How AI Has Helped Me

People ask me how I actually use AI. Not in theory, but day to day. The honest answer is that it's touching almost every part of how I work now. Some of it is big, like building whole pieces of software. Some of it is small and boring, like filling in a form. Here's how it has helped me.

Giving more value to our clients

The biggest change has been in what we can offer the people we serve. Things that used to be out of reach for a business our size are now just projects we take on.

We've built a custom CRM, a custom mobile app and a web app. We've created proper feedback processes. Our deliverables and content are better. We've automated our educational content and added reward programs.

One thing I'm especially happy with is how we handle feedback now. We give clients a reason to tell us what they think, and then that feedback gets worked back into the system automatically. The client isn't just filling out a survey that disappears into a folder. What they tell us actually changes what we do.

We've also been creating new features and even whole pieces of software: an AI tablet counter, a mobile photo creator, and Narccount. We've handled Microsoft signing for our software. On the website side, AI helps me improve the wording and make everything simpler. And because we monitor how people use what we've built, we can see right away where something isn't working and improve it.

Closing the iteration cycle

This is the part I think most people miss. Improvement used to be slow because there was always a gap between learning something and acting on it. You'd collect data, sit on it, and maybe get around to doing something about it months later.

AI closes that gap. We add monitoring systems and then act on the incoming data immediately. We add feedback opportunities for clients and then immediately work the reasonable feedback back in. That's where the added value comes from. Not from collecting more information, but from shortening the time between hearing something and fixing it.

Saving time on decisions

I make a lot of decisions in a day, and not all of them deserve my full attention. AI lets me delegate the ones that don't need me looking closely.

For the important decisions, it works the other way. It doesn't decide for me, but it helps me get more insight and more feedback, so I'm better informed when I make the call. So the small decisions take less of my time, and I'm better prepared for the big ones.

Finding information

Research that used to eat up an afternoon is now quick. I can easily compare contractors side by side. I can dig deep into a contract and find the loopholes. Before, I'd either pay someone to do that or skim it and hope for the best. Now I can actually understand what I'm signing.

Automating the tedious stuff

This is where AI has given me back the most hours. I have AI access on my phone, and it handles the tedious work: signing up for things, getting new apps set up, filling out application forms.

It will even call on my behalf and connect me once someone is on the line. Think about how much of your life you've spent on hold with the CRA, Canada Post or Rogers Internet. That's time I don't have to give up anymore.

Automating marketing

Marketing is one of those things every business needs and nobody has enough time for. AI now helps me with SEO, outreach, faxing and direct mail automation.

It also helps me optimize our Google Ads and Facebook Ads, and it creates them too. Writing ads, testing them and adjusting them used to be a job in itself. Now it's part of the system.

Building and refining products

I've been using AI for 3D modeling, both to create new products and to refine the ones I already have. Going from an idea to something I can actually look at and improve has never been faster.

Running my online presence

This blog is part of it. So is website management and email management. These are things that pile up quietly. If you don't stay on top of them they turn into a mess, and AI keeps them from piling up.

Around the house and my devices

It's not only business. AI helps me optimize my PC and speed up my phone. It automates the TV. It handles security monitoring on our home cameras.

It also gives me access to all our home devices, so I can use other devices without actually going to them. That sounds minor, but those small trips add up over a day.

What it comes down to

When I look at the full list, the pattern is clear. AI helps me in two ways. It takes the tedious work off my plate, like the forms, the sign-ups, the hold music and the routine decisions. And it lets me do things that used to be out of reach, like custom software, faster improvement and better-informed decisions.

The second part is what matters most to me. Saving time is nice. But being able to give our clients more, act on what they tell us right away, and keep improving without waiting months is what actually moves the business forward.