BeSkilled America

BESKILLED AMERICA · RESKILL. UPSKILL. BE SKILLED.

EVERY GAMEBUILDS A SKILL.

Discipline. Strategy. Creativity. Leadership. The strengths built across every field can power what comes next.

VIBE LEARNING™ HAS EVOLVED

FutureProof.

Born from the groundbreaking ideas in Death of a Job and built for the high-stakes Future of Work, Future Proof is where AI literacy becomes culture, confidence, and action.

The original signal / 01
Death of a Job: The Future of Work in the Age of AI by Mike Johns.
The book that called itNow, the room that prepares you for it.
Adult creators collaborate on laptops while a DJ performs in a dramatically lit event studio.
Future Proof experience concept
Learning, amplified
  1. 01Learn

    Master the AI shifts already reshaping work.

  2. 02Build

    Turn insight into something useful, live in the room.

  3. 03Connect

    Meet the founders and operators moving first.

We retired the dry corporate seminar. In its place: master-level AI literacy, live co-creation, high-value networking, and a pulse-pounding atmosphere shaped by elite DJs from Vegas, Miami, and beyond.

It is serious future-readiness with the energy of the most exclusive industry linkup in town—built for creators, builders, leaders, and the businesses ready to move before the market makes the choice for them.

“AI is coming.”

“I’m commanding the future.”

The new standard

Future Proof makes staying relevant feel magnetic: shared beats, hands-on builds, and real connection with the people shaping what is next.

Future Proof debutSave the date
In collaboration with

Future Proof presents

BeSkilledor Be Replaced

Built with the Better Business Bureau for business leaders who are ready to understand AI, use it responsibly, and turn disruption into an advantage.

When
September 30 – October 21, 2026
Where
Ignite Studio
Presented with
BBB Phoenix

One room. Real skills. A sharper network. Leave ready to lead what comes next.

Four ways in

Get in the door free. Or get everything.

Every paid tier enters the same room with the same instructors and hospitality. Choose how much of the series—and the year—you want to take with you.

Get in the door.

Free preview

See the series before choosing a paid path.

$0to begin
  • Session descriptions and speaker previews
  • A Death of a Job excerpt
  • First notice when new sessions open
Get free access
Pay per session. No commitment.

À la carte

Choose the workshop that matters most right now.

$149per session
  • One live, in-person workshop
  • Session workbook
  • Food and one drink included
  • Digital badge for that module
Buy one session
All four sessions. One price.

Full series pass

Build the complete system across four live sessions.

$397early bird through Sept. 16

Regular price $497

  • All four Future Proof sessions
  • Workbook and session recordings
  • Food, full bar, and DJ playlist
  • BeSkilled AI literacy digital badge
Take the full series
The full transformation.Best value

BeSkilled Insider

The annual path for business leaders building beyond the room.

$697per year
  • Signed copy of Death of a Job
  • All four sessions plus a bonus module
  • BeSkilled AI Business Certification
  • One 1:1 session with a BeSkilled instructor
  • Priority seating and future-event access
Become an Insider
Bring your team

Corporate / Group Insider

Five Insider seats, custom onboarding, and dedicated leadership sessions.

Starting at$2,497
Get group access
Future Proof Arizona

The four-part curriculum

Built on Mike Johns’ Death of a Job and the Vibe Learning™ framework. Presented at Ignite Studio with BBB Phoenix.

  1. AI 101
    Vibe 1

    Future Sense

    Cut through the hype. Understand what AI is, what it is not, and how the shift is already reshaping Arizona businesses.

  2. AI 202
    Vibe 2

    The Great Unbundling

    Map how jobs, roles, and workflows are being broken apart and rebuilt—and where the opportunity sits inside your business.

  3. AI 303
    Vibe 3

    The Proof Economy

    Move from theory to execution. Build, test, and prove an AI-powered offer, workflow, or product with real data.

  4. AI 400
    Vibe 4

    Be-Skilled

    Apply the series directly to your business with instructor support, culminating in the BeSkilled AI Business Certification.

