The AI Illusion

Artificial Intelligence isn’t the future anymore, it’s the present, and it’s here to stay. It’s changing how we work, how we sell, how we scale.

But here’s the trap I see business owners and executives fall into every single day: They treat AI as the strategy, instead of what it really is, the advantage.

I’ve sat in rooms with leadership teams talking about “how they’re using AI” as if that alone earns them a trophy. But when I ask, “How exactly does AI tie into your sales process, your customer journey, your budget planning?”

I’m met with blank stares or vague answers.

That’s not strategy.

That’s survival-mode dressed in trend-chasing.

AI is not the plan. It’s the amplifier of the plan.

Without clarity on what you're solving for, AI just speeds up your confusion.

Define the Strategy Before You Automate

Before you even think about plugging in a prompt, define what success looks like.

Strategy always comes first.

I say this all the time: strategy isn’t about speed, it’s about direction.

If you're automating the wrong thing, you’re not saving time, you’re just getting lost faster.

Start by writing out the key areas where your business needs clarity:

What are your top 3 priorities over the next 90 days?

What specific outcomes are you trying to drive?

What areas feel chaotic, inefficient, or stuck?

Then, and only then, layer AI into that conversation.

Tools like ChatGPT can help you organize thoughts, clarify messaging, and map out systems. But only if you feed it the right questions. AI rewards clarity and punishes vagueness.

Here’s how I use it:

When I’m writing, I treat AI like a strategy partner, not a ghostwriter.

I’ll draft a few rough titles, then ask for alternatives. I’ll write an article, then feed it back in for edits, formatting, tone suggestions. That alone saves me hours of time and thousands in editing costs I used to outsource.

Time saved.

Money reclaimed.

It’s not just content either, AI can now analyze spreadsheets, summarize meetings, suggest pricing models, and even help visualize business workflows.

The real win?

Speed to insight.

Use AI to Build Smarter Operating Rhythms

Let’s ground this in a real example.

Prompt I used recently:

“I have a screen printing business averaging $7,000/week in revenue. I want to get to $20,000/week in 60 days. Can you build a strategy with KPI assignments for my shop manager and assistant, including a tracking spreadsheet?”

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In seconds, I had a strategy outline, daily benchmarks, and a shareable KPI dashboard I could hand to my team.

Was it perfect?

No.

Was it 90% of what I needed?

Absolutely.

Here’s the truth: AI is like a staff member that never sleeps and never misses a deadline. But you still have to lead it. You still have to drive.

Additional ways I use AI weekly:

1. Weekly planning workflows

2. Executive summaries for internal communication

3, Framework development for clients and internal ops

4. Client proposal and deck structure formatting

If you’re still guessing what to do on Monday morning, AI can remove that guesswork with a single prompt.

‍Plug AI Into Your Sales & Marketing Engine.

Most people still think AI’s value starts and ends with social media content and calendars. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s how I’ve seen AI weaponized inside real businesses:

Sales Playbook Refinement: Upload your sales scripts or BD guide into ChatGPT. Ask for improvements, gaps, and ways to convert more. The answers will surprise you.

Objection Handling: Enter your most common objections—pricing, timing, competition—and ask for 10 strategic rebuttals or questions to flip the script. You’ll never run out of ammo again.

Customer Journey Mapping: AI can break down your buyer’s process and highlight every friction point. Then recommend ways to streamline the experience and convert more leads into revenue.

SEO Content Pillars & Repurposing: Build your entire SEO map with AI. Ask for blog ideas, social posts, meta tags—even code recommendations for site improvements.

Create once.

Scale forever.

That’s the real magic.

Decision-Making at the Speed of Insight

AI won’t make your decisions for you, but it will accelerate your ability to make them.

Whether you’re pivoting strategies, entering new markets, or rebalancing your budget, AI gives you a real-time sandbox to simulate scenarios before pulling the trigger.

Use it for:

Competitor intelligence

Scenario modeling

KPI dashboards

ROI forecasting

Strategic pivots during downturns

Let it be your boardroom thought partner, not your outsourced brain.

Guardrails, Not Crutches

Here’s the warning shot I need every leader to hear:

AI isn’t a crutch. It’s a force multiplier, if you bring discipline to the table.

You still need judgment. You still need context. You still need leadership.

The best operators will use AI to enforce process, not replace it.

They’ll teach their teams to think, then use AI to act faster.

The lazy ones?

They’ll get exposed, fast.

The Strategy Advantage

If you treat AI like a gimmick, you’ll chase trends until you burn out.

If you treat it like a shortcut, you’ll stall your business.

But if you treat it like an extension of a real plan, an intelligent layer on top of a focused strategy—you will move faster, scale smarter, and build a business that actually lasts.

So here’s the challenge:

Build the plan.

Then use AI to sharpen it daily.

Welcome to the edge.

SML

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