In This Article
- Why ignoring AI will leave your online business behind (and why the scaremongering isn’t helping)
- 4 practical ways to start using AI in your business right now without losing your voice
- The mistakes most online business owners make when it comes to AI
- Real examples of how AI has transformed our launches, content, and member experience
- Answers to the most common questions about AI and online business
Introduction
If you’re an online business owner and you feel overwhelmed by AI, you’re not sure where to start, or you’ve been doom-scrolling through terrifying predictions about where it’s all heading, I completely understand. There is so much noise right now and it can feel impossible to figure out what actually matters for someone like you, building a real business online.
In this post, I’m cutting through all of that. I’m sharing how I’m actually using AI in my business, what I think is coming over the next 18 months, and exactly what you need to focus on so you can stay ahead without losing yourself in the process.
You can watch or listen to this episode of the She Means Business Show here.
Why AI Matters for Your Online Business (And Why the Fear Isn’t Helping)
Let’s address this head-on. There is a lot of scaremongering around AI right now. People leaving AI companies and warning that the world is in peril. Doom-scroll content about jobs disappearing, the environmental impact, and everything changing beyond recognition. It’s easy to feel utterly terrified by it all.
And I’m not here to pretend those conversations don’t matter… They do. But I also think that getting stuck in fear is not going to serve any of us. The only thing it does is make us feel worried and paralysed, and that is the worst possible position to be in as a business owner.
Here’s what I think… AI is here, and it is not going anywhere.
It is only going to keep advancing. And if we don’t understand it and we hold back from it, I genuinely believe we will get left behind.
I remember when ChatGPT first came out, and I started playing around with it, being completely blown away by what it could do. And my immediate thought as a business owner was: how do I apply this to help the people I’m working with get results even faster?
That question has shaped everything I’ve done with AI since. And I think it’s the right question for all of us to be asking, rather than “should I be scared of this?”
The businesses that will thrive over the next few years are the ones that learn to use AI to their advantage now, while it’s still early enough to get ahead. The ones that wait will find themselves trying to catch up in a landscape that looks completely different.
4 Ways to Start Using AI in Your Online Business Right Now
1. Use AI to eliminate repetitive tasks, admin, and data analysis
If you’re not using AI to help with the repetitive, time-consuming parts of your business, you’re missing a huge opportunity.
Even just looking at ChatGPT, the things it can do with data are incredible. For example, when we host a webinar on Zoom and we have hundreds of comments coming in, we used to manually go through all of them to figure out what people were saying, what stood out, and what themes were emerging. Now we can drop all of that data into ChatGPT and get a detailed analysis in seconds. Tasks that used to take us significant time are now done almost instantly.
This is the simplest, lowest-risk way to start using AI. You’re not asking it to replace your creativity or your voice. You’re asking it to handle the stuff that eats your time so you can focus on the work that actually matters.
Action step: Make a list of the tasks in your business that are repetitive, admin-heavy, or data-driven. Things like sorting through survey responses, summarising call notes, organising research, or pulling insights from comments. Pick one this week and try using ChatGPT to do it for you. You’ll be amazed at how much time it gives back.
2. Use AI as a creative brainstorming partner (but keep your voice)
This is where I think most people get it wrong. There is so much garbage, generic, AI-generated content flooding social media right now and it’s becoming painfully obvious and incredibly boring.
The key is not to let AI create your content for you. The key is to use AI to pull the magic from you.
What I do is simply voice note my thoughts. I voice note what’s on my mind, what I’m thinking about, what I want to create. Then I use AI to ask me more questions, to interview me, to help me refine my own message and get clarity on what I actually want to say. The words are still mine. The stories are still mine. The perspective is still mine. AI is just helping me get it out faster and shape it into different formats, whether that’s emails, social media posts, or content plans.
This is so powerful for those moments when you’re staring at a blank screen thinking “where do I even begin?” Sometimes all you need is for something to ask you a few smart questions to get your momentum going.
Action step: Next time you’re stuck on a piece of content, open ChatGPT and say: “I want to create a post about [topic]. Can you ask me five questions to help me figure out what I actually want to say?” Answer those questions by voice note or typing, then ask it to help you shape your answers into a post. You’ll end up with content that sounds like you, created in a fraction of the time.
