I watched a $3 million South Canterbury manufacturing business lose three major contracts in six months.
The owner spent 15 hours weekly on quotes and proposals. His competitor started turning quotes around in 2 hours instead of 2 days.
When we finally implemented AI for quote generation, his time dropped from 15 hours to 3 hours per week. But the damage was done.
“Christine, if I’d done this six months ago, I wouldn’t have lost those contracts,” he told me.
That’s when it hit me. We’re not talking about efficiency anymore. We’re talking about survival.
The Excuse That Kills Businesses
“I don’t have time to learn new tech.”
I hear this from stressed business owners every week. It’s not about time. That’s just the excuse.
The real difference is mindset. Businesses that adapt have owners who see themselves as problem-solvers, not just operators.
My manufacturing client was so busy being IN his business that he couldn’t see what was happening TO his business.
His competitor? They hired a 22-year-old part-time to research AI tools. Cost them $500 monthly, but that kid saved hours every week and gave them a massive competitive edge.
The smart business owners delegate the learning. They say “I don’t need to understand how the engine works, I just need to know it gets me where I’m going faster.”
The “no time” businesses work 60-hour weeks because they won’t invest 5 hours upfront to save 50 hours ongoing.
That attitude will kill them.
Everything Changed in Two Years
The biggest shift I’ve seen is consolidation.
In 2022, you needed five different AI tools. One for writing, one for images, one for data analysis, one for customer service. Each had its own learning curve and subscription.
Now ChatGPT does what those five tools did, well enough for small business needs. Same with Claude, or even free versions.
The barrier to entry has basically disappeared. My 65-year-old plumbing client asks ChatGPT to write invoices, create social media posts, and draft supplier emails. No training, no setup, just plain English questions.
Cost has flipped the equation completely. Decent AI tools were $50-100+ monthly each. Now you get 80% of what small businesses need for free, or $20 monthly for premium.
Small businesses can now save automation tools an average of 5.6 hours per employee weekly. That’s nearly 300 hours per person annually.
Clients automate tasks they never considered before because the cost-benefit equation completely flipped.
The Implementation Disaster
When clients discover cheap AI capabilities, they want to “AI all the things” immediately.
Recipe for disaster.
I had a marketing agency client who wanted AI for everything: content creation, client communications, project management, invoicing, social media.
I told him “Pick one thing, get it working properly, then move to the next.”
He didn’t listen. Tried implementing AI across his entire business in two weeks.
Complete chaos. Nothing worked properly because he was learning ten applications simultaneously. Staff were confused. Clients complained about generic communications.
My rule now is simple: one AI implementation at a time. It must work smoothly for at least a month before adding anything else.
Start with your biggest time-waster. Usually email responses or basic content creation. Get that humming, then expand.
Focus on tasks, not departments. Don’t “AI your marketing department.” Focus on “AI your blog post writing” or “AI your social media captions.”
The businesses that succeed treat AI like any other business process. They implement systematically, measure results, and don’t move to the next thing until the current thing actually works.
New Zealand Is Falling Behind
We’re behind, and it’s not even close.
Only NZ businesses 24% of New Zealand businesses use AI compared to 35% globally.
Part of it is our “she’ll be right” mentality. Kiwi business owners think “we’re doing fine, why change?”
“Fine” isn’t good enough when competitors in Australia, the US, or Asia are automating processes and cutting costs by 30-40%.
I’ve got clients still manually doing tasks that overseas businesses automated two years ago. It’s not because tools aren’t available here. There’s weird resistance to change.
Maybe it’s geographical isolation, so we don’t feel competitive pressure immediately.
Many NZ businesses think AI is only for big companies. They see massive corporate implementations and think “that’s not for us.” They don’t realise small, simple AI applications are often more impactful for their size.
Here’s what worries me most: I’m seeing NZ businesses lose work to overseas competitors who quote faster and cheaper using AI.
It’s not just manufacturing anymore. Professional services, consulting, creative work.
The AI market is projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2030. The gap widens every month.
Businesses that don’t start now won’t just be behind. They’ll be irrelevant.
That’s not dramatic. That’s just math.
What to Do Tomorrow Morning
Sign up for ChatGPT Plus. $US20 monthly, done. Not the free version. Get the paid one because it’s faster and more reliable.
Spend one hour identifying your biggest time-waster. Not your biggest problem, your biggest time-waster. Usually emails, quotes, or repetitive writing tasks.
Ask ChatGPT to help with it. Don’t overthink it.
If it’s emails, copy and paste an email you need to write. Say “rewrite this to sound more professional” or “make this friendlier.”
If it’s quotes, upload a previous quote and ask it to create a template.
Start small and immediate. Don’t try to revolutionise your business on day one. Just save 30 minutes on something you do regularly.
Do this for two weeks straight. Same task, same AI tool, until it becomes automatic.
Most people try it once, think “that’s clever,” then forget about it. The magic happens when it becomes routine.
After two weeks, when you’re naturally reaching for AI to help with that one task, then think about what else to automate.
One thing, done well, consistently.
That’s how you start winning while your competitors are still making excuses.
And if you still need help, or want to talk strategy, get in touch.