
My Brush with AI: Sawdust vs. Spreadsheets (for Now)
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It's funny to think that we already have "AI experts." The field is so new, yet there are people who dedicate their careers to understanding and developing this technology. I recently had the opportunity to meet with one such expert, and it was a real eye-opener.
This expert was genuinely interested in learning about my day-to-day business operations. After listening to me describe our processes, he suggested that AI could significantly streamline many of them. Now, I wouldn't exactly call myself "tech-savvy." I'm more of a "muddle-through-it" type. I can handle the basics, but anything beyond that usually involves a bit of struggle and a lot of time. So, the idea of automating tasks and saving time definitely piqued my interest.
We scheduled a Google Meeting and chatted for about an hour. Here's the gist of what I took away:
AI is undeniably amazing, especially its automation capabilities. It has the potential to be a game-changer for businesses looking to scale. However, after our conversation, it became clear that, for my business right now, it's not quite the right fit.
Our company is currently more focused on tangible, physical work – think sawdust and workshops rather than spreadsheets and digital dashboards. While we're constantly expanding our capabilities and growing our team, as of January 2025, our operations aren't heavily digital enough to fully leverage the power of AI.
It's not that we couldn't use AI in some capacity. It's more a matter of return on investment (ROI). The cost of implementing AI solutions right now wouldn't justify the benefits we'd receive.
The AI expert I spoke with was fantastic and completely agreed with this assessment. He didn't try to push a solution we didn't need. Instead, we decided to revisit the topic in about six months to reassess how AI might apply to our evolving business.
So, while we're not quite ready to jump on the AI bandwagon just yet, I'm definitely keeping an eye on it. It's clear that AI has incredible potential, and I'm excited to see how it continues to develop and how it might benefit our business in the future. Stay tuned!