Why “Using AI” Isn’t Enough

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The future belongs to builders. In this episode, Tyson explains why the biggest advantage in the AI era will go to those who move beyond simply using AI tools and begin building systems with them. As AI continues to rapidly evolve, the gap between those who create and those who consume will only widen.

Tyson shares how modern AI tools make it possible to design workflows, automate processes, and create custom solutions without needing advanced technical skills. By reducing friction in research, operations, and execution, AI allows business owners to experiment faster, improve efficiency, and reinvest savings into growth opportunities that compound over time.

The key message is simple: start now. Even small experiments can lead to significant long-term advantages. Those willing to build, test, and iterate today will be better positioned to adapt, compete, and lead as AI continues to transform how businesses operate.

00:00 Consumers vs. builders and why it matters
01:08 Shifting from using AI to building with AI
02:16 Renting software vs. owning systems
03:16 Using AI tools to build custom solutions
05:14 The first-mover advantage in AI
06:25 How quickly AI capabilities are accelerating
07:20 The build, fail, iterate cycle
09:29 What building actually means for business owners
15:04 One simple automation to start with
20:58 Why taking action now creates long-term advantage

Tune in to today’s episode and checkout the full show notes here.

Creators and Guests

Host

Tyson Mutrux

Tyson is the founder of Mutrux Firm Injury Lawyers and the co-founder of Maximum Lawyer.

What is Maximum Lawyer?

Maximum Lawyer is the podcast for law firm owners who want to scale with intention and build a business that works for their life.

Hosted by Tyson Mutrux, each weekly episode features candid conversations with law firm owners, business experts, and industry leaders sharing real strategies and lessons learned in the trenches.

If you're ready to grow your firm with less stress and more support, this is your next must listen. Subscribe today.

Tyson Mutrux 00:00:00 Welcome back to Maximum Lore Live. I am Tyson Matrix and today I am extremely excited about what I'm going to talk about because, I'm talking about consumers versus builders. So I'm talking about, this kind of stems from a conversation that I was having with Jeremy Danielson yesterday. We were kind of shooting some audio messages back and forth, and, I kind of kind of got on my soapbox about something, and I wanted to talk about a little bit. I told him I was like, you know, maybe I would talk about this tomorrow. So I decided to it's because, there are people right now that are using AI, and then there are people that are building with AI, and that is going to be a distinction that's going to to matter more than anything over the next 3 to 5 years. The builders that are building with AI and then the consumers that are just consuming AI, Big, big difference. the reason why that is. Is that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

Tyson Mutrux 00:01:08 I've talked about that before. That's a Peter Drucker quote, but it's spot on. You got to create your own future right now, and the power is in your hands. the default lately, and I think since the beginning, I think this has been it's a normal default. Here's the AI that was created. Let's consume that AI. That's that is, you know, typing into ChatGPT, you know, find me a good restaurant to go to this weekend. That's that's what I'm talking about. or help me rewrite this paragraph, which is something I've been, you know, sort of guilty of using it to that extent. but what I, what I really want to encourage you to do is shift from that mindset into, a builder, mind building mindset. Because if you're just consuming AI at this point, you're just renting is what you're doing. builders are going to own the future. if you're consuming, you're just renting and you'll be renting forever. You are going to rent yourself into, a life of renting.

Tyson Mutrux 00:02:16 This is what's going to happen. you really need to get out of that mindset. because at this point, the biggest risk is not taking a risk. That's, that's really what it's about. And what's really cool is that these days is like, you don't have to be a coder to be a builder. There are a lot of tools out there that you can use to build things for you. and it's kind of something I've been tinkering around with lately is I'm using Klodzko work to then communicate with bolt, to then build things, you know, vibe coded. And so what's really and what's what saves me the most time With that is, there are many times there are follow up prompts that need to be done with bolt to help complete a task. Sometimes something will be built and then it doesn't work properly that I test it out. What's great is I can give a prompt to Claude and it will. It'll see it through until it's done. It can take hours. That's what's kind of crazy.

Tyson Mutrux 00:03:16 Sometimes it will take hours. Like I've got one. Really. It's going right now on my laptop next to me. It has been going since about, I don't know, 7:00 this morning. And it's, it's a I gave it a very big task to build something and it's a middle of doing it. But when it's done it's going to save a tremendous amount of time. It's going to be an amazing upgrade for our team. And so that's why I'm doing it. And it's what's great about all this is that you you're building things. This is what I'm talking about. The renting versus the building I'm building something that I'm not having. I'm not going to have to pay every single month to some software company, some SaaS company, you know, every single for, for decades, you know, think about how much money you spent. I talked about this in the association just the other day, about how much we we spent with different software companies, and it's a tremendous amount of money. And if you can take that money and you shift that into the profit category, think about that.

