May 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Episode #137: Top 3 AI Note Takers and Why You Need to Be Using One
Let’s be real... trying to take detailed notes during meetings and stay present is nearly impossible. That’s where AI comes in.
In this episode of Tech Savvy 101: AI & Automation Made Simple, I’m diving into the top 3 AI-powered note-taking tools that are saving entrepreneurs hours every single week. Whether you’re managing team meetings, client calls, or podcast interviews, these tools do the heavy lifting—so you can focus on the conversation without losing any details.
You’ll walk away knowing exactly which tools to try, how to use them, and how to avoid the most common mistakes people make when implementing AI note-takers into their workflow.
If you’re still manually typing out meeting notes—or worse, forgetting important details—this episode will completely change the way you work.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:
➔ Why AI note-takers are essential for busy entrepreneurs
➔ The pros, cons, and best use cases for Fireflies AI, Otter AI, and Fathom
➔ How to use AI note-takers to improve productivity, documentation, and team communication
➔ Real talk on privacy, permissions, and best practices
➔ How to choose the right tool for your business needs
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them—at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I personally use and love!
📌 Fireflies AI
📌 Otter AI
📌 Fathom
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:
02:26 – The Importance of AI Note Taking
03:32 – Overview of Top AI Note Taking Tools
04:20 – Fireflies AI: The Business Powerhouse
07:04 – Otter AI: The Collaborative Note Taker
10:53 – Fathom: Unlimited Recordings for Free
13:21 – Advanced Strategies for AI Note Taking
26:03 – Common Mistakes and Best Practices
28:32 – Conclusion and Final Thoughts
📲 Send us a text! Let us know what AI + Automation Topics you want to learn about next!
LET'S CONNECT
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🖥️ Website
💻 Facebook Group
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah Baker (00:50):
Hey there.
Welcome back to Tech Savvy 101: AI Automation Made Simple. (00:50):
undefined
I'm your host, Sarah Baker, yourtech savvy bestie, who's here to
help you simplify your business,embrace automation, and save
hours every week.
Today, I am super excited todive into a topic that is going
to completely transform how youhandle meetings, calls, and any
(01:13):
kind of recorded conversation.
We're talking about AI notetaking tools, and trust me, this
isn't just about having fancytranscripts sitting in a folder
somewhere on your desktopcollecting digital dust.
If you've ever sat through ameeting frantically, scribbling
notes while trying to actuallyparticipate in the conversation,
(01:35):
or if you've ever walked awayfrom an important call,
wondering if you actually caughtall of the key details, this
episode is going to be anabsolute game changer for how
you run your business.
I'm gonna walk you through 3 ofthe top AI notetaking tools on
the market, Fireflies AI, OtterAI and Fathom.
(01:55):
But more importantly, I'm alsogonna show you how to turn these
simple transcripts into absolutepowerhouse business and
educational assets that mostpeople never even think about.
By the end of this episode,you'll not only know which tools
fit your needs and your budget,but you'll have a complete
playbook for leveraging AItranscripts in ways that can
(02:19):
literally transform how youwork, learn, and grow your
business.
Let's dive in.
Let's start with a littlereality check.
Studies suggest that mostpeople's attentions start to
wane after just 10 to 18 minutesin meetings.
Now that's not because we'relazy.
(02:40):
Our brains are just wired thatway.
So when you're jugglinglistening with participating and
trying to take comprehensivenotes, something's gotta give.
And that's where AI note takingcomes in.
Think of using an AI note takeras having a personal meeting
assistant that never gets tiredor misses a word and can even
(03:02):
tell you the key takeawayswithout you having to dig
through pages and pages ofnotes.
And here's what most peopledon't realize, these tools
aren't just about convenience,they're about transformation.
Because when you stop worryingabout capturing every little
detail, you can actually be morepresent in your conversations.
(03:26):
You can ask better questions,you can build stronger
relationships, and you can focuson what really matters.
So in this episode, today, I ambreaking down three of the best
AI note taking tools on themarket.
Fireflies ai, Otter ai, andFathom.
I'm gonna go over theirfeatures, their pricing, and
their ideal use cases.
(03:46):
But more importantly, I'm gonnashow you how to turn these
simple transcripts into reallypowerful business and
educational assets that canactually transform how you work
and learn, and make you a morepowerful listener.
And make you better at your job.
So by the end of this episode,you're not only gonna know which
(04:07):
tool best fits your individualneeds and budget, but you're
also gonna have a completeplaybook for leveraging how to
use AI transcripts in ways thatmost people would never even
consider.
First, let's talk aboutFireflies AI.
I think of this as really abusiness powerhouse.
(04:27):
Fireflies is like having a supersmart intern in every meeting
that you attend, or even somethat you don't.
It automatically is gonna joinall of your video calls.
It's gonna transcribe everythingin real time, and then it's
gonna give you a summary thatactually makes sense and gives
you the most important actionitems.
But here's what really is gonnaset it apart, and that's the
(04:47):
integrations.
You can connect Fireflies toyour project management tools
like we've talked aboutrecently, Asana, Monday Notion.
You can also connect it to yourCRM, like HubSpot or Salesforce
or even your Slack workspace.
So when your meeting ends, andif there are action items that
come out of that meeting, theycan automatically flow right
(05:11):
into your task managementsystem.
It's not just taking notes inthat meeting, it's also turning
those notes into actionableworkflows.
And then it also has an AIanalysis feature that is really
impressive.
