I Run A Very Small Business. Here Are 21 Simple Ways Ai Saves Me Time Every Day

5 days ago

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Are you reasoning astir investing successful AI for your mini company? The buzz astir AI seems to beryllium everywhere, but is location existent value, particularly for mini businesses? For me, nan reply is simply a definite yes, arsenic agelong arsenic you're observant astir really you attack it. Over nan past astir 3 years, I person recovered AI to beryllium a unit multiplier for my mini business.

To thief you spot really AI mightiness thief your business, I'm going to show you galore of nan ways AI has helped my business. All told, crossed each 3 years since ChatGPT deed nan market, I've astir apt spent little than $1,000. And, $200 of that was successful 1 large sprint that netted maine 4 complete caller products. So yeah. Worth it.

Our mini business

My woman and I ain a mini contented business. We person a assortment of different brands and scope a bunch of different target markets, but nan communal facet is that we nutrient and waste integer content. The activity itself is akin crossed each of our business areas, and includes writing, web development, coding, video production, marketing, analytics, and narration management.

Also: The infinitesimal I realized ChatGPT Plus was a game-changer for my business

Keep successful mind that we do each this arsenic a two-person business, tally retired of our house. Although we utilized to person employees, I didn't bask being a boss, and we person nary plans to hire. That's important because our usage of AI isn't taking personification else's job. What it is doing is enabling nan 2 of america to do much successful nan disposable clip we have.

I'm going to walk a fewer minutes discussing nan areas we're progressive in, arsenic that will thief group nan discourse for really nan AI features we usage person been put to work. Odds are, you are progressive successful 1 aliases much of these areas yourself.

For each activity activity, I'll enumerate nan tasks we've delegated aliases collaborated pinch nan AIs to accomplish, for a full of 21 ways we've benefited. I'll besides constituent retired nan devices we've been utilizing for each of these productivity-boosting tasks.

Let's excavation in.

Software products

For nan past decade, we've produced and sold freemium package products. At 1 point, we had 10 unsocial halfway products, including a aid merchandise that facilitated complete $40 cardinal worthy of donations during our stewardship.

A fewer years ago, we decided we wanted to attraction much connected nan top-tier merchandise aliases products. But I didn't really cognize really users felt. When personification uninstalls 1 of our products, they're fixed an action to capable retired a sentiment study form, but we ne'er had a measurement to process nan data. When we exported each that information and gave it to ChatGPT Plus for processing, we had our answers.

Also: I sewage 4 years of merchandise improvement done successful 4 days for $200, and I'm still stunned

We sold 9 of our products successful bid to attraction connected our halfway information merchandise and its add-ons, which protect much than 20,000 progressive sites.

It's astir apt adjacent to opportunity that this is wherever AI has provided its astir astonishing return connected investment. This is besides wherever we spent $200 for a period of ChatGPT Pro. But location are caveats. I americium a erstwhile machine subject professor, truthful I cognize my measurement astir code.

Also: 10 ChatGPT Codex secrets I only learned aft 60 hours of brace programming pinch it

Do not presume that if you're a newbie to coding, you tin conscionable vibe codification your measurement to caller products solely done nan magic of AI. Coding AIs require aggravated and focused management. You wouldn't prosecute a bunch of costly contractors without knowing thing astir nan activity they request to do. Don't do it pinch code.

Ways we benefited from AI:

1. Sentiment analysis: We fed successful each nan study results from merchandise uninstalls and sewage backmost a elaborate overview of our products. Users mostly liked them, but location were standouts we would not person noticed without nan AI.

Tool used: ChatGPT Plus

2. New package products: Read this and this, past this. They'll show you each astir my foray into utilizing AI to crank retired 4 new, powerful package products successful little than a week. But support successful mind that aft nan AI was done, I had weeks of old-school merchandise trading to do myself.

Tools used: ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro.

3. Marketing overview achromatic papers: To prevention time, I linked nan AI to my codification repository and asked it to create briefing documents that simulated nan archive a improvement squad would springiness to a trading squad astir features and benefits. This became nan achromatic insubstantial "bibles" that defined nan caller software.

Tool used: ChatGPT Pro Deep Research

4. Marketing video overviews: Those trading overviews were past fed into nan AI, which produced a narrated video overview for each of nan products. I prepended those overviews to a demo I did utilizing surface capture, but nan overviews recorded by nan AI were incredibly good done, though nan imagery could person been better.

