AI is one of the most practical tools small businesses have access to right now, not because it's flashy, but because it makes things that used to be expensive and time-consuming simple and affordable.
I've got a long-time client who owns a couple of restaurants. He runs everything off his phone. Won't touch a computer. That's just how he operates. We've helped him with a lot over the years, but his cost tracking has never really been one of them. Labor, food costs, fixed expenses… the stuff he should've been tracking years ago.
This morning he calls me and says someone gave him an Excel spreadsheet, but he can't even open it on his phone. And I already know how this goes. Even if he could open it, he's never going to use it. It doesn't fit how he works.
So I asked him straight up, "Do you want me to show you how to open that spreadsheet, or do you want me to build you something that actually works for how you operate?" He didn't hesitate. "Just do your thing."
He sent it over. I dropped the spreadsheet into my AI system, cleaned it up, and immediately saw a bunch of stuff in there he was never going to use. Timesheets, extra fields, unnecessary detail. So I called him, walked through how he actually tracks things day to day, and stripped it down to what he really needed.
No fluff. No extra features. Nothing he won't use.
In under 30 minutes, he had a simple web-based system built specifically for him. Now once a week he logs in from his phone, plugs in his daily numbers, total labor, vendor bills, and it calculates everything for him.
Could this have been done in Excel? Sure. But it wouldn't have been used. And if it's not used, it's worthless.
Five years ago, building something like this would've cost five to ten grand. Now it takes minutes and can be tailored exactly to how someone actually runs their business.
That's where this really delivers value. My AI system gives small businesses access to custom tools that fit them, without the cost or complexity that used to come with it.