Guides
Where to start with AI for an Australian small business
Where to start with AI in an Australian small business is one stuck weekly workflow, not a new tool catalogue. Name a job you already do — quotes, follow-ups, or copy-paste between Xero or MYOB and the rest — and check whether those tools share a record.
If you’d rather show someone the job than work through it alone, book a free 30-minute call: share your screen, and within two business days you get a working sample of the fix, free. If you want the full version, The Two-Week Fix is a fixed price from $2,500.
That is not a generic AI-readiness checklist. A checklist scores how “ready” you feel. What matters is one stuck workflow: where work waits, where people re-key the same data, and whether the tools you already pay for actually talk to each other.
It is also not “just start using ChatGPT.” A chat window can draft an email. It does not connect Xero to your job board, stop copy-paste between two systems, or tell you which weekly admin job is worth fixing first.
Shorter answers to the questions owners actually ask are on the where to start with AI FAQ.
If you’d rather show me the job than work through a guide, book a free 30-minute call.
Four steps to start
List the weekly admin, copy-paste, and tools-that-don’t-talk jobs
Walk one ordinary week. Write down every job that is typing the same facts twice, exporting a spreadsheet to upload somewhere else, chasing status by email or text, or waiting because two tools do not share a record. Include quote follow-up, invoice reminders, roster changes, and “only one person knows how.” If it happens most weeks and a person is the glue, it belongs on the list.
Pick one high-frequency pain
Do not pick the most impressive AI idea. Pick the job that happens often, costs time or cash when it slips, and has a clear start and finish — enquiry to quote, job to invoice, or supplier update to the floor. One stuck workflow is enough. If you cannot name the trigger and the done state, it is not ready to automate.
Check whether the tools around it share a record
For the job you picked, list every tool it touches and what gets typed into each. If the same customer, job or amount is typed into two places, the fix is usually a join between those tools, not a new app. If one tool simply doesn’t fit any more, the fix may be replacing that one step.
Fix it yourself, or show someone
Some joins are a built-in integration you can switch on. Others need building. If you want a second pair of eyes, book a free 30-minute call and share your screen; you get a working sample of the fix within two business days, free, and you decide from there.
Why one workflow beats a tool stack
Australian small businesses already run a stack — job management, Xero or MYOB, email, a shared drive, maybe a CRM that only half your staff opens. Adding ChatGPT on top of that stack does not make the stack talk. The leak is usually the join: a quote that never becomes a job, a job that is invoiced twice, or a status that lives in someone’s head.
Bing Copilot and generic “get started with AI” articles often say the same first move: pick one repetitive task. That advice is right and incomplete. The next question is whether the systems around that task share data. If they do not, a chatbot will not close the gap. You need a map of the handoff, then a decision: integrate what you have, drop a tool, or leave it manual.
That decision is what the free call is for: you show the job, and you see a working sample of the fix before deciding anything.
If you want prompts to run on your own, use the Business Readiness Checklist — seven checks for finding where work gets stuck — then come back here when you know the stuck job. Business Readiness Checklist. The homepage explains how a fix runs, from the free call to handover.
Frequently asked questions
Got a process you've outgrown?
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