Human-in-the-Loop Best Practices

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What if you could automate 90% of your business without losing the human touch? In this episode, Mike Montague sits down with  ⁨@BradfordSCarlton⁩   , founder of Automate Business AI, to explore what’s actually possible when small business owners and creators stop doing everything themselves and start building intelligent systems. From AI-generated content and task automation to building bots for invoicing and marketing, Bradford shares how he has designed a business that operates independently while maintaining his unique personality in the brand.

You’ll learn how to rethink your org chart, spot opportunities to offload repetitive tasks, and use tools like spreadsheets, GPTs, and no-code automation to free up time and creative energy. If you’re tired of juggling tools or stuck wondering how far AI can go without sacrificing quality, this is your episode. It's a candid, human-first conversation about working smarter, not just harder.

Key Takeaways

1. You can automate 90–95% of your business tasks.
Bradford breaks down how most repetitive work, especially in content, invoicing, and admin, can be systematized using AI tools and no-code workflows.

2. Start with your org chart, not your tech stack.
Think like a CEO: define the roles and tasks in your business first, then assign those tasks to bots, tools, or people.

3. Spreadsheets are still the universal data hub.
Most businesses already use Google Sheets or Excel; these are the ideal starting points for automating tasks via AI and APIs.

4. Use AI to serve your team, not replace them.
Bradford emphasizes how automation can eliminate busywork and enable teams, such as his wife and business partner, to concentrate on high-value tasks.

5. You don’t need to be technical to automate.
Despite having no coding background, Bradford uses tools like n8n and ChatGPT APIs to build automations that handle everything from content to task routing.

6. AI content quality improves with better prompts, not better tools.
He shares how “monster prompts” (long, detailed instructions) generate higher-quality content that feels more human and requires less editing.

7. It’s not about perfection, it’s about efficiency.
Even if AI doesn’t get it 100% right, a 90% solution that saves hours each week is often more than good enough.

8. AI-generated media is great for scale, but humans still lead with nuance.
Bradford explains where AI-generated avatars and video fall short, and why human context and emotion still matter, especially in brand and voice.

9. Automation is a global opportunity.
With clients around the world and use cases in every time zone, Bradford reminds us that AI can help small businesses play on a much bigger stage

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