All four sessions are included in the Full Series Pass and Insider membership.

Choose your access
One year. One move ahead.

Become an Insider.

Do not just attend the future. Build your place in it.

Become a BeSkilled Insider · $697/yearRenews annually. Stripe displays the billing terms before checkout.

AI LITERACY FOR AN AI-DRIVEN WORLD

Skills create opportunity.

BeSkilled America connects people to practical learning, employers to capable talent, and communities to long-term prosperity. One initiative, three obligations — and they only work together.

We are not waiting to find out which jobs change. We are building the capability that holds up whichever way they do: literacy first, applied skill second, and the confidence to keep learning after the program ends.

A workforce leader presents a practical prototype to an intergenerational group in a modern innovation studio.
  1. Learn
  2. Apply
  3. Lead
  • Athletes and a coach working through a game plan together in a modern workshop space.

    BEYOND THE GAME

    Athletes

    Translate discipline, leadership and identity built in sport into AI capability and opportunity that outlasts competition.

    • Junior high through professional and former athletes
    • Transferable strengths made legible to employers
    • A second pathway built before it is needed
  • Students building a project alongside an educator in a bright learning studio.

    CLASSROOMS, FAMILIES, HOMESCHOOLS

    Educators & Youth

    Safe, practical AI literacy built around curiosity, critical thinking, creativity and future readiness.

    • Age-appropriate tools and explicit safety boundaries
    • Making things, not just consuming them
    • Support for teachers, parents and homeschool co-ops
  • Public-sector, college and business representatives working over a regional skills map.

    PUBLIC SECTOR & REGIONS

    Government & Communities

    Scalable workforce, public-sector and small-business programs connected to what a region actually needs.

    • Workforce boards, agencies and community colleges
    • Stackable learning across a whole region
    • Reporting agreed before launch, not after
  • A small business owner working with their team inside a neighbourhood storefront.

    OWNERS & PROFESSIONALS

    Small Business & Professionals

    Use AI where it pays back fastest — productivity, operations, customer experience and growth.

    • Written for teams with no IT department
    • Two or three tasks, not an AI strategy
    • Customer data protected from day one

OUR THREE-PILLAR APPROACH

Three moves, in order. Learn what is new, strengthen what you already know, and become the kind of professional who keeps doing both.

  • RESKILL

    Acquire foundational capabilities for emerging roles and industries.

    • AI and digital foundations
    • New role pathways
    • Demonstrable project work
    An adult learner and instructor work together on a practical digital project in a workforce lab.
  • UPSKILL

    Add practical AI methods to the expertise you already have.

    • Role-specific workflows
    • Human + AI productivity
    • Responsible implementation
    A small-business team maps and improves a practical workflow together around a shared worktable.
  • BE SKILLED

    Become adaptable, resilient and ready to lead through change.

    • Portfolio of capabilities
    • Leadership and communication
    • Lifelong learning pathway
    A diverse team collaborates around an advanced prototype in a modern technical workshop.

ONE MISSION · TWO ORGANIZATIONS

Vision sets the direction.Education puts it to work.

BeSkilled America and BeSkilled Academy are connected, but they are not interchangeable. One establishes the public mission; the other delivers the learning that makes it real.

Why it matters

BeSkilled America

The 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Foundation

The overarching movement, advocacy platform and strategic framework. BeSkilled America secures philanthropic support, grants and public-private partnerships so AI literacy and workforce readiness remain equitable and accessible.

  • Shape public conversation around AI and the future of work
  • Build funding and public-private partnerships
  • Expand equitable access across communities
  • Protect accountability to the public mission
How it happens

BeSkilled Academy

The Course Engine

The direct educational arm and program implementation vehicle. BeSkilled Academy translates the mission into practical courses, interactive learning models and real-world skill development for individuals and teams.

  • Deliver hands-on courses, workshops and labs
  • Teach practical AI and emerging-technology skills
  • Turn learning into demonstrable project work
  • Help learners adapt, grow and lead through change

One movement. Two distinct roles. A shared commitment to an AI-ready workforce.

