E-Forge With Cory Long

AI is changing how customers find businesses, and that could create one of the biggest agency opportunities of the next decade.For years, businesses competed to rank at the top of Google using SEO, websites, reviews, backlinks, content, and Google Ads. But customers are increasingly asking ChatGPT, Google AI, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, and other AI assistants a very different question: Who should I hire?That shift changes everything.A business can have strong traditional SEO, great Google rankings, hundreds of reviews, and an established website, and still be almost invisible when customers ask AI for a recommendation.In this episode of the E-Forge Podcast, Cory Long explains why AI search visibility, AI SEO, AEO, GEO, and AI authority could create a major new opportunity for agency owners, consultants, marketers, freelancers, coaches, and entrepreneurs. You’ll discover how businesses can become brands that AI understands, trusts, and recommends, and how marketers can build recurring services around solving that problem.If you’ve been wondering how to turn AI into a legitimate service business instead of selling another chatbot, prompt pack, or AI course, this episode breaks down a practical agency model built around an emerging customer acquisition problem.What You’ll Learn:→ Why ranking at the top of Google no longer guarantees that a business will appear when customers use ChatGPT and other AI search platforms, and how this creates an entirely new visibility problem for business owners.→ How an AI search agency can audit what AI currently understands about a company, uncover authority and visibility gaps, compare competitors, strengthen digital signals, create the right content, and measure improvements over time.→ Why the future of marketing agencies may depend less on simply producing websites, articles, graphics, and social posts—and more on strategy, diagnosis, authority building, implementation, and solving expensive business problems.→ How the AI Authority Engine model combines AI search strategy, positioning, prospecting, sales, client retention, certification, fulfillment, and authority building to help entrepreneurs create an actual AI agency rather than simply learn more about artificial intelligence.Want to learn more about Cory Long? Check out the links below.Ai Authority Engine https://aiauthoritychallenge.com/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@therealcorylongApple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e-forge-with-cory-long/id1823417933Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4aZD9YaIr5OttNLce5iGOm?si=7149ceb9ed9c4819Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealcorylong/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/therealcorylongEforge/Disclaimer - This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed tax professional or financial advisor to discuss your specific situation.

What if your business is growing while everything that matters most is shrinking?Entrepreneurs are taught to chase business growth, more revenue, bigger teams, more clients, wealth, influence, and opportunity. But sustainable business growth means very little if success costs you your marriage, your relationship with your kids, your faith, or your peace. In this episode of the eForge Podcast, Cory Long sits down with entrepreneur JC Hite to explore how ambitious business owners can scale without sacrificing their family and personal life.JC shares lessons from building companies, making the Inc. 5000, managing hundreds of employees, investing in businesses, and developing relationships with influential leadership voices including John Maxwell and Dr. Gary Chapman. He also shares what happened when outward business success collided with panic attacks, overwhelming pressure, and the realization that growth alone isn't the goal.If you're an entrepreneur, founder, business owner, or leader trying to build wealth, create impact, strengthen your marriage, raise your kids well, deepen your faith, and grow a profitable company, this conversation challenges the traditional definition of success.What You’ll Learn:→ You’ll discover why more time with your children doesn't automatically mean more meaningful connection, and why JC emphasizes intentional, distraction-free time with family.→ You’ll hear how entrepreneurs can navigate the tension between business growth, marriage, faith, family obligations, and opportunities that could accelerate their careers.→ JC explains his approach to finding mentors and intentionally getting into rooms with successful leaders, including the formula he uses: vulnerability, the right room, execution over time, and faith.→ You’ll also hear a different definition of entrepreneurial success: building profitable companies and creating meaningful impact without sacrificing the people and relationships you were building everything for in the first place.Want to learn more about Cory Long? Check out the links below.Ai Authority Engine https://aiauthoritychallenge.com/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@therealcorylongApple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e-forge-with-cory-long/id1823417933Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4aZD9YaIr5OttNLce5iGOm?si=7149ceb9ed9c4819Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealcorylong/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/therealcorylongEforge/Disclaimer - This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed tax professional or financial advisor to discuss your specific situation.