Fireflies can identifysentiment.
It can track speaker talk timeratios, and it can even extract
(05:35):
action items automatically.
So say you're in sales, it cananalyze even your pitch
effectiveness and highlightmoments where prospects on a
sales call showed a buyingsignal.
The pricing, I would say ispretty generous as well.
They have a free plan that givesyou unlimited transcriptions.
(05:57):
Yes, unlimited plus 800 minutesof storage, allowing you to
really hold onto the mostimportant calls that you want to
be able to refer back to.
Most small teams can get by onthis free plan for months, and
when you do upgrade, the paidplans start around$10 per month
(06:19):
per user.
The paid plan is gonna add infeatures like advanced search,
more integrations withadditional tools, conversation
intelligence and customvocabulary training.
One thing I particularly love isthe search functionality because
you can literally search acrossall of your meeting transcripts
(06:40):
for specific keywords or topicsor even phrases.
Overall, I think Fireflies isbest for businesses and sales
teams that need really seriousintegration capabilities and who
want their meeting notes toconnect with their existing
workflows.
It's also really excellent forteams who want that additional
detailed conversation analyticsfeature.
(07:04):
Next up is Otter AI.
This one is really popular.
This is what I use personally,so I can speak from experience
on Otter.
It has millions of users andit's probably a note taker that
you have seen on calls before.
If there's a reason it's sopopular and it's because it's
really user friendly and offersreal time transcription, that's
(07:26):
very accurate.
What I love about Otter is thatit's very collaborative.
Multiple people can highlightimportant parts during the
meeting, add comments, and evenassign action items to specific
team members.
Think of it kind of like GoogleDocs, but for meeting
transcripts, you can also createshared folders for different
(07:46):
projects or departments.
I like this because I record alot of meetings, so I can sort
my recordings into folders,which allows me to find them
even faster and keep similarrecordings or recordings about
similar topics together for eveneasier access.
(08:06):
Otter really excels ineducational settings as well.
It allows students to recordlectures, and it also
automatically captures sliderecordings, which is really
amazing.
So if you're on a Zoom call thathas a really great presentation.
When you go back to listen tothe recording, you can see the
(08:26):
slides in real time, which isreally, really nice.
It captures the slide changesand screenshots automatically
and syncs them with thetranscript.
The AI summary feature, which isonly on the paid plan, but it is
really good because it createslike structured summaries with
(08:47):
key topics and action items andimportant quotes, and it also
has a really great mobile app,which makes it really easy to
record and access transcripts onthe go.
The downside here is that thefree plan is a little bit less
than on Fireflies.
You get 300 minutes per monthand it caps individual
(09:10):
conversations at 30 minutes onthe free plan.
For some users, that's more thansufficient, but if you have,
say, back to back hour longmeetings, then you're gonna cap
out on the free plan quitequickly.
The paid plan starts as low as$8.33 per month.
And bumps you up to about 1200minutes monthly, and that gets
(09:31):
you additional features like AIgenerated summaries, advanced
search and priority support, andthen they go up to another tier
of the business plan level,which is$20 per month, which
also adds admin controls andsome additional features.
One of the things I love is thatyou also have the ability to
(09:53):
chat with your meeting summaryand ask their AI feature about
questions about your meetings.
So if you finish up a meetingand you wanna kind of pick the
AI's brain about the transcript,you can go back and ask it
questions, which is really,really helpful.
(10:14):
I also love that it integrateswith Zoom and Google Meet, and
it joins all your meetingsautomatically as long as the
meeting organizer allows thenote taker in.
So even if I'm not able toattend the call, if I have a
scheduling conflict, I can stillget the meeting transcript and
not fall behind on whatoccurred, even if I'm not able
(10:35):
to attend live.
Overall, I would say Otter isbest for general business use,
educational institutions, andteams that want the
collaborative note takingfeatures, but don't mind the
time limits on the free tier.
The final AI notetaker on ourlist, Fathom, offers unlimited
(10:58):
recordings for individualscompletely free.
Yep.
Let me repeat that.
Unlimited recordings, no catch.
So this alone makes it worthconsidering.
Fathom Excels at real-time notetaking and creates timestamped
highlights so you can jump tothe exact moment someone said
(11:18):
something important.
The interface is incrediblyclean and intuitive.
Probably the most user-friendlyof all the tools we're
discussing.
One of the most unique featuresis the ability to create
highlight reels, short videoclips of the most important
moments from your meeting.
This is really fantastic forsharing key decisions or
(11:42):
insights with team members whocouldn't attend.
Fathom also offers decentintegrations with popular CRM
systems, though not quite asextensive as Fireflies.
It also automatically syncs withSalesforce and HubSpot and other
platforms which work really wellfor basic use cases.
(12:02):
The AI summary feature createsstructured notes with decisions
made and action items and keytopics that were discussed, and
I would say that the quality isreally solid, though not quite
as detailed as some of thepremium alternatives that we've
already discussed.
The downside here is that itdoes have slightly more limited
(12:23):
advanced features compared toFireflies or Otter.
So if you're looking for reallydeep conversation analytics or
extensive integrations, Fathommight feel a little bit basic.
If you want to upgrade, the teamplans start at$32 per month for
(12:44):
unlimited users, which isactually quite competitive for
an organization-wide plan.
But for solo entrepreneurs or asmall team, just getting started
with AI note taking, Fathom'sfree tier is incredibly
generous.
