I talk to a lot of small business owners who feel like they're falling behind because they don't have an "AI strategy." They read about enterprise deployments and think they need the same thing, just smaller.
The Strategy Trap
The consultants and vendors selling "AI transformation packages" to businesses with five employees are doing you a disservice. You don't need a strategy document. You don't need a technology roadmap. You don't need a six-month implementation plan.
What you need is one problem that's eating your time every week, and a willingness to try something new. That's it.
Start with Friction
Every small business has friction points — those recurring tasks that feel like a waste of time but never get addressed because there's always something more urgent. Those are your AI starting points.
The businesses that benefit most from AI aren't the ones with the best strategies. They're the ones with the clearest understanding of their own friction.
Start with a pain point. Solve it. Learn from it. Then decide if you want to do more.
The Compound Effect
What happens when you solve one friction point with AI? Two things. First, you get time back immediately. Second, and more importantly, you develop a mental model for how to identify and solve the next one. That skill compounds.
Six months in, you haven't executed a grand strategy. But you've solved a dozen small problems, recovered hundreds of hours, and developed an intuition for where AI fits in your business. That's worth more than any strategy document.
Your small business doesn't need an AI strategy. It needs you to start.