Understanding your customer deeply — who they are, what they want, and what they fear — was once the preserve of corporations with large research budgets. Today, a business turning over one million dollars a year can afford the same capability. The session introduced three AI team members and showed how they work together inside a real business.

Kylie is a morning research bot. Every day she scrapes the industry for relevant news and articles, filters the raw intelligence through the founder’s known opinions, writing style and voice, and produces three ready-to-publish pieces of content — written as if the founder had written them herself — plus suggestions for reels.

Over time, as the founder selects which pieces she publishes, Kylie learns her preferences and the content becomes increasingly refined. The result: approximately 20 hours per week saved, with 90 percent of AI-drafted content requiring no human edits.

Gismo is the centralised place where all correspondence with a client comes together. Rather than a human outbound team calling webinar attendees one by one, Gismo orchestrates every touchpoint across SMS, email, and voice as a single, unified, intelligent conversation.

When a webinar ends, Gismo initiates contact via SMS — casual, conversational, not salesy. It carries the full conversation using the webinar transcript, product information, and full business context. If a prospect signals serious interest, Gismo pre-frames a voice call: “Mind if I call you in five minutes?” A human is only brought in when Gismo has identified a genuinely strong prospect.

The result: twice as many responses compared to a standard text blast, with 60 percent of respondents completing a full conversation with the AI.

Terry is responsible for every personalised communication sent to a member or prospect. No two messages are the same. Terry talks to Gismo and remains contextually aware of where the customer is in their journey.

When someone attends their first class, Terry sends an SMS referencing that specific visit. If they reply, Terry carries the conversation naturally — answering questions, building the relationship, all in the founder’s voice. If the conversation signals a serious buyer, Terry brings the founder in for a single five-minute call. That is the only point at which a human is involved.

The result: the business was profitable in week two of opening, in an industry where it typically takes one to two years. Three studios opened in two years with three more planned — and no traditional sales team.

Terry is responsible for every personalised communication sent to a member or prospect. No two messages are the same. Terry talks to Gismo and remains contextually aware of where the customer is in their journey.

When someone attends their first class, Terry sends an SMS referencing that specific visit. If they reply, Terry carries the conversation naturally — answering questions, building the relationship, all in the founder’s voice. If the conversation signals a serious buyer, Terry brings the founder in for a single five-minute call. That is the only point at which a human is involved.

The result: the business was profitable in week two of opening, in an industry where it typically takes one to two years. Three studios opened in two years with three more planned — and no traditional sales team.

Kylie, Gismo, and Terry have pledged to work for free, start immediately, never get tired, never complain, and never leave. Just like hiring a new person, they are trained in a sandbox before being released into the organisation. Once managers are satisfied they are competent, they become part of the AI human org chart — working alongside the human team to help the business run frictionless.

When you build AI assistants for your people, you are doing them the greatest favour. You are showing them kindness and future-proofing them.

Ryll Burgin-Doyle is one of Australia’s leading business growth strategists, with 34 years of experience growing businesses from startups to enterprises turning over $100 million, $400 million, and beyond. She is a Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award finalist and the co-founder of multiple ventures including 90Degrees Global, which holds the rights to the legendary Money and You program — a transformational business and wealth program with over 145,000 graduates across 85 countries, and alumni including Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, and Jack Canfield.

Founders Edge is Ryll’s coaching and mastermind community for founders and business owners. It brings together ambitious business owners for live events, group coaching, and strategic planning sessions focused on building businesses that scale — operationally, commercially, and personally. The 8 May event was a full-day intensive held in Brisbane, organised in partnership with Knowledge Source.

Anthony Coundouris is the author of Run Frictionless and founder of AI Institute. He has spent over two decades coaching business owners to design frictionless operations and customer experiences. He is the inventor of the 4Q framework and specialises in helping coaches and founders use AI to scale without adding complexity.

Run Frictionless second edition gives coaches and founders a practical framework for building businesses that scale. Every purchase includes a free playbook and an online session with the author.