AI can build a marketing plan, write a sales script, explain Facebook ads, teach SEO, and create an entire business curriculum in seconds. So if you’re a coach, consultant, trainer, expert, or course creator, you need to answer a difficult question: What happens when the information inside your online course is no longer the main reason someone should pay you?In this episode of the E-Forge Podcast, Cory Long sits down with Alex Changho to explore how artificial intelligence is changing the online coaching and knowledge business, and why the future may be less about selling information and more about creating transformation, competency, accountability, and certification.They unpack the difference between someone saying, “I watched your course,” and being able to say, “I was trained, evaluated, and certified by you.” You’ll discover why AI may continue to commoditize information while increasing the value of human judgment, feedback, implementation, community, testing, and demonstrated expertise.If you sell coaching programs, online courses, consulting, training, masterminds, or intellectual property, this conversation will challenge you to rethink exactly what your clients are paying for, and how to build an offer AI can strengthen instead of replace.Highlights:→ Discover why information alone is becoming harder to monetize as AI makes expert knowledge faster and easier to access.→ How certification changes a course from information consumption into demonstrated competency and skill.→ Why accountability, human feedback, judgment, community, and implementation can become increasingly valuable in an AI-driven coaching business.→ How coaches and experts can identify the critical 20% of their expertise clients still need from a human even when AI can provide much of the underlying information.Want to learn more about Cory Long? Check out the links below.Ai Authority Engine https://aiauthoritychallenge.com/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@therealcorylongApple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e-forge-with-cory-long/id1823417933Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4aZD9YaIr5OttNLce5iGOm?si=7149ceb9ed9c4819Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealcorylong/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/therealcorylongEforge/Disclaimer - This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed tax professional or financial advisor to discuss your specific situation.

What are you building that will still matter when nobody remembers your name? As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to measure success by revenue, businesses, followers, influence, property, authority, and recognition. But what if those are the wrong finish lines? In this episode of the E-Forge Podcast, Cory Long explores what Hebrews 11 teaches Christian entrepreneurs about faith, legacy, generational wealth, leadership, family, and building a life that matters. The people remembered in the Bible’s Hall of Faith weren’t perfect. Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David, Samson, and others had failures, fears, and painful chapters, but their worst moments didn’t become the final headline of their lives. That raises a bigger question for every business owner and leader: What will your life ultimately be known for? This conversation is for entrepreneurs who want to build successful businesses, create wealth, develop influence, use AI and technology, and make an impact without sacrificing their faith, family, character, or calling along the way. Because building a great company is valuable, but building a legacy of faithfulness that changes generations is something even bigger.Highlights:→ Why one failure, bad decision, or difficult season doesn’t have to become the title of your entire story.→ Why true legacy isn’t necessarily having future generations remember your name, it’s giving them something worth receiving.→ How Christian entrepreneurs can build wealth, businesses, assets, influence, wisdom, character, and faith together instead of choosing one over the other. → Five powerful questions that can help you evaluate what your business, family, leadership, and daily decisions are actually passing to the next generation.Want to learn more about Cory Long? Check out the links below.Ai Authority Engine https://aiauthoritychallenge.com/YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@therealcorylongApple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e-forge-with-cory-long/id1823417933Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4aZD9YaIr5OttNLce5iGOm?si=7149ceb9ed9c4819Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealcorylong/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/therealcorylongEforge/Disclaimer - This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed tax professional or financial advisor to discuss your specific situation.

What does it take to build a business that can survive for nearly 50 years, and then hand that legacy to the next generation?In this episode of the EForge Podcast, Cory Long sits down with Nick Bigham of Bigham’s Smokehouse, a family-owned Lubbock barbecue restaurant founded by his father, Don Bigham, in 1978. Nick shares what it’s really like to inherit a family business, lead employees, grow multiple restaurant locations, expand a catering operation, and protect your family while carrying the responsibility of a name that has served West Texas for generations.This conversation goes far beyond barbecue. Nick breaks down the realities of restaurant ownership, entrepreneurship, leadership, delegation, business growth, customer service, rising food costs, catering large events, and building a company that can operate beyond the owner. If you own a small business, work in a family business, lead a team, run a restaurant, or want to build something that lasts beyond you, this episode is packed with lessons on stewardship, leadership, consistency, community, and legacy.You’ll Learn:→ Why taking over a successful family business requires more than simply preserving what the previous generation built, and how Nick learned to introduce change without abandoning the reputation Bigham’s had earned since 1978.→ Why restaurant owners can’t remain the technician forever. Nick explains why being great at barbecue, cooking, or another craft is different from being able to hire, train, delegate, lead, manage finances, and grow a company.→ How Bigham’s is expanding beyond its three Lubbock locations through large-scale catering, including events serving 900, 1,000, and even 1,800 people, while creating affordable catering options for businesses, weddings, families, job sites, and organizations.→ Why leadership ultimately shows up in the business itself. Nick and Cory unpack the challenging idea that your company often reflects your leadership, and why developing people, setting standards, building accountability, and protecting quality time with family matters as much as revenue.Want to learn more about Cory Long? Check out the links below.Ai Authority Engine https://aiauthoritychallenge.com/YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@therealcorylongApple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e-forge-with-cory-long/id1823417933Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4aZD9YaIr5OttNLce5iGOm?si=7149ceb9ed9c4819Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealcorylong/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/therealcorylongEforge/Disclaimer - This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a licensed tax professional or financial advisor to discuss your specific situation.