So if you are an individual or asmall team who wants unlimited
(13:06):
recordings without a premiumprice tag, I would say Fathom is
best for you.
And if you don't need extensiveintegrations or advanced
analytics, Fathom is the choicefor you.
Now that we've covered all ofthe tools, let me share some of
the advanced strategies thatseparate the more casual users
(13:29):
from the true power users.
First off, we've got creatingyour AI coaching systems.
So remember that discovery callthat you had two weeks ago?
Well, let's dive deeper intocreating a systematic approach
to AI powered self-improvement.
Here's my recommended workflowfor you.
(13:51):
After every important call,whether it's a sales
conversation or a clientmeeting, or a team discussion, I
recommend that you follow thisthree-step process.
Step one is the immediateanalysis.
Take that transcript of thatcall and drop it into ChatGPT or
Claude with this prompt (14:08):
please analyze this conversation and
identify the top three insightsI should include in my follow-up
plus three things I could havedone better." Step two is
pattern recognition.
Once a week, feed your AIassistant multiple transcripts
and ask:"look at theseconversations.
What patterns do you see in mycommunication style?
(14:29):
What are my strengths and whatare my blind spots?" Step three
is skill development.
Use the feedback to createtargeted improvement goals.
Maybe you discover that youinterrupt people too much, or
maybe you're not asking enoughopen-ended questions.
By having chat analyze thetranscripts of your
conversations, you are able toidentify so much potential
(14:55):
opportunity for improvement.
That frankly,, even the bestmanager out there would probably
not call to your attention.
Next, we've got the contentcreation pipeline.
Here's a strategy that contentcreators and thought leaders
love, which is turning expertconversation into multiple
content pieces.
(15:16):
So let's say you have a 60minute client call where you
solve a really complex problem.
Here's how you're gonna multiplythat value.
You can extract teachingmoments.
Ask your AI to identify the topfive most valuable insights from
the conversation.
(15:36):
Then create social media contentout of it.
Turn each insight into aLinkedIn post, a Twitter thread
or an Instagram carousel, andthen develop case studies from
that.
Use the problem solving processas a template for future
clients, and then take that andbuild your knowledge base.
(15:57):
Add the solutions to your FAQsystem on your website.
I know entrepreneurs who havebuilt entire course curriculums
just from their best client calltranscripts.
The next opportunity is academicexcellence systems for students.
(16:17):
Here's how to create a trulyunfair advantage in your
studies.
If you have lecture recordings,ask your AI to connect the dots
between the lessons.
Drop in the recordingtranscripts and say:"what
(16:40):
overarching themes are emerginghere?
How do the concepts build oneach other?" Or if you have
multiple recordings ortranscripts from a course or a
college class that you'retaking, you could drop the
transcripts into chat and try tounderstand your professor's
(17:01):
priorities and say:"based onthese lectures, what topics does
this instructor spend the mosttime on?
What concepts do they return torepeatedly?" You could even use
to get an exam predictionengine, feed the AI all your
lecture transcripts before anexam and ask:"based on the
emphasis and the time spent ondifferent topics, predict what's
(17:24):
most likely to be on the exam"or ask it to create you a
comprehensive study guide andsay:"here are all the lectures
that are going to be covered inmy upcoming exam.
Please help me study.
Create me a study guide or quizme on this content." There is so
much potential here.
(17:46):
Now, here's where most peoplejust kind of stop thinking.
They get their transcript, maybethey glance at the summary and
they call it done.
But you are missing out on someincredible opportunities here.
So let me share some morecreative ways that business
owners and entrepreneurs andeven students can turn these
transcripts into pure gold.
If you are a business owner oran entrepreneur, for every
(18:09):
client call or team meeting orbrainstorming session, think of
the content that you could getout of every call if you pulled
out the most valuable 10 minutesegment, and turned it into
social media content, a blogpost, or even material for your
next course.
Obviously, it is important toget permission from those who
(18:31):
are on the call, but you alreadyhave that conversation and that
content done.
It's recorded, you have it, sowhy not multiply that impact?
In terms of training material,your new employee onboarding
could be so much easier if youjust record your best training
(18:51):
sessions, and boom.
You already have searchabletraining manuals.
So when someone asks somethinglike, how do we handle refunds
again?
You could point them to theexact timestamp in the
transcript from three monthsago, and create a vast library
of resources for your newemployees.
(19:14):
For things like processdocumentation, if you have
meeting transcripts to createstandard operating procedures,
then after a successful say,project kickoff meeting, that
transcript becomes your templatefor future kickoffs.
You will never forget a crucialstep again.
(19:34):
Another huge opportunity,especially for anyone who's in
sales or consulting or any typeof client relationship, is say
you are on a discovery call.
And obviously it is important tosay that you wanna make sure
that whoever's on the other sideof your call, you wanna make
sure that they know that you arerecording the call for note
(19:56):
taking purposes.
But here's where the magichappens.
After the call is finished, takethat transcript and drop it into
ChatGPT or Claude, ask it twopowerful questions.
First,"based on thisconversation, what should I
include in my proposal for thisclient?" You would be amazed at
(20:16):
the insights that AI would pullout that you may have completely
missed during that call.
Especially if you were nervouson the call.
Maybe you didn't wanna befrantically writing down notes
the entire time.
'cause it is important to alsobe making eye contact with your
client.
Maybe you only wrote down thebig picture ideas, but.
(20:37):
AI doesn't miss anything.
So that transcript has all thelittle details that that client
mentioned.