BESKILLED ACADEMY

Choose the next capability to build.

Every program starts from work you already do and ends with something you can show. Filter by where you are, not by what sounds impressive.

11 programs

  • foundationsOpen for interest

    AI 101

    Foundational AI literacy: what modern systems can and cannot do, how to use them safely, and how to apply them to everyday work.

    Audience
    Anyone starting from zero — no technical background required
    • Explain how modern AI systems actually produce their output
    • Judge when a task suits AI and when it does not
    • Use AI safely on real work without exposing private information
  • foundationsOpen for interest

    Beyond the Prompt

    Move from one-off prompts to context, reusable workflows and effective collaboration with an AI assistant over long pieces of work.

    Audience
    Working professionals who already use AI tools occasionally
    • Build reusable prompt and context patterns for recurring work
    • Structure a long task so an AI assistant stays on track
    • Review and correct AI output against your own standards
  • advancedOpen for interest

    Intro to Agentic AI

    Understand how AI agents plan, use tools, exchange context and complete multi-step work — and where a human has to stay in the loop.

    Audience
    Professionals and operators evaluating agentic tools
    • Describe how an agent plans and calls tools to finish a task
    • Identify which multi-step work is safe to delegate
    • Design human checkpoints into an automated workflow
  • creatorsOpen for interest

    iCreate

    Use AI across writing, design, audio and video while keeping authorship, judgement and creative standards firmly with you.

    Audience
    Creators, marketers, storytellers and independent media makers
    • Produce finished work across text, image, audio and video
    • Keep a recognisable creative voice while using AI tools
    • Disclose and document AI use in professional creative work
  • athletesOpen for interest

    Beyond the Game with AI

    Help athletes translate discipline, leadership and personal brand into AI-enabled career and business opportunity after competition.

    Audience
    Student, collegiate, professional and former athletes
    • Name and evidence the transferable strengths built in sport
    • Apply AI to career search, personal brand and business ideas
    • Build a portfolio that reads to employers outside sport
  • youthOpen for interest

    AI for Kids & Teens

    Age-appropriate AI literacy built around safety, curiosity, critical thinking and making things rather than consuming them.

    Audience
    Learners aged roughly 10–17, with educator and parent guidance
    • Recognise AI-generated content and question what it claims
    • Use AI tools within clear safety and privacy boundaries
    • Build and present a small project of their own
  • businessOpen for interest

    AI for Small Businesses

    Apply AI to marketing, operations, customer service, research and everyday decision support inside a business that has no IT department.

    Audience
    Owners, operators and small teams
    • Pick the two or three tasks where AI pays back fastest
    • Set up practical tooling without new headcount
    • Protect customer data while using AI day to day
  • advancedOpen for interest

    Growth & Automation

    Design advanced repeatable workflows, automations, measurement and governance for an organisation that is already growing.

    Audience
    Operations, growth and technology leads
    • Map a process and automate the parts that should be automated
    • Instrument the result so you can prove it worked
    • Put governance around AI use before it becomes a liability
  • youthIn development

    Virtual Homeschool with AI

    A structured at-home learning pathway for homeschool families, pairing AI literacy with core subject work under parent direction.

    Audience
    Homeschool families and co-operatives
    • Follow a structured at-home AI literacy sequence
    • Keep parents in control of pacing and subject coverage
    • Produce project work that evidences what was learned
  • advancedOpen for interest

    Human & Robotic Relations 101

    Move from observing automation to leading alongside it through practical work with robotics, spatial computing, agentic AI and Human-in-the-Loop systems.

    Audience
    Professionals, educators and workforce leaders preparing for human-machine collaboration
    • Audit legacy job roles and tasks for automation vulnerability
    • Design Human-in-the-Loop checkpoints for autonomous systems
    • Evaluate automation through safety, ethics and consumer-rights lenses
  • businessOpen for interest

    AI-Powered Business Development

    Turn manual prospecting into an AI-orchestrated growth system spanning account research, personalized outreach, qualification and closing.