Tyson Mutrux 00:04:18 Like you. Okay. Now I've shifted that into the profit category because I don't I'm not spending it anymore because I've built my own thing that I'm not having to pay every single month on. Now, there might be some other costs that are associated with it. Be like, you know, it could be like storage costs or whatever, you name it, but it's a fraction. I'm talking a tiny, tiny fraction. you can shift that in the profit category where you can it gives you it's like fun money at that point where you can decide, okay, I can pocket that cash, I can get bonuses, I can I can put the pedal to the metal when it comes to AI, Or I can do that with marketing you. It frees up a lot for you. and I, I, I'm, I'm very worried for the legal tech industry, I really am. I don't know how they're going to survive this. I don't I really don't know, but who knows, maybe they maybe they've got a master plan, but I really don't.

Tyson Mutrux 00:05:14 Don't know. But back back on topic here. we're really in this classic first mover environment. there are it's funny. there, Hermosa shared something on social media a couple months ago, and, people kind of repeat it when I thought it was kind of funny because it was like, that's that is what are you talking about? Like, that is a, a model from the 70s that were created by these economists. It's not a lot people thought it was a Hermosa thing, but a part of that is like the first mover environment, and that's where we are. if you look at kind of like the the lean startup model. You build, measure, learn. that's now happening in a really unprecedented manner. The speed is incredible. and that's just because the AI is it's reducing that friction dramatically. There's a something that I'd seen a couple weeks ago about, every seven months the capabilities are doubling, I think is what it is of AI. So every seven, seven months the capabilities are doubling like that is and it's like on like like clockwork, like every seven months.

Tyson Mutrux 00:06:25 It happens every seven months. Boom boom boom boom boom. So if you just kind of imagine where we are now and where we're going to be in seven months, maybe it is. it's already been an amazing writing. I think many of you that have been have been building, you've seen the acceleration, how it's how it's been picking up over the last several months. it seemed like there was a slow, a slowing. And I think that was because Claude, I, my my whole thought is that Claude was holding a lot of this back as opposed to like, OpenAI, where it seems like they have an update, they release it, they have an update, they have to release it. So it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But Claude, it seemed like they were holding on to a bunch and then they release it. And then the game changed. It was at this point it's almost game over. I think AI is or open AI is really on the ropes. They are.

Tyson Mutrux 00:07:20 They've taken a beating over the last few months. and Gemini and Claude are are the dominant forces. But at this pace, open AI can rebound. I don't think there's any. It's been this neck and neck race between those three over the last few years. But, a big part of what you need to be doing at this point is building, build to fail, build, build, build. You're going to fail. But iterate, build, fail, iterate, build, build, fail, iterate, build, fail, iterate over and over and over again, and you're eventually going to build these products that are for your firm. You're going to build firms. You're you can build your own AI firm at this point. My my opinion about six months ago, it's whenever I spoke at Jonas conference and disrupt conference is what it was called. So it may have been nine months ago or so. What I said back then was, is that at that point, you could build a mediocre AI firm.

Tyson Mutrux 00:08:24 All AI, you're really good at where we are right now. I actually think you could build a good all AI firm. I really do believe that, it would take some work, but the advances have been that great that I think you actually could. I think you could do it. it takes a massive organization and you can't just, you know, do it without a plan. But I completely think you could do it at this point. I've done enough testing that I think it's completely possible. The big hurdle that you have to get over is, the voice AI. I know people like Jeremy Danielson have used, you're using voice AI very effectively. I'm very hesitant with our firm to implement voice AI. It takes away some of our advantage when it comes to, that customer service part of it. But he's doing it really, really well. We're just completely different business models. But, the main thing is you need to be building, though, whatever it is, whether you try to go with the full AI law firm or not.

Tyson Mutrux 00:09:29 and I think that most people at this point, most law firm owners think building means software development. And I mean, it kind of does, but it, not fully it really means at this point, really. And this goes kind of goes back to like the AI type of law firm if it means designing systems, right? intake automations, AI agents for a variety of different things. Marketing workflows, different decision frameworks. It means all of those different things. That's really what we're talking about. And what's funny is like, that is not much different than what running a law firm has been like. Traditionally, the big difference is that all the friction has been removed with AI. You can do many of these things with AI where you're not having to do it yourself. like for example, some of the tools I'm building out, like I told you, I'm doing it. I'm using AI to use an AI to build it out. which the reason why that's important is, is that the AI that I'm using so code can actually code.

