Mason McCumber 500 + AI Resources For Entrepreneurs + Damien Schreurs Tips to save time on your Mac for Solopreneurs

OPENING PAUL WRIGHT Hello, everyone, and welcome to a bonus episode of the Link Thru Social Podcast. That's right - Episode 11, a bonus episode that we're releasing today. You know, almost half of all podcasts that are produced last fewer than three episodes before they turn off the mic. And of three million podcasts available, only about 156,000 make it to 10 episodes. Well, we have. So, everybody, thank you so much. We are now going to present to you a bonus episode, Episode 11, with two special guests: Mason McCumber from MM Solutions, and Damien Schreurs from Macpreneur.com. So let's get started with Episode 11, the bonus episode. INTERVIEW 1 - DAMIEN SCHREURS PAUL WRIGHT Welcome back to the Link Thru Social Podcast. We have a special guest, as promised, today. It's Damien Schreurs, and he's from Macpreneur.com. Damien is the Explainer-in-Chief of EasyTECH, a company providing IT training and coaching on topics such as Apple products, Microsoft Office, cybersecurity, and AI. In parallel, Damien hosts the Macpreneur Podcast, featuring practical tips, effective strategies, and insightful interviews to help solopreneurs save time and, most importantly, money running their business on a Mac. Welcome to the show, Damien. DAMIEN SCHREURS Thank you, Paul, for having me today. PAUL WRIGHT Damien, before we get started, why don't you provide a little bit of background for our viewers and listeners that's brought you to this point? DAMIEN SCHREURS Yeah. I've had a long career as a research and development engineer for a Fortune 500 American company - Goodyear, the tire manufacturer. Here in Luxembourg, they have the second-biggest research and development facility, and I've climbed what they call the technical ladder, with multiple promotions. After a while, I realized that I wanted more freedom - more time freedom. This especially coincided with the birth of my first daughter in 2007. PAUL WRIGHT Wonderful. DAMIEN SCHREURS It took me nine years between that day and the day I was actually, quote-unquote, my own boss. I had a peculiar transition from going from nine-to-five to entrepreneurship. I actually got an agreement from Goodyear to work part-time and start my company on the side. So I was working 70% for them, Monday through Thursday noon, and then Thursday afternoon and Friday I could work on EasyTECH. I did that for two and a half years until I realized, yeah, that's the path I want to take. September 2016 was when I became fully independent. What was nice is that I could actually experiment and try out different types of IT services during that transition period. PAUL WRIGHT Sure. Interesting. That's quite a journey, and a lot of our viewers and listeners are either entrepreneurs, business professionals, or want to be entrepreneurs. As you pointed out, there's a lot of work involved in it, especially in the beginning, because you still have a life, you still have bills, and you still have to make a living. It's very difficult in that transition period. It looks like you came out the other side, and it's become very successful for you. Automation: for entrepreneurs or solopreneurs, it's very important to make automation part of your routine because time is so limited. You don't have time to be doing all the little mundane things. What's your take on automation for solopreneurs? DAMIEN SCHREURS For me, it's a key component - a critical component - especially for people who want to keep the solopreneur lifestyle. In my case, I've never been a manager, and I don't really like managing people, which is most probably why, actually. When you work as a solopreneur, you have different options. You could hire help, but then it's additional work. What I prefer is a method called: eliminate, automate, delegate. PAUL WRIGHT Oh, okay. DAMIEN SCHREURS Never delegate something that you could automate, and never automate something that you could eliminate. PAUL WRIGHT Oh, I love it. Yeah, that's very good. DAMIEN SCHREURS The first decision that I took when I started EasyTECH was to have an external contractor for all the accounting stuff. I didn't want to deal with that. I didn't even want to automate it. Well, there are some parts that I have automated to help me provide the documents to my accountant, but that has been delegated. Really, the idea is documenting everything that you do - documenting processes - and then going through them step by step to see if the order is correct. Sometimes we lose a lot of time by switching context, or opening an app, opening another service, then reopening the first app, when actually we could have done things in a different order and saved a lot of time. There are also a lot of things involving inter-application or web-service communication that can be automated, and very few solopreneurs know that it's possible. PAUL WRIGHT Right, right. EDITOR'S NOTE The supplied Buzzsprout transcript jumps at this point to a later portion of the conversation. DAMIEN SCHREURS They are easier to secure, yes, and they are also less of a target. From