Elizabeth Griffiths, Wellcome AI
I’ve been in a lot of rooms lately. Chamber meetings, coworking spaces, networking events, a table at the Byron Bay Chamber’s International Women’s Day event. And something has shifted.
A year ago, AI conversations split people into two camps: those leaning away (‘I don’t really want it’) and those leaning in (‘I think AI can help me’). Now, it’s changing. The most frequent question in the room is ‘How can I use AI more?’
That became very clear when I ran two sessions in one day for Business NSW Northern Rivers. In the morning, I worked with local Chamber of Commerce leaders. Every person walked out with a 30-day plan they could actually use, including reusable prompts for tasks such as writing marketing materials and planning events. In the afternoon, I was with 70 young professionals at the Young Professionals Network’s ‘Future-Proofing Your Organisation’ session. One attendee was 17 years old who is starting an AI business. Several others told me they were constrained by tools available at work so they experiment on their own time. The appetite is real, and it’s local.
Economist Alan Kohler put it plainly at the recent Business NSW Northern Rivers Economic Breakfast in Ballina. His message to small businesses was direct: start using AI. Now. He flashed an image he made titled ‘The Four Horsemen of Economic Apocalypse.’ One of the four horsemen: AI.
If you’re curious about AI but not quite ready to dive in headfirst, here are three low-risk ways to start, drawn from what I’ve seen work in rooms full of people in the Northern Rivers.
Start with repetitive writing tasks
The fastest win is using AI for writing tasks you do over and over: event descriptions, social posts, newsletter copy, responses to common customer questions. This is low-stakes. You get to a draft in seconds, review it, edit until it sounds like you, then send it. Nothing goes out unreviewed.
At the Young Professionals session, we built a ‘work kit’ made up of reusable prompts, short specific instructions you paste into any AI tool, that you can use again and again. Once you have a prompt that works for your context and tone, you can use it over and over. That’s where the time saving compounds.
Use AI to think, not just to produce
AI isn’t just a content machine. It’s a useful thinking partner, and the way to get the most out of it is to treat it like one. Talk to it like an advisor. Ask it questions. Ask it to ask you questions back. When you’re working through a decision, tell it what you’re weighing up and let it push back.
One of the things I most enjoy teaching is this: when you’re using AI to think something through, put the same prompt into more than one tool such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini. You’ll get different angles, different framings, and often the comparison tells you more than any single answer would.
Build one workflow and measure the time it saves you
Pick one recurring task, a weekly report, a client brief, a project update, and build a simple AI workflow around it. Use it for a month. Track the time. See what it actually saves.
Angela Ponsford, VP of Client Success and Operations at Tier 11, came to one of my Agentic Executive workshops and put it plainly: ‘During the day, I built a workflow that will save me at least two hours per week and mapped out several others that will take a lot off my plate. I also walked away with a complete executive framework for deciding where AI and humans should intersect.’ Two hours a week is over a hundred hours a year. For a senior leader or a solo operator, that adds up.
What to watch out for
AI will confidently get things wrong. It will produce content that sounds good but misses your voice, your context, or says something that isn’t true. Review everything before it goes out. Keep humans in the loop wherever trust, judgment, or relationships are at stake. Don’t let AI be the last hand that touches anything customer-facing.
Be thoughtful about the information you share with AI tools. Treat them the way you’d treat any external service: don’t share any sensitive data or anything you wouldn’t want outside your organisation until you understand how that tool handles data. Most paid business plans have clear data protection policies. Free consumer tools often do not.
Getting started is easier than you think
What I hear most consistently after workshops is how naturally it comes once people get started and build that initial confidence. Participants in my local courses often describe going from using AI to edit copy to understanding how it can save many hours a week across several aspects of their role. That shift happens more organically than most people expect.
One of the best ways to build AI confidence is alongside peers. It changes the dynamic entirely. If you’d like to learn alongside others, I’m running hands-on AI courses and workshops in Byron this April. They are:
- A beginner-friendly session to get you started with something practical you can use the next day
- A half-day course for business owners ready to build real AI skills
- A full build day for those who want dedicated time to bring an idea to life
- A senior leadership session for executives who want a clear framework for where AI should and shouldn’t run the show
Details and bookings at www.wellcome.me/northern-rivers. If you’re not sure which session suits you, or if you’d like something personalised, reach out. I’m happy to point you in the right direction.
• Elizabeth Griffiths is the founder of Wellcome AI, a Business NSW Regional Leader. She runs AI training, AI audits, AI implementation and 1:1 coaching for professionals and teams across the Northern Rivers and beyond. Learn more at www.wellcome.me
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