10+ Easy Ways to Use AI to Create a Business

Hi friends, since the world is buzzing with talks of how to do better work with the AI, I thought I’d chime in with my experience leveraging it the last few weeks. But first, let me juxtapose my recent experience against past ones.

In 2013, a few years into my post-college career, I ventured into entrepreneurship, offering services in storytelling, social media, and website builds. Back then, the business landscape was far from AI-integrated, relying heavily on manual processes for tasks like logo creation, copywriting, and engaging customers. In fact, the gap in knowledge around how to set these things up became the cornerstone of my former business.

Fast forward to 2024, after a 15+ year stint in corporate life, I found myself itching to dive back into entrepreneurship. Thanks to the advancements in AI, setting up my new venture felt like a breeze compared to a decade ago. From brand design to website creation, AI tools streamlined my launch process.

Over the course of two weeks, I had a company name chosen, a URL purchased, an LLC registered, a logo created, social media handles secured, a website drafted, legal templates in the works, a photoshoot scheduled, and an initial customer project underway. By and large, I was ready to open my virtual doors for business—and AI accelerated it.

Ways to use AI to build a business

I enlisted the help of ChatGPT to refine my service offerings, craft an approachable website copy, and draft a compelling mission statement. Canva Magic Studio was my go-to for design templates, slide edits, and image enhancements, while SquareSpace AI helped me build a customized website with ease.

I asked ChatGPT, a free NLP chatbot, to help me:

• Refine the language written around my services offerings

• Refine website copy for an approachable tone, tag lines, and catchy email sign up forms

• Draft a succinct mission statement based on the services and values I defined for the business

• Draft a business plan and list of areas to budget for to ensure I was remembering all the right components for success

• Draft a website terms and conditions and privacy policy based on planned service and product offerings

I leveraged Canva Magic Studio, a free online graphic design tool, to:

• Find design templates to jumpstart the creation of logos, slide templates, brand guides, and photoshoot briefs

• Edit slides from my phone at FedEx to improve the print quality with Magic Resize

• Edit copy to be more fun and engaging with Magic Write

• Modify headshots to remove backgrounds to be more polished and professional

I used SquareSpace AI, a customizable website solution, to:

• Create a custom website template with preferred pages, colors, and copy

• Modify website copy to be shorter or longer

Where AI fails in business acceleration

Despite its benefits, AI isn't without its quirks. ChatGPT's suggestions for making money were comically unhelpful, and GoDaddy's AI struggled to recognize my business type accurately, resulting in outdated website templates.

I asked ChatGPT ways to make significant amounts of money in business. It returned ideas like get a big inheritance, get a high-paying job, and win the lottery. These suggestions, while humorous and entertaining, aren’t particularly helpful in designing a profitable business model. There was no way they’d be part of a viable business plan.

I tried to use the GoDaddy Coming Soon Website AI tool and was unable to get it to recognize my company as anything other than technical security. As a result, all the auto generated templates felt outdated and irrelevant. Publishing the page as a soft launch for email capture—while a good idea on the surface—would have been a brand fail for first impressions.

Considerations when using AI to launch a business

While AI can accelerate the initial stages of business setup, it's crucial to remember its limitations. AI tools can kickstart your ideas and streamline processes, but they shouldn't replace the human touch in creating a cohesive brand and ensuring business success.

At this juncture, if you were to create all the components of your business using exclusively AI, you may end up with some misguided ideas, outdated facts, poor brand taste, inconsistent voice in copy, absurdity in imagery, and more. These tools are also dispersed across many different business activities from designing to website building to image creation and idea generation. Yet, I know someone out there is trying to prove it’s possible.

Rather, AI today is a low-cost accelerator to your first draft or a way to evolve the tone of your second draft. It can jumpstart your ideas or get the creativity flowing faster so that you can power through the steps it takes to launch a business with ease.

Entrepreneurship often requires individuals to take on all of the hats—CEO, marketer, accountant, HR, legal review, and more. These tools make it easier, faster, and cheaper to do so without having all education, skills, and experience. Yet, you still need to know how to put all the AI tools together, guide it with the right prompts, and curate the outputs to create an impactful business using AI. The human touch remains critical for creating a cohesive brand and sound business.

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