AI is changing fast, but for the first time, we've hit a moment of relative stability. That means now is the perfect time to learn the tools that will actually move the needle in your toy business.
In this mini reset episode, Azhelle breaks down why so many people are getting mediocre results from AI (hint: it's not the tool's fault), and announces a free live masterclass where she'll walk you through the three AI tools every toy entrepreneur needs to know: ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
You'll also get a sneak peek at Toy Biz Backup, Azhelle's upcoming AI support team built specifically for toy businesses, and hear an important update about the Toy Coach Showcase at ASTRA 2026, with only two spots remaining.
In this episode you'll hear about:
- Why most people get bad results from AI and what's actually going wrong
- What projects, gems, and skills are (and why they're the new baseline for AI use)
- Why now is finally the right time to commit to learning AI tools
- What's covered in the free AI Tools for Business Masterclass (April 15th, 12 to 1PM ET)
- A sneak peek at Toy Biz Backup, an AI support team built for toy businesses
- The Toy Coach Showcase at ASTRA 2026, only 2 spots left!
🎁 The free masterclass recording will be paid after the live event, so show up live!
For the links mentioned in this episode visit: thetoycoach.com/607
Mentioned In This Episode
Free AI Tools for Business Masterclass (April 15, 12 to 1PM ET):
thetoycoach.com/ai
Toy Coach Showcase at ASTRA 2026 (only 2 spots left!):
learn.thetoycoach.com/showcase
Higgs Field AI (multi-tool AI platform mentioned):
higgsfield.ai
ChatGPT:
https://chatgpt.com/
Claude:
https://claude.ai/
Gemini:
https://gemini.google.com/
Have an idea for a toy or game? 🧸 Click here.
Do you have an idea for a toy or game that you think could be the next big thing? Join the Toy Creators Academy to learn how to bring your toy idea to life! Or book a 1:1 call with Azhelle to get personalized guidance on your toy journey.
Episode Transcript
📋 PASTE FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE (copy from: Azhelle Wade: [00:00:00] if you're thinking like, I really don't think I need AI in my business.listen,
Your most valuable asset is your creative time and your social time. when you can integrate AI to handle the repetitive stuff like the drafting and the researching and the formatting, you can get back more of your time and your energy to do the parts of the business that. Bring value to your clients You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry. Season six, episode seven.
Hey there, toy people, Azhelle Wade here. Welcome back to another episode of Making It In The Toy Industry. This is a podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com. If you're new here, this. Podcast is a place where toy creators come [00:01:00] to learn about the toy industry, how to make it in the toy industry, and industry pros come to share their advice, and learn what is going on in the industry, what everybody else is thinking.
This season has been solely focused on ai. If you've been following along this season, you know that we have been doing a deep dive on artificial intelligence AI applications across our industry and in adjacent industries. I've been deep diving into tools I've been using and sharing some horror stories about how AI has been affecting other businesses.
Now, a lot of. So today's episode, we're gonna have a little bit of a reset. It's gonna be super short reset because I realize we still need a 1 0 1. We need that AI 1 0 1 and an audio podcast, and even when I share. We still need that AI 1 0 1 and I think that it would be best delivered live. So I'm gonna talk to you about an opportunity to join me for a free 60 minute workshop where I'm gonna [00:02:00] walk you through the key AI tools that you need to know for your business.
You can apply this to toy businesses and non toy businesses but it's gonna be super helpful. Now, a lot of people in the industry, even some of my students and clients are either ignoring AI completely or just using it and getting really. Generic results or results that are not actually helping them save time.
Maybe, if you are one of these people, you might be typing something in, getting a super bland robotic answer or getting back a super bland answer, an answer filled with em, dashes that you don't normally use or just getting. And responses back that don't make sense, that you have to fix and tweak so much that you feel like, what is the point of using this tool in the first place?
And if that's how you're using ai, then I would say yes. That is a waste of time. That's not gonna help you out.
But here's the thing. So here's what I've learned about ai. The problem isn't actually the tool. The problem is usually how you are using the tool the way that.
