Five AI Tools Every Small Business Should Be Using

Starting and growing a small business can be incredibly rewarding, but it is impossible to do everything yourself.

Through our Work Avenue Recruitment Service and Freelance Agency, we help businesses access the talent, expertise and support they need to grow and succeed.

But we also know that many business owners, freelancers and entrepreneurs spend their own valuable time on routine but essential tasks that can quickly eat into the working day.

Fortunately, there are now a number of digital tools that can automate many of these processes. Here are five AI apps that can help streamline everyday tasks and free up more time to focus on running your business.

1) Fathom (www.fathom.ai)

What it does: Fathom is an AI assistant that records, transcribes and summarises your meetings.

Why it’s useful: It automatically creates meeting notes and action points, giving you back all that valuable time that was being used to write everything up after each meeting. Indeed, the idea for this article came because we were saving so much time using Fathom ourselves!

An added bonus: Because you know everything is being captured automatically, you can stay fully engaged in the conversation rather than worrying about documenting every detail.

Good practice: Make sure those you are with are aware the meeting is being recorded and transcribed.

2) ChatGPT (www.chatgpt.com)

What it does: The most well-known of all the AI tools, ChatGPT is most often used by businesses for writing, research, proof-reading, brainstorming and problem-solving.

Why it’s useful: It can help draft or proof-read emails, business documents and marketing copy, improving spelling, grammar and clarity in seconds. It can also support research and help tackle tasks that might otherwise take hours to complete.

An added bonus: Used correctly, ChatGPT can act like an on-demand assistant – giving business owners inspiration whenever they need help generating and developing ideas or exploring new approaches.

Good practice: Use ChatGPT as a starting point rather than a finished product. Always review and personalise all output – checking to remove obvious AI tells and being sure it hasn’t ‘hallucinated’ any facts.

3) Wispr Flow (www.wisprflow.ai)

What it does: Wispr Flow is an AI voice-to-text tool that turns what you say into written text.

Why it’s useful: It helps you get emails, notes and documents written far faster than typing, which is especially helpful when you are on the move. It also makes it easier to capture new business ideas quickly while they are still in your head.

An added bonus: It can make your writing feel more natural and less forced because you are speaking in your own voice rather than overthinking every sentence.

Good practice: Read everything back carefully once it’s converted, just to make sure the tone and meaning match what you intended before you hit send.

4) Motion (www.usemotion.com)

What it does: Motion is an AI scheduling tool that automatically plans your day.

Why it’s useful: Motion takes your tasks, deadlines and meetings and builds them into a structured daily schedule. It helps you avoid constantly deciding what to do next by showing exactly what to focus on at any given time. And if meetings or urgent work come in, it adjusts the plan for you.

An added bonus: It can help prevent that feeling of being overloaded by turning a long to-do list into a clear, structured schedule.

Good practice: Like all AI tools, Motion’s output is only as good as what you put in. Avoid vague commands and stick to specified deadlines and outcomes.

5) Google AI Studio (www.aistudio.google.com)

What it does: Google AI Studio is a tool where you can quickly build your own AI-powered apps.

Why it’s useful: It lets you experiment with building simple AI tools by creating and testing prompts and workflows, without needing any coding experience. This means that if you need a simple time-saver and can’t find the right tool, you can try and create it yourself.

An added bonus: It connects easily with Google’s wider ecosystem, so you can take something you build and start plugging it into the other tools you already use.

Good practice: Not everything you try will work how you intend, or even be possible, so stick to very specific problems and instructions.