Tool used: Google's NotebookLM

5. Product logo and look: Midjourney and Photoshop were utilized to create a new, updated look for nan support product. It took a bunch of tries, but it turned retired rather nice.

Tools used: Midjourney and Photoshop Generative Expand

YouTube and newsletter

We nutrient a celebrated DIY YouTube transmission pinch astir 65,000 subscribers, on pinch a newsletter that reaches readers and viewers.

Also: These 3 AI devices made my two-minute how-to video measurement much nosy and engaging

Although AI helps retired successful galore ways, that's not evident to viewers and readers. We person a fleet of robot cameras (because, of course, we do) that thief return video while doing projects. The projects themselves usually impact immoderate benignant of robotic fabrication instrumentality for illustration a 3D printer, CNC, aliases laser cutter.

Also: How I started my ain LinkedIn newsletter for free - successful 5 easy steps

But beyond nan beingness tools, we usage immoderate AI features to hole nan videos themselves. Ways we benefited from AI:

6. Dynamic masking: I sometimes abstracted myself from nan inheritance of a video for a peculiar effect. Doing this by manus is simply a brutally tedious frame-by-frame task. Last year, Final Cut Pro (my editor of choice) introduced Magnetic Mask, which tracks a taxable (well enough) and provides nan move masking pinch only 1 aliases 2 clicks.

Tool used: Final Cut Magnetic Mask

7. Extending photos: Creating click-worthy thumbnails is everything connected YouTube erstwhile it comes to getting views. In bid to accommodate nan ocular elements of nan thumbnail, and still show an image, we often move nan photograph to nan right. That's often past nan separator of nan frame. Adobe's Generative Fill comes successful clutch, filling successful nan quiet abstraction and making nan thumbnail complete.

Tool used: Photoshop Generative Fill

8. Headline and SEO optimization for YouTube: We usage nan AI successful nan Mac's Voice Memo app to transcribe videos and provender nan results into ChatGPT. ChatGPT analyzes nan contented and helps constrictive down header options, taking SEO considerations successful mind.

Tool used: Voice Memo and ChatGPT

Downloadable plans and patterns, and video tutorials

My woman runs nan branch of nan business that focuses connected a very celebrated craft-related hobby. That business sells plans and patterns for folks successful nan hobby, and each download is accompanied by a elaborate video tutorial that only buyers tin see. There's besides a very progressive Facebook organization that revolves astir these merchandise offerings.

Also: I asked ChatGPT to constitute a WordPress plugin I needed. It did it successful little than 5 minutes

This was 1 of our first uses of modern generative AI for productivity. My woman runs a monthly giveaway wherever she uses a randomized database of names, but alternatively of de-duping nan names, names intentionally get repeated if users lend trade photos for much than 1 project. She wanted a instrumentality that would randomize a database truthful that aggregate instances of nan aforesaid person's sanction wouldn't beryllium clumped together successful 1 location connected nan wheel.

On a whim (this was measurement backmost successful February 2023), I decided to spot if ChatGPT could do it. We now cognize really good AIs tin code, but backmost then, it was astonishing.

We besides usage AI graphics devices to create an image that's evocative of nan month's task theme. When I did this by manus pinch Photoshop, it could return maine a fewer hours to mock up a mediocre image. With AI, it takes maine astir 10 minutes to nutrient 3 aliases 4 images for her to take from.

Ways we benefited from AI:

9. Custom programming: Creating a civilization WordPress plugin to lick a circumstantial business need.

Tool used: ChatGPT free tier

10. Image generation: Create a monthly task taxable image evocative of nan trade attraction of my wife's e-commerce site.

Tools used: Midjourney and ChatGPT Plus

Print connected demand

We're moving an Etsy shop that sells print-on-demand products. We're still tinkering pinch it, and it's not a awesome push, but it's portion of our portfolio.

Also: How I utilized ChatGPT and AI creation devices to motorboat my Etsy business fast

We licensed a group of images from a quality creator for immoderate of our merch. I created immoderate of nan text-only designs myself. But we besides enlisted AI to create an extended array of images for nan shop's logo, creation immoderate of nan merch, and moreover utilized an AI mockup instrumentality to spot immoderate of our images connected group for nan shop photos.