So what is the big problem? Why? Why is why is it that some people say they can save hours with AI [00:03:00] tools? And some people say that it's a huge waste of their time? I talked to you on in this season of this podcast about how you have to set up your business to. Integrate ai. Very true. But what also, and another, but a second piece of that is you have to know how to use the AI tools that exist.
One thing a lot of people in the industry are talking about is prompting that your prompting capabilities are going to control how you. Are gonna control the quality of your output. That is true, but that is not the only way to control the quality of your output. Another way to do that is to use AI tools that essentially have prompts baked in on the backend so your prompts can be more open-ended and free flowing.
So that less of the prompt work is done by you. So there are AI tools like Higgs Field that integrate multiple. So there are AI sites like Higgs field.ai, that integrate multiple AI tools, multiple different. Image generators and have [00:04:00] prompts on the backend that are added to whatever prompts you put into the tool to give you better results upon generation.
But the most important thing that has come up in the past few weeks with AI is the introduction and refinement of things like projects custom GPTs. Is the introduction and refinement of projects and gems and skills. What are all of those things? So projects, gems and skills are features on different tools like Claude Chachi, pt, and Google Gemini.
That allow you to reduce how much prompt engineering you have to do every time you type in a prompt. So that is what I want to teach, because right now I would say we are at a stable ish point with AI development, where we have a new floor. Of learning. So if you've been waiting to learn [00:05:00] AI because you're like, it's too much, it's changing too fast, I would say now is the time to learn about things like projects and gems.
To learn about things like projects, gems and skills, because those are going to be the new baseline to make sure your AI tools are doing the heavy lifting for you and you're not like dragging them along to do the work. Like a low quality employee. So I have been all right, I wanna get, now you might be wondering, oh my God, gel.
Why? So now you might be thinking like, oh yes, gel. That is what I need to learn. Why have you waited so long to teach me this? AI has I have been wanting to teach a course on AI for a while. I have created one and not released it yet. The reason is that I. The space has been moving and changing so fast.
The moment I start teaching one thing a month or two later, it could be outdated. So tools could change their pricing, their capabilities. There are different versions coming out that act different than previous [00:06:00] versions. Things like custom GPTs are almost irrelevant. Now we have. Things like custom GPTs, which used to be a cornerstone of many many creation processes are just irrelevant now.
So I, I really struggled with perfecting and a course releasing it and then realizing like that is something that's outdated after just a few weeks. But this big shift that I just mentioned has happened where I feel we've reached a moment of just relative stability in the AI world. The three big tools, chatt, Claude, and Gemini have really matured.
They've introduced these, this new layer of skills and projects and gems that are making it easier to turn your AI tools into essential team members for your business that already have a way of thinking in a framework so that instead of having to add a very complex prompt that tells them exactly what to do without forgetting any little thing, without [00:07:00] forgetting any little thing.
You can just ask for what you need. Alright, so here's what we are going to be doing on April 15th. Yes, that's tax day. I'm going to be hosting a free live masterclass called AI Tools for Toy Business. It's gonna be the best uses for Claude Gemini and chat pt. In this class, I'm gonna break down all the three tools in a way that's specifically built for people working in the toy industry.
So it's not gonna be generic business advice, but if you are not in the toy industry or you are toy adjacent, this will still be valuable to you. I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna be screen sharing and showing you each of these tools. We will have 15 minutes per tool. Do not be late to this class. We will only have 15 minutes per tool.
For chat, GBT, we're gonna go into prompts, GPTs, and projects. I will show you the one use case that will make you go oh my gosh, how have I now been doing this sooner? Then we're going to go into Claude prompts. And then the [00:08:00] cowork feature, which if you don't know and you haven't used it, you must, it saved me so much time in planning for the upcoming Toy Coach Showcase at Astra.
This is the, the tool I think is gonna change your business and then we will go into projects as well. And then finally we'll go into Gemini's tools, prompts, gems, nano banana, what, when I use it, and why. And yeah, I know Nano Banana sounds like a silly name, but that's their AI image generation tool, and it is one of the best.
