Your 5-minute guide to AI that actually helps small business owners

Hey. Hope you had a great week!

Every week I dig through the AI news to find the updates that are actually worth your time as a small business owner. This week, I found a trend we've talked about before, but it’s moving swiftly and is worth another look.

AI is continuing to integrate into the software you already use. And AI is actually doing more of the work with each new release.

Let's jump in.

We talked about this last week, but another round of announcements makes the trend hard to ignore.

Wix, Thryv, FreshBooks, Google, and other companies are continuing to add more AI capabilities directly into their software. So you won’t have to pay for more AI tools and spend hours learning how to use them. Instead, you need to pay attention to what new things the software you're already paying for can do now.

The AI is a feature of the software, rather than the software itself being "an AI tool."

This is what you need to start paying attention to.

When you get a product update email from any software you use, including your CRM, accounting software, email platform or scheduling system, don't automatically delete it.

Take a quick look. Ask yourself:

"Did they just add something that could save me or my team time?"

You may already have access to more AI than you realize.

And if you want to see how this is going to evolve, the next story is worth a look.

We've talked about AI becoming a digital coworker before. ChatGPT Work and Claude were early examples of this shift. Now Grok is taking a similar approach with its new Grok Bot.

We're seeing the same idea emerge across AI platforms: instead of asking AI to complete one task at a time, you give it a goal and let it work across multiple tools and steps.

Grok Bot is an early-beta product from xAI that uses what the company calls "always-on agents." Rather than simply answering questions, these agents can work across applications, websites, inboxes and other tools to complete a series of tasks.

What I find particularly interesting is you can show the bot how you do something, have it remember the workflow, and then hand that process off to the bot in the future.

That's a pretty big change from the way we've traditionally used AI.

Grok Bot isn't something I'd recommend rushing out to sign-up for. It's still in early beta, and access is currently limited to certain paid plans, with enterprise users able to join a waitlist.

But that's not really the point. It’s knowing that AI can now help you manage entire workflows. And the skill that matters most may not be knowing how to write the perfect AI prompt.

It’s knowing which work should be handed off to AI, how you want it done, and when a human needs to step in.

Here's something you can try today. Google's Gemini can now work with Canva to turn an AI-generated image into an editable Canva design.

That means you can start with an idea in Gemini, generate the image, and then move it into Canva where you can customize the text, graphics, colors and layout.

This could be useful for creating a LinkedIn graphic, promoting a new service, announcing an event, or creating a simple marketing campaign without starting from a blank Canva page.

1. Go to Gemini and sign in.

2. Ask Gemini to create your image.

For example: "Create a professional LinkedIn graphic announcing [new service or product] using our brand colors, with space for our logo and a simple headline: [headline]. Use a 1200 x 627 pixel landscape format for LinkedIn."

3. Once Gemini creates the image, type: @Canva make it editable

You'll need to connect your Canva account if you haven't already.

4. Gemini will send the design to Canva.

5. Open it in Canva and make any changes you want.

You can adjust the text, graphics, colors, layout and other elements before using it.

The nice thing about this workflow is that AI isn't doing everything for you. It's getting you past the blank page, and then you can use your own judgment and brand knowledge to make the final product yours.

AI is easier to use because it's moving closer to the work you're already doing.

First, AI is built directly into everyday business software.

Next, we're seeing AI take on entire workflows instead of individual tasks.

And you can already use simple connections between tools like Gemini and Canva to save yourself some time today.

You don't need to chase every new AI tool.

Start with the software you already use, pay attention to what it's adding, and look for the places where AI can take a little work off your plate.

That's it for this week. Hopefully this gives you a clearer picture of what's changing in AI and a few ideas you can actually use in your business.

See you next week with more practical AI updates.

Yours in success,
Kathleen

P.S. Forward this to one business-owner friend who’s still “figuring out AI.” You’ll look like the smart one. 😊