The Shift That Makes Automation (and AI) Actually Work

You may have noticed, if you watched the Super Bowl last night, all of those commercials for AI companies. There’s a LOT going on in the space right now – and lots of money flowing around because of it.

But, there’s also a lot of hype. Like, the last couple weeks, it has been all about Claudebot (now called OpenClaw). Which…. I tried it…. and it is nerdy as hell. Super complicated to not only set up… but to use. Just not ready for most people.

All of this AI hype results in a ton of “shiny object syndrome” and a lot of wasted time… unless you have a game plan. And a reason.

That’s kind of the theme of this week’s issue of this newsletter.

We’re solopreneurs here. Most of us see the opportunity in AI, but it is sheer overwhelm to figure out the best ways to use it, or how to integrate it.

I’m on a bit of a quest right now to put order into all this chaos. To make it simpler… and applicable for us normal people who run solopreneur businesses online.

Since this newsletter is often themed around the things I’m working on at the time, this week the theme is going to be just that.

I hope you find it interesting – and see the same opportunity as I do.

Operate Like You’re Replacing Yourself (Even If You’re Not)

Here’s a simple shift that makes almost everything in your business easier over time…

Operate as if you’re going to replace yourself.

Not because you’re hiring tomorrow. Not because you’re building a team next month. But because designing work to be done by someone else forces clarity you don’t get any other way.

Most solopreneurs don’t struggle because they lack effort. They struggle because everything lives in their head. Decisions, processes, preferences, “the way things are done”… all undocumented and invisible. And too much going on in your head makes things super confusing. No wonder we feel overwhelmed sometimes!

Coping like that only works… up until it doesn’t. Eventually, you just feel burnt out or you lose your mojo.

When you’re busy, the natural instinct is to just get the task done and move on. Fix the thing. Send the email. Publish the page. On to the next fire.

But when nothing gets captured, every task resets to zero the next time you do it. You’re not just doing work… you’re refiguring out work.

Operating like you’re replacing yourself changes that. It encourages you to leave a trail. Not a polished SOP. Not a perfect system. Just enough context so that someone else… or something else… could follow along later.

A short explanation of why you chose one option over another. A saved response you don’t have to rewrite. A quick note about what actually matters in this process.

This mindset also shifts you away from thinking in terms of tasks and toward thinking in terms of roles.

• You’re not just fixing settings. You’re acting as operations.
• You’re not just sending emails. You’re acting as the marketer.
• You’re not just answering support. You’re acting as customer success.

Roles are important because roles can be delegated. Tasks can’t… not cleanly.

And this is where the AI angle starts to matter.

This last week, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time learning about the world of AI agents. Trying to figure out how to use AI to actually DO things and hold certain roles…. rather than just a nice chatbot. It is fascinating… even while being a tad overwhelming I will admit. 🤪

But, the key here to ANY of those AI agents working comes down to understanding roles.

AI doesn’t magically understand your business. It can’t read your mind. It can’t infer your standards. It can’t guess how you want things handled.

AI works best when the thinking has already been done for it.

When you operate like you’re replacing yourself, you naturally start externalizing that thinking. You explain things. You clarify expectations. You define what “done” actually means.

That’s not just good for a potential future human team. That’s what makes AI agents useful at all.

Without systems, AI is just a clever assistant that asks too many questions. Or does things stupidly. It is going to act just like a human would if you plopped them down without any training and told them to just get to work. It’ll try to impress you (the boss), but the output will be way off the mark.

With systems, AI becomes execution.

This is also why perfection doesn’t matter here. You perfectionist types need to get out of your own way. 😇

But AI doesn’t need perfect documentation. It needs direction. Rough notes are fine. Incomplete instructions are fine. Even contradictory thoughts are fine. What matters is that the thinking exists somewhere outside your head. I’m personally dropping things into Google Docs because it makes integration with AI way easier.

You can refine later. You can improve later. You can formalize later. You can make it look pretty later. 😇

Here’s the real WHY behind all of this…

The future of running a small business isn’t just about doing more. It’s about designing your work so it can be executed without you being involved in every step.

AI makes that possible… but only if you’ve built the rails.

Every note you leave, every process you clarify, every role you define is another piece of infrastructure. At first, it just helps you stay organized. Then it helps you delegate. Eventually, it allows AI to step in and handle real work in your business.

Not because AI replaced you. But because you finally stopped being the only one who knew how things worked.

And that’s how a solopreneur business becomes something bigger than one person’s brain.

