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Practical ways to use AI today
Alex Goff | Powered by Catalyst | Erie Chamber of Commerce
Every piece has a role. Every move matters.
The best players don't just react—they see the whole board.
AI is the same way. The tools you pick, how they connect, and whether they can see your full operation—that's the difference between playing checkers and playing chess.
This is only my perspective.
I do have a business in AI—I'm not hiding that. But today I mainly want to describe to you the market the way I see it.
There are all kinds of people and companies to work with in this space. I'm not trying to pitch you.
I just want to tell you the truth.
What tools exist, what they cost, and how the stacking problem grows
How businesses are actually using AI right now and how to think about it
The data silo problem and why fragmented tools mean fragmented AI
Real workflows from my actual business—including how this presentation was made
What exists, what it costs, and where it breaks
These aren't projections. This is what businesses are seeing today.
| Function | Time Saved / Week | What That Replaces |
|---|---|---|
| General AI | 10-15 hrs | $300-450/week in labor |
| Operations | 15-25 hrs | $450-750/week in labor |
| Sales | 5-10 hrs | $150-300/week + higher close rates |
| Marketing | 20-30 hrs | $600-900/week + designer costs |
| Social Media | 10-15 hrs | $300-450/week |
| Customer Service | 10-20 hrs | $300-600/week + 24/7 availability |
| Finance | 5-10 hrs | $150-300/week + better decisions |
"I just need AI to help me write emails."
"Now I need AI for emails, social posts, sales follow-ups, document processing..."
"We have AI for everything, multiple team members using it, integrated across our entire operation."
"I have way too many AI tools and none of them talk to each other."
How tool sprawl scales with your business
$250K-$1M revenue • 1-5 employees
$1M-$5M revenue • 5-25 employees
$5M-$10M revenue • 25-50+ employees
At every stage
A few highlights from each category. Full list available as a handout.
ChatGPT • Claude • Copilot • Gemini • Perplexity
Free - $30/mo each
Jasper • Canva Pro • Ocoya • AdCreative.ai • Descript
$15 - $125/mo each
HubSpot AI • Lavender • Fathom • Gong • Clay
Free - $800/mo each
Tidio • Intercom • Zendesk AI • Help Scout AI
Free - $394/mo each
Zapier • Make • Notion AI • Reclaim.ai • Motion
$9 - $299/mo each
QuickBooks AI • Fathom Financial • Forecastr • Pecan AI
Built-in - $500/mo each
Gmail / Outlook
Google Drive / OneDrive
Calendly
Squarespace or Wix
Wave or QuickBooks
Trello
HubSpot CRM
ChatGPT Plus / Claude Pro
Fathom AI
Zapier Starter
Canva Pro
Tidio
12 tools | $100-150/month | The owner is the integration layer
Google Workspace / Microsoft 365
Slack / Microsoft Teams
WordPress
QuickBooks Online
Calendly Pro
Monday.com or Notion
Gusto (HR & Payroll)
ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Perplexity
Fathom AI
Zapier Professional
HubSpot CRM Starter
Lavender (Sales AI)
Fathom Financial
Canva Pro, Jasper
Descript (Video)
Ocoya (Social Media)
AdCreative.ai, Surfer SEO
Tidio Communicator
Dropbox
22 tools | $800-1,500/month | The owner can barely keep up
Google Workspace Business / M365
Slack Business+ / Teams
WordPress + premium plugins
QuickBooks Advanced or Xero
Calendly Teams
Monday.com or Asana Business
Gusto or ADP
DocuSign or PandaDocs
ChatGPT Team, Claude Team
Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity Pro
Fathom AI
Zapier Team
HubSpot Sales Hub
Lavender, Gong, Clay
Fathom Financial, Forecastr
Canva Teams, Jasper Business
Descript Business
Ocoya Pro
AdCreative.ai Pro, Predis.ai
Surfer SEO
Intercom
Industry-specific software
28+ tools | $3,000-6,000+/month | Nobody owns this
You don't need more software. You need a system.
| Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Tools | ~12 | ~22 | 28+ |
| Monthly Cost | $100-150 | $800-1,500 | $3,000-6,000+ |
| Logins to Manage | 10+ | 20+ | 30+ |
| Data Silos | 5-6 | 12+ | 20+ |
| Manual Copy/Paste | Daily | Hourly | Constantly |
| Who Manages It | The owner | The owner (barely) | Nobody |
How businesses are actually using it right now
How companies are putting AI to work today
use AI to
optimize emails
use AI for
customer service
rely on AI for
personalization
use AI to
improve production
deploy AI
chatbots
Your business could be next.
