If you learned AI by poking at a chatbot late at night, you’re in good company. A Heartland Forward survey released October 1 found that 83% of small business owners who use AI taught themselves by trying it. Only 12% learned through a class or training program.
What Do the New Numbers Say?
- It’s paying off for people who use it. Heartland Forward surveyed 691 owners through Echelon Insights. 43% use AI, and 93% of those users say it saves them time. More than half save five or more hours a week.
- The holdouts aren’t scared of cost. Among owners not using AI, only 6% named cost and 6% named complexity. The bigger reason: 52% haven’t seen a need.
- Smaller businesses are falling behind. Homebase’s 2026 Main Street AI Gap Report found 54% of businesses under $500K in revenue use AI, compared to 81% at $5M or more.
- It doesn’t take a big budget. In that same report, the most common monthly AI spend was $41 to $150, and 13% paid nothing extra because they used AI already built into their tools.
Why Does Self-Taught Only Get You So Far?
Trial and error works, but it’s slow, and most people stop at whatever they tried first. Homebase found holdouts want proof their data is secure, proof it saves money, and assurance that a person stays in control. A short, practical training session answers all three.
Owners in heartland states told Heartland Forward the most valuable training would cover using AI for marketing and finding customers (38%) and choosing the right tools (29%).
A Simple Way to Level Up This Month
- List three tasks that eat your week.
- Check the AI features inside tools you already pay for before buying anything new.
- Pick one task, have a person review every output, and time it for two weeks.
- Train the team together so everyone learns the same safe habits.
Talk to BlueShore.AI about hands-on AI training built around the work your team already does, or call (419) 515-5794.