#055

Using AI to Save Time and Money

Read time: 5 min

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If you aren’t using AI, you’re hamstringing your business.

And that gap is only going to grow exponentially the longer you wait.

Now, I’m not saying you need to overhaul everything and fully embrace Skynet. In fact, that’s the complete opposite of what I’ll teach in this article.

But you do need to start.

As an entrepreneur, your time is precious. You’re wearing all the hats—marketing, sales, customer service, and more. That’s why you need to delegate some of those tasks to a reliable, efficient assistant that works around the clock.

Which is exactly what AI does: continuously works for you without a dollar of overtime.

Leveraging AI can streamline your operations, cut costs, and give you back critical time to focus on growing your business.

However, as I’ll lay out in this article, it’s crucial to use AI wisely to avoid some of the common pitfalls. So, let’s dive into how you can harness this power to save time and money.

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Avoid These Four Common AI Pitfalls

Mistake #1: Lack of Clear Objectives

Jumping into AI without a clear plan can lead to wasted resources and frustration.

Before bombarding ChatGPT with random prompts, ask yourself: What specific tasks do you want AI to handle?

Whether it’s automating customer service, analyzing data, or personalizing marketing efforts, having a clear goal ensures you choose the right tools and are able to measure their effectiveness.

Mistake #2: Inputting Unspecific Prompts

AI’s output is only as good as its input.

If you’re not clear with what you want AI to deliver, it’s going to fill in the blanks with its best guess based off historical patterns. Chances are this is not going to be what you were looking for.

Don’t be too verbose but provide specific details on the context and what you want it to deliver.

Mistake #3: Overlooking Human Expertise

AI is powerful, but it isn’t a magic bullet.

It works best when combined with human creativity and perspective.

It's not going to create new concepts or develop novel ideas, but it can iterate like hell based off patterns and trends. AI works best when you provide the creative details, and you ask it to organize and elaborate.

Mistake #4: Not Scaling Gradually

Implementing AI across your entire business at once will lead to chaos.

Start small.

Incorporate AI in one area of your business, measure the results, and then gradually scale up. Like any other process, if you inject too many variables too quickly it becomes impossible to determine error points and troubleshoot problems.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

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Now that we’ve covered what to avoid, let’s look at how you can use AI to free you from significant busy work:

Automating Customer Service

You’ve seen the chat pop-ups that are appearing on websites.

Historically, customer service reps – even if you outsource this to an overseas support center – costs money. Something many early businesses are not exactly flush with.

Plus, depending on your product, having a significant language barrier can cause major issues with your brand.

Automated customer support reps means you don’t have to burn your own time answering questions that are usually on your FAQ page and your customers have the level of interaction that meets their expectations.

Content Creation

Inspiration, refinement, and research are the central theme of AI-supported content creation.

Whether you’re writing a newsletter, creating a social media post, editing videos, or any number of content generating tasks, AI can distill an entire production team down to a single savvy individual.

I’ve found the best use of AI is overcoming blank page syndrome (not knowing where to start), creating basic outlines for your content, and editing – either grammar or video.

Just don’t let AI detract from the authenticity of your content by handing it the reins and giving up all personal creativity. People can tell what’s written by AI and what’s not.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is considered one of the most effective methods to market your business.

This medium gives you personalized content that delivers huge ROI based on the cost of the interaction, and it’s effective at both acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones.

AI can support you by automating the sequences, segmenting your customers, and generating metrics on campaign success. All this information can then be cycled back in to double down on areas that are performing and deleting areas that are failing.

**Advanced AI skill level: you leverage the content creation features I mentioned previously with the campaign automation process in this section. Now you’re layer AI for exponential growth.

Financial Management

Accounting is my least favorite part of running a business, but every business owner needs to be intimately familiar with the financial health of their company or they are doomed to fail.

Having an accounting platform that can pull information from your accounts, track invoices, manage expenses, and deliver detailed financial reports that are easily read will save you hours of busy-work.

This is probably the number one use of AI: cutting down on the number of tedious tasks that should be outsourced. This frees you – the owner – to work on the high-ticket, creative projects instead of crunching the numbers in the basement with Milton and his red stapler (Office Space reference?).

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Getting Started with AI

So where should you start?

AI and its surrounding technology can be intimidating, especially if you’ve never outsourced tasks before.

Many people fear that’ll it’ll either remove the human touch to their business or they’ll lose contact with their customers.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to integrating AI into your business without losing control of your processes:

Step 1: Identify Pain Points

Look at your current business processes and identify areas where you spend the most time or encounter the most challenges. These are the areas where AI can have the biggest impact.

Step 2: Research AI Tools

Once you’ve identified your pain points, research AI tools that can help address them. Look for tools that are user-friendly and offer the features you need. Many AI tools offer free trials, so you can test them out before committing.

Step 3: Start Small

Implement AI in one area of your business and measure the results. For example, if you spend a lot of time on customer service, start with an AI chatbot. Monitor its performance and gather feedback to make necessary adjustments.

Step 4: Scale Gradually

Once you’re comfortable with AI in one area, gradually expand its use to other parts of your business. Monitor performance and adjust as needed to make sure you’re maintaining your business standards.

Step 5: Combine AI with Human Expertise

Remember, AI is a tool to augment your capabilities, not replace them. Use AI insights to inform your decisions and strategies but rely on your expertise to interpret and act on this information.

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Implementing AI doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming.

It’s just a tool - not something taking over your business.

By leveraging it, you can save time, cut costs, and focus on what truly matters - driving your business forward AND in the right direction.

Start small, scale gradually, and take an active role in maximizing the potential of AI.

This week's Harder Not Smarter Podcast episode:

​EP 023 of the Harder Not Smarter Podcast: Invader Girl​

Invader Girl is ubiquitous with the Special Operations community through her distinct silhouetted paintings of operators. In this conversation, we discussed her artistic journey and the inspiration behind her unique style. She opened up about her creative process, how she is handling the well deserved notoriety, and pretty much everything in between. This is hands down our most entertaining episode to date.

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