Let’s address the elephant in the room.
Yes, AI is changing everything. Yes, it’s moving fast. And yes, if you’re an Online Business Manager (or working toward becoming one) you’ve probably had at least one moment in the last year where you thought, “wait… is this going to affect my job?”
I get it. And I’m not going to stand here and tell you nothing is changing, because that would be a lie, and you deserve better than that.
But here is what I will tell you, and I want you to actually hear it:
AI is not coming for your OBM career. It is coming for the parts of your OBM career that were quietly holding you back from doing your best work.
That is exactly what this week’s episode of The OBM Show is about.
Click here or on the preview below to watch now:
Prefer to listen? This episode is also available as a podcast on the OBM Show Podcast here.
The Tasks AI Is Taking Off Your Plate Were Never Your Real Value
Let me be straight with you. Some of the things OBMs and online service providers have traditionally spent hours on (drafting SOPs, writing meeting summaries, creating first-draft reports, building project timelines) AI can now do a version of in minutes.
I know that can sound alarming. But reframe it.
Those tasks were never where your value as an OBM lived. Your value has always been in the thinking behind the SOP, not the typing of it. In the strategy behind the system, not the documentation of it. In the judgment call about whether a timeline is actually realistic, not the building of the chart.
What AI is really doing is stripping away the low-level execution work and forcing an important question to the surface: what are you actually being paid for?
For a great OBM, the answer has always been strategy, leadership, judgment, and human connection. AI cannot replicate those. But it can absolutely free you up to focus on them.
AI Makes Your Clients’ Businesses More Complex, Which Makes You More Valuable
Here is something almost nobody talks about. As businesses adopt more AI tools, they also create more moving parts. More integrations. More data. More automated workflows that need to be set up, maintained, audited, and managed.
They are not simplifying operations. In many cases, they are making them more sophisticated.
And who manages sophisticated, sometimes complicated, operations? An OBM.
A business owner running five AI-powered tools, automated lead nurturing, AI-assisted content, and weekly automated reporting does not need less operational support. They need more. Better. Smarter. They need someone who can see the whole ecosystem, understand how it connects, and know where human oversight is critical.
That is the OBM of today. And that OBM is in exceptionally high demand.
The One Thing AI Will Never Be Able to Do
Here is what I really want you to take away.
The thing AI cannot do, and likely will not be able to do in any meaningful way for a very long time, is the deeply human work of operational leadership.
The trust that builds between an OBM and a business owner over months and years. The instinct that tells you something is off before the data shows it. The conversation with a team member who is struggling and needs encouragement, not just a task update. The judgment call that requires understanding not just what a business is trying to do, but who the person behind it is.
These things are the soul of the OBM role. And no AI tool in existence is a substitute for them.
What AI is creating is a world where the OBMs who do this human work brilliantly, and who also know how to harness AI to work smarter, become almost impossibly valuable.
What to Do Right Now
If you’re ready to position yourself as a strategic OBM (not just someone who does tasks) and build a business that reflects the level you’re actually capable of operating at, that’s exactly what we help with at OBM School.
Our OBM Accreditation program and OBM Accelerator are both built around helping capable professionals step fully into the OBM role with the skills, systems, credentials, and confidence to lead at a high level, including in an AI-driven world.
Explore the OBM Accelerator and OBM Accreditation when you’re ready.
New here? Start with your free OBM Starter Kit.