Maybe they mentioned a specificpain point in kind of passing or
hinted at a budget constraintthat you may have missed in the
moment.
But here's the real kicker.
Not only is AI going to be ableto give you a summary of what
(20:58):
you could put in that proposalfor the client.
Which is gonna make you looklike a total rockstar when you
send them your proposal.
But the second question that youcan ask is feedback for your own
performance.
"How could I have asked betterquestions?
What opportunities did I miss todive deeper?" It's like having a
sales coach review every singlecall with you.
(21:21):
I've seen people improve theirclose rates dramatically just by
getting this AI feedback afterevery discovery call.
And it's not just for discoverycalls either.
This could be for coachingcalls.
"How could I have coached thisstudent better?
How could I have performedbetter on this pitch?" Any call
(21:43):
that you were on, you can takethe transcript.
And put it into chat and say,"coach me.
Give me feedback.
How did I do?
How can I improve better?
How can I do better next time?
Where can I improve?" Thinkabout this for a second.
(22:04):
You're taking a relativelyinexpensive note taking tool,
maybe$10 to$20 a month if you'reon the paid plan and you're
combining it with your AIassistant, and you are creating
a powerful coaching system.
Now you have feedback on everysingle call you speak on, every
(22:25):
discovery call.
Every coaching session, everyclient meeting becomes a
learning opportunity for you tobe better.
You are literally gettingstronger with every conversation
you have.
So most business coaches chargehundreds of dollars per session,
and here you are gettingpersonalized coaching feedback
(22:47):
for the cost of what a lunch?
That's the kind of leverage thatseparates successful
entrepreneurs from everyoneelse.
So if you are not recording yoursessions and actually using
those transcripts forself-improvement, you are
missing out on a massiveopportunity.
(23:08):
And here's another opportunityto level up.
This is like pro, pro, pro tip.
If you are selling on a salespresentation or a webinar or a
any type of pitch, don't justget the audio transcript,
download the chat transcripttoo, drop both of them into your
AI assistant and ask it toanalyze what questions your
(23:32):
audience had during thepresentation.
This is going to give youincredible insights into what
resonated, where people wereconfused, and what objections
came up that you might havemissed.
And that is something important.
Because if you are selling, sayon a webinar.
(23:54):
There's the same questionscoming up over and over and over
again in the chat and ChatGPTcan analyze that.
It's going to be able to tellyou how to improve and it can
analyze all of that from thetranscript of both your pitch
and the chat that happened whileyou were pitching.
(24:18):
That is incredibly powerfuldata.
Now if chat is giving youglowing feedback,"you did great.
What a good job." Push back onit some and say,"please be tough
on me.
Give me constructive criticismso I can improve." Sometimes AI
assistants tend to be overlypolite, which is great.
(24:40):
We love polite, but if you wantbrutal honesty, if you're
serious about getting better,the goal isn't just to give you
glowing praise about yourperformance, it's to actually
improve.
So it's okay to push back andsay,"tell me where people were
confused.
Tell me how I can improve."Please be, you know, you don't
(25:00):
want it to be like savage, butit's okay to say,"please be
tough with me and tell me how Ican improve." All right, so
let's make this actionable.
Here is my recommendedstep-by-step plan for you to get
started with AI note takingtoday.
Step one, choose and set up Pickone tool based on the
(25:21):
recommendations in this episode,and start with the free tier.
Don't overthink it.
Set up your account and connectit to your calendar so it starts
recording your meetings today.
Then I would recommend that yourecord two to three low key
meetings or calls.
Get comfortable with how thetool works and how to access
your transcripts.
(25:42):
Next step, take one of yourtranscripts and try the AI
analysis techniques we'vediscussed and see what insights
that you can extract.
Finally, decide which types ofmeetings that you're gonna
regularly record, how you'regonna store them, how you're
gonna organize your transcripts,and what your weekly review
process is going to look like.
(26:03):
Here's some common mistakes toavoid.
Mistake number one is recordingeverything.
I highly recommend that youstart selective record,
important meetings.
Not every single casual chat.
That's the easy way to overwhelmyourself and therefore not use
your transcripts because youjust have too much.
(26:24):
Mistake number two is ignoringyour audio quality.
Bad audio means bad transcripts.
I recommend that you invest insome basic audio equipment.
I will link my recommendationsin the show notes.
You certainly do not needpodcast quality equipment if you
are not recording a podcast, butyou do wanna have decent
equipment so that you do getgood level recordings.
(26:49):
Mistake number three isforgetting to inform
participants.
It is always important to getconsent.
Most of these will automaticallyinform your meeting participants
that the meeting is beingrecorded, but make sure,
especially when recordingclients that you let them know
(27:09):
that the meeting is beingrecorded.
It just ensures that everybodyhas that open trust.
Mistake number four is the setand forget mentality.
The magic happens when you'reactively using the transcripts,
not just letting them sit on thedigital shelf.
Mistake number five is notbacking up important recordings.
(27:32):
These tools are obviouslygenerally very reliable, but
important conversations deservea backup storage.
So if there is something thatyou would be devastated if it
was lost, consider a duplicatebackup system such as Google
Drive or Dropbox.
Here's what I want you tounderstand.
The real power of AI note takingisn't in any single transcript
(27:57):
or meeting.
It's in the compound effect ofsystematically improving your
communication skills over time.
So every analyzed call makes youslightly better at the next one.
Every pattern that you identifyhelps you to make better
decisions.