Tyson Mutrux 00:10:31 So I can't code. So it can go in, it can very verify what's happening with bolt and bolt. If it messes something up. Coworker can Coworking, go in and say, look at the code. Well, here's where you screwed up. Go fix this or it'll fix it itself. I don't have that coding background, so I can't do that. But that's where this advantage and that happens all across the board from not just coding, but from I think about how many, how many, how many have you looked up? medical advice. how many of you, even though your lawyers have looked up legal advice? I have, they're just the other day. Okay. I thought a law was one thing, and I wanted to verify it, and I searched it, and I said I was right. But it was one of the things where I wasn't 100% positive. I wanted to bring into the statute. It brought the statute. It gave me it's it's analysis of it, I read it, I verified that it was accurate.

Tyson Mutrux 00:11:28 So I wasn't I wasn't worried about hallucinations, but it was one of things where we were just having a conversation internally about something. And I was like, I think the law is this, let's look this up. So I looked it up really quick and I was right. but that. I mean, that is something that across all areas of our lives that's happening. So this is so it removes that friction. So it allows us to move a lot faster. And one of the things I was talking to Jeremy about is that I am, at this point, any free time I have on building any free time at all, if I'm not doing that, something that's absolutely necessary at the firm I'm building. If I've got free time at home where, you know, the kids are off doing something and, you know, Amy and I aren't doing something, I'm I'm building, okay? That's what I'm doing. I'm doing this nonstop because it is that important. I and I don't know if I've.

Tyson Mutrux 00:12:27 I don't know if I've mentioned this before. This is going to sound like, sort of a a closed mindset, but just stick with me for a second. I the way I kind of view AI right now is its. And I hope I haven't said this before, but it's kind of like this portal. And if you, if you imagine this portal where you're it's open right now, it's a circle, you know, like in a movie, you know, you can walk through it and you got the future on the other side. I feel like every day that that that portal is kind of closing just a little bit every day, a little bit more and a little bit more, a little bit more. And all the people that are building right now, they're going to make their way to the other side of that portal, and there's going to be people that don't. It's going to close at some point, and they're not going to make it through, and they're going to be stuck on this side, because there's going to be a point where people they're going to start to see, oh, the this the portal is getting smaller.

Tyson Mutrux 00:13:18 It's it's pretty small, but I can still make it and they'll start late. But by the time they get almost there the portal will be closed. And so at that point they're going to be renting. The builders are going to be are they going to be the ones that own the future? And then the renters are going to be on this side of the portal, and they're going to be renting forever, That is what I don't want. For you. I want you to be a builder. I want you to make it through that portal on the other side. that's how big of a deal this is. I think it's the the the portal is there. It's open for anyone that wants to go through it. It's. You have to do the work right now. And so kind of what I'm saying, I'm kind of saying is if some of your cases take a little bit longer, okay, they take a little bit longer, sacrifice a little bit of that short term. The short term wins for some long term wins for really long term domination.

Tyson Mutrux 00:14:09 Sacrifice a little bit a little bit of that now for the long term. And this is really no different from what I normally preach. because we talk about rocks and we talk about doing, you know, your product versus process goals and you want to focus on the process. This is really make part of your process building at this point. Right. kind of a hat tip to, you know, Jason Selke. Those are his terms process, process, process. Make building a part of your process it, because if you don't, you're going to get stuck on this side of the portal. And I don't want that for you. So let me kind of give you a prompt here. So just think of that if you could. As you're listening to this or as you're watching this, if you're watching it live. If you could automate just one thing in your firm by tomorrow, what would it be? and this could be could be an automation or it could be an AI could, whatever it may be.

Tyson Mutrux 00:15:04 But think about what that thing is and go do it. Stop listening to this thing right now. Becca's going to kill me for saying that. But go do it. Go build it or do it while you are listening to this thing, because you have no excuse. If you're listening to this right now or you're watching this right now, you can do this with coworker over on another screen. Oh, I want to build this widget on my website. Okay. Go build the would would you on your website tell coworker to do it and go give it the credentials to do it and it'll do it for you. It's that easy. That's that's what's crazy about it. It's that easy right now where you just tell it to do it. You can do your other work. You can. You can do your normal thing that you normally do, and it can be working in the background. That's what's so amazing about it. And, I can I'm just going to tell you right now I'll kind of whisper this because we I'm at the office during our, our meetings today.