We besides created a group of characters and identities for some nan images and nan shop itself. While it was a batch of fun, I'm not judge it was worthy nan effort, moreover if nan AI helped a batch by brainstorming characteristic names and stories.

Ways we benefited from AI:

11. Character creation: AI was utilized to create images of characters for our merch, brainstorm names, and constitute backstories.

Tools used: Midjourney and ChatGPT free tier

12. Mockup creation: AI was utilized to composite our designs connected photos of existent quality models, and make nan T-shirt mockups look real.

Tool used: Placeit

Music accumulation and distribution

My euphony is distributed done Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, and each nan different large euphony distributors. Some months, nan number of listens is low. But we've reached arsenic precocious arsenic 16,000 listeners successful 1 month.

Also: How AI helped get my euphony connected each nan awesome streaming services

I utilized AI extensively successful preparing to administer my 2 EPs. That said, and I station this connected nan music's website, "No AI was utilized successful nan creation aliases mixing of this music." I ne'er usage AI for nan existent content. But I do usage it a batch successful support of that content.

Ways we benefited from AI:

13. Images and graphics: Album screen art, creator floor plan image for Spotify, various supporting creator images.

Tools used: Midjourney, Adobe Photoshop

14. Promotional prose: Descriptions of nan euphony and creator euphony bio for nan streaming services.

Tool used: ChatGPT free tier

Strategy and advice

I constitute chiefly for ZDNET, though I besides supply strategical proposal to members of nan subject and authorities agencies connected topics chiefly related to counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and AI argumentation and practice.

Because I constitute astir AI for ZDNET, I beautiful overmuch usage everything. To beryllium clear, though, I don't usage AI to constitute immoderate of my articles, unless I'm specifically showcasing what an AI produces for a fixed article.

Ways we benefited from AI:

15. AI testing: I trial chatbots, image generators, video generators, AI detectors, coding tools, and truthful galore different AI-related products. This isn't thing astir mini business owners would do, but almost each of these devices person a free trial, truthful if you're funny astir a capability, springiness it a test.

Tools used: All of them

Publishing

For years, we produced online magazines, but retired from that a fewer years back. That cognition was really fueled by early generative AI codification I wrote to thief negociate nan business, a decade earlier today's ample connection models for illustration ChatGPT. Today, we people a fewer books distributed done Amazon.

But moreover though that generative AI was custom-built, it could springiness you immoderate inspiration for really you mightiness usage today's devices successful your business. Ways we benefited from AI:

16. Industry-relevant news summaries: One of nan AI systems I built tracked news related to nan taxable of each of our journals, and past displayed a summary of nan applicable news regular connected each journal's web site. You tin do nan aforesaid point utilizing AI agents feeding information to your tract aliases sites.

Tools you tin use: AI agents for illustration ChatGPT Agent

17. Content analysis: I besides built a instrumentality that would analyse each afloat article we published for topics and taxable matter. It would past provender that accusation into nan adjacent process (described successful nan slug below) for connection revenue.

Tools you tin use: You could usage NotebookLM to ingest an article aliases group of articles and springiness backmost data, which you could past usage pinch a instrumentality for illustration Zapier aliases Hubspot to walk on to further AI systems.

18. Affiliate and cross-sell marketing: I utilized nan information pulled from each article to guideline my merchandise picker AI. This instrumentality picked complementary products from Amazon that could beryllium cross-sold successful each article, which resulted successful a mini watercourse of connection revenue.

Tools you tin use: You could usage AI agents and Zapier aliases HubSpot to do this automatically, arsenic well.

IT activities

One of nan reasons we're capable to participate successful each of these business areas is that existent activity done is akin crossed them.

Also: I sewage ChatGPT Agent to present a genuinely useful study - and past NotebookLM took it to nan adjacent level

For example, nan websites look different from business portion to business unit, but nan existent website guidance uses nan aforesaid skills. Likewise, we person 1 record server that handles each our important retention and video backups, whether it's for nan crafting e-commerce site's video tutorials aliases nan YouTube channel.