AI isn't just for big companies.
Find your pain point first. The tool comes second.
| If You're Struggling With... | Look At This Type of Tool |
|---|---|
| Writing emails takes forever | AI Writing Assistants |
| Can't keep up with social media | Social Media Management |
| Missing leads after business hours | Customer Service Chatbots |
| Spending hours on data entry | Document Processing + Automation |
| Leads falling through the cracks | CRM + Sales Automation |
| Don't know which marketing works | Analytics & Business Intelligence |
| Calendar is a mess | Scheduling & Calendar AI |
| Financials unclear, making decisions blind | Financial Analysis & Reporting |
Everyone comes at this from a different angle
"I keep hearing about AI, but nobody's shown me how it helps my specific business. That's great, but what does it do for me?"
"I'm already stretched thin managing my team and putting out fires. Now you want me to learn another tool? I don't have time."
"Every time the company brings in new technology, it means more work for me or someone loses their job. Why should this be any different?"
"I've seen fads come and go. Blockchain was supposed to change everything too. I'll believe it when I see it work in my day-to-day."
Same technology, different conversation
AI doesn't replace your leadership—it replaces the broken systems that keep you trapped in operations instead of running your business.
AI takes the firefighting off your plate so you can manage your team instead of chasing spreadsheets, schedules, and status updates all day.
AI handles the repetitive stuff you hate doing so your job becomes the work you were actually hired to do.
Show them one small win. That's all it takes. One task that used to take an hour, done in five minutes. The proof is in the doing.
The difference between bad AI and good AI is how you ask
Different tools for different tasks. Claude for writing, Perplexity for research, Canva for design.
Tell it who you are, what your business does, who the audience is. More context = better output.
Show it what good looks like. Paste in an email you liked and say "write more like this."
Tone, format, length, what NOT to do. Boundaries make the output sharper.
These concerns are valid. Here's how to think about them.
Source: Forbes Advisor
The data silo problem and why fragmented tools mean fragmented AI
Better context in, better results out
What the AI was trained on. Its base understanding of the world, language, and information.
The specific context you provide. Your business, your customer, your problem.
What you're asking the AI to do. The task, goal, or output you need.
The boundaries and rules. Tone, format, length, what NOT to do.
The more layers you fill in, the smarter the AI becomes for YOUR business.
Why "Now with AI" isn't the same as "smart AI"
Here's what happens when a sales rep closes a single deal using the Growth stack
Multiply that by 10-20 deals a month. The sales team spends more time managing tools than actually selling.
If your data lives in 12 different tools,
your AI only knows 1/12th of your business.
Your CRM AI doesn't know your financials
Your marketing AI doesn't know your sales pipeline
Your scheduling AI doesn't know your project status
That's why getting your data into one place matters more than which AI tool you pick.
Whether you've given them permission or not
The question isn't whether your team uses AI. It's whether you have a policy around it—or whether they're putting your business data into tools you don't control.
Source: GoodFirms AI in the Workplace Survey
Real workflows, real results, from my actual business
It makes you faster. It doesn't replace your judgment.
AI gets you 70% of the way there. You add the last 30% that makes it yours.
Try 5 different approaches in the time it used to take to try one. Iterate faster.
Emails, reports, data entry, scheduling—the tasks you hate but have to do.
Things that happen the same way every time? Let AI handle the process.
Four steps, every morning, before 8am
Sit down and pour your thoughts into AI. Everything on your mind, with as much context as you can give it.
Ask AI how it would organize this. Review the plan. Revise it. Make it yours.
Work through each phase. Check each summary to make sure it's accurate. Cycle until done.
Ask AI how close the output was to the original plan. Catch what got missed. Adjust.
By 8am, my day is planned, tasks are organized, and I can focus on the actual work.
The biggest mistake people make with AI
"Find me a local restaurant"
"I'm taking my wife out for Valentine's dinner in Erie, CO. She loves seafood. We like upscale but not stuffy. Budget is $150."
Context is the difference between a generic answer and a useful one.
Five steps that work every time
The goal, the outcome, the end result I'm looking for
Let it propose an approach before you commit
Does the plan make sense? Adjust before executing
Execute the plan
AI reviews its own work. Catches mistakes you'd miss.
