Most owners start by asking "which AI should we buy?" Plenty of them end up with a subscription nobody uses.
What is the first step?
Find out where the time goes by asking the people who spend it. Have everyone on the team name the hour of their week they would pay to get rid of. You will hear the same five things: re-typing, looking things up, chasing people for answers, formatting, and copying from one screen to another.
That list is your AI plan. Current tools handle every item on it well, and your people will be glad to lose every one.
What should I automate first?
Something boring, frequent, and low-risk. Nobody misses boring work, frequent work pays back fast, and when a low-risk step messes up, which it will at first, nothing bad happens.
A customer service inbox is usually a good first one: the tool drafts the reply, pulls the order, a person reads it and sends it. Month-end bookkeeping is another: the tool keys the invoices, a person checks the batch. Lead research for sales is a third.
Do not start with anything a customer sees without a person in between, anything legal, or anything that moves money automatically.
Do I need to buy new software?
Usually not for the first step. Most teams already pay for tools with AI in them and have never turned it on. The first win is usually using what you have. The second is a small automation connecting two things you already own. New software comes third, if at all.
How do I keep this from scaring my team?
Involve them from the first minute. In the workshop the team puts their own jobs on the wall and picks what gets fixed. A memo is the fastest way to lose them.
If nobody is losing their job over this, say so early and out loud. If somebody is, you have a different project.
How long before I see anything?
A day to get the list, a couple of weeks for the first automation, and a quarter to feel it in the schedule. If somebody promises to change your whole company by Friday, see how to tell if an AI consultant is full of it.
What does this cost to start?
A half day of AI 101 for the team is $1,500. The full day in the room is $3,500. Both end with a clear next step you can take without me.
Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.