I’ll be straight with you – I thought AI was just another tech fad until last year. My cousin Jake runs a small plumbing business and kept bugging me about this “AI thing” that was saving him hours every week. I finally gave in and looked into it, and wow, was I wrong.
Here’s everything I wish someone had told me when I started.
Start With Your Biggest Pain Point
We all have that one task we absolutely hate doing. Mine was writing follow-up emails to potential clients. I’d put it off for days, then spend an entire afternoon crafting emails that probably sounded desperate anyway.
Now I just tell an AI tool the basics – who they are, what we talked about, what I want to happen next – and boom, I have a decent draft in thirty seconds. I still rewrite parts to sound like me, but I’m not staring at a blank email anymore feeling like an idiot.
Pick whatever makes you want to hide under your desk. That’s where you start.
Customer Service Without Losing Your Mind
You know what’s exhausting? Answering the same five questions over and over. “What time do you close?” “Do you deliver?” “How much does shipping cost?”
My friend Lisa owns a small boutique, and she was spending two hours a day on these basic questions through Instagram DMs. She set up a simple chatbot that handles the obvious stuff, and now she actually has time to help customers who need real advice about styling.
The chatbot isn’t trying to be human – it just says “Hi! I can help with basic questions about hours, shipping, and returns. For everything else, Lisa will get back to you within a few hours.” People appreciate the honesty.
Content Ideas That Don’t Make You Want to Quit
Writer’s block is real, and it’s brutal when your business depends on creating content. I used to sit there for an hour trying to think of one decent Instagram post.
Now when I’m stuck, I ask AI for ideas about my topic. Not to write the post for me, but to give me ten different angles I hadn’t considered. It’s like having a brainstorming buddy who’s always available and never judges your terrible first ideas.
Last week I was stumped on newsletter topics. Asked AI for ideas about “productivity tips for overwhelmed entrepreneurs” and got back stuff like “the two-minute rule for email” and “why your calendar is probably lying to you.” Suddenly I had material for weeks.
Actually Understanding Your Business Numbers
I used to look at my sales reports and analytics dashboards and feel completely lost. Lots of numbers, but what did they actually mean?
There are AI tools now that look at your data and explain it in plain English. Things like “Your customers buy 40% more when you email them on Tuesday” or “People who buy Product A almost always buy Product B within two weeks.”
This stuff has changed how I run my business. I discovered that my best customers all found me through a specific blog post I wrote two years ago. Now I know what kind of content actually works.
The Stuff Nobody Warns You About
AI screws up sometimes. It’ll give you wrong information with complete confidence, so always fact-check anything important. And don’t get weird about it – your customers can tell when something was written by a robot, and it feels off.
Also, this isn’t about firing people. The businesses doing well with AI are using it to make their human employees more effective, not to replace them entirely.
Just Do This One Thing
Right now, think of one task you do every week that you absolutely hate. Find an AI tool that might help with it. Most have free trials. Try it for two weeks and see if it actually makes your life better.
Don’t worry about understanding the technology or becoming an AI expert. Just solve one real problem and see what happens.
The Real Deal
Using AI in business isn’t about being cutting-edge or impressing people. It’s about getting back time to focus on what actually grows your business – like talking to customers, improving your products, and maybe occasionally taking a lunch break.
Start with one small thing. Make it work. Then maybe try another. That’s it.
