AI Agents Are HERE (My 3-Minute Morning Meeting)
Contributed by SBOC Member:
Pat Miller
Founder of the Small Business Owners Community
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I had a three-minute meeting this morning. Not with a person. With an AI agent.
“Here’s what I need done today. I’m going to the gym. Be back in 90 minutes.”
When I got back? Half of my administrative work was done or nearly done. I just needed to cut and paste.
If you think that’s Marty McFly futuristic stuff, I’m telling you it’s not. I did it this morning.
This Is Happening Right Now
Two different AI companies have launched real AI agents that will actually do what you ask them to do. They do the work autonomously. And it’s blowing my brains apart.
This is the trend for 2026. Between now and the end of the year, this is the thing you need to get on.
Because soon all of the administrative stuff that keeps us busy—all the ticky-tack “I hate that part of the business” stuff—a lot of it is gonna go away.
The Work-Life Balance Shift
FreshBooks just dropped their State of Small Business survey this morning. 47% of respondents said work-life balance got harder in 2025.
I think 2026 is the last year that’s gonna be true.
Think about my wife Abby. She’s a photographer. She takes pictures. But to be able to take pictures, she has an entire business to run—invoices, websites, social media, follow-ups, chasing leads, selling.
You never hear of people having bad work-life balance because they’re taking too many pictures. That’s what we love.
Soon we’re all gonna work less on the stuff we hate and more on the stuff we love.
The Identity Crisis Coming
Here’s my conspiracy theory: Soon this will flip from being a work-life balance issue to almost an identity crisis for some small business owners.
Because when the administrative work approaches zero, the question will shift from “how do I get it all done?” to “what am I gonna sell?”
The work that makes your company go is on its way to nearly zero. Your time is about to explode.
How to Start Today
You need to be doing this now:
- Pick an AI platform (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini) and start talking to it daily
- Document your workflows so agents know how YOU do things
- Understand your quirky habits—agents need to know how you work to work for you
It’s no longer a question of when the AI agents get here. They’re here. Right damn now.
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Contributed by
Pat Miller
Founder of the Small Business Owners Community
Pat spent two decades in broadcasting management and hosting. After leaving the radio industry, he spent time consulting small businesses and realized the support system for entrepreneurs was broken. Where could you find help for improving small businesses and building real connections with other like-minded people. In June of 2020, the Idea Collective Small Business Community was born.