Small Business and AI

Going back a few years ago when my parents ran their own small business, a drycleaning biz in New Jersey. I'd help them out trying to figure out business strategy, helping to identify optimizations, and marketing campaigns. Most people who have never ran a small business don't realize how difficult it can be. Perhaps with the third dawn of AI, there may be opportunities where even small business can benefit.

Here are some key challenges I think AI will be helpful in resolving:

1. Manual Data Entry and Paperwork - this is a big one. It's hard enough to keep up with customers, suppliers, and partners. Having the bandwidth and organization to perform data entry, complete paperwork, and keep a strong record of it all - that's another circus on its own.

2. Ineffective Inventory Management - Poor inventory management practices, such as inaccurate stock tracking, overstocking or understocking of inventory, and manual inventory counts, can lead to inventory shortages, stockouts, and excess carrying costs. Unlike large enterprises or even some medium-sized businesses, having slick inventory tools is not an option to small businesses. Having predictability of supplies may be difficult just from the fact that customer-demand may not be predictable in itself. My father often managed the supply inventory, and my mom did the marketing campaigns. The juggle to get these two to understand that demand-supply is sensitive to marketing campaigns and seasonal demand... well that's another story.

3. Marketing and Advertising - This is a big one. Not everyone is creative, and not everyone is good at creating content that is targeted, tracked, and analyzed. This can be a huge sink of cash with little return if it's not done well - easily missing the targeted audience or ending up running a campaign differently than expected.

What are your thoughts? What are the other big challenges that ONLY SMB owners live with?