Where to Start with AI: The Honest Answer for Small Business Owners

DescriptionYou have heard about AI. You have probably bought a tool or two. Somewhere along the way, things did not go as planned. Not because the tool was bad. Because nobody told you to figure out where you were starting from first.This episode gives you a concrete way to think about your starting point before you spend another dollar or sit through another demo. Dr. Mike walks through the three things every business owner needs to look at honestly: your processes, where you are losing time, and what you actually expect AI to do for you. From that honest inventory, you pick one problem, one tool, and you measure it. That is the whole answer.For small business owners, this is the episode that makes everything that follows it work.Key TakeawaysYou cannot plan your AI path if you do not know where you are starting. A map only works if you have a starting point.AI accelerates what already exists, good or bad. A broken process becomes a faster broken process. AI does not fix broken things.The readiness inventory has three items: Are your processes written down? Where are you actually losing time? What do you expect AI to do? Process, pain, expectations.AI adoption dropped from 42% to 28% in one year. Owners walked away not because AI failed — they chased tools instead of problems.Pick one problem, not five. The most time-consuming task that already has some consistency. One task. One tool. Measure it. That is where you start.Know your success criteria before you begin. How much time should this save? What does good output look like? If you cannot define it, you are not ready to pilot.ConnectHave a question for Dr. Mike? Visit thotosai.com — your question may become a future episode.