I think we’ve got this whole AI thing backwards.
Every Friday, we see a flurry of announcements that promise to change the world by Monday morning. New models, faster chips, and "agents" that will supposedly do our laundry and fix the economy. Yet, when I talk to real business owners, the common thread isn't a lack of tools. It's the exhaustion of trying to keep up with them.
The secret I've noticed after another week in the trenches is that the winners aren't the ones adopting every shiny new feature. They’re the ones who wait, watch the dust settle, and then apply one simple fix to an old problem.
The Reality of AI Trends for Business Growth
This week has been particularly noisy. We’ve seen major shifts in how companies like Microsoft and Google are positioning their assistant tools, moving away from being "chat boxes" and toward being background operators.
In my post earlier this week, This Week in AI: High-Stakes Updates and Why Being Wrong is a Business Strategy, I touched on the irony of these massive tech releases. The more powerful the tech becomes, the more important it is for us, as humans, to admit when we don't have the answers.
Trust isn't built on a perfect demo; it's built on saying, "I'm not sure if this tool fits your specific workflow yet, let’s test it." If you’re an agency owner, being the "unbiased filter" for your clients is far more valuable than being an unpaid salesperson for Silicon Valley.
Practical AI Implementation and Workflows
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the pace, you’re doing it right. Most people are pretending it’s easy. It isn’t.
I’ve spent a lot of time this week looking at how to actually turn the noise into something that saves time. On Sunday, I wrote about Practical AI Workflows to Save Ten Hours This Week. The takeaway wasn't about complex coding; it was about identifying the "boring" tasks that eat your soul.
Here is a quick checklist for auditing your own processes this weekend:
- Identify a task you do more than three times a day.
- Ask if it requires emotional intelligence (if yes, leave it alone).
- Ask if it’s just moving data from point A to point B.
- Use a simple automation tool to bridge that gap rather than a complex AI model.
The goal is to reclaim your calendar, not to build a digital Rube Goldberg machine.
Refining Your AI Sales and Pricing Strategy
One of the biggest hurdles I see right now is the "awkward silence" when it comes to money. We’re in a weird transition period where clients know they need AI, but nobody knows what it should cost.
As I explored in How to Master the AI Pricing Conversation Without the Awkwardness, the trick is to stop pricing your time and start pricing the outcome. If an AI tool saves 40 hours of manual labour, you aren't charging for the five minutes it took you to prompt it. You’re charging for the 40 hours regained.
However, your pitch has to land correctly. Most AI sales strategies land like a lead balloon because they focus on technical specs rather than business pains. If you're looking for a better way to manage these conversations and your pipeline, SalesM8 is well worth a look for keeping your process sane while you scale.
Avoiding the "Shiny Object" Trap in Agency Tools
For those of us in the agency world, platform updates are a double-edged sword. Take GoHighLevel, for example. They ship updates faster than most of us can read the change log.
I wrote a breakdown on Wednesday, GoHighLevel (GHL) New Features: What Actually Matters for Agency Growth, where I argued that 80% of new features are just distractions. The remaining 20%? Those are the ones that actually move the needle for your clients.
The same logic applies to the general news of the week. We saw 55,000 jobs cut in sectors being heavily automated—a sobering reminder that efficiency has a human cost. But it also highlights the desperate need for people who can bridge the gap between "the machine can do this" and "the machine should do this for this specific business."
The Final Word: Perspective Over Pace
If this week has taught us anything, it’s that the tech is going to keep moving regardless of whether we’re ready. But business fundamentals—trust, clear pricing, and solving actual problems—don’t change.
Whether you're booking a consultation to figure out your next move or just browsing more articles on AI to stay informed, remember that you don't need to be the fastest. You just need to be the most intentional.
We often overestimate what AI will do in a week and underestimate what a few well-placed, boring automations will do for our sanity in a year.
Stay curious, stay slightly sceptical, and I'll see you next week.
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I publish a weekly roundup every Saturday at steventann.com. If you found this useful, there's plenty more where this came from.
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About the Author
Steven Tann is an AI consultant, author of "You're Selling AI Wrong", and founder of SalesM8. He writes about AI, sales, and running a business from a narrowboat on the English canals. Connect with him at steventann.com.