And every insight that youextract adds to your
professional knowledge base.
(28:19):
So six months from now, you'lllook back and realize that the
simple decision to startrecording and analyzing your
conversations was a majorturning point in your business
or academic performance.
And there you have it.
AI note taking tools aren't justconvenient.
They are truly transformativewhen you use them to their full
(28:43):
potential.
If you're not worried aboutcapturing every little detail,
you can actually be present inyour meetings.
You can ask better questions,contribute more meaningfully,
and build strongerrelationships.
Most of these tools do offerreally generous, free plans, so
there's no reason not toexperiment.
Pick one that matches yourneeds.
(29:04):
Give it a test run for a fewweeks and let me know what you
think.
If this helped you out today,make sure to subscribe and leave
me a review, and if you try oneof these tools, I would love to
hear about your experience.
Thanks so much for tuning in tothis episode of Tech Savvy 101.
I'll see you really soon.
Hey there.
Welcome back to Tech Savvy 101: AI Automation Made Simple. (00:50):
undefined
I'm your host, Sarah Baker, yourtech savvy bestie, who's here to
help you simplify your business,embrace automation, and save
hours every week.
Today, I am super excited todive into a topic that is going
to completely transform how youhandle meetings, calls, and any
(01:13):
kind of recorded conversation.
We're talking about AI notetaking tools, and trust me, this
isn't just about having fancytranscripts sitting in a folder
somewhere on your desktopcollecting digital dust.
If you've ever sat through ameeting frantically, scribbling
notes while trying to actuallyparticipate in the conversation,
(01:35):
or if you've ever walked awayfrom an important call,
wondering if you actually caughtall of the key details, this
episode is going to be anabsolute game changer for how
you run your business.
I'm gonna walk you through 3 ofthe top AI notetaking tools on
the market, Fireflies AI, OtterAI and Fathom.
(01:55):
But more importantly, I'm alsogonna show you how to turn these
simple transcripts into absolutepowerhouse business and
educational assets that mostpeople never even think about.
By the end of this episode,you'll not only know which tools
fit your needs and your budget,but you'll have a complete
playbook for leveraging AItranscripts in ways that can
(02:19):
literally transform how youwork, learn, and grow your
business.
Let's dive in.
Let's start with a littlereality check.
Studies suggest that mostpeople's attentions start to
wane after just 10 to 18 minutesin meetings.
Now that's not because we'relazy.
(02:40):
Our brains are just wired thatway.
So when you're jugglinglistening with participating and
trying to take comprehensivenotes, something's gotta give.
And that's where AI note takingcomes in.
Think of using an AI note takeras having a personal meeting
assistant that never gets tiredor misses a word and can even
(03:02):
tell you the key takeawayswithout you having to dig
through pages and pages ofnotes.
And here's what most peopledon't realize, these tools
aren't just about convenience,they're about transformation.
Because when you stop worryingabout capturing every little
detail, you can actually be morepresent in your conversations.
(03:26):
You can ask better questions,you can build stronger
relationships, and you can focuson what really matters.
So in this episode, today, I ambreaking down three of the best
AI note taking tools on themarket.
Fireflies ai, Otter ai, andFathom.
I'm gonna go over theirfeatures, their pricing, and
their ideal use cases.
(03:46):
But more importantly, I'm gonnashow you how to turn these
simple transcripts into reallypowerful business and
educational assets that canactually transform how you work
and learn, and make you a morepowerful listener.
And make you better at your job.
So by the end of this episode,you're not only gonna know which
(04:07):
tool best fits your individualneeds and budget, but you're
also gonna have a completeplaybook for leveraging how to
use AI transcripts in ways thatmost people would never even
consider.
First, let's talk aboutFireflies AI.
I think of this as really abusiness powerhouse.
(04:27):
Fireflies is like having a supersmart intern in every meeting
that you attend, or even somethat you don't.
It automatically is gonna joinall of your video calls.
It's gonna transcribe everythingin real time, and then it's
gonna give you a summary thatactually makes sense and gives
you the most important actionitems.
But here's what really is gonnaset it apart, and that's the
(04:47):
integrations.
You can connect Fireflies toyour project management tools
like we've talked aboutrecently, Asana, Monday Notion.
You can also connect it to yourCRM, like HubSpot or Salesforce
or even your Slack workspace.
So when your meeting ends, andif there are action items that
come out of that meeting, theycan automatically flow right
(05:11):
into your task managementsystem.
It's not just taking notes inthat meeting, it's also turning
those notes into actionableworkflows.
And then it also has an AIanalysis feature that is really
impressive.
Fireflies can identifysentiment.
It can track speaker talk timeratios, and it can even extract
(05:35):
action items automatically.
So say you're in sales, it cananalyze even your pitch
effectiveness and highlightmoments where prospects on a
sales call showed a buyingsignal.
The pricing, I would say ispretty generous as well.
They have a free plan that givesyou unlimited transcriptions.
(05:57):
Yes, unlimited plus 800 minutesof storage, allowing you to
really hold onto the mostimportant calls that you want to
be able to refer back to.
Most small teams can get by onthis free plan for months, and
when you do upgrade, the paidplans start around$10 per month
(06:19):
per user.
The paid plan is gonna add infeatures like advanced search,
more integrations withadditional tools, conversation
intelligence and customvocabulary training.
One thing I particularly love isthe search functionality because
you can literally search acrossall of your meeting transcripts
(06:40):
for specific keywords or topicsor even phrases.
