SMBai
A working lunch · 12:35 – 1:30 · Downtown Works · 29 Sep 2026

Where does your business get stuck?

  1. 12:35Welcome & introswho's here, and why
  2. 12:40Where are you with AI?from first try to daily use
  3. 12:50Map one workflowscan the QR · one volunteer shares
  4. 1:10Automating a workflowa social media post, step by step
  5. 1:20Before you spend on AIthe questions to ask first
  6. 1:25Wrap-upwhat happens next
SMBai
Map one workflow · Downtown Works · 29 Sep 2026
// on your phone · about three minutes

Where does your business get stuck?

Map one piece of work. Short answers are fine.

  1. 01The work: what is it?
  2. 02Where does it get stuck?
  3. 03Who is it waiting on?
  4. 04What does that cost you?time, money, lost work, or the thing that never gets done
// plus your email, for the room's results tomorrow
QR code for silentintel.com/unstuck
Scan with your phone
silentintel.com/unstuck
or use the card on your table
SMBai
The trust ladder · Downtown Works · 29 Sep 2026

The trust ladder

Hand AI the work the way you'd hand it to a new hire.

// nobody gives a new hire the keys on day one.
// orange marks where you sign off.

Three clean runs in a row move it up a level, and one miss drops it back down.

L4Act and reportyou approve the plan, it reports back
L3Act externally, with approvalyou approve the week in one sitting
L2Act internallyyou approve each post
L1Draftyou rewrite what sounds like a machine
L0Suggestyou write the post yourself
SMBai
The trust ladder · Downtown Works · 29 Sep 2026

Social media workflow example

You do it AI does it You sign off
Level
01Collect context
02Set the objective
03Draft and tailor
04Schedule and post
05Read what landed
YouType it in each time
YouDecide the goal
YouWrite itAI ideas
YouPost it
YouCheck, if you remember
YouPaste in old posts
YouDecide the goal
You sign offAI drafts, you fix it
YouPost it
YouCheck, if you remember
AIKeeps a saved brief
YouSet the month's goal
AIWrites the week
You sign offEach post
AISends the numbers
AIKeeps the brief current
YouSet the month's goal
AIWrites the week
You sign offThe week, then it posts
AIReads the replies
AIUpdates the brief
You sign offThe month's plan
AIWrites the week
AIPosts within the plan
AIReports what it did
L0Suggest

AI offers angles when you ask, and you do everything else.

Three clean runs move it up a level, and one miss drops it back down.

One workflow, five ways

Swap the post for customer onboarding, invoice generation or lead-to-cash, and the ladder reads the same.

AI takes on more steps as it earns trust, and a person still approves what customers see, post by post and then plan by plan.

SMBai
Demo · the trust ladder, one post · Downtown Works · 29 Sep 2026

Watch one post climb the ladder

// scripted, with a sample bakery · one press per rung
Assistant · Bakery social mediademo
Click here or press → to start at L0
SMBai
Questions to ask · Downtown Works · 29 Sep 2026

Eight questions to ask before you spend money on AI.

Most of what a tool needs is already inside the business or missing from it, so four of these are for you and four are for anyone selling you one.

// the gate: a person signs off on money, anything you can't undo, and anything a customer sees.
A

Ask yourself

4 questions
01Which piece of work keeps getting stuck, and who is the one person it waits on?// the one that waits on a person is the one to map first
02Where does the knowledge to do it live today: a head, an inbox, a folder, a system?// if a new hire could not find it without asking, AI cannot either
03Where does a person have to sign off, whatever the tool?// money, anything you cannot undo, anything a customer sees
04Which number that you already track would move if this worked?// without one you cannot tell an improvement from an expense
B

Ask anyone selling you AI

4 questions
01Which step of my workflow does this do, and which steps stay with my people?// a straight answer names a step in your workflow, not a feature in theirs
02Where does my data go, and who else can see it?// in writing, naming every company that touches it, and how you get it back if you leave
03Show me a customer like me, the number that moved, and how it was measured.// if there is not one yet, a straight seller says so and offers to measure first
04What does it cost after the pilot: the licence, the person who runs it, and the hours to keep the context current?// the licence has a price tag, and the other two are someone's time every month
This week

Pick the piece of work from your first question, write down where its knowledge lives, and name the number you already track. Take the call after that, and notice which seller answers with a demo. You don't need another AI tool. You need an AI structure.

the eight steps
and every prompt