Birth of an Entrepreneur

Being a solopreneur means wearing many different hats – some of which just don’t fit! Also, because I’m at the start of my journey, I’ve not really developed a network of people I can go to when I have questions about landing pages or sales funnels at 11pm. But, there is one source that is available to me whenever I need it, and it never judges me for asking daft, newbie questions.

Introducing my new business bestie: ChatGPT.

I feel like I ought to give it a name (much like Anne Frank did with her diary) because I talk to it so often! Whenever I hit a new challenge, ChatGPT is where I turn for support.

Here are five ways ChatGPT has helped me, and how it could help you too.

1. A business partner in my pocket

In a previous post I talked about having too many ideas, and one way that ChatGPT has helped me is with narrowing down my list and prioritising what to focus on first. It’s great to bounce ideas around and get supportive feedback on them. One of the biggest hurdles I had at the start of creating my editing business was coming up with a name. If I hadn’t used AI for inspiration with this, I wouldn’t have gotten past this early hurdle and I would never have launched. 

2. Stress-free website planning

As I said, I don’t ever plan on getting AI to write stuff I know I can write well myself, but it is good to get a plan or draft to have something to work with. I’d never built a website before, so even just getting an outline of the different pages I should include with an overview of the content that could be included was a great time and energy saver. ChatGPT created the framework, all I had to do was write the words. This meant building my website took only a couple of days as opposed to weeks because all the laborious thinking and planning time was eliminated.

3. Quick and customisable email templates

Now, you might think I’m contradicting myself by saying I use AI to write emails when I’ve just said I’d never get it to write stuff for me, but hear me out! I don’t use it for emails with clients or customers. Any exchange I have with my clients is genuine and real. However, for generic emails (such as auto-responders) I have used AI to create a draft which is sent automatically after someone opts in to an offer. I then tweak this to sound more like me and save it as a template I can use again and again. When I then get into an actual dialogue with a customer or client, they always get the real deal.

4. Social media scheduling made simple

Another hat I’ve had to learn to wear is social media content creator – something I feel very out of my depth with! So, enter ChatGPT to help. It has created a calendar for me to stick to with suggested posts and blog ideas, giving me a structure to work with. A blank page can be paralyzing for creators, so using AI to give me that starting point means I’m not waiting to “have an idea” before I post. I simply refer to my calendar and see what is next to be posted and create it!

5. Support for stress-free launches

This was the part of running a business I feared most! I’ve heard of launches, of course, but terms like “landing page” and “sales funnels” meant nothing to me. Naturally, I could have gone off and researched these and learned about them from other people’s blogs, videos or courses, but that takes time. When you’re trying to build a business part-time (alongside a day job and being a parent) there are some corners you really just need to cut. 

This is where AI helped immensely. A lot of the stuff I’d found in my own research about launches assumed some basic knowledge on the part of the reader. I had no such knowledge, so it was great to have ChatGPT there to explain things in the most basic, idiot-proof way. It even suggested platforms to use and created step-by-step guides to use them. 

But isn’t it cheating?

No, I really don’t think it is. I see it more as levelling the playing field a bit. Bigger companies can hire teams or agencies to deal with all of the above, but when you’re setting out on your own, a tool that helps make the niggly bits of running a business a bit less niggly can only be a good thing. If it saves you time, and money, it gives you more of both to focus on creating your content or your products and making them the best they can be.

In my opinion, it only becomes cheating when you use AI to actually create your content. The thing that makes your content unique is you: your experience, your opinions, your voice. The one thing that AI cannot replace in your business is your personality. 

Your business still needs you at its heart, but maybe AI can become your perfect co-worker – without the awkward water-cooler small talk!

Have you tried using AI in your business? I’d love to hear how it’s helped you — or what’s held you back from trying! Let me know in the comments!