I type a stream of consciousness into my system. Here's what that actually looks like:
"ok so i need you to add to our task list for today - we need to create a doc so benjamin can build a system for the sales funnel and we need to include structure for leads from social media, networking, and referral tracking, the referrals are big for us...
i also got landscaping and hvac to sign, i need to transfer everything off their system, get payment done, and update the stripe payment for an extra 22...
i also need to make a presentation for the chamber on 2/19...
i have a new customer named contractor builds, he does construction, i told him i would rebuild his system for 499 plus 169per, he also does a rental business where he is looking to buy equipment and rent it to people..."
This is a real brain dump from my actual system. Messy, unstructured, stream of consciousness. Let's see what AI does with it.
From one brain dump. Less than 5 minutes of typing.
6 new tasks • 10 contacts updated • 1 new quote • 1 new deal
1 upsell identified • 1 marketing effort queued • 2 documents created
And 40% of the output was additional information I wouldn't have entered manually. We don't want to admit it, but we're too busy to capture everything. The AI fills in what we skip.
The simpler the prompt, the more powerful the system behind it
"ok what should I work on today"
Prioritized today's focus: collect payment (P0), create magazine ad (due Friday), prep AI presentation (due 2/19), quick wins list, and what to skip today.
"put down that I need to call Katie from Injector, her contract ends 3/8 and I want her to renew"
Created task: schedule call. Set deadline before 3/8. Added action items: prepare renewal proposal, confirm terms, get signed agreement. Flagged as retention priority.
Notice: I'm talking to my system like I'd talk to an assistant. It understands because it has the full context of my business.
The best operators don't work harder. They spend more time on what actually matters.
The work that actually moves the needle. Strategy, relationships, decisions, creative thinking.
Everything else. Formatting slides, re-entering data, switching between tabs, fixing file compatibility issues.
Jobs, Musk, Bezos—the best operators are ruthless about cutting noise. AI lets the rest of us do the same thing.
The noise: Spend hours in Canva or PowerPoint. Wrestle with formatting, alignment, export settings. Email a 50MB file to the venue and hope it opens correctly on their system.
The signal: I gave AI my brand guide, my content, and my voice. It built the entire presentation as a website. Took out the filler. Matched our brand.
What I gained: Time to focus on the actual message. Plus benefits I didn't plan for—I can track who visits the link, I don't need to send files to venues, and it lives on our website permanently.
AI doesn't just do the task better. It frees you to think about what the task should actually be.
When all of your data is in one place and AI can see the full picture
Tell the AI to create, update, delete, or merge records. No forms. No navigation. Just say what you need.
Ask questions and get answers that know your sales, your customers, your financials, your projects—all at once.
Dump unorganized information and get back actionable plans that are smart about your specific business.
Feed the AI your call logs, emails, and estimates. Get back honest analysis of why deals succeeded or failed.
AI can review outgoing emails before they're sent. Like a constant training system with immediate feedback.
Connect to other AI systems, payment processors, or any tool your business needs—all in one place.
Here's what's actually happening in the market right now
Every software company is slapping "Now with AI" on their product. That's creating dozens of disconnected AI agents that don't talk to each other.
Fragmented AI isn't smart AI. An AI that only sees your CRM doesn't know your financials. An AI that only sees your calendar doesn't know your projects.
The real power comes from AI that can see your entire operation. One system that understands all the pieces.
An AI that can actually update your system—not just chat in a text box—is a different category of tool entirely.
You might have noticed the formatting is a little off in places.
That's because I didn't make this presentation.
I prompted AI with my content, my brand guide, and my message. It built the entire thing. I never opened PowerPoint. I never opened Canva.
I didn't have to worry about formatting, colors, slide layouts, or any of that. I could focus entirely on the message.
That's two pieces of software—PowerPoint and Canva—that would each charge me a monthly fee. I just removed the need for both of them.
This is happening right now, right in front of you. This is not a far-out idea.
If any of this resonated, I'm happy to chat. No pitch—just a conversation about what might work for your business.
Custom AI-powered tools built for your specific business. Unlimited users.
Train your team on AI best practices to improve their daily work and protect your company.
(303) 951-9214
alex@PoweredByCatalyst.com
Alex Goff • Powered by Catalyst
Visit our website and click Learn
PoweredByCatalyst.com
Click on Learn to see how AI can work for your business
(303) 951-9214
alex@PoweredByCatalyst.com