WordPress News & Updates

Fluent Support – Version 2.0 Released Fluent Support just shipped v2.0, a major release featuring a fully redesigned interface, improved reporting, keyboard shortcuts, and PHP 8.4 readiness. This firmly moves Fluent Support into “serious helpdesk” territory for client-facing WordPress businesses – and brings the interface more in line with their other more recent Fluent releases. 👉 See what’s new in Fluent Support 2.0

FluentAffiliate – Recent Updates Improve Affiliate Workflows FluentAffiliate continues to mature, with the new 1.3 release now including recurring commissions and dynamic QR codes. 👉 Check out the full FluentAffiliate update announcement

FluentCart – New Block Integrations Added FluentCart rolled out additional block-level integrations, making it easier to embed products, checkout components, and commerce elements directly into block-based layouts. This is a meaningful step toward more Gutenberg-native ecommerce workflows. 👉 Read the FluentCart block integration announcement

WooCommerce – Version 10.5 Released WooCommerce 10.5 is now available, bringing performance improvements, bug fixes, and incremental refinements across core ecommerce functionality. As always, this is one to test carefully on client sites before broad rollout. 👉 View the official WooCommerce 10.5 release notes

Claude AI Now Integrates with WordPress.com (Hosted Sites Only) WordPress.com has rolled out a Claude AI integration, allowing site owners to interact with their content via AI. It’s worth noting that this currently only works on WordPress.com–hosted sites, not self-hosted WordPress installations. 👉 See how Claude integrates with WordPress.com

WordPress AI Team – Model Context Protocol (MCP) Advances The WordPress AI team is actively developing support for Model Context Protocol (MCP), laying groundwork for more structured and secure AI interactions with WordPress sites. This is foundational work that could matter a lot longer-term. 👉 Review the WordPress AI team’s MCP updates

Markdown Rendering Coming to WordPress.org APIs A new proposal will allow Markdown-rendered output from WordPress.org APIs, making it easier for AI tools and external systems to consume clean, structured content from WordPress endpoints. 👉 View the Markdown rendering proposal on GitHub

xCloud – UI 2.0, Site Snapshots, and Docker Compose Support xCloud rolled out UI 2.0, Site Snapshots, and expanded Docker Compose support, significantly improving workflows for agencies managing multiple WordPress sites and custom infrastructure stacks. 👉 Read the full xCloud January 2026 update

WordPress Core – Momentum Toward an AI-Forward 7.0 Release Multiple updates this week suggest WordPress 7.0 is shaping up as a notably AI-forward release, with experimentation happening around editor guidance, APIs, and agent-friendly tooling. 👉 Here’s an interesting proposal for merging WP AI Client into WordPRess 7.0.

Block Editor – Power-User Enhancements in Progress Ongoing Gutenberg work is improving shortcuts, query handling, and advanced editor ergonomics. These aren’t headline features, but they add up for developers and site builders living in the block editor daily. 👉 Track current Gutenberg development activity

Turn WordPress Actions Into Automated (and AI-Driven) Work

Once you start operating like you’re replacing yourself, a natural question shows up pretty quickly…

“What work actually needs me… and what work just needs to get done?”

For most WordPress site owners, a surprising amount of backend work falls into the second category. Form submissions. New users. Purchases. Status changes. Routine follow-ups. None of these require creativity or strategy… they require consistency.

A lot of it can be automated.

Every WordPress site is constantly producing events. A form is submitted. A user registers. A membership level changes. An order completes. A post is published.

On their own, those events don’t do much. But when you connect them to automation tools, they become triggers that kick off real work without you touching anything.

This is the foundation of “replacing yourself” at a technical level.

Plugin integrations can do some of this built right in. For instance…

• Form submission → add to CRM
• Purchase → add tag → send email
• Booking → create calendar event

The tools I use in the Concierge Toolkit on client sites can handle a lot of this for you. That alone can remove hours of manual work each month. But the real opportunity now is what happens inside those workflows. And by bringing in outside tools – with AI capability – some really interesting things can begin to happen.

Tools like Ottokit are especially interesting because they’re designed to work directly with WordPress plugins and data. It is like Zapier, but way more oriented toward the WordPress systems you’re already using.

But, these tools have also evolved. And it opens the door to something bigger than simple “if this then that” logic. Because both Zapier and Ottokit (and others) now have AI tools built right into them.

Most people think of AI as something they sit down and talk to. That’s useful… but it’s not leverage. Leverage happens when AI runs in the background as part of your systems.

Modern automation tools now allow AI to:

• Make decisions based on guidelines
• Generate text dynamically
• Classify, summarize, or evaluate inputs
• Decide what should happen next

For example, instead of every form submission being treated the same way, an AI agent can review the content and decide whether it’s a support request, a sales lead, or something else entirely… then route it appropriately. You can even have an AI agent evaluate the MOOD of the person’s message on your contact form and if they sound angry…. escalate it quicker. 😜

With tools like MindStudio, you can even build and then trigger full AI agents via webhooks. WordPress fires the event. The automation runs. The AI agent evaluates the context and takes action… without you being involved at all. I’m also experimenting with a new one called Twin.so which is even easier. These agent-building tools are sprouting up all over the place.

That’s a very different model than “write me an email.” And this is why I’ve been recently thinking in and talking about ROLES in your business.

What does your “intake coordinator” do when someone fills out a form?

What does your “content assistant” do when a draft is published?

What does your “customer success manager” do when somebody completes a course, or sends in a testimonial?

Once you’ve defined those responsibilities, automation becomes obvious. WordPress produces the signal. Webhooks pass it onto the appropriate role in your system. Automation tools coordinate the steps. AI agents handle judgment, language, and variation.

You move from operator to architect.

The solopreneurs who benefit most from AI won’t be the ones with the cleverest prompts. They’ll be the ones with the clearest systems.

When your WordPress site is wired to trigger automations… and those automations include AI agents that follow your rules… your business stops being something that only works when you’re present. You’re replacing yourself with infrastructure.