Every week someone asks me the same question: “What should I use AI for first?”
Most owners start in the wrong place. They pick the biggest, scariest job in the business, buy a tool, and three months later nobody’s using it. The tool needed more care than the job ever did.
Here’s the rule I use instead. It’s boring. It works.
Start where a mistake is cheap
Look for jobs that are frequent, boring and low-risk. If the AI gets one wrong, you shrug and fix it. Think booking confirmations, payment reminders, first drafts of quotes, and sorting the inbox.
These jobs happen dozens of times a week. Nobody enjoys them. And they’re easy to check.
- It happens at least once a week
- It follows roughly the same steps every time
- A mistake costs minutes, not customers
- Someone on your team will happily stop doing it
If a task is frequent, boring and low-risk, automate it. If it’s rare, risky or needs judgment, leave it with a person.
What never to hand over
Anything where every case needs a judgment call. Pricing a big job. Telling a customer no. Deciding who to hire. AI can help you think, but the decision stays with a human.
Same goes for anything where one mistake loses a customer or breaks the law. Keep a person in the loop, every time.
Do this this week
Block one afternoon. List every task your team repeats weekly. Score each one on hours, cost of a mistake and how much judgment it needs. Automate the top two. Measure the hours before and after.
That’s it. Two jobs, one month. Then pick the next two.
BIZPLAYBOOKS
Kevin’s been writing code for thirty years. Now he helps owners use AI to get time and money back, and hosts BizPlaybooks.
