Is AI Actually A Threat To Your Business? 

Can we all agree that the internet has become a little bit dramatic? Apparently AI is replacing everyone. VAs are doomed, coaches are doomed, copywriters are doomed, designers are doomed, marketers are doomed. Unless you're planning on becoming a goat farmer in the Scottish Highlands, it sounds like we're all out of a job. I think we all need to calm down a bit.

What I actually think is happening

Yes, AI is changing business, and yes, some services are becoming less valuable too. But is that bad news? Not necessarily. I think it's one of the biggest opportunities I've seen in years. The businesses that are struggling aren't the ones using AI. They're the ones pretending it doesn't exist.

I once watched someone spend almost three hours writing an email. Three hours. I love a good email, clearly, you're reading one, but if AI can help you get to a brilliant first draft in fifteen minutes instead of three hours, why on earth wouldn't you use it? That doesn't make you lazy. It makes you sensible.

Where people get themselves into trouble

The trouble starts when people expect AI to do the thinking. It can't. It can give you options, organise information, speed things up, write and analyse, but it can't tell you whether you're solving the wrong problem. That's still strategy, still experience, still human. It's a bit like handing someone the world's fastest Formula One car and expecting them to win the British Grand Prix without ever learning how to drive. The car isn't the problem. The driver is.

Which is why I don't spend my time worrying about AI replacing my business. I spend my time asking where it can make my clients' businesses simpler. Can it save them five hours a week? Can it make delivery quicker? Can it improve the customer experience? Can it take repetitive jobs off their plate, or stop them sitting there at eleven o'clock at night writing another social media caption because they've convinced themselves they have to post tomorrow? Brilliant, let's use it. What I wouldn't do is hand AI the keys to my business and hope for the best, because strategy has never been more valuable.

Why strategists become more valuable, not less

If everyone suddenly has access to the same tools, the thing that separates successful businesses isn't who has ChatGPT. It's who knows what questions to ask, who knows what not to do, who understands their customers, and who can make good decisions. The value is moving away from simply doing the work and towards knowing what work is worth doing in the first place.

If this were my business, I wouldn't be asking whether AI is going to replace me. I'd be asking how I could use it to become even better at what I already do, because the people who embrace it thoughtfully are going to build better businesses with more freedom. I didn't start my business because I wanted to work every evening and every weekend. I started it because I wanted more freedom, and AI isn't taking that away. If anything, it's helping me get closer to it.

What I'd ask you to try

Instead of asking what AI can do, ask yourself what you never want to do again. That's probably the first thing I'd automate.

If you're wondering where AI genuinely fits into your business, what I'd automate, what I'd keep personal, and where I'd focus instead, that's exactly what I cover inside the What I'd Change Review, because the answer is never "automate everything." It's understanding where technology genuinely helps and where your brain is still your biggest asset.

Charlotte 🖤