Overall, I think Fireflies isbest for businesses and sales
teams that need really seriousintegration capabilities and who
want their meeting notes toconnect with their existing
workflows.
It's also really excellent forteams who want that additional
detailed conversation analyticsfeature.
(07:04):
Next up is Otter AI.
This one is really popular.
This is what I use personally,so I can speak from experience
on Otter.
It has millions of users andit's probably a note taker that
you have seen on calls before.
If there's a reason it's sopopular and it's because it's
really user friendly and offersreal time transcription, that's
(07:26):
very accurate.
What I love about Otter is thatit's very collaborative.
Multiple people can highlightimportant parts during the
meeting, add comments, and evenassign action items to specific
team members.
Think of it kind of like GoogleDocs, but for meeting
transcripts, you can also createshared folders for different
(07:46):
projects or departments.
I like this because I record alot of meetings, so I can sort
my recordings into folders,which allows me to find them
even faster and keep similarrecordings or recordings about
similar topics together for eveneasier access.
(08:06):
Otter really excels ineducational settings as well.
It allows students to recordlectures, and it also
automatically captures sliderecordings, which is really
amazing.
So if you're on a Zoom call thathas a really great presentation.
When you go back to listen tothe recording, you can see the
(08:26):
slides in real time, which isreally, really nice.
It captures the slide changesand screenshots automatically
and syncs them with thetranscript.
The AI summary feature, which isonly on the paid plan, but it is
really good because it createslike structured summaries with
(08:47):
key topics and action items andimportant quotes, and it also
has a really great mobile app,which makes it really easy to
record and access transcripts onthe go.
The downside here is that thefree plan is a little bit less
than on Fireflies.
You get 300 minutes per monthand it caps individual
(09:10):
conversations at 30 minutes onthe free plan.
For some users, that's more thansufficient, but if you have,
say, back to back hour longmeetings, then you're gonna cap
out on the free plan quitequickly.
The paid plan starts as low as$8.33 per month.
And bumps you up to about 1200minutes monthly, and that gets
(09:31):
you additional features like AIgenerated summaries, advanced
search and priority support, andthen they go up to another tier
of the business plan level,which is$20 per month, which
also adds admin controls andsome additional features.
One of the things I love is thatyou also have the ability to
(09:53):
chat with your meeting summaryand ask their AI feature about
questions about your meetings.
So if you finish up a meetingand you wanna kind of pick the
AI's brain about the transcript,you can go back and ask it
questions, which is really,really helpful.
(10:14):
I also love that it integrateswith Zoom and Google Meet, and
it joins all your meetingsautomatically as long as the
meeting organizer allows thenote taker in.
So even if I'm not able toattend the call, if I have a
scheduling conflict, I can stillget the meeting transcript and
not fall behind on whatoccurred, even if I'm not able
(10:35):
to attend live.
Overall, I would say Otter isbest for general business use,
educational institutions, andteams that want the
collaborative note takingfeatures, but don't mind the
time limits on the free tier.
The final AI notetaker on ourlist, Fathom, offers unlimited
(10:58):
recordings for individualscompletely free.
Yep.
Let me repeat that.
Unlimited recordings, no catch.
So this alone makes it worthconsidering.
Fathom Excels at real-time notetaking and creates timestamped
highlights so you can jump tothe exact moment someone said
(11:18):
something important.
The interface is incrediblyclean and intuitive.
Probably the most user-friendlyof all the tools we're
discussing.
One of the most unique featuresis the ability to create
highlight reels, short videoclips of the most important
moments from your meeting.
This is really fantastic forsharing key decisions or
(11:42):
insights with team members whocouldn't attend.
Fathom also offers decentintegrations with popular CRM
systems, though not quite asextensive as Fireflies.
It also automatically syncs withSalesforce and HubSpot and other
platforms which work really wellfor basic use cases.
(12:02):
The AI summary feature createsstructured notes with decisions
made and action items and keytopics that were discussed, and
I would say that the quality isreally solid, though not quite
as detailed as some of thepremium alternatives that we've
already discussed.
The downside here is that itdoes have slightly more limited
(12:23):
advanced features compared toFireflies or Otter.
So if you're looking for reallydeep conversation analytics or
extensive integrations, Fathommight feel a little bit basic.
If you want to upgrade, the teamplans start at$32 per month for
(12:44):
unlimited users, which isactually quite competitive for
an organization-wide plan.
But for solo entrepreneurs or asmall team, just getting started
with AI note taking, Fathom'sfree tier is incredibly
generous.
So if you are an individual or asmall team who wants unlimited
(13:06):
recordings without a premiumprice tag, I would say Fathom is
best for you.
And if you don't need extensiveintegrations or advanced
analytics, Fathom is the choicefor you.
Now that we've covered all ofthe tools, let me share some of
the advanced strategies thatseparate the more casual users
(13:29):
from the true power users.
First off, we've got creatingyour AI coaching systems.
So remember that discovery callthat you had two weeks ago?
Well, let's dive deeper intocreating a systematic approach
to AI powered self-improvement.
Here's my recommended workflowfor you.
(13:51):
After every important call,whether it's a sales
conversation or a clientmeeting, or a team discussion, I
recommend that you follow thisthree-step process.
Step one is the immediateanalysis.
Take that transcript of thatcall and drop it into ChatGPT or
Claude with this prompt (14:08):
please analyze this conversation and
identify the top three insightsI should include in my follow-up
plus three things I could havedone better." Step two is
pattern recognition.
