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Overview

When live events went virtual almost overnight, everyone had a hard deadline forcing the change. John Jantsch sits down with Blue Melnick, co-founder of Sage Event Management, to talk about a shift he thinks is bigger and quieter: AI moving into the coaching, consulting, and course world. Melnick’s take: the opportunity is using AI to get your clients better results, faster, versus just getting more done yourself.

The conversation digs into what Melnick calls the “moment of need.” That’s the 2 a.m. moment when a client’s brain is racing and the only person available is ChatGPT or Claude, not their coach. Melnick and John talk through why specialized knowledge still beats general AI. They dig into why the gap between teaching something and a client applying it is where most coaching programs lose people. They also talk about why courses built the old way (record a video, hope someone finishes it) are giving way to something better.

This one’s for coaches, consultants, agency owners, and course creators ready to put AI to work for their clients and open up a strong opportunity for their business.

Guest Bio

Blue Melnick runs Sage Event Management with his wife and business partner, Barry Baumgartner. Together they’ve produced live events for clients including Tony Robbins and ClickFunnels. Melnick and Baumgartner also run a coaching program built around launching high-ticket offers through virtual live events, and they’ve spent the past 2 years building Obi, an AI co-producer designed to guide clients through implementation instead of leaving them to figure it out on their own. Obi is set to launch publicly in September 2026.

Key Takeaways

• AI’s shift for coaches and consultants isn’t a temporary disruption like the pandemic’s push to virtual events. AI isn’t going away, so plan for it as permanent.
• The real leverage isn’t personal productivity: Most people ask what AI can do for them, the bigger opportunity is asking what you can do with AI for your clients.
• People pay for specialized knowledge, not general information. AI chatbots offer general intelligence, but your years of specific expertise are still what clients are buying.
• The gap between teaching a client something and that client implementing it is where most coaching programs and courses lose people. Use AI to walk clients across that gap instead of handing them information and hoping.
• Build programs around the outcome, not around content volume.

Great Moments

• • [02:09] – Melnick traces the AI shift back to ChatGPT 3.5 and the early hype around “prompt cookbooks,” before people realized AI slop was a real problem.
  • [05:23] – Melnick tells the story of a former client bragging about vibe-coding a replacement for their CRM, and why he wants nothing to do with running that infrastructure himself.
  • [09:18] – Melnick riffs on AGI and the “Skynet” fear everyone jokes about, then points to the real opportunity: pairing specialized knowledge with AI.
  • [21:59] – Melnick shares research showing spending on education, free information online, and device access have all climbed together over the past 30 years.
  • [23:30] – Melnick announces Obi’s September 2026 launch and points listeners to changecourse.ai for Barry Baumgartner’s free training.

Memorable Quotes

• “Just because you have a genius in your pocket doesn’t mean you know what to ask it.” —Blue Melnick
• “The key to AI making a huge difference is seeing what I can do with AI for my clients, not what AI can do for me.” —Blue Melnick
• “The desire for knowledge, the desire for people to take you through a specific journey never changes. What changes is the delivery mechanism.” —Blue Melnick
• “When people get a result, they don’t ask for a refund.” —Blue Melnick

Resources

AI, artificial intelligence, client results, Coaching, coaching industry, consulting, course creators, Marketing, online courses, Small Business