You know you could use AI tools to save time (and money) in
your small business. But with thousands of AI tools available, how do you figure
out which ones to use and how to use them? As a business owner myself, I
struggle with that question.
I've searched sites like FutureTools.io for ideas but
quickly got overwhelmed. When I wrote this article, that site lists nearly
2,500 AI tools, which will likely be higher when you read this.
Perhaps sheer overwhelm is part of the reason AI adoption
among small businesses, especially very small businesses, remains relatively
low. A recent Bredin SMB Pulse survey of business owners found that:
27% of small businesses (20 to 99 employees) are actively
using AI, and 19% are piloting it
8% of tiny companies (fewer than 20 employees) report
actively using AI, and another 7% are piloting it
Nearly 40% of mid-sized companies (100 to 500 employees) are
actively using AI, and 28% are piloting it
Small businesses must find tools that work for them if they
want to keep up. So, to find out what tools entrepreneurs are using, I queried
members of the AI Copy Club community and asked them to share their favorite AI
tools for saving time in their businesses. Here's what they use and recommend.
AI tools for small business owners
1.
Content distribution and design, customer
service
AI tools have been instrumental in freeing up hours for
entrepreneur Kym Tolson, thus allowing her to concentrate on growth, client
engagement, and strategic planning in her business.
"Canvahas has been a transformative tool for my
business, particularly in graphic design. Previously, crafting
professional-level graphics for social media and marketing efforts was a
substantial time commitment, often stretching over several hours each
week," she says. "Now, thanks to Canvas's intuitive interface and AI
enhancements, I can produce eye-catching graphics quickly and efficiently,
reducing what used to take hours into mere minutes. This significant
time-saving aspect allows my team and I to focus more on other critical
business areas."
Another tool she loves is Repurpose.io, a repurposing and
distribution platform for video & audio creators, which has streamlined her
content distribution process.
"Before its integration, manually uploading and
adapting content for various social media platforms was a four- to five-hour
weekly endeavor," she explains. "With Repurpose.io, this task is fully
automated, enabling instant content redistribution across multiple channels.
This automation conserves time and amplifies my content's reach effortlessly."
Finally, she likes Pickaxe's customer support tool, which
allows users to create AI-powered tools and embed them into their websites.
Tolson uses it to create bots within her membership communities; the bots
address routine questions from members, a task that previously required a
notable time commitment.
She says, "This automation has significantly reduced
the time I need to respond to member inquiries, allowing me to focus more on
enhancing the value and experience within these communities."
2. Creative help
Midjourney is the first AI image generator that works on
prompts. She explains, "I use it to generate images to be used as assets
in my design work. Good AI imagery is hard to find, and working with the bot to
curate usable images requires skill. As an illustrator, I could draw these
pictures with software, but it would often take hours for one image. Using AI
cuts that time down to mere minutes."
Bayless likes using Adobe Firefly to generate alternative
color palettes. "I can take a single image or design and instantly create various
options with the color variation tool. This helps create surface patterns or
stickers that benefit from various colors."
3. Content writing
Shelley Hunter says her adoption of AI is a story in "three
parts: resistance, acceptance, and adoption." She wrote over 400 blog
posts under a former personal brand, but she recently left the company–and that
content– behind.
She wanted to start a new blog but did not want to produce
new content because, as she said, "I'm a slow writer. I have no problem
communicating verbally. Whether conducting interviews, being interviewed,
talking on live radio or TV, or filming a video, I make quick observations and
can easily articulate my thoughts. But when it comes to writing, I obsess over
crafting perfect sentences, minding all grammar rules, adding purposeful
transitions, and more. It takes me forever."
But she still went ahead and created a new blog. "People
said, 'Use ChatGPT.' I replied, 'No, it's garbage,'" she recalls. "I
tried a couple of cursory queries and got such ignorant, lackluster results
that I dismissed the tool entirely."
Hunter researched and found she could combine ChatGPT and
Grammarly to smooth the process. "More importantly, I start each piece of
content with the part I'm best at," she says. For example, I interviewed a
white hat gift card hacker for a piece about gift card hacking. In another
post, she recorded a video of a gift card experience, And in another, she wrote
a script to capture her thoughts. And then that's where AI steps in.
