How Small Businesses Can Use AI (Without Losing Their Personality)

AI isn’t your strategy—it’s a tool. In this conversation, Mike (Gen X, branding/web) and Liz (Gen Z, social strategist) dig into how small businesses can use AI to work smarter without losing their voice, judgment, or trust.

You’ll learn

• AI as partner, not pilot: Treat it like an intern—you remain the decision-maker.
• Hype vs. reality: Where AI truly saves time (research, summarizing, outlining) and where humans must lead (strategy, judgment).
• Beat blank-page syndrome: Use AI to brainstorm, structure, and refine—then edit for truth and tone.
• Prompting that works: Chain prompts, ask for critiques, and move one step at a time instead of one mega-ask.
• Protect your voice: Build a reusable context prompt and feed examples (transcripts, posts) so outputs sound like you.
• Authenticity matters: Why fully synthetic video/images can undercut trust—and when to avoid them.
• Tools with intent: Pick tools to solve real bottlenecks, not because they say “AI” on the box.
• Guardrails for safety: Fact-check, mind permissions/licensed media, and don’t outsource legal or high-risk calls to a model.
• Differentiation > automation: Your brand and strategy are the moats AI can’t provide—you supply the wisdom.

Quick wins you can do this week:

• Create a one-page context prompt (who you help, tone, dos/don’ts) and paste it at the top of new chats.
• Upload 2–3 transcripts or past posts; ask AI to summarize your voice, then rewrite one caption in that voice.
• Run a three-step chain: outline → devil’s-advocate critique → revised draft. Edit for accuracy and tone.
• Make two lists: “Safe to assist” (research, outlines, captions) and “Do not automate” (pricing, legal, sensitive comms).
• Pick one bottleneck (e.g., meeting notes or clip cutting), try a single AI tool for it, and document the workflow you’ll repeat.