Once a week, feed your AIassistant multiple transcripts
and ask:"look at theseconversations.
What patterns do you see in mycommunication style?
(14:29):
What are my strengths and whatare my blind spots?" Step three
is skill development.
Use the feedback to createtargeted improvement goals.
Maybe you discover that youinterrupt people too much, or
maybe you're not asking enoughopen-ended questions.
By having chat analyze thetranscripts of your
conversations, you are able toidentify so much potential
(14:55):
opportunity for improvement.
That frankly,, even the bestmanager out there would probably
not call to your attention.
Next, we've got the contentcreation pipeline.
Here's a strategy that contentcreators and thought leaders
love, which is turning expertconversation into multiple
content pieces.
(15:16):
So let's say you have a 60minute client call where you
solve a really complex problem.
Here's how you're gonna multiplythat value.
You can extract teachingmoments.
Ask your AI to identify the topfive most valuable insights from
the conversation.
(15:36):
Then create social media contentout of it.
Turn each insight into aLinkedIn post, a Twitter thread
or an Instagram carousel, andthen develop case studies from
that.
Use the problem solving processas a template for future
clients, and then take that andbuild your knowledge base.
(15:57):
Add the solutions to your FAQsystem on your website.
I know entrepreneurs who havebuilt entire course curriculums
just from their best client calltranscripts.
The next opportunity is academicexcellence systems for students.
(16:17):
Here's how to create a trulyunfair advantage in your
studies.
If you have lecture recordings,ask your AI to connect the dots
between the lessons.
Drop in the recordingtranscripts and say:"what
(16:40):
overarching themes are emerginghere?
How do the concepts build oneach other?" Or if you have
multiple recordings ortranscripts from a course or a
college class that you'retaking, you could drop the
transcripts into chat and try tounderstand your professor's
(17:01):
priorities and say:"based onthese lectures, what topics does
this instructor spend the mosttime on?
What concepts do they return torepeatedly?" You could even use
to get an exam predictionengine, feed the AI all your
lecture transcripts before anexam and ask:"based on the
emphasis and the time spent ondifferent topics, predict what's
(17:24):
most likely to be on the exam"or ask it to create you a
comprehensive study guide andsay:"here are all the lectures
that are going to be covered inmy upcoming exam.
Please help me study.
Create me a study guide or quizme on this content." There is so
much potential here.
(17:46):
Now, here's where most peoplejust kind of stop thinking.
They get their transcript, maybethey glance at the summary and
they call it done.
But you are missing out on someincredible opportunities here.
So let me share some morecreative ways that business
owners and entrepreneurs andeven students can turn these
transcripts into pure gold.
If you are a business owner oran entrepreneur, for every
(18:09):
client call or team meeting orbrainstorming session, think of
the content that you could getout of every call if you pulled
out the most valuable 10 minutesegment, and turned it into
social media content, a blogpost, or even material for your
next course.
Obviously, it is important toget permission from those who
(18:31):
are on the call, but you alreadyhave that conversation and that
content done.
It's recorded, you have it, sowhy not multiply that impact?
In terms of training material,your new employee onboarding
could be so much easier if youjust record your best training
(18:51):
sessions, and boom.
You already have searchabletraining manuals.
So when someone asks somethinglike, how do we handle refunds
again?
You could point them to theexact timestamp in the
transcript from three monthsago, and create a vast library
of resources for your newemployees.
(19:14):
For things like processdocumentation, if you have
meeting transcripts to createstandard operating procedures,
then after a successful say,project kickoff meeting, that
transcript becomes your templatefor future kickoffs.
You will never forget a crucialstep again.
(19:34):
Another huge opportunity,especially for anyone who's in
sales or consulting or any typeof client relationship, is say
you are on a discovery call.
And obviously it is important tosay that you wanna make sure
that whoever's on the other sideof your call, you wanna make
sure that they know that you arerecording the call for note
(19:56):
taking purposes.
But here's where the magichappens.
After the call is finished, takethat transcript and drop it into
ChatGPT or Claude, ask it twopowerful questions.
First,"based on thisconversation, what should I
include in my proposal for thisclient?" You would be amazed at
(20:16):
the insights that AI would pullout that you may have completely
missed during that call.
Especially if you were nervouson the call.
Maybe you didn't wanna befrantically writing down notes
the entire time.
'cause it is important to alsobe making eye contact with your
client.
Maybe you only wrote down thebig picture ideas, but.
(20:37):
AI doesn't miss anything.
So that transcript has all thelittle details that that client
mentioned.
Maybe they mentioned a specificpain point in kind of passing or
hinted at a budget constraintthat you may have missed in the
moment.
But here's the real kicker.
Not only is AI going to be ableto give you a summary of what
(20:58):
you could put in that proposalfor the client.
Which is gonna make you looklike a total rockstar when you
send them your proposal.
But the second question that youcan ask is feedback for your own
performance.
"How could I have asked betterquestions?
What opportunities did I miss todive deeper?" It's like having a
sales coach review every singlecall with you.
(21:21):
I've seen people improve theirclose rates dramatically just by
getting this AI feedback afterevery discovery call.
And it's not just for discoverycalls either.
This could be for coachingcalls.
"How could I have coached thisstudent better?
How could I have performedbetter on this pitch?" Any call
(21:43):
that you were on, you can takethe transcript.
And put it into chat and say,"coach me.
Give me feedback.
How did I do?
How can I improve better?