a technical security point of view, you could have a very security-savvy Windows user who will have a more secure Windows machine - even an older Windows 10 machine could be more secure than a newer Mac - but that's because the user has actually strengthened the security of the machine. On the Mac, I would argue that it's easier to secure, even for a non-tech-savvy person. PAUL WRIGHT Okay, yeah, and that's important. DAMIEN SCHREURS They need to be guided. They need to know what to do. PAUL WRIGHT Of course. That's important because not everyone who is getting started is tech-savvy. The easier the platforms or the brand make it, that's very, very important. We talk about on the show every week, Damien, the emergence of artificial intelligence - the speed and rapid rate that it is growing second by second, not day by day, as we've been saying. What have you brought into your business, and what do you portray to your customers about the benefits of artificial intelligence? How have you benefited personally and within your business? DAMIEN SCHREURS I've benefited twofold, actually. The first is the ability to have a 24/7 brainstorming partner. For any question, you don't necessarily - well, yes, I wouldn't trust ChatGPT to become my accountant, that's for sure - but for other kinds of questions, that's a very good first-level answer. And then there's the ability to create what I call AI assistants. For people who are familiar with custom GPTs or Projects in ChatGPT, that's what I call an assistant. In Gemini, it's called a Gem, and in Claude it's called a Project. It's basically a way to refine the role, the task, and the context of the chatbot. For instance, I have a co-CEO, a co-CFO, and a co-CMO. Basically, I've created my own AI virtual C-suite, tailored to EasyTECH and Macpreneur. For instance, my co-CEO helped me refine a strategy to level my revenue through the summer, but also helped me generate $1,500 of additional revenue in a few weeks, just by brainstorming short-term revenue possibilities. PAUL WRIGHT Wow. That's incredible. These are some of the benefits. That's an amazing story. I think in business, especially when you're marketing, consistency is so important. What is the secret to consistently producing content? DAMIEN SCHREURS For me, it's a mix of multiple things. You need to be proficient in doing the thing. It's normal that, at the beginning, it's more difficult to be consistent than after a while. What also helps is having systems. I talked about automation, but systems are the fact that you have architected a way to do things that is the most optimal. Once you have those systems, that's when you can start putting automation into them. Finally, the last ingredient is fun. If you dread opening your microphone or GarageBand to record a podcast episode, then obviously... PAUL WRIGHT You need to enjoy what you're doing, right, Damien? DAMIEN SCHREURS Exactly. Exactly. PAUL WRIGHT It's so important. I had a guest on the other day, and we were talking about that. Of course, we're making our living through being online and doing these podcasts, sharing our stories and sharing other people's stories, but you have to enjoy it because it resonates through the things that you send out. It definitely is very important. If I go on Macpreneur.com, I understand that you have a free quiz for solopreneurs. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that? DAMIEN SCHREURS It's available at Macpreneur.com/tips. The idea is to test yourself on how well you know how to use either built-in capabilities of the Mac operating system, or whether you've implemented and installed third-party applications. It's 15 questions. PAUL WRIGHT Okay. DAMIEN SCHREURS Like every quiz, you will get a score. That's a given. But unlike other quizzes, you don't get a generic answer. You're not even put into segment A, segment B, or segment C. You get a totally personalized response by email. It's an email that's actually written by ChatGPT. I created an automation that feeds your answers to all the questions into ChatGPT. I've also given a persona to that ChatGPT assistant and a way to respond. It has a clear structure: this is how you respond; these are the different sections of the quiz. It also searches the web to find links on Apple's website that would be the most relevant based on your needs. PAUL WRIGHT That's amazing. DAMIEN SCHREURS Then it puts me in copy as well. ChatGPT sends the email to the quiz taker, and I'm in the CC field so that I can watch and see what's happening. PAUL WRIGHT Of course - and possibly follow up, or what have you. I'm going to try this quiz. I'm excited. So, if you go to Macpreneur.com/tips - T-I-P-S - anyone can go on there. It's free to participate. That's wonderful. Before we go, Damien, we have to wrap things up. Why don't you tell us where we can find you on social media, and anything else you'd like to talk about regarding your company before we leave? DAMIEN SCHREURS The best place to connect with me is on LinkedIn. If you search for my first name and last name, I'm the only one, so you will find me. Say hi. Say that you discovered me through Link