Overwhelmed by AI? How to Actually Start Using It in Your Online Business (Without Burning Out)

The Problem: Why AI Feels So Overwhelming (and Why It Matters)

AI has completely changed the business landscape. The way we’ve built businesses over the last 10+ years is not how we’ll build them over the next 10.

That sounds exciting… and terrifying.

From the conversation with Rick, a few big truths stand out:

We can’t keep thinking about business the old way. We need an AI-first mindset, seeing AI as part of how we build, market, and deliver, not some side experiment.
Most people don’t know where to begin. They’ve maybe opened ChatGPT, asked it to write a caption… then backed away slowly.
Overwhelm leads to freeze mode. There are agents, tools, browsers, workflows, automations… and it’s easy to get so overwhelmed that you do nothing at all.

Rick shared how burnout actually pushed him into AI. After 11+ years in online business and deep in Facebook ads, he stepped back in 2023, took a sabbatical, and “just tried ChatGPT” for podcast titles.

That tiny experiment blew his mind.

It sparked a complete pivot where he:

Built his own AI “coach” (Pick Rick’s Brain)
Sold his podcast after 12M+ downloads
Moved into YouTube and launched The AI Playbook membership

The lesson?

You don’t need to master everything. You just need to start small, get your hands dirty, and let AI show you what’s possible.

How to Start Using AI in Your Business (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Shift into an AI-First Mindset

Before the tools, you need a new lens:

“I can’t keep building my business the way I have for the past 10 years. I have to start thinking from an AI-first perspective.”

That doesn’t mean throwing everything out and rebuilding from scratch.

It means asking different questions:

“How could AI help me do this faster?”
“What part of this could an AI agent handle?”
“How can AI support me so I’m not doing everything myself?”

Once you see AI as a partner, not a threat, everything changes.

Step 2: Commit to 20–30 Minutes of “AI Practice” Each Day

Rick made a powerful point: you’ll never really “get” AI by just watching videos or reading posts about it.

You have to use it.

Start by:

Upgrading to the paid version of ChatGPT (it opens up way more capability, including custom GPTs).
Setting a simple daily habit: 20–30 minutes a day (or a few longer blocks per week) playing with AI.

Try:

Asking ChatGPT to plan your week
Using it for meal ideas for your family
Getting it to help you plan a motorhome trip (Yes, I’ve done this and it was so helpful!)

The more you experiment, the more your brain learns to ask: “Can AI help with this?” instead of defaulting to doing everything manually.

Step 3: Do a Time Audit and Find Repetitive Tasks AI Can Take Over

This isn’t fun. But it’s gold.

Rick calls it the dreaded time audit:

Track where your time actually goes for a few days or weeks.
Notice: What’s repetitive? What’s draining? What actually moves the needle?

Then ask: “Which of these tasks could AI help with or do 80% of?”

For example:

Weekly newsletter that takes you 3 hours
Customer support emails
Analysing your ad stats or P&L
Reviewing or improving sales pages
Formatting content, not creating it

Your goal isn’t to automate everything overnight. It’s to pick one task and turn AI into your assistant for that thing.

Step 4: Use AI to Help You Think, Not Just “Do”

AI isn’t just a task rabbit; it can be a thinking partner.

From the episode, here are some real ways we’ve been using it:

Strategy reflection & self-coaching
I’ve voice-noted ChatGPT at the end of the day to:
- Describe what I did
- How I felt
- What drained me / lit me up
- Then I get it to analyse patterns over weeks. It helped me clearly see what I should stop doing and what I should double down on.

Debugging real-life problems
Our motorhome got stuck in 4th gear with a transmission warning light. Google kept showing advice for manual cars… ours is automatic. ChatGPT? It gave specific, relevant suggestions for our make/model/situation.

Creative support for kids & family
My 6-year-old used voice notes in ChatGPT to:

- Tell a story
- Turn it into a book
- Design a cover
- We even turned his drawings into 3D characters. This isn’t replacing creativity, it’s amplifying it.

In your business, that might look like:

Asking AI to review a sales page like an expert copywriter
Getting feedback “as if” it were Alex Hormozi or Amy Porterfield
Asking it to suggest ways to improve your funnel conversion

Step 5: Build Your “Knowledge Folder” for Future AI Agents

One of Rick’s biggest tips? Start aggregating your knowledge now.

Create a “Knowledge” folder in Google Drive or Dropbox where you store:

Course content & lesson transcripts
Past launch emails & sales pages
Your offers, pricing, bonuses, guarantees
FAQ documents for customer support
Brand voice guidelines, customer avatars
Process docs and SOPs

Why?