How can I do better next time?
Where can I improve?" Thinkabout this for a second.
(22:04):
You're taking a relativelyinexpensive note taking tool,
maybe$10 to$20 a month if you'reon the paid plan and you're
combining it with your AIassistant, and you are creating
a powerful coaching system.
Now you have feedback on everysingle call you speak on, every
(22:25):
discovery call.
Every coaching session, everyclient meeting becomes a
learning opportunity for you tobe better.
You are literally gettingstronger with every conversation
you have.
So most business coaches chargehundreds of dollars per session,
and here you are gettingpersonalized coaching feedback
(22:47):
for the cost of what a lunch?
That's the kind of leverage thatseparates successful
entrepreneurs from everyoneelse.
So if you are not recording yoursessions and actually using
those transcripts forself-improvement, you are
missing out on a massiveopportunity.
(23:08):
And here's another opportunityto level up.
This is like pro, pro, pro tip.
If you are selling on a salespresentation or a webinar or a
any type of pitch, don't justget the audio transcript,
download the chat transcripttoo, drop both of them into your
AI assistant and ask it toanalyze what questions your
(23:32):
audience had during thepresentation.
This is going to give youincredible insights into what
resonated, where people wereconfused, and what objections
came up that you might havemissed.
And that is something important.
Because if you are selling, sayon a webinar.
(23:54):
There's the same questionscoming up over and over and over
again in the chat and ChatGPTcan analyze that.
It's going to be able to tellyou how to improve and it can
analyze all of that from thetranscript of both your pitch
and the chat that happened whileyou were pitching.
(24:18):
That is incredibly powerfuldata.
Now if chat is giving youglowing feedback,"you did great.
What a good job." Push back onit some and say,"please be tough
on me.
Give me constructive criticismso I can improve." Sometimes AI
assistants tend to be overlypolite, which is great.
(24:40):
We love polite, but if you wantbrutal honesty, if you're
serious about getting better,the goal isn't just to give you
glowing praise about yourperformance, it's to actually
improve.
So it's okay to push back andsay,"tell me where people were
confused.
Tell me how I can improve."Please be, you know, you don't
(25:00):
want it to be like savage, butit's okay to say,"please be
tough with me and tell me how Ican improve." All right, so
let's make this actionable.
Here is my recommendedstep-by-step plan for you to get
started with AI note takingtoday.
Step one, choose and set up Pickone tool based on the
(25:21):
recommendations in this episode,and start with the free tier.
Don't overthink it.
Set up your account and connectit to your calendar so it starts
recording your meetings today.
Then I would recommend that yourecord two to three low key
meetings or calls.
Get comfortable with how thetool works and how to access
your transcripts.
(25:42):
Next step, take one of yourtranscripts and try the AI
analysis techniques we'vediscussed and see what insights
that you can extract.
Finally, decide which types ofmeetings that you're gonna
regularly record, how you'regonna store them, how you're
gonna organize your transcripts,and what your weekly review
process is going to look like.
(26:03):
Here's some common mistakes toavoid.
Mistake number one is recordingeverything.
I highly recommend that youstart selective record,
important meetings.
Not every single casual chat.
That's the easy way to overwhelmyourself and therefore not use
your transcripts because youjust have too much.
(26:24):
Mistake number two is ignoringyour audio quality.
Bad audio means bad transcripts.
I recommend that you invest insome basic audio equipment.
I will link my recommendationsin the show notes.
You certainly do not needpodcast quality equipment if you
are not recording a podcast, butyou do wanna have decent
equipment so that you do getgood level recordings.
(26:49):
Mistake number three isforgetting to inform
participants.
It is always important to getconsent.
Most of these will automaticallyinform your meeting participants
that the meeting is beingrecorded, but make sure,
especially when recordingclients that you let them know
(27:09):
that the meeting is beingrecorded.
It just ensures that everybodyhas that open trust.
Mistake number four is the setand forget mentality.
The magic happens when you'reactively using the transcripts,
not just letting them sit on thedigital shelf.
Mistake number five is notbacking up important recordings.
(27:32):
These tools are obviouslygenerally very reliable, but
important conversations deservea backup storage.
So if there is something thatyou would be devastated if it
was lost, consider a duplicatebackup system such as Google
Drive or Dropbox.
Here's what I want you tounderstand.
The real power of AI note takingisn't in any single transcript
(27:57):
or meeting.
It's in the compound effect ofsystematically improving your
communication skills over time.
So every analyzed call makes youslightly better at the next one.
Every pattern that you identifyhelps you to make better
decisions.
And every insight that youextract adds to your
professional knowledge base.
(28:19):
So six months from now, you'lllook back and realize that the
simple decision to startrecording and analyzing your
conversations was a majorturning point in your business
or academic performance.
And there you have it.
AI note taking tools aren't justconvenient.
They are truly transformativewhen you use them to their full
(28:43):
potential.
If you're not worried aboutcapturing every little detail,
you can actually be present inyour meetings.
You can ask better questions,contribute more meaningfully,
and build strongerrelationships.
Most of these tools do offerreally generous, free plans, so
there's no reason not toexperiment.
Pick one that matches yourneeds.
(29:04):
Give it a test run for a fewweeks and let me know what you
think.
If this helped you out today,make sure to subscribe and leave
me a review, and if you try oneof these tools, I would love to
hear about your experience.
Thanks so much for tuning in tothis episode of Tech Savvy 101.
I'll see you really soon.
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