I Tried AI for a Week in My Small Business — Here’s What Happened

I’ll be honest. I was sceptical. I’m a small business owner, not a tech person. I run a bookkeeping practice in regional Victoria with three clients on retainer and a handful of one-offs. I’d heard the AI hype, ignored most of it, and then finally decided to just try it for a week and see what actually happened.

Here’s what I found, day by day. The good, the frustrating, and the genuinely useful.

Monday: ChatGPT for Client Emails and a Quote

I had three emails I’d been putting off: a follow-up to a client who was late with documents, a response to a prospect asking about my rates, and a note to an existing client about a change to our working arrangement. Normally I’d spend 30–40 minutes drafting those, fiddling with tone, second-guessing myself.

I opened ChatGPT (free tier), described each situation in plain language, and asked it to draft the email. First drafts took about 90 seconds each. I edited them: changed a phrase here, softened a tone there: and sent them. Total time: about 15 minutes instead of 40.

I also needed to quote for a new client wanting quarterly BAS lodgements plus a monthly reconciliation. I gave ChatGPT the scope and asked it to draft a professional quote email. It produced something solid that I tweaked slightly. Saved me at least 20 minutes of staring at a blank screen.

Monday verdict: Genuinely useful. I saved about an hour. The drafts weren’t perfect but they were a strong starting point.

Tuesday: Canva AI for a Week of Social Posts

I post on LinkedIn occasionally: tips for small business owners, updates from my practice. I’d been neglecting it. I opened Canva (I already had a free account) and used Magic Write to generate captions for five posts based on topics I gave it: end-of-financial-year prep, common BAS mistakes, why reconciling monthly matters, when to hire a bookkeeper, and how to set up simple cash flow tracking.

The captions were decent: a bit generic, but easy to personalise. I also used Canva’s design templates with AI-assisted layout suggestions to create branded graphics for each post. The whole thing took about 45 minutes instead of the two-plus hours it would have taken me doing it manually.

What didn’t work: The AI captions defaulted to American spelling (“organize”, “analyze”). I had to do a find-and-replace pass to Australianise them. Not a dealbreaker, but annoying.

Tuesday verdict: Good for batch content creation. Still needs a human edit pass.

Wednesday: Otter.ai for a Supplier Meeting

I had a call with my software provider: a 45-minute Zoom about upcoming changes to their pricing and features. Normally I’d take scattered notes and then spend 15 minutes afterwards trying to piece together what was actually decided.

I connected Otter.ai to Zoom (it joins as a bot and records the call). The transcript was ready within minutes of the call ending. I scanned it, highlighted the key points: pricing change date, feature rollout timeline, my action items: and was done in five minutes.

What didn’t work: The speaker identification wasn’t always accurate: it sometimes attributed my speech to the other person. Also, there was a moment early in the call where I spoke quickly and the transcription was garbled. But for the majority of the call, it was accurate enough to be useful.

Wednesday verdict: Worth it. I’ll use this for every external meeting going forward.

Thursday: ChatGPT for Google Review Responses

I had four Google reviews sitting there unresponded to: three positive, one a bit ambiguous. I pasted each review into ChatGPT and asked it to draft a professional, warm response. For the positive ones, it produced responses in about 30 seconds that I barely had to change. For the tricky one, it gave me a diplomatic starting point that I adjusted to suit my voice.

This took about 15 minutes total. Doing it manually, without AI, I probably would have spent 30–40 minutes (and possibly avoided the awkward one altogether).

What didn’t work: The responses were slightly formal for my taste. I had to inject a bit more personality. But the structure and content were solid.

Thursday verdict: Great for knocking out tasks you’ve been putting off.

Friday: Reflection. What Actually Happened

I sat down on Friday afternoon and added up my time. Rough estimate: I saved about 2.5 to 3 hours across the week compared to doing everything manually. That’s not life-changing, but across a year it adds up to 130–150 hours: roughly three to four weeks of recovered time.

More importantly, I got things done that I’d been putting off. The emails sat in my drafts for days before I tried AI. The social posts hadn’t happened in three weeks. Those aren’t just time savings: they’re tasks actually completed.

What I’d do differently: Spend more time upfront writing better prompts. The more specific I was about context, tone, and audience, the better the output. Vague prompts produce vague results.

What I wouldn’t bother with (yet): AI for anything that needs deep knowledge of my specific clients or complex financial judgement. It’s not there for nuanced accounting work. But for the communication layer of running a business? It’s genuinely useful.

Key Takeaways

• AI is best for tasks you’re procrastinating on because they require effort but not expertise
• The output needs an edit: think of AI as a fast first draft, not a finished product
• Free tools (ChatGPT, Canva, Otter.ai) are enough to get real value without spending anything
• The learning curve is real but short: by Thursday I was prompting much better than Monday
• Time saved estimate: 2.5–3 hours in a single week

Related: What We Actually Know About AI Adoption Among Australian Small Businesses | AI for Complete Beginners: Your First Week Using AI in Business

If you’ve been waiting for a reason to try AI tools, this is it. Pick one task you’ve been putting off, open ChatGPT, and give it 20 minutes. That’s how I started.

Tools Used

• ChatGPT (free tier): openai.com
• Canva AI (free tier): canva.com
• Otter.ai (free tier): otter.ai

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