# EP523: Spotlight - Joe Woodard - How To Stay Relevant In The AI Era Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-successful-bookkeeper-podcast-404887/ep523-spotlight-joe-woodard-how-to-stay-relevant-in-the-ai-era Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-successful-bookkeeper-podcast-404887/ep523-spotlight-joe-woodard-how-to-stay-relevant-in-the-ai-era.md Podcast: [The Successful Bookkeeper Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-successful-bookkeeper-podcast-404887) Published: 2026-03-19T10:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/9e912598 Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/9e912598/9116eacb.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-successful-bookkeeper-podcast-404887/episodes/ep523-spotlight-joe-woodard-how-to-stay-relevant-in-the-ai-era Duration seconds: 2355 ## Resource "At some point in the future, somebody's going to be watching a movie about our era and there's going to be a human bookkeeper. And they're going to turn to their parents 20 years from now, and they're gonna say, 'Bookkeepers used to be people? That's so weird. I thought they were always artificial intelligence. I thought they were always computers.'" -Joe Woodard In this spotlight episode, founder of Scaling New Heights, Joe Woodard shares a clear view of where the bookkeeping profession is heading as AI reshapes the industry. He breaks down how service models are evolving, why advisory must be structured differently, and what practical steps you can take today to stay relevant and valuable plus much more! In this episode, you'll learn: How to use AI safely while protecting client data The difference between AI-enabled tools & native AI platforms How to structure your services using "swim lanes" instead of pricing tiers To learn more about Joe, visit his LinkedIn profile here . To get your ticket for Scaling New Heights, click this link . Time Stamps 00:53 – Introduction to Joe Woodard & what's new since his last visit 02:15 – Why advisory is becoming the core value in bookkeeping 04:20 – Moving from pricing tiers to service "swim lanes" 06:04 – Breaking down transactional, controllership, FP&A & outsourcing 08:26 – How subscription models change pricing & scope conversations 10:16 – Why managing scope is harder than managing profitability 12:11 – How to handle scope creep using swim lane language 15:23 – Pricing differences for small versus larger clients 16:22 – The impact of AI on bookkeeping & accounting 18:03 – Book recommendations to understand the future of work 20:14 – The "Hidden Figures" lesson every bookkeeper should understand 22:18… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-successful-bookkeeper-podcast-404887/episodes/ep523-spotlight-joe-woodard-how-to-stay-relevant-in-the-ai-era/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-successful-bookkeeper-podcast-404887/ep523-spotlight-joe-woodard-how-to-stay-relevant-in-the-ai-era.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.