Lessons from 30 years of tech disruption & entrepreneurship

Most business owners are still asking the wrong question about AI and emerging tech.

They want to know: “How do I use AI in my marketing?” or “Can AI help me close more sales?”

Or maybe they haven’t even got that far, maybe they are still stressing about “What tool to use” or “What’s the best prompt for…”

And worrying about recouping the cost of testing these technologies and potentially getting it “WRONG”

But after 30 years of riding the waves of emerging technology, from digital filmmaking in the 90s to AI-powered transformation, I’ve learned something critical:

The real opportunity isn’t using AI in your business. It’s redesigning your business around what’s now possible.

And if you have ever felt held back by a lack of resources, time, money, knowledge or access to the right networks…this is even more of an opportunity than you can ever imagine.

Let me explain.

My obsession with emerging tech started long before it was trendy.

During my performing arts degree in the late 90’s, I was captivated by digital film technology….taking performance into new realms by projecting captivating images, montages, on the back wall of the universities lecture theatre, where previously it had been innovatively used for powerpoint slides. Most of my peers were focused on traditional stage performance, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how this new medium would change storytelling forever.

Then came my Master’s in Multimedia Design and Technology. Here’s the kicker: I didn’t even own a computer or have access to broadband. But I understood something fundamental: the technology itself wasn’t the point. The point was what it would enable humans to do differently.

That philosophy has guided every venture since.

In the 2010s, I built the UK’s first online running club for plus-size women. At its height my blog was getting 10 million hits a day, with thousands around the world taking part in my #OneBigFatRun Virtual 5K.

The fitness industry said it couldn’t be done. They insisted you needed in-person training, physical locations, expensive equipment….but of course then came the pandemic and every PT went online…I mean, just look what role technology played in the rise of Jo Wicks.

But emerging tech, basic as it was then, allowed me to do something revolutionary: create a global movement from my laptop.

I used automation before most people knew what email sequences were. I implemented segmentation when others were still sending one-size-fits-all newsletters. I conducted digital audits to understand what was actually working, not what we hoped was working.

The result? A community that inspired millions worldwide across 50+ countries. Not because the technology was fancy, but because I redesigned what a fitness business could be based on what was newly possible.

This pattern repeated itself when I created Tribe Builder, my programme teaching experts and changemakers how to build online movements.

I wasn’t teaching people how to “use social media better” or “add a Facebook group to their existing model.”

I was teaching them to fundamentally reimagine their business model around the connective power of digital platforms. To see their expertise not as a service delivered one-to-one, but as a movement that could scale globally while maintaining human connection.

That’s the difference between using tech and leveraging tech strategically.

Fast forward to last year.

I took a challenge I was feeling on a profound level, and set myself the goal of losing 100 pounds in just 12 months. With the help of AI.

Not because AI replaced human insight, but because it amplified my ability to make better decisions, stay consistent, and adapt in real-time. It gave me a level of personalized support that would have required a full-time team just five years ago.

And that’s when it hit me: If AI could help me redesign my health, what could it do for my business? For my clients’ businesses?

That experience became the foundation for my upcoming book, How To Lose Weight with the Help of AI—the first in my Everyday Innovation series. These aren’t tech manuals. They’re real-world stories of how emerging technology impacts human transformation.

Because that’s what I’ve been obsessed with for 30 years: not the technology itself, but how it changes what’s possible for humans.

The Question You Should Be Asking

So here’s what I want you to consider:

Most consultants, coaches, and experts are asking: “How do I add AI to what I’m already doing?”

But the better question—the one that’s driven every successful pivot in my three-decade career—is:

“What could I offer that wasn’t possible before?”

What if you could deliver transformation at scale without losing the personal touch?
What if you could provide 24/7 support without burning out?
What if you could gather insights from thousands of clients and use them to improve outcomes for everyone?
What if you could test and iterate your offerings in weeks instead of years?

This isn’t about replacing human expertise. It’s about redesigning your business model around augmented human capability.

Looking back at my journey—from digital film to multimedia design, from building online communities to teaching movement-building, from digital audits to AI-powered transformation—there’s a consistent pattern:

The innovators who win aren’t the ones with the best technology. They’re the ones who reimagine what’s possible when humans and emerging tech work together.

They don’t ask, “How do I use this tool?”

They ask, “What can I build now that I couldn’t build before?”

If you’re a consultant, coach, therapist, or expert, you’re standing at the same crossroads I’ve stood at multiple times over 30 years.

You can use AI to make your existing business slightly more efficient.

Or you can use it to redesign your entire offering around what’s newly possible.

One approach gives you incremental gains.

The other gives you a completely new business model—and a competitive advantage that’s hard to replicate.

I’ve spent three decades learning to spot these moments. To move quickly while others hesitate. To redesign rather than optimize.

And right now? This is one of those moments.

The question is: What are you going to build that wasn’t possible before?

Julie Creffield is an expert on Innovation, Ideas and Entrepreneurship. A business strategist with 30 years of experience, having worked with thousands of clients from large multinationals to micro-businessess and everything in between. From global brands to local leaders helping to make impactful change through thinking differently, and taking inspired action. She is a keynote speaker, author and consultant, and works as an innovation director for Oxford Innovation Space with ambitious SME’s across two sites in Hertfordshire/London where she is based

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