The biggest AI mistake I see

The fastest way to kill an AI project is to hand it to the busiest person in your business.

It'll stall by week three, and you'll decide AI is too complicated for a business like yours.

You pick that person for good reasons. They know the business best, and they're the one most likely to spot where AI fits. Sometimes that's you, the owner. Other times it's your office manager.

But they're already fitting seven days of work into five.

So they say yes, they're genuinely excited, and the AI project goes onto a priority list that's already full. The daily work wins every time, and the project waits for a quiet week that never comes.

I've seen this one mistake kill more AI projects than anything else. The tool gets a demo, everyone's keen, and by week three nobody has opened it since. The project never had a chance, because nobody had the time to give it.

Every AI project needs someone with real hours each week. Hours to plan it, set it up, test it, fix what breaks, and show the rest of the team how it works. That time has to come from somewhere, and if you don't decide where, it comes from nowhere.

So before you start, name your AI owner out loud.

Count the free hours they genuinely have each week. If the answer is zero, take one job off their plate and hand it to someone else. Then tell the team that's happening, so everyone knows this project matters.

Pick your AI owner this week, and decide what they're going to drop so they can put AI to work in your business.