How Solo Entrepreneurs are using Generative A.I. to Accelerate their Business?

😎 A guest post by Ilze Švarcbaha

Source: Image created by Canva Text to Image feature

Hello Everyone,

I reached out to Ilze Švarcbaha, who is a marketing expert to help write about A.I. for the no-code and solo-entrepreneur community specifically. If that sounds like something that would be useful to your growth, subscribe to her Newsletter here or below:

Ilze is from Latvia and together with her partner started an agency called Every Good Idea, a duo that I’m very impressed with for their marketing innovation, creativity and integrity. Ilze hosts many useful Twitter spaces for indie hackers, solo-entrepreneurs and creators. She took many hours out of her busy schedule to write something very specific for us, so I hope you all enjoy it.

It’s a different kind of a post that you would usually see here on A.I. Supremacy. I hope to include many different kinds of voices and topics for the benefit of all on here. Don’t hesitate to hit reply to any Email to suggest topics. Due to the summer holidays, expect less posts from me in July and August.

She helps professionals market themselves, and I highly recommend her services. The duo have 18 combined years experience in sales and marketing.

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Other Good Pieces by Ilze:

1. 🤖 7 ideas for using AI as your creative assistant

2. 😈 Should you start a podcast? (+all the tools you need)

3. 👽 How a self-given alias can improve your branding?

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• If you are trying to grow something from scratch, listen carefully. : Let’s dive in.

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How Solo Entrepreneurs are using Generative A.I. to Accelerate their Business?

Written by Ilze Švarcbaha, who runs a marketing studio Every Good Idea that helps startups with value-led marketing and consults solopreneurs on marketing themselves.

This article won't be one of the many generic SEO articles about the power of AI. Instead, I'll explore how entrepreneurs actually use AI tools in their businesses, rather than just suggesting 100 tools to build your 1M business.

In my opinion, there are three types of solo entrepreneurs:

Three types of solo entrepreneurs

1. Those who avoid AI.

These entrepreneurs tend to stick to traditional methods of running their business. They may feel that they lack the technical skills to incorporate AI, or they simply prefer the human touch in their operations. However, this approach may limit their growth potential, as AI has the potential to streamline processes and provide valuable insights. Not using AI could put them at a competitive disadvantage compared to those who do.

Source: https://twitter.com/MichaelOkoroagh/status/1665316841160421377

2. Those who use AI as an assistant.

These entrepreneurs recognise the potential benefits of AI, but they still prefer to have a degree of human control. They may use AI tools to automate certain tasks, such as writing and scheduling. This approach can help to save time and increase efficiency, while still allowing them to remain in control of their business. I also belong to this category.

Source: https://twitter.com/eldar_av/status/1599858512435286020

3. Those who build their entire business around AI.

These entrepreneurs see the potential of AI as a transformative technology that can revolutionize entire industries. They use AI to develop new products or services, or even to create entirely new business models. They follow the trend to become successful.

Source: https://twitter.com/zigmarslv/status/1665469262708744195

Overall, solo entrepreneurs should carefully consider the potential benefits of AI for their business and determine the best approach for their specific needs and goals.

How solopreneurs use AI as their assistants?

This article will delve deeper into the second category, as it is interesting to see how non-technical business people can leverage AI to their advantage to accelerate their business and save their precious time.

Twitter is filled with lists of AI tools and many Instagram reels begin with “I can't believe this exists.”

Source: https://twitter.com/markgadala/status/1663576529857654784

However, have you ever wondered about the real solopreneurs who aren't trying to go viral with the AI trend, but instead, are searching for tools and hacks to actually use it?

Source: https://twitter.com/AliAbdaal/status/1664627502906580995

Crowdsourcing A.I. Tools for Solo-Entrepreneurs

I primarily used Twitter as a source, and asked my peers for help. I wanted to find real examples, rather than just artificial suggestions for using AI.

Source: https://twitter.com/IlzeSvarcbaha/status/1665456396387622915

Solopreneurs commonly mention the following categories when discussing their habits using AI:

• Writing

• Automation for boring tasks

• Video and design

Writing

Writing is an essential part of marketing and content creation, but not everyone has the time or skills to produce high-quality content. Fortunately, AI tools can help solopreneurs with writing in several ways.

Generating ideas

One of the most challenging aspects of writing is coming up with ideas. AI tools like ChatGPT can help generate ideas for solopreneurs. By providing the tool with the right information, solopreneurs can get useful results quickly.

However, as Justin Welsh stated, "ChatGPT is only as smart as the person using it." If you don't know how to provide it with the right information, it can be difficult to obtain useful results.

Justin wrote a blog post about using ChatGPT to create faster and better content, and he provided three examples:

• Generating hook ideas

• Improving thread organization

• Creating sales emails

Even though you receive ready-made text, it is not a simple "copy and paste" task, since it lacks your personal touch. ChatGPT provides a foundation for your writing, but it is not the final product.

Source: https://twitter.com/thejustinwelsh/status/1658858188479901698

Here is an example of how Mike Cardona used Whimsical to create mind maps for an onboarding sequence for his newsletter.

Source: https://twitter.com/CSMikeCardona/status/1633217322264698882

 

AI can participate in your brainstorming session and provide you with ideas that you can then improve upon.

Using instructions for better results

You can enhance your writing by using better prompts. Here are some tips:

• Justin Welsh shares instructions on how to generate 15 new SEO articles using ChatGPT and XML site maps. You can find the instructions here.

• Content Kuba suggests splitting prompts into smaller chunks so AI can learn what we need, just as humans do. Here is an example for storytelling.

