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Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Australian Small Business Show.

Last week, Loren Bartley showed us how she uses Claude Skills as her marketing team. For some listeners that was a big leap. So this week we've stepped it back and shared the everyday ways we're using AI in our own businesses, so you can borrow what works for you.

We start with the one habit we'd recommend before anything else: keep your own source of truth. The tools change constantly, and custom GPTs are being retired as we speak. So every set of instructions we give an AI lives in a Word document, Google Doc or spreadsheet that we own. When the next tool comes along, we hand those instructions over rather than starting from scratch.

From there we get practical. AI is now our starting point for building lead generation tools. Quizzes and calculators that once took a week or two to build, or cost over a thousand dollars a year in software, now take a morning. We use it to read our weekly Google Analytics and Search Console reports. It tells us which old blog posts are quietly pulling readers every week, shows when tools like ChatGPT have found us, and gives us a short list of actions. We've rebuilt one of our websites page by page so AI search can find it more easily, and learned a lot about the technical side along the way. We're also turning static membership templates, like a guide to difficult conversations, into tools that build a full script in the user's own style.

Just as important is what we're not handing over. We don't use AI to give client advice. We've seen it make things up, and if you didn't build the advice yourself, you can't deliver it well. We're also not using it to write our thought leadership, including our weekly newsletter, because it still doesn't sound like us.

We finish with a few extras. We talk to AI by voice rather than typing, including a weekly planning conversation on a Sunday walk, and the outputs are noticeably better. We also share some personal uses: fixing a struggling hibiscus, a 12-week fitness plan, and tracking the value of rookie footballers' collectible cards.

Have you been asking yourself where AI should actually fit in your business, and what you should keep for yourself? This episode gives you a practical starting list, plus a simple way to protect your work as the tools keep changing.

Key Takeaways:

• Store all your AI instructions in a document you own, so you can move them to a new tool without losing your work when platforms change.
• Use AI as your first stop for building lead generation tools like quizzes. Ask it to talk you through your options before you pay for software.
• Feed your weekly analytics reports into AI to find out which content is working, whether AI search is finding you, and where to focus next.
• Turn static templates into guided tools that do the implementation for your clients or members, not just the instructions.
• Keep advice and thought leadership in your own hands, because you can't deliver advice well if you didn't create it.
• Try speaking to AI instead of typing, since conversational voice notes often produce better quality outputs.

Tell us how you're using AI

We'd love to hear how you're using AI, in your business or at home. Come and share your tips with us on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.

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Disclaimer: The information shared on The Australian Small Business Show is general in nature and does not constitute professional advice, legal or otherwise. We recommend consulting with your advisors on your specific circumstances.