Hey there — welcome to this week’s issue of Smarter Than Busy. If you run a small business and want less busywork and more breathing room, you’re in the right place. This week’s theme: Practical AI you can put to work today.

📰 AI News That Impacts SMBs

Insights and stories at the intersection of AI and small business: what’s changing, why it matters, and how it actually hits the ground

68% of U.S. small businesses now use AI — and it’s already paying off

According to the April 2025 QuickBooks Small Business Insights survey of over 2,200 U.S. small businesses, 68% now use AI regularly—up from just 48% in July 2024. 74% of those say AI is boosting productivity, and nearly a quarter report shorter workdays because of it. (QuickBooks, June 25, 2025)

Why This Matters
If you’ve thought of AI as too advanced or “not for a business like mine,” this shows otherwise. Regular owners are already using it for simple, boring tasks—and finding it saves them real time.

How This Plays Out
Think of a one-person salon. Instead of typing out every appointment reminder or bill, AI drafts those automatically. That’s an extra hour or two back every day—time that can go to clients or rest.

What This Means for Your Business
Try one basic AI tool for a week—maybe for handling messages or drafting emails. If it saves time, keep it. If it doesn’t, drop it. You’ll quickly learn where AI helps and where it doesn’t.

Younger founders lean on AI—too much, too soon

What’s Happening
In the UK, a September 6, 2025 survey reported by TechRadar found around 60% of business owners aged 25–34 are already using AI for advice. But 93% still turn to friends and family first. Experts warn that AI often gives generic advice that doesn’t fit local laws or small-shop realities. (TechRadar, Sept 6, 2025)

Why This Matters
AI is tempting when you’re new to business—it feels quick and easy. But it can also give answers that sound good on paper but don’t match the reality of running a bakery, salon, or repair shop.

How This Plays Out
Picture a new bakery owner asking AI how to hire. It delivers a 10-step HR playbook better suited for a big company, not a shop hiring one part-timer. That’s wasted time and maybe even steps that don’t fit local rules.

What This Means for Your Business
Use AI as a sketchpad, not the final word. Let it draft ideas, but check decisions with someone who knows your world—a peer, mentor, or trusted advisor.

Tool Updates / Feature Highlights

ChatGPT Deep Research Agent (flavor for regular users)

ChatGPT has a new feature called Deep Research that quietly rolled out to all free users in April 2025. It lets you ask for longer, research-style answers—like summarizing articles or digging up what matters—from multiple sources. Think of it as a helper that reads around so you don’t have to.

Why It Helps
If you ever wish you had time to dig into a topic—like local rules, tax tips, or gift ideas—Deep Research can pull together the rundown for you. It saves you Googling around and second-guessing the accuracy.

Picture This

• A bookkeeper asks: “Explain the new VAT rule that started this month” — Deep Research scans and summarizes the key points in one go.

• A stylish boutique owner writes: “List trending Mother’s Day gift ideas under €20,” and gets a helpful list she can run with.

• A cafe owner types: “Best ways to promote loyalty cards locally” and gets a short, practical to-do list in minutes.

Try This
Ask ChatGPT something like: “What's the most cost-effective way to promote a weekend sale to nearby customers?” Watch it give you a short, research-style answer—not just one-liners.

Claude 4’s File API + Code Tool (Anthropic)

Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 4 and Opus 4 in May 2025. Along with better reasoning, they added a Files API that lets you upload documents (contracts, supplier lists, etc.) and ask questions about them. They also support a code execution tool for automating simple tasks.

Why It Helps
If you’re staring at a long invoice, quote, or set of notes, Claude can skim it, summarize it, or extract key dates—all without switching apps. And the code tool can automate small tasks like renaming files or building checklists.

Picture This

• A consultant uploads a 5-page proposal, asks Claude: “List the main deliverables and deadlines.” It replies right away.

• A gift shop owner uploads a supplier document and asks: “Which products are on sale for June?” Claude gives the list fast.

• A writer asks Claude to build a Word checklist of corrections from a PDF they uploaded—and Claude sends back an editable file they drop into their workflow.

Try This
Fire up Claude, upload a business doc, and ask: “Summarize the key points.” Five seconds later, you're reading the highlights—not scrolling a screen.

Smarter Than Busy in Action

Gift shop owners use AI to write faster—but still keep their own voice

The Story
On April 17, 2025, The Times profiled two UK shop owners — Kate Tompsett of Happy & Glorious and Charlotte Stubbs of Creativity. They use AI to draft marketing ideas and captions but always rewrite them so it still sounds like them. That balance has helped sales, especially around seasonal items like Jellycats. (The Times)

Why It’s Smart
They let AI beat the blank-page problem but didn’t hand over the keys. That’s faster work without losing the personal touch that keeps customers connected.

Takeaway
Ask AI for a first draft of a caption, then put it in your own words. You’ll get the speed without sounding like everyone else.

Mega Prompt of the Week

If you’ve ever wondered what these “AI prompts” actually look like in practice, this section shows you. Each week we’ll share one prompt, run it on a real small-business scenario, and show you the results. No tech jargon, no theory—just a simple before-and-after you could try yourself.

Prompt Used:

“Act like a seasoned small business consultant. Based on the task below, show me: 1 repeat task I can automate or template with AI, How to do it in plain steps, How much time it could save me weekly.

Task: I run a small bakery. Every week I spend hours answering the same customer emails about cake flavors, prices, and pickup times.”

AI’s Response:

• Task to Automate: Answering common customer questions about flavors, prices, and pickup times.

• How to Do It:

  1. Write down your most common Q&As once.

  2. Add them into Gmail’s canned responses or a free chatbot (like Tidio).

  3. Set auto-replies or link the bot on your website.

  4. Update once a month when flavors or prices change.

• Time Saved: About 2–3 hours per week you’d normally spend rewriting the same emails.

Use Case
For a bakery, that means fewer late-night email replies and more time baking. For a salon, it might mean instant answers about appointment slots. For a plumber, it could be hourly rates or service areas. The idea is the same: answer once, reuse forever.

That’s a Wrap

That’s this week’s Smarter Than Busy. AI isn’t about chasing shiny tools—it’s about cutting down on the little tasks that eat your day. If one idea from this issue saves you an hour or makes a job easier, it’s done its work.

See you next time with more ways to spend less energy on busywork—and more on the parts of your business that actually matter.