"After recording the video, I turn to ChatGPT and the
Video Captions plugin to write the post. I still spend a couple of hours
working on the message, going back and forth with the tools, and pushing until
I get an authentic piece I am proud to put my name on," she explains.
"The time it takes me to write a blog post may be the same, but I no
longer struggle laboriously. The content and ideas are still mine, but I am
less frustrated with the writing process and can better focus on communicating
the message I want to share."
Note that ChatGPT plugins are currently available with a
paid subscription to ChatGPT. ChatGPT has also recently introduced the ChatGPT
Store, which is presently available with ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise
users.
4. Creating chatbots
Another vote for Pickaxe comes from Vix Meldrew, who used it
to create a "curriculum bot" for her courses and programs. She says, "I
taught the bot the entire curriculum of my new program so that rather than
students asking me questions the program answers, they can ask the bot! That
will save me time answering questions already answered in the course materials
and save me outsourcing community management. My students can ask questions
about the curriculum, billing, and account inquiries."
5. Meeting notetaking
Karen Carey uses AI as a virtual assistant for meetings. Carey
states, "Fireflies.ai is a virtual notetaker attending all my virtual
meetings. In addition to taking very detailed notes, Fireflies categorizes and
calculates the number of questions asked, the number of tasks
discussed/assigned, the number of dates mentioned, and categorizes the content
of the meeting for ease of review. Additionally, it breaks down sound bites of
what it considers notable quotes (and) sayings."
6. Content repurposing
Dianne Shelton loves WritePanda for content repurposing. "This
tool allows me to repurpose my long-form video content into multiple types of
short-form content easily," she says. "It can create short videos
(reels), blog posts, newsletters, tweet-worthy highlights, and more. It also
allows me to automatically create time stamps and notes for my business podcast
and YouTube channel."
Her favorite feature is auto-caption for the AI-generated
reels. She says, "These captions are customizable and allow me to stand
out in the saturated online space. A bonus feature is the face-tracking
capability to create reels based on the speakers on the long-form video. Unlike
other AI repurposing tools, this one seems to have some pretty powerful tools
under one roof."
Shelton also finds the Cheat Layer to be useful for
automating time-consuming tasks. "It's a no-code automation tool that
allows me to have an AI assistant do certain repeatable tasks that would
otherwise take more of my time or have to hire out a team member for," she
says. "This tool is complex and flexible to meet each user's needs. I've
only begun to scratch the surface by having simple tasks, such as automatically
creating Canva images based on keywords (which it can research) and auto
posting Facebook posts."
7. Video repurposing
Katie Goebel recommends OpusClip, which repurposes long
video clips into short ones across multiple platforms.
"As a social media strategist, I love using OpusClip
for my clients' video interviews," she says. "Within minutes, I can
load a video interview link from YouTube or Vimeo and generate 10-plus short
viral clips. The AI technology sweeps through the content quickly to find clips
with high viral potential. Plus, I love the way it generates captions
automatically."
Goebel adds, "It saves me the time of tedious editing
and combing through hours of footage to find good 60-second sound bytes. Plus,
my clients can focus on creating a high-quality video interview once and then
run it through OpusClip to generate nearly endless clips to repurpose across
multiple platforms."
8. Scheduling
One of Kelsey Silver's favored AI tools is Motion. The cause
why: "After attempting rattling close to each system accessible to solve
this little struggle my brain, I even have among wanting to approach and hating
agendas, I stumbled upon Motion. I can tell you I've never whipped out my
credit card so fast.
"[It] syncs all my calendars, completely replaces
Calendly booking links and makes sure everything fits in my preferred meeting
times and eliminates blank page syndrome by scheduling my tasks in available
windows based on the 49,283,409,283 different schedules I have—(okay, it's just
three: personal 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., business 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 1
a.m., and special stuff 24/7)."
AI tools can help small businesses save valuable time
From calendars to creatives, these business owners show the
myriad ways AI tools can be used to keep time. And, of course, in business,
time is money.
Tracking your time will allow you to see where you're
spending—and perhaps wasting—time. From there, you can identify your high-value
activities and look for AI tools that will help you streamline less valuable
ones.
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