The 20-minute AI audit: find your first three wins

By the end of this, you’ll have a short list of three jobs in your business that AI can take off your plate this month, with a plan for each and a clear line on what stays human.

Most owners start the wrong way round. They pick a tool, then hunt for something to do with it. This audit flips that: find the work that eats your week first, then match AI to it.

What you need

• Tools: a spreadsheet (Excel or Google Sheets) or a sheet of paper, plus one AI assistant: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot.
• Cost: CHF 0. The free version of any of these is enough, as long as you don’t paste customer names or other personal data (see step 6).
• Time: 20 minutes. Set a timer. Speed stops you overthinking.
• Skill level: no technical skills needed.
• Optional: one or two team members. They know which tasks really drag.

Steps

1. List every repeat task (5 minutes)

Open a blank spreadsheet. In column A, write every task you or your team do at least once a week that involves writing, numbers or email. Don’t filter yet. One task per row.

To get you going, typical entries look like this: answering the same customer questions, writing quotes, chasing late invoices, writing up meeting notes, turning supplier price lists into your own format, writing job ads, social media posts, weekly reports to a partner or the bank.

You should end up with 10 to 25 rows. If you have fewer than 10, walk through last week’s calendar and sent emails. The tasks are in there.