I Hired an AI Employee to Handle My Busywork. Here's What Happened.
What if you could save five hours every week without hiring another team member?
Think about how much time you spend checking emails, updating spreadsheets, and following up with clients. These are all important tasks. But they also take time away from the work that matters most.
And if you run a small business, you probably know this problem very well.
You start your morning with a plan. You have several things you want to get done. But before you know it, you're checking messages, updating records, and trying to remember who needs a reply.
By the end of the day, you've been busy. But have you made progress on the things that really matter?
Staying on top of everything shouldn't be this hard.
That's why I wanted to test something different.
Instead of hiring another person or adding more work to my schedule, what if I could give some of these tasks to an AI employee?
In this article, I'm going to show you how I used Viktor AI to handle client follow-ups, create personalized emails, and update business records.
And I'll show you why this approach could make a big difference in how you manage your time, tasks, and tools.
The Problem With Everyday Business Tasks
Most small business owners don't have a shortage of things to do.
They have too many things competing for their attention.
Some tasks require your knowledge, judgment, or experience. Maybe you need to speak with a client, make an important decision, or work on a new project.
But other tasks are much more repetitive.
For example, you might need to:
- Check which clients haven't received a follow-up.
- Review notes from previous conversations.
- Find the right email address.
- Write a follow-up message.
- Update your client tracking spreadsheet.
- Record what happened and what needs to happen next.
None of these steps is especially difficult. But when you repeat them every day, they add up.
And there's another problem.
Every time you move between your email, spreadsheet, and task list, you're changing your focus.
That's time you could spend doing something more valuable.
The goal isn't to stop managing your business. It's to find a simpler way to handle the work that doesn't always require your personal attention.
That's where an AI employee might help.
What Is an AI Employee?
You may already use AI tools to write emails, summarize notes, or answer questions.
Those tools can be helpful. But they often require you to copy information from one place to another.
You might ask an AI chatbot to draft an email. Then you copy that draft, open Gmail, find the right contact, and paste the message.
You've saved some writing time. But you're still doing much of the work.
An AI employee takes a different approach.
Instead of working in just one window, it can connect with the tools you already use.
For this example, I'm using an AI employee called Viktor.
Viktor connects with Slack or Microsoft Teams, allowing you to communicate with it much like another person on your team.
You can assign it work, ask questions, and receive updates.
It can also work with connected business apps.
In my demonstration, I used Google Sheets and Gmail.
That means Viktor could review information in a spreadsheet, create email drafts, and update records without me having to move everything manually.
The important difference is that I'm not simply asking AI for advice.
I'm asking it to help complete a task.
My Example: A Real Estate Client Tracker
To demonstrate how this works, I created a real estate business scenario.
Imagine you run a real estate company. You have a spreadsheet that tracks your buyers and sellers.
Each row contains information about a client.
That might include their name, contact details, price range, and what they're looking for.
But the spreadsheet also contains something very important.
Follow-up information.
Some clients are waiting for a response. Others haven't heard from your team in several days.
And some clients have special instructions about when or how they want to be contacted.
Someone on your team needs to review this information regularly.
They have to identify overdue follow-ups, read the notes, prepare messages, and record what happened.
In my example, this process could take at least an hour each day.
That's five hours over a typical workweek.
And those five hours could be used for client meetings, sales conversations, or other important work.
So I decided to see how much of this process Viktor could handle.
Step 1: Give the AI Employee a Task
One thing I like about this setup is that I don't need to open a separate system to assign the work.
I'm already using Slack.
And because Viktor is connected to Slack, it appears in my direct messages alongside the other people on my team.
I can communicate with it through a regular message.
For my first task, I asked Viktor to review our client tracking spreadsheet and identify overdue follow-ups.
That was it.
I didn't need to open the spreadsheet and sort through every row myself.
I simply described the outcome I wanted.
Viktor then reviewed the connected spreadsheet and returned its findings in Slack.
In my demonstration, this initial review took about 20 seconds.
And the results were much more useful than a simple list of overdue clients.
Viktor identified 14 overdue follow-ups from a total of 24 clients.
It also found nine high-priority clients.
Six of those high-priority clients were assigned to me.