Now the class is free. It's alive. So now the free class is live. You've got to show up live. Once it is recorded, it will be made available for a fee on my site. So show up live. It is April 15th, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM. The registration link will be in the show notes, but you can also go to the toy coach.com/ai and I will put the registration link there.
I genuinely know this is going to be one if you're looking for a now if you're looking for kind of an [00:09:00] AI 1 0 1, what do I really need to know today about using ai? This is gonna be the class for you. Alright, now let's talk about,
now if you're thinking like, why is this important to me, Azhelle, I really don't think I need AI in my business.listen, if you are a creative in the toy industry or if you are somebody that has a lot personal one-to-one relationships that you're managing in the toy industry.
Your most valuable asset is your creative time and your social time. when you can integrate AI to handle the repetitive stuff like the drafting and the researching and the formatting, you can get back more of your time and your energy to do the parts of the business that. Bring value to your clients and your customers to really go to toy stores and connect with your retailers if you're a sales rep or to spend more time ideating fresh ideas if you are a designer, [00:10:00] instead of organizing that bill of materials and project line sheet if you figure out the right way to integrate AI into your business, it will open up so much more free time for you to be your most creative self. That is what it has done for me.
And also at this masterclass, you're gonna get a sneak peek into something bigger that I've been building, something called the Toy Biz Backup, which is an AI support team built specifically to help you run your toy business. I'll tell you more about it at the end of class, but just so you know it's coming and that along with all of these tools and me teaching you how to use them, it's gonna be a huge game changer for you.
We are gonna wrap up this mini episode today. One more thing before I let you go, and this is for those of you who have a toy product for sale now, but have not yet broken into retail, and you want to get into retail, I would encourage you to start with specialty retail and.
Lucky for you. The Toy Coach Showcase is back. For those of you who don't [00:11:00] know, the Toy Coach Showcase is my done with you trade show experience. We are bringing it back to Astra Marketplace and Academy June 5th, 2026. Astra Marketplace and Academy is one of the most important specialty toy trade shows in our industry, and I am taking a small group of just six brands.
We're going to be exhibiting together in a professionally designed booth. I'm handling the strategy, the coaching, the marketing, leading up to the event, the logistics. You bring your product and you show up ready to sell. I brought this showcase back after my students asked for it. The demand has been so unreal, and for the first time ever, I'm.
Opening it up. To people that have not yet joined Toy Creators Academy, but do need this kind of help breaking into retail. So this has never been open outside of Toy Creators Academy before. So you can head over to learn dot the Toy coach.com/showcase for all of the information, even if you're not a Toy Creator's Academy student.
[00:12:00] at the time of recording this, there are only two spots left, so if you are thinking about. Trying your first trade show and you don't wanna run the risk and spend $10,000 doing it on your own. And you wanna just see what it's like and you wanna try to build your network a little bit.
Maybe even test your product a little bit. This is your shot to do it right with me, with support with other creators. Who are as driven and trying to get into retail just like you. This is a collective opportunity. It is the only one of its kind that includes support and community and an opportunity for sales. We have launched multi six figure brands with this Toy Coach Showcase, and your brand could be next. I really want you to take a look at it. I really want you to take a look at it. Consider joining us. learn.thetoycoach.com/showcase. We have a 10 by 20 booth.
We are maxed out at six brands. We already have four people locked in. There are only two spots left. Once those spots are [00:13:00] gone, even if it's gone the moment I've. Post this episode. I'm so sorry, but we cannot add anymore. Alright, that is a wrap on today's episode.
Your next steps, get yourself signed up for the AI Tools for Business Masterclass. The link will be@thetoycoach.com slash ai. The AI tools for Toy Business Masterclass is happening April 15th, 12:00 PM Eastern, two 1:00 PM Eastern.
It will be a free masterclass, but the recording will be paid. So you wanna join the free masterclass, ask your questions and see the live demo. Alright, toy people, that is all I have for you today. Alright toy people. That's all I have for you today.
As always, thank you so much for listening to this podcast. I know there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one. Until next week, I'll see you later toy people. Okay. [00:14:00]
