Look, I'm gonna be real with you for a hot second.

Last week I jumped into a client's workspace to look at their AI setup, and honestly... I wanted to cry. Not because it was broken – but because it was SO close to being brilliant, yet failing spectacularly.

This brilliant founder had ChatGPT, Claude, three different automation tools, and a VA who was "AI-trained."

On paper? They were killing it.

In reality? Every single AI interaction was generic AF, nothing sounded like them, and they were spending MORE time fixing AI outputs than if they'd just done it themselves.

Sound familiar?

Here's what I see happening everywhere right now. Smart business owners are diving into AI like it's 2019 and they just discovered Instagram Reels. They're throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something sticks, and then wondering why their "AI strategy" feels like a hot mess wrapped in overwhelm with a side of imposter syndrome.

The problem isn't that AI doesn't work. The problem is that you're using it like a fancy search engine instead of training it to think like YOU.

Let me break down the three biggest mistakes I see – and how to fix them without wanting to throw your laptop out the window.

Mistake Number One: You're Using AI Like a Magic 8-Ball

I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone type "write me a social media caption" into ChatGPT and then wonder why it sounds like a LinkedIn bro had a baby with a motivational poster.

Your AI doesn't know you're sarcastic. It doesn't know you swear strategically. It doesn't know you'd rather die than use the phrase "crushing your goals."

The fix? Custom instructions, baby.

I spent 20 minutes setting up one client's ChatGPT with her actual voice, her specific audience, her industry context, and her personal no-go words. The difference was insane. Instead of getting generic "Here's how to boost your productivity" content, she started getting stuff that sounded like HER having a coffee chat with her ideal client.

Your AI should know that you say "yewwww" when you're excited and that you'd rather eat glass than write another "5 tips to transform your business" post. Feed it examples of your best content. Tell it your pet peeves. Make it yours.

Mistake Number Two: You're Trying to Boil the Ocean

I see this constantly – someone discovers AI and immediately tries to automate their entire business by Thursday. They want a bot for customer service, content creation, email marketing, proposal writing, AND grocery shopping all at once.

Then they wonder why nothing works well and everything feels overwhelming.

Here's what actually works: Pick ONE thing. Master it. Then expand.

Start with the thing that's sucking your soul daily. Maybe it's writing email sequences that don't make you cringe. Maybe it's creating social content that doesn't take you three hours per post. Maybe it's responding to DMs without wanting to hide under your desk.

One of my clients was drowning in content creation. We built ONE really good AI assistant for her Instagram captions. Just captions. She mastered that system, saved 5 hours a week, and THEN we moved to email sequences. Now she's got a whole AI dream team, but we started with one assistant that actually worked instead of five that kinda worked.

Mistake Number Three: You're Not Teaching Your AI to Think Like You

This is the big one. The one that makes me want to shake people gently and say "YOU'RE SO CLOSE."

Most people use AI like a really fast intern. They give it tasks but no context. They ask for outputs but don't explain their process. They want results but don't share their reasoning.

Your AI isn't just a tool – it's a thinking partner. But it can only think as well as you teach it to think.

When I work with clients, I don't just set up their prompts. I extract their mental models. How do they approach problem-solving? What questions do they ask themselves? What's their decision-making process?

For example, one client always considers three things when writing content: Will this help someone feel less alone? Does it give them something actionable? Does it sound like something I'd actually say out loud?

So we trained her AI to ask those same three questions. Now her content doesn't just sound like her – it thinks like her.

The Real Tea About AI Strategy

Here's what nobody tells you: Good AI isn't about the technology. It's about the strategy behind it.

You can have the fanciest tools in the world, but if you don't know WHY you're using them or HOW they fit into your actual workflow, you're just collecting digital dust bunnies.

The founders who are actually winning with AI right now? They're not the ones with the most tools. They're the ones who've taken the time to understand their own processes first, then built AI around those processes.

They know their voice so well they can teach it to a bot. They understand their workflow so clearly they can automate the right parts. They're strategic about what to scale and what to keep human.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by AI right now, take a breath. You're not behind. You're not doing it wrong. You just need a better foundation.

Start with understanding how YOU work. Then teach AI to work like you.

And if you want help figuring out what that actually looks like for your specific business and brain, I've got you. My AI Dream Team Workshop is literally designed for founders who are tired of generic AI advice and want to build systems that actually feel like extensions of themselves.

We're not just setting up bots – we're extracting your genius and scaling it strategically. Because the goal isn't to replace you. It's to free you up to do more of the work only you can do.

P.S. – If you're reading this thinking "omg yes but I need help like yesterday," slide into my DMs on Instagram. I love a good AI rescue mission, and I promise I won't try to sell you seventeen different automation tools. Just better strategy.