AI for a small business: choose the first task

By Jeremy Kenerson, Founder at BreadHead.

Facts checked October 7, 2026

Start using AI for your small business by choosing one task you'd like help with. Write down what starts the work, what you want back and who checks it. Keep the task small enough to describe on one page before you choose software.

How can AI help my small business?

BreadHead says its AI agents handle marketing research, writing, design, funnels, sites, web apps and repeat admin work. Choose one piece of work you know well enough to check yourself.

Ask yourself what you had to write, gather or check today. Look through your inbox, service notes and unfinished drafts for a task to add.

Build your task list in these steps:

1. Pick a piece of work you're doing now. Write its name as an action, such as “draft a reply about our opening hours.”
2. Name the person doing it today. Ask them what they need before they can start.
3. Write down the starting material. Name the exact note, request or file you'd supply.
4. Describe the item you want back. Ask for a draft, a list or another clear piece of work you can inspect.
5. Mark where the task ends. Keep sending, publishing or changing a live record as a separate decision.

Put each task on a row. Leave a blank when you don't know the answer, and ask the current owner to fill it in.

Use your actual notice when you fill in the row. Leave out any detail you haven't confirmed, such as special holiday hours.

Once you pick a task, write the instructions for it. Use the agent job brief to write down what to return and where to stop.

Choose a task before you plan a trial. Use the pilot acceptance sheet when you're ready to decide what work you'll accept.

How will AI affect my small business?

Hand off a draft while keeping the final decision. With BreadHead, you review and approve the work before it goes public or into use. For each task, name who will supply the notes and check the work.

Read each row with the person who does the work today. Ask what they'd still need to handle if someone else prepared the draft. Keep those duties in the task notes. Don't treat a draft as finished work until the person you chose has checked it.

Use this check:

• Can I name the exact work I want back?
• Are my notes ready for this task?
• Have I asked the current owner what the task leaves out?
• Can the checker compare the work with those notes?
• Which decisions will I keep, such as changing a price or sending a reply?
• If I can't check the work today, where should it wait?

Choose one row that you can fill in now. Mark the others “needs more detail” if the input, end point or checker is still unclear. Ask for the missing detail before assigning that work.

Add this line beneath your chosen row:

I'll hand off ______. I'll still decide ______. The work must wait for ______ before anyone uses it.

Keep your completed page with the source notes. Before shopping for a tool, read the row aloud: could you explain the task without adding another job to it? If you need several separate outputs, choose which one to start with.

Use the chosen task to guide your platform questions. Compare the best AI workflow automation tools once you've named the work and the checks you need.

What changed

• October 7, 2026: First version. Facts checked.