending 80% of their time cleaning and organizing data, analysts can now focus on the strategic implications of the insights. And I've seen job listings for AI-driven business analyst and AI insight specialists with salaries ranging from $90 to $125,000 a year. And by the way, these are just the jobs. We're not talking about freelance opportunities or even starting your own business. And the really exciting part is this skill is applicable in literally every industry: healthcare, finance, education, retail, manufacturing, they all have data and they all need people who can turn that data into insights using AI.
Quick break, this video is sponsored by me. Most of you don't know that I actually have my own coaching program on personal branding and then growing and making money on YouTube. And this is good for complete beginners, maybe even people who just want to get a job by growing their personal brand, all the way up to people who are very advanced on YouTube. and they get to work directly with myself and my team to help them reach their goals. Now, we are opening up three to five spots, and this is pretty rare. We usually don't have these open. We usually only limit them to select people, but we're opening up three to five spots, and you can check those out down in the description and the pen comment below. And in this program, you'll get to work directly with myself and other people who are highly successful on YouTube. Just as an example, Shawn was able to go all the way from being stuck, not making very much money on his channel to making over $500,000 a month. Now, that's an example of one of my more advanced students, but there's lots of examples of people who started off from scratch and they got to 5K a month, 10K a month, etc. So, check that out down in the description and the pin comment below.
All right, skill number four might be my favorite one, and that is AI content optimization. And this isn't just about creating content with AI, which, let's be honest, everyone in their mother is trying to do right now. This is about using AI to strategically improve existing content across all platforms. And let me show you exactly what I mean and why this is such a valuable skill. Most companies have tons of existing content: blog posts, videos, social media, product descriptions, internal documentation, training materials, and the list goes on. And usually this is expertly made content and it represents thousands of hours and potentially millions of dollars of investment. But a lot of it is outdated, poorly performing, not optimized for search, inconsistent messaging, not aligned with current brand voice, or not adapted to different platforms. So AI content optimization specialists know how to take this existing content and transform it to perform dramatically better without starting from scratch.
Now here's a quick example of how I use this in my own business. I originally had SOPs that took me years to develop on how to efficiently create content on YouTube. I took those SOPs and I turned them into a course. Then I took that course and I uploaded into a project and it can help me optimize my content while automatically providing the best possible information on YouTube. And I know that because I created it. But I can also take my existing content, upload it into that exact same project, and then ask it what types of videos I should remake and what types of videos I can take parts out of and then put them on other platforms and what parts of the videos I could turn into tweets. So, what makes this skill particularly valuable is that it combines AI knowledge with strategic thinking. You're not just using AI as a tool. You're using it to solve real business problems and drive measurable results. And my student Shawn was stuck around $10 to $30,000 a month on YouTube for years. And after implementing this, he got all the way up to over $500,000 a month. But it's not just experienced YouTubers. Complete newbies can do this as well. And that's why you should check out my YouTube crash course guide, which I'll put down in the description and the pin comment below.
All right, number five is really interesting and also very hard to pull off, but it is AI-assisted problem-solving. And this might be the most valuable skill that employers are looking for. Now, this is the skill that ties everything else together. And it makes you truly irreplaceable in any organization. At its core, AI-assisted problem-solving is about knowing how to define business problems in ways that AI can help solve them. It's about understanding both the capabilities and limitations of AI and knowing when and how to apply it to real-world challenges.
Now, let me give you a specific example of me using AI to solve a problem. So, a few weeks ago, we were working on Facebook ads and we were having a massive problem with the Facebook ad manager. And if you've ever used Facebook Ads Manager, Meta and Facebook in general are just not the most user-friendly and they have pretty bad customer service, too. And my full-time tech guy and I were both having a lot of trouble solving the problem within the Facebook Ads Manager. And so, we used Google AI Studio, which basically has the capability to see what you are seeing on the screen. So, it can literally read your screen and then answer your questions. And we asked it how to solve this problem. And at first, the answer that it gave us didn't seem very logical. we were almost ready to give up. We thought it, you know, didn't know the interface or maybe Facebook updated and it wasn't familiar with the newest update. Then it turns out me and the IT person were wrong and Google Studio was actually right and we were able to solve the problem. Now, this is probably the only AI tool currently on the market that could have solved that specific problem. And so, we knew the right AI tool to use to solve the problem. And this is the key, knowing which tool is best at solving different problems. Another example of this is Grock is really good when it comes to looking up real-time data and news. Why? Because it has access to Twitter and typically people on Twitter are probably going to break news like 30 seconds after it becomes public. So yeah, super super valuable AI-related skill. And by the way, check out that interview that I did with Shawn on exactly how we were able to use AI as well as my other methodology for YouTube to grow his channel from 30 to 500K per month by clicking right here.