Thru Social. If you have an Apple computer, a Mac, and you can't imagine running your business on anything else than that computer, just visit Macpreneur.com. PAUL WRIGHT Wonderful. Damien Schreurs, I appreciate you coming on the Link Thru Social Podcast today. I encourage everyone to find Damien on Macpreneur.com. Damien, thanks for coming. We'll hopefully have you on the show again in the future. You have a wonderful day. DAMIEN SCHREURS Thank you for having me, Paul. PAUL WRIGHT The Link Thru Social Podcast will be back right after this. SPONSOR MESSAGE - SMART POST APP SPONSOR MESSAGE Tired of stressing over what to post on social media? Meet Smart Post App, your all-in-one solution to create, schedule, and grow your content effortlessly. In just a few taps, you can generate engaging posts, stay consistent, and keep your audience coming back for more. No more guessing, no more burnout - just smarter content, faster. Whether you're a business owner, creator, or entrepreneur, Smart Post helps you show up like a pro. Start posting smarter today at SmartPostApp.com. Smart Post App - because your content should work for you. INTERVIEW 2 - MASON McCUMBER PAUL WRIGHT Mason McCumber, a small business owner and entrepreneur in the IT space. He started his business after consulting with a private equity group and startup. He has put together resources along the way, including 500-plus AI tools and hundreds of tools for sales, marketing, and other business-related tasks. Today, he still does consulting, but now offers a wide range of services, including SEO, websites, and CAD projects. Mason McCumber, welcome to the show. MASON McCUMBER Thank you for having me. PAUL WRIGHT It's a pleasure. Your website is BuildWithM.com. Why don't you give us a little bit of your background before we get started? MASON McCUMBER My background kind of begins in the construction space. I'm in the Wild West out here - I'm in Texas - so we're always working with new people, and we get a wide variety of projects that we get to work on. The construction space has done me really well. Obviously, IT here isn't always the quickest to the gun on some of the AI and some of the newest stuff that's out here. I'm getting to meet farmers, people in the oil field, and all of these people that you wouldn't necessarily assume are using AI. They're really having some use cases that are interesting and fun. My main goal is helping these smaller business owners who don't have all of the same resources. Obviously, I did consulting with really, really big people, and now we're transitioning into helping the small business. PAUL WRIGHT Wonderful. We speak about this pretty well every week on the Link Thru Social Podcast, Mason: the speed at which AI is moving forward. It's second by second, not day by day or week by week. It's interesting that you mentioned small business owners. Should small business owners be afraid of AI? How can they learn to embrace it and use it in their small business? MASON McCUMBER I have an analogy for you, Paul. This analogy kind of explains where AI is going and, ultimately, what people need to think about AI. If you think about AI and agentic AI - the new version of AI, not just ChatGPT in your browser to create an email that you copy and paste - agentic AI, truly put, is a heavy-haul trucking operation. If you think about what you can actually use it for, everybody has always been a driver. These tools have been so powerful. Imagine you're sitting in a heavy-haul truck or a big 18-wheeler and you're the driver. You have a super-powerful engine, and you can do a lot of stuff. They've been able to code, write really persuasively, answer questions, and take on a personality. You can go talk to a famous philosopher from back in the day, and it can mimic their style. It's been really powerful, but a lot of times there have been a lot of people who had to navigate that. You had to make all the left and right turns. The engine was really powerful, but not everyone was the best driver, so it was very difficult to get the most out of it. Now AI agents are kind of different, and you can have the AI agent be the driver. If you think about that heavy-haul truck, you're not the driver anymore. You are the dispatcher. You give it point A to point B, and it drives that whole way for you and completes your goal. You can use whatever engine you want to use, whether that's Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, or DeepSeek. You can use that engine, give it point A to point B like a dispatcher, and it makes all the left and right turns for you. That's ultimately how you're going to use it as a tool that can help you, instead of always trying to make all the left and right turns. Everyone has to take a step out of the driver's seat and let AI kind of do that for you. PAUL WRIGHT I love that analogy. You mentioned some of the top platforms out there. What's your go-to at the moment, Mason? Things are changing all the time, but what's the platform you're really using at the moment? MASON McCUMBER My platform is going to be a platform that allows me to use the model that changes the most. The nice thing