AI for Small Business: It Still Needs You

A commitment to show up and write my truth | Day 316 of 365

An intern I know said something today that stuck with me. The idea was basically that you can use AI to create a digital product, sell a ton of it, and make a million dollars.

I didn't argue, but I kept thinking about it the rest of the day.

I hear two stories about AI almost everywhere I go. One says it's a fad that will disappear. That's exactly what people said about the internet, friends. The other says it's a shortcut to a million dollars, no experience required.

I would love a million dollars per product launch, too. Let's be clear about that.

But my real experience with AI looks nothing like either story.

This Year Humbled Me

I went into this year ready to build. I was writing every day and working on products late into the night.

For a lot of this year, the results didn't match the effort. There were days I looked at everything I'd put in and wondered what I was doing wrong.

Eventually I stopped asking what I was doing wrong and started looking at how I was doing everything. That's when the rebuilding started, one system at a time, in my life and in my business.

Yesterday I wrote about doing the best you can while the place is still a mess. This is the business side of that same story. I'm in the middle of the rebuild, and I'd rather tell you about it from here than wait until it all looks pretty.

What AI for Small Business Really Looks Like for Me

Here's my honest take on AI for small business: it's a great tool when you use it wisely.

It gives me time back. It helps me get organized, and it can research in minutes what used to take me an afternoon. Some days it really does feel like having my own personal assistant.

But it still needs me.

One of my teachers calls this keeping a human in the mix. You don't just ask AI to do something and run with whatever it hands you. You read what comes back and make sure it actually makes sense for your business and the people you serve.

That part can't be handed off. Yes, I can train the models I work with, and I have. Even so, we don't let anything go live without a human reading and reviewing it first. A trained model still doesn't know what I meant when I sat down to write. I do.

When Someone Else's Timeline Gets in Your Head

I think about the person who hears "a million dollars with AI" and believes it. They spend months building something with their whole heart. They launch it, and a handful of people buy.

Instead of seeing that as a beginning, they wonder what's wrong with them.

I know that feeling. I had a version of it this year, more than once.

So if that's you right now, I want you to hear this from someone who's in it too. Slow doesn't mean you're failing. The big numbers you see online almost always have a long backstory, and most of it never makes the post.

Some of those stories are real, and they're worth celebrating. I just don't want anyone, including me, using someone else's highlight as a deadline for their own life.

What I Want the Time For

What I'm building now are AI agents and systems that handle the parts of the business that don't need me at every step. That means more time for my team, and more time for me.

When I picture what I'd do with that time, it's honestly pretty simple.

I want afternoons doing something fun with my daughter, the kind I'll remember. And I want evenings for me, whether that's finally pampering myself or watching Netflix just because I feel like it.

That's the real dream. Time with the people I love, and a little time with myself.

My team deserves that kind of time, too, and I want to build a business that gives it to them.

The Part AI Can't Do

For more than 300 days, I've been writing here every day. I made myself that promise at the start, whether anyone was reading or not.

Some nights I wrote while I was sick. Really sick. I'd sit there thinking, what's the point? Nobody is even reading this.

Then a message came in from someone thanking me, because something I wrote made them feel less alone.

I still think about that message. It's a big part of why I'm still here on Day 316.

AI never got me to the page on those nights. It can help me tidy a sentence, but it can't make me sit down when I feel awful and believe the words might matter to someone. That part has always been mine.

If I could tell that intern one thing, it would be this: use the tools. Then keep showing up for the people on the other end, especially before anyone is clapping.

Today, there's work in front of me that I can do.

A million dollars per launch would be lovely, friends. In the meantime, I'm keeping my promise.

About the Author | Day 316 of 365

I'm a soul-led coach, entrepreneur, mother, and recovering perfectionist, currently navigating healing, uncertainty, temporary chapters, motherhood, work, big transitions, grief, nervous system healing, overstimulation, emotional growth, and the ongoing lesson that life works a whole lot better when we stop trying to carry everything alone. Today, I'm sharing what AI has changed in my business, and the part of showing up that still has to come from me.

Day 316 of 365. Still showing up. 🐧