A few weeks ago, a handful of business friends and I got to be heroes.

We didn't set out to be heroes, of course.

We were just on a routine trip—and then the spaceship we were on lost power. Critical systems had gone offline. We were the only ones that could save the ship... and we had exactly 60 minutes to do it.

Okay, okay. So we were in an escape room.

But we still banded together and saved the day by solving a lot of complicated puzzles.

Have you done an escape room before?

A friend of mine has organized a couple of networking outings at escape rooms (Hi, Shannon!), and each time has been a total blast. It's a really interesting exercise in communication, especially when you are in a group of somewhat strangers.

"What do you think this does?"

"Oh, hold on—this symbol looks like that one over there."

"Did anyone just turn a knob? Because this thing over here just moved."

And my favorite moment is when a puzzle clicks for somebody, and the rest of the room rushes over to see what's happening.

"Wait—show me how you did that!"

I think one of the reasons that the escape room networking outings work so well is that running a business already feels a lot like being in an escape room.

There are mysterious dials and levers, and every day brings new puzzles. Your job as the entrepreneur is to constantly try new things until those puzzles start clicking into place.

I don't know if doing escape rooms alone is a thing, but I can't even imagine how hard it would be. Running a business alone sure is!

It's just so much easier when you have other people to show you a behind the scenes look at how they're solving the same puzzles you're trying to solve.

How they're marketing their business, how they're connecting with customers, how they're managing to post so much content, how they close deals and structure their offers.

I mentioned last week that I'm speaking at the Sustainable CEO Summit, a free virtual event for founders run by my friend Nata Salvatore.

One of the reasons I wanted to take part is because I loved the format. Nata asked each of us to record a 10- to 15-minute video giving a concrete behind-the-scenes look at how we solve a specific problem in our business using AI.

In other words, "Wait—show me how you did that!"

Super specific bite-sized learning.

I love it.

​Register here.

My session is "How to Use AI Without Losing Your Voice," and it's all about the ways I use AI to speed up my writing process without outsourcing my thinking, voice, and creativity.

I'm looking forward to all the sessions—but these one in particular caught my eye.

• Brenna McGowan—Your Customers Are Already Writing Your Best Copy: How to Find It With AI
• Nata Salvatori—What AI Won't Fix for You: The Identity Shift You Need to Consider
• Dortha Hise—The AI Delegation Layer: Turn What's in Your Head Into Work Someone Else Can Actually Execute

The summit starts tomorrow, and runs from November 3-5. It's completely free to attend.

I hope you'll join me!

​Here's that registration link again.

Talk soon,

Jessie

PS: Now that Shannon's got me into escape rooms, I'd love to hear your stories! Have you over been to one? Do you have a favorite? Tell me all about it!