    Audience
    Growth leaders, account executives, founders and business strategists
    • Use AI for deep account research and market intelligence
    • Build personalized multi-channel prospecting workflows
    • Shorten sales cycles while preserving high-touch relationships

CERTIFICATION

Build capability. Prove what you can do.

Completing a BeSkilled program produces two things: capability you can use on Monday, and a credential that says what you actually did.

Understand what modern AI systems do, where they fail, and how to judge their output rather than trusting it.

BeSkilled America

Certificate of Completion

Participant Name

Program title

Reskill · Upskill · Be Skilled

BeSkilled America program certificate. Not an accredited qualification.

A floodlit stadium at night, seen from the sideline, with the field receding into darkness.

BEYOND THE GAME

The final whistleis a pivot —not a finish line.

Beyond the Game works with athletes from junior high through the professional and former ranks. It is built on a straightforward observation: the habits that make someone competitive — preparation, coachability, performing under pressure, reading a situation fast — are exactly the habits that make someone employable in a field that keeps moving.

The program makes those strengths legible outside sport, pairs them with practical AI capability, and helps athletes build the second pathway before they need it.

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNITIES

Build an AI-ready community.

BeSkilled America partners with workforce boards, public agencies, community colleges, K–12 pipelines, SBA and SBDC ecosystems and regional employers to put AI literacy where the local economy actually needs it.

The model is deliberately unglamorous: start from the region’s real hiring demand, launch learning that stacks, and measure capability rather than attendance.

Public-sector, college and business representatives working over a regional skills map.
  1. Map local needs

    Work with employers, colleges and workforce boards to identify the capability gaps that are actually blocking hiring in the region.

  2. Launch stackable learning

    Deploy programs that build on one another, so a resident can start at foundations and continue without repeating a year.

  3. Measure capability and opportunity

    Track completed project work and onward pathways, and report against what the partnership set out to change.

How the model works

  • Programs are designed around a region’s stated hiring demand rather than a fixed national curriculum.
  • Learning is stackable, so a participant’s first program still counts towards the next one.
  • Delivery works through existing institutions — colleges, boards and employers — instead of around them.
  • Reporting is agreed with the partner before launch, so success is defined at the start rather than after.

OUR PARTNERS

Organisations building this with us

17 published partner marks shown.

  • ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
  • ROBOTICS
  • AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
  • CYBERSECURITY
  • TELECOMMUNICATIONS
  • SPACE TECHNOLOGIES
  • CREATOR ECONOMY

MASTERMIND IN THE CLOUDS

At 30,000 feet, the next move gets clear.

MasterMinds in the Clouds is a selective strategy experience for innovation winners and technology leaders. The altitude is not the point — the uninterrupted hours are. No inbox, no calendar, no rehearsed pitch.

  • Access

    Time with operators and mentors who have already solved the problem in front of you.

  • Market entry

    Pressure-test where a product actually lands, and what has to be true for it to hold.

  • Focused outcomes

    Every session ends with decisions written down, not a list of things to think about.

Selection criteria and dates are published once confirmed for each cohort.

A small group of founders and mentors working together in a private aircraft cabin.
Portrait of Mike Johns, founder of BeSkilled America, futurist, TEDx speaker and CES judge.

Founder

Mike Johns

Founder & Futurist, BeSkilled America

Mike Johns founded BeSkilled America to close the distance between how fast technology is changing work and how slowly most people get the chance to prepare for it.

His focus is workforce development and AI literacy as public infrastructure: programs that reach athletes, students, small businesses and whole regions, delivered through the institutions those communities already trust.

Impactful Verdicts

What they said about the work

THE NEXT WORKFORCE IS BEING BUILT NOW

Choose your next skill — or help a community build thousands.

Whether you are one person deciding what to learn next or an institution deciding what a region will be able to do in five years, the first step is the same.