- AI-First Business by Jeff Sauer
- Posts
- What would you do if your time was worth $5,000/hour?
What would you do if your time was worth $5,000/hour?

The one advisor that's always ready to tell you the truth
Your team sees the answer, but they won't tell you.
It's sitting right there. Obvious to everyone except the person who needs to see it most - you.
Maybe they're afraid to speak up. Maybe it's not their job. Maybe they think you already know and chose differently for reasons they don't understand.
But there's one advisor who's always ready to tell you exactly what it thinks about anything.
The AI Oracle
Chat GPT. Claude. Whatever your favorite AI tool is.
It's there. Ready to go. Ready to give you its opinion, fill in the blanks, generate ideas.
And here's the thing - it has no agenda. No politics. No fear of awkward conversations.
Ideas have become cheap. Execution has become cheap too if you use AI.
But if you don't source the right ideas and you don't know how to execute on them, everything becomes expensive.
Because you do nothing.
The $500/Hour Question
I always ask my coaching clients this: Would you make the same decisions if your time was worth $500 an hour?
What about $5,000 an hour?
Here's the math: There are roughly 2,000 working hours in a year. If you want a seven-figure business and you're running it, every hour you spend needs to generate $500 in value.
That's not optional math. That's just reality.
So what are you doing with those hours?
The 30-Second Solution
Ask AI: "What are some $500/hour activities I could do in my business right now?"
Or: "What's a $5,000/hour decision I should be making?"
It'll give you a list in 30 seconds. Then it'll help you execute on them.
The constraint forces clarity. When you think in terms of high-value activities, you stop doing low-value work.
Why This Works
Your team won't always tell you the obvious thing because:
They're not comfortable with awkward conversations
It's above their pay grade to question your decisions
They don't think it's their problem to solve
They're too inexperienced to see the bigger picture
They assume you know something they don't
But AI doesn't have any of those limitations.
It sees patterns. It asks questions. It challenges assumptions.
It's the oracle that's always available, always honest, and never worried about office politics.
All Roads Point to AI
Every business problem you're stuck on, every decision you're avoiding, every obvious thing you can't see - AI can help you work through it.
Not because it's smarter than your team.
But because it's the one advisor that will always tell you what it really thinks.
The most expensive person in your organization (you) shouldn't be doing work that anyone else could do.
Ask the oracle. Get the list. Start executing.
Your $500/hour activities are waiting.
To Your AI-First Success,
Jeff Sauer
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