AI cheat sheet for small business (with real examples! Yay!)
AI isn’t just hype, it’s a set of plug-and-play tools that can save you hours every week. Here’s a no-fluff cheat sheet showing what to use and how real small businesses could use it today.
1. AI for marketing & social media
ChatGPT → Drafts posts, captions, and emails.
Example: A bakery asks it for a witty Instagram caption about their pumpkin spice cupcakes: “Pumpkin spice & everything nice.”
Canva Magic Studio → Creates branded graphics instantly.
Example: A salon generates a pastel-toned flyer for a spring hair-color promo in under 5 minutes.
Jasper → Repurposes content into ads.
Example: A boutique turns a blog post about new arrivals into three polished Facebook ads.
2. AI for customer service
Intercom Fin AI → Answers FAQs on your website.
Example: An e-commerce shop installs it so customers instantly see return policies without waiting for email replies.
Tidio → Handles live chat + automated responses.
Example: A flower shop chatbot confirms delivery times for Valentine’s Day orders.
ManyChat → Automates Messenger/Instagram replies.
Example: A fitness coach sets it up to auto-send pricing info when someone DMs “How much is training?”
3. AI for operations
Notion AI → Summarizes meetings/notes.
Example: A contractor ends a client call, and Notion spits out: “To-dos: order tiles, confirm plumber availability.”
ClickUp AI → Generates task lists from notes.
Example: A wedding planner drops client preferences into ClickUp, and it instantly builds a checklist.
Zapier (with AI steps) → Connects your apps.
Example: When a new lead fills out a Google Form, Zapier uses AI to clean the data and add it neatly into the CRM.
4. AI for sales
Apollo AI → Finds and personalizes outreach.
Example: A software startup identifies companies hiring customer support roles and sends tailored emails: “Congrats on expanding your team, here’s how we can help.”
Zoho CRM (AI features) → Scores leads.
Example: A real estate agent sees which property inquiries are “hot” (high AI score) and calls those first.
5. AI for finance
QuickBooks AI → Automates reminders.
Example: A freelance designer has overdue invoices, QuickBooks emails polite nudges automatically.
Fyle → Categorizes receipts.
Example: A photographer snaps a dinner receipt and Fyle logs it as “client entertainment” without manual entry.
6. AI for creative branding
MidJourney → Generates unique visuals.
Example: A coffee shop creates a retro poster of their new cold brew for social media.
DALL·E → Creates product mockups.
Example: A skincare brand visualizes new packaging before paying a designer.
Runway Gen-2 → Makes promo videos from images.
Example: A boutique clothing store turns still product photos into a 15-second fashion reel.
7. AI for learning & upskilling
LinkedIn Learning (AI-curated) → Tailors learning paths.
Example: A bookkeeper gets a 10-hour personalized course on “AI in accounting” suggested automatically.
Khan Academy’s AI Tutor → Explains tough concepts.
Example: A solo accountant asks it to break down embeddings in plain English while exploring AI bookkeeping.
🚀 How to use this cheat sheet
Pick one bottleneck (social posts, invoices, leads).
Try one AI tool for 30 days.
Track the time or money it saves.
Keep the winners, drop the rest.
💡 Bonus tips
Think of AI like a junior employee → Give clear instructions, review its work, and it improves over time.
Free tools first → Start with ChatGPT (free tier), Canva free, Khan Academy, QuickBooks trial. Upgrade later if needed.
Keep data safe → Don’t paste client contracts or sensitive financial info into free/public AI tools. Stick to summaries or anonymized text.
Extra use cases:
A restaurant translates menus for tourists using AI.
A freelancer drafts contract templates with AI before a lawyer reviews them.
A café uses AI to analyze Google Reviews and spot trends (“people love our muffins but complain about Wi-Fi”).
Takeaway: AI is your unpaid intern, let it handle the repetitive tasks so you can focus on the creative and human parts of running your business.
