HEADLINE
Paul Is One of You — Just a Few Steps Ahead
This isn’t a resume. It’s the story of how a retired officer, accountant, and grandfather decided AI wasn’t going to leave him behind — and built The AI Encore to make sure it doesn’t leave you behind either.
A Life of Second Acts
Paul has never been a one-career kind of guy. He spent over 26 years in the Army — Active, Reserve, and National Guard combined — before hanging up that uniform for good. Then he built a second career in accounting, earning a Master’s degree along the way and spending several years managing the books for law firms in Atlanta. He even picked up a paralegal certificate for good measure, just to understand the legal side of the business better.
Every one of those chapters started the same way: as something completely new, learned one deliberate step at a time.
The Question Every Retiree Faces
As Paul’s accounting practice wound down toward retirement, he ran into the question that catches up with almost everyone eventually: now what?
He could have coasted. Instead, he decided to do what he’d always done — pick something new, and learn it properly. This time, the something new was AI.
Starting From Curious, Not Expert
Paul didn’t come to AI as a computer scientist. He came to it the way most retirees would: curious, a little skeptical, and not entirely sure where to even begin.
So he did what worked in every career before this one — he broke it down into stages, and worked through them one at a time. He’s still working through them today, and he’s open about exactly where he stands.
Why The AI Encore Exists
Paul built The AI Encore because he wished someone had handed him a plain-language map when he started — no jargon, no sales pitch, no assumption that he should already know this stuff.
The AI Encore is that map. Paul is documenting his own climb in real time, so you’re never learning from a guide who’s forgotten what it felt like to be a beginner.
Life Outside The AI Encore
Paul is preparing to close his accounting practice, Paul Ellis Services, LLC, at the end of 2026 after supporting a small number of longtime clients including a local nonprofit church in order to focus on retirement and The AI Encore retirement project.
Beyond that, he splits his time between family, learning, and building this new chapter — in Atlanta, Georgia.
Call to Action
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