Now I had a much clearer picture of the work that needed attention.
Step 2: Understand Which Clients Need Attention
Finding overdue clients is helpful.
But not every overdue follow-up should be handled the same way.
Some clients may be ready to make a decision. Others might have a deadline approaching.
And some may have asked not to be contacted for a certain amount of time.
That's why I wanted Viktor to look beyond the follow-up dates.
In my example, Viktor reviewed additional information from the spreadsheet.
It identified clients who were especially late, including some who were 10 to 14 days overdue.
It also highlighted special circumstances.
One client had an approaching deadline. Another was ready to move forward.
And several clients had indicated that they preferred phone calls rather than emails.
That's an important detail.
If I had simply sent the same email to everyone, I might have ignored those preferences.
Viktor also recognized a client who had requested no contact until November.
Instead of treating that client like everyone else, it used the notes to identify that the follow-up should be delayed.
This is why keeping good client records matters.
The more useful information your team records, the more context an AI employee can use.
Step 3: Create Personalized Follow-Up Emails
Once I knew which clients needed attention, I moved to the next task.
Writing the follow-up emails.
Normally, someone would need to open the spreadsheet, read each client's information, and then create an individual email.
That takes time.
And it can be especially frustrating when you're trying to send several messages in one sitting.
So I asked Viktor to generate personalized Gmail drafts for the 14 overdue clients.
Because Viktor was connected to my Google tools, it could use the client information from the spreadsheet.
That included previous interactions, personal notes, and suggested next steps.
The goal wasn't to create 14 identical emails.
It was to prepare messages that made sense for each client.
In the demonstration, Viktor prepared the email drafts and showed me what it intended to do.
But there was another important step before it actually made those changes.
I needed to approve the action.
Step 4: Keep Control With Approval Settings
Whenever I talk about AI automation, one concern comes up.
What happens if the AI makes a mistake?
That's a fair question.
You don't want an AI employee sending messages to clients without your knowledge.
And you certainly don't want it changing important business information without being able to review the results.
That's why I like the approval process shown in this example.
After preparing the email drafts, Viktor asked for permission before writing them to Gmail.
It displayed an option to approve or reject the proposed action.
At that point, I could review what Viktor was planning to do.
If something looked wrong, I could give it new instructions.
I could ask it to make a change before continuing.
In this case, everything looked good.
So I approved the action.
Only then did the prepared drafts appear in Gmail.
This gives me a useful balance.
The AI handles much of the repetitive work, while I remain responsible for the final decisions.
And that's how I would encourage small business owners to think about AI automation.
You don't need to give up control to save time.
Step 5: Review the Emails Before Sending
After approving the action, I opened Gmail.
There were 14 drafts waiting for me.
I could open any message and review what Viktor had written.
What stood out was the level of personalization.
The emails weren't all the same length.
They didn't all use the same subject line.
And they weren't simply generic messages asking whether someone wanted to reconnect.
Instead, the drafts used details from the client tracker.
That might include a client's property preferences, previous conversation, or an upcoming decision.
This is much more useful than starting with a blank email.
Of course, I would still review each message.
I might change a sentence, update some wording, or add a personal detail.
And I would make sure the message was accurate before sending it.
But there's a big difference between proofreading a prepared message and writing everything from scratch.
Viktor had already done most of the heavy lifting.
I just needed to make the final decisions.
That's the kind of time savings I find especially valuable.
Step 6: Update the Client Tracker Automatically
The process doesn't end after you send an email.
You also need to record what happened.
Otherwise, you might open the same spreadsheet a few days later and wonder whether a client was contacted.
Or someone else on your team might send another message because the original follow-up wasn't recorded.
That's why updating client records is so important.
In my demonstration, I sent 10 of the prepared emails.
I intentionally left four unsent because those clients preferred phone calls.
I then told Viktor that the email follow-ups were complete and asked it to update the spreadsheet.
Because Viktor could access the connected tools, it was able to check the results.
It confirmed the 10 sent emails and the four drafts I had not used.
Then it updated the client tracker.
The clients who received emails were marked as contacted.
The four clients who needed phone calls remained overdue.
Viktor also updated the notes field with details about the completed actions.