Tyson Mutrux 00:15:53 I want to be kind of peeking to see how things are going with with coworkers and see what the hell the bills go. I'll probably add some more more prompts, and I'll still be building throughout the day as I'm as I'm doing other things as as I'm doing my normal Wednesday meeting day, I'll be doing those things in the background. So really nothing will change with my day. I'll still be building. It'll just be kind of in the background on the side. Okay. Really important. All right. Now, something else I want to talk about is, the psychological barrier. Barrier to this a little bit. and why I think people really aren't building, I don't think I don't think it's technology. I do think part of it is technology, but I don't think that's the main thing. I put some things in the association, some really basic documents in the association last week. And the reason why I did that is I think there are some people that just don't know where to start. They, they're a little bit scared, and.

Tyson Mutrux 00:16:54 You know, with lawyers, a lot of times it's identity, right? They're, they're trained to analyze or we are we are trained to analyze. Many times we're taught to reduce risk. I think a little bit less with the in the pie sector, but, but most lawyers, I think, kind of want some certainty. builders, they do the opposite. So I'm kind of asking you to step outside of most of your comfort zones and do the opposite and build take some risk here. because you Once you start it. I think once you start some of this where you start the building, you, you're going to get out of your comfort zone a little bit, then you're going to start to get comfortable, like, oh, this isn't nearly as difficult as I thought. so, there is there's this Sheryl Sandberg quote, if you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on. And that is what I'm telling you. Okay. If you're offered. So you're you have you've been offered a seat on a rocket ship.

Tyson Mutrux 00:18:02 Okay. That's what you've that's what's happened. Get the get the freak on it. That's what I'm saying. Get on the rocket ship. Because once you're on, it may seem scary. The fact that you're getting on a rocket ship. But once you're on your own and realize, oh my gosh, this isn't too bad, this is actually a lot of fun. And next thing you know, you're up in the atmosphere looking down at earth thinking, oh my gosh, that's amazing. That's that's what the opportunity is at this point. because, I mean, part of this too is like, you got to remember, your firm is only going to grow to the level of the systems that you're willing to build. And if you're not willing to build those more advanced systems, your firm is going to stay down here while everyone else is going up here. Okay. That is the reality of it. So don't stay down here. Grow up here. And that doesn't mean you have to grow to 50,000 people, right? Doesn't that doesn't mean you have to add another seat with a lot of the stuff.

Tyson Mutrux 00:18:57 It'll it'll actually make where you don't have to. you can hire probably less people if you want to. Like I said before, that's not our plan. Our plan is to keep our people, use them for the customer service side of things, make our clients happy. That's what I want to keep our people for, because I think they're by far the best at being able to do that. All right. sorry, a little bit about the future when it comes to this. And, what I talk about snowballs a lot, and I talk about compounding and all that. you ever remember a lot of a lot of part of the future is going to be, build or compounding and market separation because because AI is accelerating everything, marketing operations, you know, delivery of your legal services, the firms that are going to build those internal systems, those external systems, those are going to create exponential advantages that compound over time. They're going to have increased efficiency. There have increased margins, increased client experience.

Tyson Mutrux 00:20:02 Think about this like the margins. Here's what the margins are going to be able to do. So the increased efficiency which will increase which will also improve margins. They're going to be able to take that money and dump it in other things that you're not going to be able to. So maybe spend more money in marketing the money that you don't have because you're not doing it. That is the that's the difference, right? They're going to have that extra money because they've got it. They've increased the efficiency and they're going to outcompete you. That's what's going to happen. So what's going to happen is they're going to be the firms that don't build. And, they're the ones that are going to have they're going to learn too late. but the thing is, you're going to have to change before you have to. That's the key. You got to change before you have to. That's all. Jack Welch, quote unquote. so start doing that. Focus on on building. I'll start to wrap things up.

Tyson Mutrux 00:20:58 but thinking about like, where do where do you want your firm to be when all this settles? Okay. Where where do you want your firm to be when all this. When the portal closes. Where do you want your firm to be? And my guess is, if you start now, you're going to overshoot that, which is fantastic, that you're going to be in a much better position than what you even expected. but even if you're if you don't quite hit, hit it. You're going to be still in a great spot on the other side of this portal. and so I think that's, I think there's some very exciting at times, exciting times ahead. but you have to take action. Take action. so if you take just one thing from this episode, it's this. Don't wait to understand everything. start building now, because the people who build today, okay? The people that build today are the ones everyone else will be chasing tomorrow. Okay. So get there before the portal closes.

Tyson Mutrux 00:21:55 Have a great week, everybody, and we will be seeing you. Make sure you check out Becca's list where you can find the best vendors. in the worst. But, the best vendors for you that can help you, in your firms. And if you want more information about the association, go to Maxim. Com and when you if you want more information about Max Lorcan, go to Max Lau Events comm. See you buddy. Take care.