Yeah. That Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So do Codie Sanchez, Scott Galloway, Colin & Samir, Shaan Puri, and Jay Shetty. And none of them are doing it for fun. They're doing it because a list you own compounds in ways that social media never will.

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A 2026 Visual Capitalist analysis of US Census data put a number on something every small business owner already feels.

Companies with 250 or more employees now use AI at 32.5%. Companies with 5 to 9 employees use it at 17.3%. Visual Capitalist

The gap between large and small firms is bigger than the gap between the most AI-adopting state in the country and the least. Visual Capitalist

Here's what everyone missed.

The instinct is to read those numbers and assume the issue is budget. It isn't. Most enterprise AI tools cost roughly the same per seat for everyone.

The real difference is intelligence. Bigger companies don't have better software. They have better visibility. They know exactly what their competitors are doing because they pay teams whose entire job is to find out.

You don't have those teams. But in 2026, you don't need them. You need 30 minutes and the right prompts.

Almost nobody is doing it. Most owners I talk to can't name three things their top competitor automated last year. They know the brand. They don't know the engine.

That's the gap. Here's how to close it.

Step 1: Pick three competitors. Not ten.

One bigger than you. One your size. One smaller but growing fast. The smaller one matters most. They're moving fastest because they have to.

Step 2: Map their AI footprint in four places.

Their website. Their support flow. Their marketing. Their careers page.

Job listings tell you everything. A company hiring three customer service reps is doing it manually. A company hiring one "AI ops specialist" already replaced six. The space between those two listings is exactly where your industry is heading.

Step 3: Run the prompt.

Open Claude or ChatGPT with web search on. Paste in the competitor's URL, the auto reply you got from their support email, and one of their open job postings. Then ask:

"Analyse this company's likely AI stack. Which functions appear automated, which appear human, and which sit in the middle? Identify three operational gaps where AI adoption looks weak or absent."

You'll get a map in 90 seconds that would have taken a research team six months.

Step 4: Find the gap. Then move.

You're not looking for what they're doing well. You're looking for what they haven't done yet. That's where you win.

If all three competitors have chatbots but none use AI for churn detection, that's your move. If they all automated lead capture but none automated lead qualification, that's your move.

The market doesn't reward you for matching competitors. It rewards you for being one step ahead of the slowest one.

The verdict.

The 2026 data shows a market splitting in two. Companies that can see the field are pulling away from those that can't. The moat used to be capital. Now it's awareness.

Spend 30 minutes this week. Run the audit on your top three. You'll find at least one move you can make before they notice you're paying attention.

Reply and tell me what you find. I read every one.

PS - Feel free to reply and tell us if you want something specific we can analyse for you

Stay sharp.