That meant I could return to the spreadsheet and quickly see what happened.
I didn't need to update each row by hand.
Why This Is More Than Just Email Automation
You might be thinking that there are already tools that can automate emails.
And you're right.
There are many ways to schedule messages, create templates, and set up automated reminders.
But what interests me about this example is how the different parts work together.
We're not just automating a single email.
We're connecting several steps in a business process.
The AI needs to understand which clients require attention.
Then it needs to review the notes, prepare suitable messages, and update the records after the work is complete.
Each step depends on information from the previous step.
And that information may live in different tools.
In this case, I used Slack, Google Sheets, and Gmail.
All three already have a purpose in the business.
Instead of creating another place where I need to manage work, Viktor helps connect these tools.
For small business owners who feel overwhelmed by their software, that's a useful way to think about automation.
The goal should be to simplify the work, not create another system to maintain.
How Much Time Can an AI Employee Save?
At the beginning of this example, I estimated that reviewing the tracker and following up with clients could take at least one hour each day.
That adds up to five hours every week.
With Viktor, the initial review took about 20 seconds, and much of the remaining work was completed in a few minutes.
I still needed to review the drafts, send the emails, and make decisions about the clients who preferred phone calls.
But I didn't need to do all the repetitive work myself.
Of course, the exact time savings will depend on your business and the tasks you automate.
Not every process will save five hours.
And not every task should be handed over to AI.
But even saving 30 minutes a day can make a difference.
Imagine having more time to speak with customers, finish projects, or plan for the future.
That's what makes this approach worth exploring.
Three Things I Would Do Before Hiring an AI Employee
If you're thinking about using AI to handle business tasks, I would start small.
You don't need to automate your entire business.
Instead, focus on one process that happens regularly.
Here's where I would begin:
- Choose a repetitive task. Look for something you do several times a week. Client follow-ups, checking records, or preparing updates are good examples.
- Make sure your information is organized. In my demonstration, the client tracker had clear follow-up dates and useful notes. That information helped Viktor make better decisions.
- Keep approval steps in place. Start by reviewing AI-generated work before allowing it to make changes or send messages.
Once you're comfortable with one process, you can look for other opportunities.
But remember that automation isn't the goal by itself.
The goal is to spend less time managing your work and more time actually doing it.
Frequently Asked Questions About AI Employees
What is the difference between an AI employee and an AI chatbot?
An AI chatbot can answer questions and create content. An AI employee can also work with connected apps to complete parts of a business process. In my example, Viktor reviewed a spreadsheet, created Gmail drafts, and updated client records.
Can Viktor work with Slack or Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Viktor integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams. In my demonstration, I used Slack to assign tasks and review the results.
Can an AI employee send emails automatically?
Viktor can work with connected email accounts, including Gmail. In my demonstration, I used an approval step before the drafts were created, and I reviewed the messages before sending them. The available actions depend on your setup and permissions.
Do I need to replace my current business tools?
Not necessarily. The approach I demonstrated uses existing apps. Viktor connects those tools so information and tasks can move between them without as much manual work.
Will an AI employee replace my team?
That's not how I would approach it. I see AI as a way to remove repetitive tasks from someone's schedule. Your team can then spend more time on work that requires human judgment, personal relationships, and experience.
What's the best task to automate first?
Start with something repetitive, predictable, and easy to review. Choose a task that already has a clear process and useful information. Client follow-ups can be a good starting point.
Final Thoughts: Spend Less Time Managing Work
I believe one of the biggest opportunities with AI isn't simply creating more content or getting answers faster.
It's reducing the amount of time we spend managing everyday work.
The real estate example is just one way to use an AI employee.
You might have a different business with completely different clients and tasks.
But the underlying problem is often the same.
Important work gets interrupted by repetitive steps that take more time than they should.
With the right process and the right tools, some of that work can be handled automatically.
That's what I demonstrated with Viktor.
If your business already uses Slack or Microsoft Teams, you can explore how Viktor might work with your existing setup.
You can find the link in my video description and use the promo code SIMPLETIVITY100.
My goal is simple.
You'll know what to do next and have time to get it done.
And remember, you deserve to work without feeling overwhelmed.