Here, too, we benefited from AI. Ways we benefited from AI:

19. Researching retention services: When Google erstwhile again pushed backmost connected nan immense magnitude of storage we utilized connected their services, I utilized ChatGPT Agent to spell retired and investigation replacement retention options. I sewage backmost a very in-depth analysis, which I past fed to Google's NotebookLM to quickly summarize and springiness maine an audio briefing. This took thing overwhelming and made it digestible.

Tools used: ChatGPT Pro Agent and Google's NotebookLM

20. Replacing an obsolete package component: One of our sites gets a changeless watercourse of clone personification registrations. For years, I utilized a package instrumentality that blocked that, but precocious it sewage flagged by my hosting supplier arsenic vulnerable. I couldn't find different instrumentality that seemed to do arsenic good without tons of added junk I'd person to bypass. Since nan instrumentality was unfastened root but nary longer maintained I fed it into ChatGPT, telling it to place its characteristic group and springiness maine a report. In different session, I fed that study into Codex, and told that to nutrient unafraid codification that provided those features. End-to-end, it was only 2 hours to a afloat moving solution that's been progressive for nan past six months.

Tools used: ChatGPT Deep Research and ChatGPT Codex

21. Configuring machine systems: When Pocket discontinued, I wanted to group up a local server connected my location lab. I utilized ChatGPT a batch to get nan due Linux configuration group up and working. Saved a ton of time, moreover if it was fussy.

Tool used: ChatGPT Plus

So, what instrumentality should I use?

AI devices are conscionable that: tools. Some are much wide successful nature, while others service a very circumstantial need.

Also: The champion AI chatbots of 2025: I tested ChatGPT, Copilot, and others to find nan apical devices now

If you're conscionable getting started, I urge you cheque retired general-purpose chatbots for illustration ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, aliases Google Gemini. They each person free tiers that person proven to beryllium rather impressive.

For my mini business, we only salary for 4 tools: ChatGPT, Midjourney, Photoshop, and Notion AI. I've been paying for Photoshop since measurement earlier nan generative AI boom, truthful it doesn't moreover really count. I only bought Notion AI for a circumstantial project, but they insist you bargain a twelvemonth of service.

Also: I'm an AI devices expert, and these are nan 4 I salary for now (plus 2 I'm eyeing)

By nan way, that's my instrumentality pinch AIs. If you don't deliberation you'll usage nan instrumentality each day, conscionable bargain a month's worthy of service. I spent $200 connected ChatGPT Pro for 1 month, past downgraded it to nan $20/month plan. So far, that's each I've needed to sound retired immoderate awesome upgrades.

A speedy thought connected clip guidance

If you've ne'er had your ain mini business, you astir apt don't recognize conscionable really galore types of tasks mini business owners person to do, and really overmuch clip juggling we do to get it each done. My woman and I are progressive successful a full bunch of endeavors, but immoderate are much broadside projects and immoderate are our superior income sources.

The cardinal is ruthlessly managing priorities, but besides being super-consistent astir giving everything moreover conscionable a fewer minutes connected a regular basis. You'd beryllium amazed really overmuch you tin get done connected a task if you conscionable springiness it 10 minutes a day.

In immoderate case, beyond nan truth that I trial AIs for ZDNET, nan logic we've utilized (and stuck with) AI successful each these areas is because (at slightest mostly) utilizing nan various AIs has saved time. And immoderate regular hour-long task we tin waste and acquisition for portion of a $20/mo interest successful bid to get backmost 55 minutes is good worthy nan expense, particularly erstwhile those expenses are divided crossed tasks and months.

Given that we walk little connected AI each month, crossed each nan tools, than we do for our QuickBooks subscription, it seems good worthy it.

What astir you? Have you tried utilizing AI to boost your ain productivity aliases streamline your business? If you tally a mini company, wherever do you deliberation AI could prevention you nan astir time? Is it coding, marketing, contented creation, aliases day-to-day operations? Do you spot devices for illustration ChatGPT aliases Midjourney arsenic worthy nan costs for mini teams, aliases do you for illustration sticking pinch accepted methods? How do you determine which devices are worthy paying for and which are amended to skip? Let america cognize successful nan comments below.

You tin travel my day-to-day task updates connected societal media. Be judge to subscribe to my play update newsletter, and travel maine connected Twitter/X astatine @DavidGewirtz, connected Facebook astatine Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, connected Instagram astatine Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, connected Bluesky astatine @DavidGewirtz.com, and connected YouTube astatine YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.