Dealing with text

Speaking better than writing is common among people, and it's also faster to dictate and have somebody else transcribe your text. In the era of AI, we no longer need a transcriber who can type quickly on a keyboard. Solopreneurs can use tools like Tana or AudioPen to transcribe voice notes, and summarize if necessary. Record your voice with and turn it into text.

Ev Chapman shared how she uses Tana AI's new features, including transcribing and summarizing her notes, generating new ideas from existing ones with the Spark Generator prompts, turning unstructured text into structured text with the Outline Creator, improving her hooks with the Hormozi Headline Generator, and extracting the best ideas from video transcripts with the YouTube Takeaways Generator.

Filip Łysikowski uses Tana AI to find relevant sources to support his ideas in his notes.

Source: Filip’s Tana file 

Improving your writing

I use AI to help me with tasks that I'm not good at, such as grammar. English is not my native language, so I make mistakes, but I rely on Notion AI to assist me. I write the content myself, but with just one click, I can check if my English is correct. I won't deny that Notion AI helped me with this article 😉

Source: my Notion file 

Automation for Boring Tasks

Automation has become an essential tool in today's fast-paced world. One of its most significant benefits is that it can do the boring and repetitive tasks that nobody wants to do. AI tools have become increasingly popular for this reason, as they can save time and effort that would otherwise be spent on menial tasks.

Ev Chapman is a prime example of someone who has benefited from automation. She uses AI to take meeting notes, which has saved her a significant amount of time. Before, she would spend an hour summarizing the main points after a coaching session. Now, with the Fathom app, she can get a meeting summary, full transcript, and questions with just one click. This allows her to focus on more critical tasks that require her attention.

Another example of how automation can help is through real-time translation. Agostino Giglio (Ago) uses AI real-time translator Noota during meetings to understand spoken English. This allows him to stay engaged in the conversation without having to worry about language barriers. By using AI tools like Noota, he can participate fully in meetings and contribute to the discussion.

Source: https://medium.com/@AgostinoGiglio/no-code-mvp-bootcamp-5-summary-f279e650a8aa

Video and Design

AI tools have made it possible for everyone to be a designer or video editor (with some limitations, but still). Here are three examples how to use AI tools in your industry to save time and money:

• Nikita Soloviov, co-founder of Vertigo, a content marketing and branding agency, once generated a whole set of video overviews of a technical product made with an AI tool Elai which in its turn provided them with multiple digital avatars and voiceovers for the video.

• Carol Väljaots, she is a video editor, who uses Autopod and Adobe Enhance for video editing. If there are tools that can enhace your voice with one click, why not to use it?

• Ramli John explained all his podcast editing process with AI tools and saving almost 21 hour for the process.

Source:

https://twitter.com/RamliJohn/status/1666112314259681280

• Alice Keeler used Magic Design by Canva to save her time on making a presentation.

Source: https://twitter.com/alicekeeler/status/1663644469051138050

Do you need a simple design or video? Consider using AI to make the process faster and more cost-effective.

How to Start Using AI in Your Solo Business

As a solopreneur, one of the biggest challenges is managing all the tasks necessary to run a successful business. When delegating tasks to AI, consider the following steps:

Step 1: List Your Tasks

The first step is to list all your tasks and understand which ones you can eliminate, automate, or delegate. You can use a system like the one created by Mike Cardona to categorize your tasks.

Although this article has focused on writing, video editing, design, and other time-consuming tasks, there are many other areas where you can use AI to make your life easier.

• Social media management, including scheduling posts and analyzing engagement data

• Personalized email marketing campaigns, using AI to determine the best content and timing for each subscriber

• Customer service, with AI-powered chatbots that can answer common questions and handle basic inquiries

• Market research, using AI to analyze industry trends and consumer behavior to inform business decisions

• Financial management, with AI-powered tools that can track expenses, monitor cash flow, and even predict future revenue trends.

Step 2: Identify Tasks That Can Benefit from AI

Once you've categorized your tasks, identify those that can be eased with the help of AI.

Step 3: Find the Right Tool

The next step is to find the right tool for the task. There are many AI tools available, so it's important to take the time to research and find the one that best fits your needs.

For writing, you can use tools like ChatGPT to generate ideas, provide better prompts, and even improve your writing. Notion AI can help with grammar and provide suggestions to make your writing better and use Tana AI for generating ideas with custom prompts.

For automation, tools like Fathom and Noota can help with tasks like taking meeting notes and real-time translation.

For video, tools such as Autopod and Adobe Enhance can help achieve studio-quality sound, transcribe voice to text, summarize, and edit multiple cameras faster. For design, tools like Canva can assist with presentations, generating images, and removing unnecessary objects.

You can use this directory to find the appropriate tool for your needs.

Step 4: Automate

Once you've identified the tasks that can benefit from AI and found the right tool, it's time to automate. By automating these tasks, you'll be able to save time, increase productivity, and make more informed decisions for your business.

In conclusion, AI has become an integral part of business operations, even for solopreneurs. With this framework, solopreneurs can simplify their tasks, improve their productivity, and accelerate their business.

If you feel that AI tools don't help you to promote yourself and your business, then subscribe to Ilze's Personal Marketing Newsletter or reach out to her for a consultation.

https://www.ilze.co/newsletter

• For a marketing consult you can contact Ilze on Twitter or LinkedIn. Or you can contact Every Good Idea directly.

• If you want to pitch me a guest post related to A.I, you can send me a DM also on LinkedIn. I’m keen to showcase a wide range of voices on diverse topics related to A.i.

Thanks for reading! Let us know if you took any inspiration or have any follow-up questions for Izle.