Because future (and current) AI agents become so much more powerful when they can reference your real content, answers, and language.

For example:

A customer support GPT that answers questions using your FAQ doc
A copywriting GPT that writes emails using your real sales pages as examples
An operations agent that can read your SOPs

You don’t need to build the agents today.
Just start gathering the assets so you’re ready.

Common Mistakes & Myths to Avoid

Mistake 1: Trying Every Tool Instead of Solving Real Problems

There are a million tools: Gamma, relay.app, Manus, GenSpark, Synthesia, AI browsers, agents, automations…

The big trap?

“Ooh, what could I do with this?” instead of
“What do I actually need help with right now?”

Start with your real business needs. Then choose tools that fit those.

Mistake 2: Thinking You Need to Understand Everything Before You Start

You do not need to:

Become an AI engineer
Understand every model (GPT-4.5, Claude Sonnet, Gemini, etc.)
Have the perfect setup before you begin

You just need one tool (ChatGPT is perfect) and one use case.

Clarity comes from using AI, not from consuming content about it.

Mistake 3: Treating AI Agents as “Set and Forget”

Agents are powerful, but they’re not magic.

AI still hallucinates (makes things up).
You must:

Check its work
Review outputs
Treat it like a team member you’re onboarding, not a robot you blindly trust

At least for now, you are still the CEO. You approve the work.

Myth: “If I Use AI, I’ll Lose My Creativity (or My Kids Will)”

From my son’s stories to your sales pages, AI isn’t there to erase your creativity.

It’s there to:

Speed up the boring bits
Help you explore more ideas
Turn your imagination into something tangible more quickly

A 6-year-old creating his own mini-movie or book is not losing himself. He’s seeing what’s possible.

Same for you.

Tools, Resources, and Real Examples from the Episode

Here are some of the tools and examples Rick and I talked about:

Core AI Tools

ChatGPT (paid) – great all-rounder, especially with the 4.5 model for writing and custom GPTs for repetitive tasks.
Claude – Rick’s go-to for email sequences and longer-form copy. Fantastic writing quality.
Perplexity – powerful for research and summarising complex topics.
Manus – an AI assistant/agent that can research things like podcast episodes and report back.

Workflow & Agent Tools

relay.app – a no-code tool Rick loves for building workflows and automations (think: connecting tools, building lightweight agents without being technical).
AI browsers like Dia or GenSpark – let you analyse what’s already on your screen (e.g. ad dashboards, pages) directly via an AI side panel.

Content & Creation Tools

Gamma – AI slide and presentation creator (handy for webinars, pitches, decks).
Synthesia – AI avatars and videos (you can even clone yourself to create video content more efficiently).
Coachvox (mentioned via Jodie Cook) – an example of turning coaching knowledge into an AI coach.

Remember:
You don’t need all of these. Start with what solves the next real problem in your business.

FAQ: Getting Started With AI in Your Business

1. I feel totally behind. Where do I actually start?

Start with ChatGPT (paid) and one task.
For example: your weekly newsletter, a blog post, or summarising your day.

Commit to 20–30 minutes a day testing it. That’s it.

2. Do I need to be “techy” to use AI?

No. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude are built for everyday users.
If you can type a message, you can use AI. Being clear about what you want is more important than being technical.

3. Which tool should I choose first?

If you’re just beginning:
👉 ChatGPT (paid) is plenty.
Later, you might add Claude for copy, Perplexity for research, or relay.app for simple automations.

4. Will AI replace me or my team?

AI will replace tasks, not you.

Your creativity, judgment, lived experience, and leadership are irreplaceable.
AI simply takes repetitive, heavy tasks off your plate so you and your team can do higher-value work.

5. How much time should I spend learning AI?

You don’t need to disappear for months.
Start with 20–30 minutes a day (or a couple of sessions a week) focused on:

Practicing in ChatGPT
Testing one use case in your business
Gradually exploring tools that solve real problems

Consistency beats intensity.

Conclusion

AI is not a nice-to-have anymore, it’s becoming the new normal for how we build and grow online businesses.

But you don’t need to overhaul everything overnight.

If you:

Shift into an AI-first mindset
Spend a little time each week practicing
Audit your time and hand repetitive tasks to AI
Start building your “knowledge folder” for future agents

…you’ll be miles ahead of the people who stay stuck in overwhelm and avoidance.

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Overwhelmed by AI? How to Actually Start Using It in Your Online Business (Without Burning Out)

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The Problem: Why AI Feels So Overwhelming (and Why It Matters)