How Artificial Intelligence can change the way an entrepreneur thinks
By Dale Beaumont
There are over 500 million small to medium business owners (SMBs) on the planet. Sadly, however, over 50 million businesses fail each and every year.
So, how do we stop so many from failing? That was the question that occupied most of my flight from London to Sydney. And with 22 hours in the air, I had a lot of time to think.
Before deciding to build anything new, I first decided to examine the current solutions on offer – where they work and where they fall short.
At the top of the list were ‘Business Advisors.’ Give a struggling business owner the right advice and they’ll avoid possibly unseen pitfalls. Plus, show them the right way and they’ll rise to their potential.
It’s a worthy profession and a much needed approach.
However, as great as ‘Business Advisors’ are, I couldn’t help but start to see their limitations. Slight problem for me (because I’m one of them), but I decided to push on. After all, this is an issue that demands our very best.
So here was my list of the problems associated with business advisors:
- High Cost – When it comes to business advisors, you pay for what you get. The really good ones know they’re good and they charge accordingly. Plus, when you consider the fact that half of the world’s entrepreneurs still live on less than $20 per day, they simply can’t afford the help they so desperately need.
- Very Limited – If you are lucky enough to afford a business advisor and they just so happen to be in your area, you are doing well if you can meet with them once a month. That means if you have an issue, between sessions, you’ll be sitting on it for some time.
- Not Specific – When you get an advisor or coach, you’ll quickly realize they’re most likely a generalist. They know a little bit of knowledge about lots of topics but ask them ‘How do I run Facebook Ads?’ or ‘What POS system should I use?’ and 99% will have no idea.
- Not Scalable – Say, you do find a business advisor within your budget and they are willing to help. You are one of the lucky ones. Sadly, there are hundreds of millions of others that are still forced to tough it out on their own. Quite simply, there aren’t enough advisors to go around.
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea.
Next on my ‘not-currently-working-options’ list were: Books, YouTube Videos, Meet-Ups and Networking Groups. All offer something a little different, but again, all have their drawbacks.
So, time to look for a new solution. One that was fit for our modern world.
As I leaned back in my chair, I began to realize that the only way you could provide unlimited, free, specific and scalable advice was if, it was… not human.
From this brainwave, I mentally leaped over to a subject I first learn about in school, Artificial Intelligence (AI).
First, it’s worth dropping any Hollywood-style notions of AI and no, we don’t need to worry about The Terminator coming to life anytime soon.
Quite simply, AI is a field of computer science that is aimed at programming computers to do things that are normally done by people — in particular, things associated with people acting intelligently.
As I was taught, AI is going to play an important role in the advancement of every industry. The promise is that it will reduce costs, save time and even save lives.
So, I began to think about how AI could help my industry and give millions of business owners their own personal business advisor. The possibilities got me very excited. I decided, when I land in Sydney, I will follow this through.
That plane ride was two years ago and that’s why I’m so very pleased to announce we have now launched BRiN, the world’s first artificially intelligent business advisor.
Now, it is possible to get unlimited, personal advice and right now, it’s 100% free. But best of all, we can now provide our service at scale. That means we can now provide human-like support to every entrepreneur on the planet and we can do it all at the same time.
While we are pleased with the title of ‘first’ we are now focused on the title, the world’s ‘smartest’ business advisor.
In fact, coming in 2017, you’ll be able to link BRiN through API to your CRM, Google Analytics, and even your cloud-based accounting software. Once in place, BRiN will be able to find and bring to your attention useful stats.
For example, BRiN will be able to inform and congratulate you because your website traffic was up 24% compared to last month. She’ll tell you how many leads you generated in the last 7 days and she’ll send you an alert when you have an unhealthy amount of overdue payments, so you can jump on the phone and start collecting.
In closing, while we are one of the first entrants in our space, we believe there is room for hundreds of other AI applications in every industry. So, let’s get busy and together we can change the world.