here is, I don't care necessarily what engine we use. At one point, the ChatGPT engine is just better, or at one point the Claude engine is better. So the driver that I pick, if you think about the analogy here, is going to be a driver that you can use with any model. I really like OpenClaw, I really like OpenCode, and I really like Hermes. Those would be three ways that you could use these new tools. These are just different drivers that work with any engine. If you think about how some of the other AI tools out there work, like Codex or Claude Code, with Codex you have to use an OpenAI engine. They've got you trapped on that one. If you use Claude Code, they have you trapped with Claude for that. If you use OpenClaw, that's going to be any engine, with some exceptions. OpenCode and Hermes, you can really use with whatever. Those are going to be systems that people need to think about. Don't be trapped in with whatever engine. I really wouldn't recommend that. PAUL WRIGHT Good advice. In the intro, I mentioned that you've put together over 500 AI tools. Perhaps just briefly touch on a couple of the main ones for small business owners that you can elaborate on a little bit. MASON McCUMBER The tools are really useful. There's everything from AI-based CRMs, stuff for ticket-support management, legal, and literally anything that you can think about. The nice thing is, it's all broken down in a way where you can actually use it. If you have an issue that's marketing, legal, finance - whatever it is - you can go through it. It's a mind map, and you click on the individual items and add whatever you need. You just pick up stuff as you go. My problem with this for the longest time, especially as AI has come out, is that people have failed to be as transparent as possible and give everybody the tools. Ultimately, AI is a huge tool that people can have, but most people just don't know there's a tool out there where they can step out of that driver's seat. Everyone is still, every day, working at their computer and driving the car instead of being a dispatcher. I want everyone to be a dispatcher. The hashtag #AIDispatcher is the hashtag going forward. Everyone has to be a dispatcher, and that's how you're ultimately going to win in this new game. PAUL WRIGHT I love it. AI dispatcher. All right, that's going to be the trending hashtag for 2026. Again, we're focusing on small business owners. They're using AI now and starting to follow some of the steps that you've gone through there. Where is the line? They still have to make themselves seem natural and more community-based, especially small businesses dealing within a particular community. Where is that line between using AI tools to help drive your business and adding the personal touch? MASON McCUMBER The line is shifting. This is good and bad news. Consumer sentiment has changed a little bit. If you saw an em dash or AI-generated content, there was a much larger chance, until recently, that you would just not read it. Inherently, we saw AI content as not valuable because the models weren't as powerful. They've been really good if you knew how to use them, so that's the hard part. Most people didn't, and everyone got kind of a mediocre, subpar result. Everybody was in the same boat there. Now they're definitely tuning it up so it's more usable, and people are generally more forgiving and accepting of AI content. Be mindful of everything you put out there, especially with how Google is affecting people's rankings. I'm big into SEO, and whenever you push out too much AI content, you need to be mindful. But the actual messaging, I think, can really help a lot of business owners. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. More and more people are coming around and understanding that it's an important part of business, and understanding as a business owner that your time is valuable. I think it's ultimately that trade-off you've got to make, and I think it'll be beneficial for everybody. PAUL WRIGHT For sure. Absolutely. Great advice there. Mason, before we wrap things up, tell us where we can find you on social media, and just a little bit more about your services and website. MASON McCUMBER You can find me at BuildWithM.com. That has all of those resources, including the blog. It's pinned on the top left of the page as soon as you go on my blog. That'll tell you all of the business resources and all the information there. You can see additional podcasts and a bunch of other information. Another good place to keep up with me is LinkedIn. It's Mason McCumber - M-A-S-O-N, M-C-C-U-M-B-E-R - on LinkedIn. You can always keep up with me there, whether I'm working on software we're developing, a specific SEO project, or even just something cool. I'm always posting stuff out there. You can keep up with the other podcast stuff there, too. PAUL WRIGHT Perfect. Mason, it's been a pleasure having you on the show. Once again, to our viewers and listeners, it's BuildWithM.com. Be sure to check out Mason. We appreciate you coming on the show today, and all the best in the future. The Link Thru Social Podcast will be back right after this.