Five Practical Ways to Integrate AI Into Your Business Right Now

There is a quiet pressure building right now for founders, and if you are being honest with yourself, you feel it.

For many women founders, that pressure carries an added layer. You are not only responsible for driving revenue and leading a team, but you are also managing people, expectations, and often a disproportionate share of responsibilities outside of the business. When something like AI enters the conversation, it can feel less like an opportunity and more like one more thing you are expected to master.

You hear how AI is transforming businesses, making teams more efficient, and changing how work gets done. At the same time, you are thinking, I know this matters, but I do not have the space to go figure this out right now.

Underneath all of that is a question many founders are quietly asking themselves.

Am I already behind?

If you are asking that question, you are not alone. According to McKinsey, more than 65 percent of organizations are already using AI in at least one business function, with the most common applications in marketing, operations, and customer service. These are the same areas where many founder-led businesses, especially those run by women, are still heavily dependent on manual effort, personal oversight, and disciplined execution.

This is not about AI replacing people. It is about founders who use AI operating with a level of leverage that others simply do not have. They are moving faster, making clearer decisions, and producing more without increasing headcount.

I Did Not Start Advanced. I Started Practical.

I did not approach AI with a strategy deck or a fully developed plan. I approached it as an operator who needed time back in a very real and immediate way.

The first way I used AI was to refine emails. I would write something quickly, drop it into AI, and ask it to tighten the language, clean it up, and make sure my point landed clearly. That alone saved me time and improved the quality of my communication, which is a critical part of how I lead and operate.

From there, I began using AI to outline proposals, structure documents, and organize my thinking. I was not trying to implement AI across my business. I was simply trying to work more efficiently within the demands I already had.

Over time, that use expanded. I started using AI to summarize information, prepare materials, and support how I approached decisions. What began as a small productivity tool became part of how I operate on a daily basis.

The real acceleration, however, did not come from the tool itself. It came from people.

I made a very intentional decision to identify individuals in my network who were ahead of me in their use of AI. These were not necessarily formal experts, but they were actively using AI to improve how they worked. I asked questions, observed how they approached tasks, and had them walk me through how they were automating processes I was still handling manually.

That is what moved me forward.

I have since hired two general coordinators in my business, both of whom have a stronger understanding of AI than I do. That was a deliberate decision. I do not need to be the most advanced AI user in my company. I need people around me who can extend the capability of the business.

They are now helping me automate processes, streamline workflows, and rethink how work gets done. That is not simply support. That is operational leverage.

Where Most Founders Are Getting This Wrong

The biggest issue I see right now is that founders are overestimating how complex this needs to be and underestimating how much they can do immediately.

There is a belief that AI requires a full strategy, a new set of tools, or a level of expertise that takes time to build. As a result, many founders delay getting started.

At the same time, they continue to spend time on work that could be improved right now. They are writing from scratch, manually organizing information, spending excessive time preparing for meetings, and maintaining processes that have not been revisited in years.

Meanwhile, other founders are integrating AI into their daily work in practical ways and steadily improving how their businesses operate.

Five Practical Ways to Integrate AI Into Your Business Right Now

1. Stop Starting From Scratch

One of the most consistent inefficiencies in a founder-led business is the amount of time spent creating from a blank page. Emails, job descriptions, product descriptions, and strategic documents all require a level of effort before meaningful progress is made.

AI allows you to begin with a structured first draft. From there, you apply your judgment, experience, and voice to refine it into something strong and aligned with your standards.

This approach does not remove your role as the thinker. It elevates it. You are no longer spending your energy on getting started. You are spending it on improving and finalizing.

2. Identify and Eliminate One Inefficiency Per Week

Every business has inefficiencies that consume time and energy. Most of them persist because they are embedded in daily routines.

Rather than attempting to address everything at once, focus on one improvement each week. Identify a task or process that feels repetitive or unnecessarily manual and use AI to improve part of it.

This might include summarizing reports, turning meeting notes into clear action steps, organizing scattered information, or improving internal documentation. Over time, these incremental improvements create meaningful operational gains.

Consistency in small changes leads to significant impact.

3. Use AI to Pressure Test Your Thinking

While many people focus on using AI for content creation, its value in decision-making is often underestimated.

AI can be used to challenge your assumptions, highlight risks, and explore alternative perspectives before you move forward with a plan. It provides a way to think through scenarios more thoroughly without requiring additional time or resources.

This does not replace judgment. It strengthens it.

As a founder, especially if you are often making decisions independently, having a tool that allows you to evaluate multiple angles quickly can improve both confidence and outcomes.

4. Build AI Capability Into Your Team Immediately

One of the most important lessons from the rise of ecommerce was that companies that scaled effectively did not wait for perfect expertise. They brought in individuals who were curious, adaptable, and willing to learn.

The same principle applies to AI.

Every new hire should be evaluated on their ability and willingness to use AI to improve how they work. You do not need a team of specialists. You need a team that is evolving alongside the business.

In my own business, hiring coordinators who are more advanced in AI than I am has already created leverage. They are identifying opportunities, implementing solutions, and helping the business operate more efficiently without requiring me to drive every detail.

5. Keep Your Approach Simple and Aligned to How You Work

The volume of AI tools available today can easily lead to overwhelm. It is not necessary to adopt a large number of platforms to see results.

A small number of tools that align with your existing workflows is far more effective. When tools integrate naturally into how you operate, they are used consistently. When they add complexity, they are often abandoned.

The objective is not to appear advanced. The objective is to operate more effectively and efficiently.

What This Means Going Forward

AI represents a shift in how work gets done.

The founders who benefit the most will not be those who fully understand it at the outset. They will be those who begin using it, build comfort over time, and integrate it into their daily operations in practical ways.

For women founders in particular, this is an opportunity to reduce manual load, improve clarity in decision-making, and create more space to lead at a higher level.

This is not about doing more. It is about doing better with less friction.

Your Next Controllable Step

You do not need a comprehensive plan to begin.

Identify one task in your business this week that feels unnecessarily time-consuming or manual. Use AI to improve it in a practical way.

Then repeat that process next week.

Progress in this area will come from consistent action, not from a single large initiative.

Stop Overthinking AI. I’ll Show You Where to Start.

Most founders do not need another article about AI. They need a simple way to start using it in their business this week.

I pulled together a short cheat sheet with real examples, prompts, and use cases I rely on every day.

If you want it, email me at jennifer@uprisors.com and I will send it to you.

About the Author

Jennifer L. DiMotta is the Chief Uprisor and Founder of Uprisors Growth Partners and a public company board member on a $6.5B business. She helps executives, founders, and leadership teams build profitable, scalable businesses by combining 25 years of corporate leadership experience at companies including Office Depot, Bluemercury, and Sports Authority with her expertise in strategy, financial discipline, and growth leadership.