What happens when you get tired of forcing your business into software that doesn’t quite work the way you want it to? Apparently, if you’re me, you accidentally spend your birthday sabbatical building your own app. In this episode, Kara Duncan is taking over the mic and interviewing me about how a few experiments with AI tools turned into the Systems Professor app—and eventually opened my eyes to an entirely new direction for my business.

I’m sharing how I went from custom GPTs, Airtable, Notion, and existing CRM tools to building software around the way I actually want my clients to experience Systems in Session. We’re talking about Claude Code, vibe coding, personalization, accountability, AI, client experience, and why having the ability to automate something doesn’t necessarily mean I should.

And yes, we also talk about the fact that I got so absorbed in building the app that my husband handed me coffee on his birthday and I still forgot to tell him happy birthday. 😬

Find It Quickly

01:22 - Birthday Sabbatical Chaos

05:25 - Why Build an App

07:41 - Action Taker ADHD

09:40 - Rolling It Out

14:14 - Welcome Guides Playbooks

16:11 - Better Audit Delivery

18:18 - Accountability Personalization

23:14 - Origins in Custom GPTs

25:39 - Why Build an App

27:19 - Onboarding Intake Flow

28:59 - Offer Scorecard Check

33:11 - App Enhances Coaching

37:18 - One Click Build Debate

41:43 - Tech Stack Behind It

44:57 - Custom Tools for Clients

48:49 - AI Optional Philosophy

Mentioned in this Episode:

Systems in Session: coliejames.com/systems-in-session

Experience Edit: coliejames.com/the-experience-edit

Claude Code: claude.com/product/claude-code

Claude Cowork: claude.com/product/cowork

Hello Stencil: hellostencil.com

Lovable: lovable.dev

Airbase: airbase.com

Supabase: supabase.com

Vercel: vercel.com

Cloudflare: cloudflare.com

Amazon Web Services: aws.amazon.com

Connect with the Guest

Website: thekarareport.com

Instagram: @thekarareport