AI skills for busy entrepreneurs

Spend less time on repetitive tasks that eat into your working week, and more time on the things that matter to you. In this friendly, hands-on workshop, you'll take way three practical AI skills to help you work more efficiently, stay organised and get some time back. This is a hands-on workshop for people who work for themselves or run a small business. We'll go beyond the basics and explore ways to make AI more useful to you, your work and the way you like to do things. Three skills you'll take away 1. Make AI work for you and your business, not give you generic answers. Stop explaining yourself every time you use AI. Learn how to create your own AI assistant that understands your business, what you offer, who you work with and how you like to communicate. Instead of starting from scratch with every conversation, you'll have something you can return to again and again, giving you more relevant, helpful answers that actually sound like you. 2. Spend less time battling your inbox. Emails can eat up hours of your week. What if dealing with emails took minutes instead of hours? We'll explore how to create an AI email assistant that can: Draft thoughtful, accurate replies in your own voice, ready for you to check and send • Draft replies in your voice, using what it knows about your business. • Help you spot what's most urgent and what can wait. • Sort through inbox clutter and help you stay organised. • Get a weekly overview of what needs action, who's waiting for a reply and what you can safely leave. You'll also learn a simple way to write personal emails much faster, without losing your own voice or handing over control. The goal? Less time battling emails, more time getting on with the parts of your work you enjoy the most. 3. Turn your thoughts into finished work, just by talking. Sometimes it's easier to talk something through than sit down and type it. Learn how to turn natural speech into useful, organised work. Whether you're out walking, between appointments or sitting at your desk, you can talk through your thoughts and use AI to turn them into: • Emails, quotes and proposals. • Meeting notes and clear action lists. • Social media ideas and content plans. • Plans, project notes and other useful documents. It's a simple way to get ideas out of your head and turn them into something you can actually use, while keeping your own ideas and personality at the centre. Plus, a bonus live demonstration What if AI could keep an eye on things for you? Imagine starting your day with one short briefing of everything that matters. Put together an AI assistant could bring together your appointments, important emails, outstanding tasks, overdue invoices and follow-ups. It could even keep an eye out for things relevant to your business, like funding opportunities, tenders, industry changes or new reviews. Instead of checking lots of different places, you get a useful overview of what might need your attention Who is this workshop for? This workshop is for people who work for themselves or run a small business and want to make better use of AI in their day-to-day work. It's best suited to people who have already had a go with ChatGPT or similar tools, even just occasionally, and are curious about what else is possible. You don't need to be particularly technical. We'll focus on useful, practical skills, not complicated jargon. You'll learn how things work, have a chance to try them yourself and leave with skills and tools you can keep using. A little about my approach to AI AI can be incredibly useful. But it isn't the answer to everything. I don't believe in using AI just because we can. Sometimes a simpler tool, your own skills or working with another person is the better choice. For example, I don't recommend using AI to generate logos, posters or artwork. I believe creative people deserve our support, and that original, human-made work is often much better for your business (people can tell when a poster is AI made and that turns them out the door sometimes) I also believe your judgement, creativity and personal touch are what make your business special. AI can make mistakes, so you're always in charge. Everyone has different feelings about AI, and that's fine. My aim is to help you explore what's useful in a way that feels comfortable and fits your values. Busy Octopus is about using AI thoughtfully, to lighten your workload without losing the human touch.