podcast

 

Using AI for small business owners is simpler than you think — and if you're feeling both excited and overwhelmed right now, that makes complete sense.

Maybe both at the same time.

If you're trying to work out how to start with AI as a small business owners without a tech background, this is for you. You're probably feeling two things right now – excited and overwhelmed – and honestly, both make complete sense. AI is everywhere, and the noise around it is designed to make you feel like you're already behind.

You're not. And I'm going to show you exactly how to approach this with curiosity instead of panic.

I use Claude almost exclusively in my business right now, and I want to walk you through the four pillars I'm using: Insights, Efficiencies, Automations, and Innovation. Real examples, not theory.

Why AI for Small Business Is Simpler Than You Think

Here's the thing most people miss: AI is conversational. You don't need to understand how it works under the hood. You just need to know what you want and be able to ask for it, like you'd ask a smart assistant sitting next to you.

Between ChatGPT and Claude, I've settled firmly on Claude. The way it thinks, writes, and operates is more nuanced and more useful. As of early 2026, they've been dropping new features almost weekly, so it's worth getting familiar with it now.

Let's get into the four pillars.

Pillar 1: Insights

This is where I started, and it's probably the most eye-opening place to begin.

I pulled my Instagram dashboard, Google Analytics, LinkedIn insights, and email list data, then had Claude look at everything together. What came back wasn't just a summary. It was a clear picture of where my business actually sat versus where I thought it did.

The thing that hit me hardest? I was getting plenty of warm, direct traffic from people who already knew me. But I was barely reaching cold audiences at all. As someone who talks about brand building for a living, that was confronting.

From there, I started a full SEO audit on my website. Ten years in business means ten years of content that had never been properly optimised, and it was a bigger job than I anticipated. However, the payoff was real. Within about two weeks of making changes, more organic leads started coming through.

Want to see the exact steps I took? Grab the free Claude Brand Builders Guide below. It walks you through the whole process.

The point is: you've got data sitting in your business right now. Claude can help you understand what it's telling you and, more importantly, what to do about it.

Pillar 2: Efficiencies – Get Your Headspace Back

This is the pillar that gives you your time back.

The grunt work. All the admin. That stuff sitting on your to-do list for months because it's not urgent, just heavy. This is where AI is genuinely remarkable.

For me, that looked like building out visual automations in my email system, clearing 15 gigabytes of duplicated files across Google Drive and Dropbox, removing unused tags and sequences from my email list, and finally getting my website SEO sorted.

Would I have paid someone to do all of that? Probably not. The brief would've taken longer to write than the task itself. So it just sat there, weighing on me.

Not anymore.

Here's the question worth sitting with: what would you do with an extra five hours a week? What would you start creating? How would you show up differently?

That's what efficiency is really about. Not just doing things faster, but creating space for the work that only you can do. → Related: Personal Brand Strategy: 3 Ways to Stand Out

And here's the thing about AI and personal brand: as AI gets better at generating content, your stories, your opinions, and your expertise matter more than ever. People without your experience will use AI to share information, but they won't have what you have. So the more time you free up from admin, the more you can lean into being you.

Pillar 3: Automations – Set It and Let It Run

This is where things start to compound, and where I'll be honest that I'm still figuring things out.

Within Claude, you can build what are essentially skills: a library of information it draws from when helping you. I've connected my Notion to Claude, so it's now pulling from my brand strategy, client testimonials, voice guide, and my own opinions when it creates content or helps me build systems.

In other words, it's drawing from me, not generic information online.

Currently, I'm building automations that include a daily email with my sales tasks based on my actual strategy, weekly content plans, and a workflow that takes a long-form video, strips the transcript, writes the blog post, and creates social content automatically.

We're testing everything. Things need tweaking. But the mindset shift that helps most is simple: just chat with Claude and see what's possible. You don't need the answer before you start the conversation.

If you do a task on autopilot every single week, ask Claude if it can be automated. You might be surprised at what comes back.

Pillar 4: Innovation – Lead your space

This is the pillar that will separate the leaders from the followers over the next few years.

Recently, I heard someone on YouTube say that online courses are heading toward a place where clients won't need to watch videos at all. Instead, they'll interact directly with a tool that holds the methodology and works through it with them in real time to produce their outcome.

So I went straight to Claude and started mapping out what that would look like for my Amplify clients.

What I landed on is a tool that holds my entire methodology, covering strategy, identity, messaging, and positioning, and works through it with each client by asking the right questions and generating personalised outputs they can actually use. Instead of watching a video and filling in a workbook, they get results faster.

That's innovation. And the exciting part? It's available to you too.

The business owners who lead their space over the next few years won't necessarily be the most tech-savvy. Rather, they'll be the ones who stayed curious, who kept asking what this could make possible, and then went and built it.

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You're not behind, here's how to start

The most important thing I want you to take from this is that nobody is an expert right now. Things are literally dropping weekly. What you need isn't expertise. It's curiosity, a willingness to test things, and the confidence to start a simple conversation.

Come at AI for small business with wonder. What could this save me? How could it make things better? And what could it help you build that you've been putting off?

That's the energy that wins.

Grab the free Claude Brand Builders Guide below for a step-by-step look at how I've been using AI to get more organic leads through better SEO – and start there.