3. Integrate AI into your offers to help your clients get results faster
This is the one that completely changed things for me. I realised that I could actually train up my own AI on my frameworks, my knowledge, my book, my podcast episodes, and all of my teachings, so that the people I work with could essentially get access to me 24/7.
That’s how CarrieAI was born. It’s an AI business coach trained on everything I know, and our members and students can use it to get answers, work through frameworks, and make progress even when I’m not there. I can’t help people at that level as just one person, but with AI trained on my methods, I can.
And the results have been extraordinary. When we used CarrieAI for the first time during our Ideas to Income Challenge, we had over 9,000 unique users. The level of engagement from those people was so much greater because they weren’t just watching content, they were actively implementing with support in real time.
I think we’re going to see a lot more of this in the online business space – Memberships with AI integrated into them. Coaching programmes with AI support built in. It enhances the experience and helps people get results faster, which is ultimately what we all want for our clients.
Action step: Think about the frameworks, methods, or processes you teach your clients. Could any of those be turned into a set of AI prompts that help people implement your teaching faster? Start simple: write out the steps of one of your key frameworks and create a ChatGPT prompt that walks someone through it. Test it yourself first, then offer it as a bonus resource to your clients or audience.
4. Stay informed without getting consumed by fear
This is less of a tactic and more of a mindset shift, but I think it’s one of the most important things you can do right now.
Who you choose to listen to when it comes to AI really matters. If you’re consuming content from people who only talk about AI in terms of doom and fear, that’s going to keep you stuck. It’s not going to help you build a better business. It’s just going to make you feel worried and freaked out.
I’m not saying ignore the real concerns. The environmental impact is real. The ethical questions are real. But we need to be looking at the positives and focusing on what we can actually apply and benefit from, because that’s what’s going to help us stay secure in our businesses.
The next 18 months to five years are going to bring a completely different landscape. We want to be ahead of it, not scrambling to catch up. And that starts with choosing to learn from people who talk about AI in a way that empowers you.
Action step: Do an audit of the AI content you’re consuming. Unfollow or mute the accounts that leave you feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Replace them with two or three voices that talk about AI in a practical, empowering way that’s relevant to online business owners. Then commit to spending 30 minutes a week actually learning and experimenting with AI, not just reading about it.
The Mistakes Online Business Owners Make With AI
Mistake 1: Using AI to replace your voice instead of amplifying it
Why this is a problem: You end up sounding like everyone else. Your content becomes generic and forgettable because it’s been written entirely by AI with no input from you beyond a basic prompt. Your audience can tell, and it erodes trust.
The truth: AI should be pulling the magic from you, not creating it from nothing. Use it to ask you questions, help you structure your ideas, and speed up your process, but the stories, the opinions, and the perspective need to come from you.
Mistake 2: Avoiding AI entirely because it feels overwhelming
Why this is a problem: While you’re waiting to feel ready or hoping it’ll all blow over, other businesses in your space are using AI to move faster, serve their clients better, and stay ahead. The gap widens the longer you wait.
The truth: You don’t need to understand everything about AI to start using it. Start with one simple task and learn as you go. The businesses that will struggle are the ones that refuse to engage with it at all.
Mistake 3: Doom-scrolling instead of doing
Why this is a problem: You spend hours reading scary predictions and hot takes about AI, which makes you feel paralysed and anxious, and you never actually sit down and try using it in your business.
The truth: Close the doom scroll. Open ChatGPT and try one thing. The fear dissolves the moment you start doing, and doing is the only thing that will actually move your business forward.
Tools and Resources to Help You Get Started With AI
ChatGPT (chatgpt.com): The simplest place to start. Use the free version for brainstorming, data analysis, summarising content, drafting emails, and working through ideas. Upgrade to the paid version for more advanced features like image generation and longer conversations.
Voice noting + AI workflow: Use your phone’s voice memo app (or a transcription tool like Otter.ai) to capture your thoughts, then paste the transcript into ChatGPT and ask it to help you shape it into content. This is the fastest way to create content that still sounds like you.
CarrieAI: My own AI business coach, trained on my frameworks, my book, my podcast, and my teachings. It’s available to members and students to get personalised support 24/7. If you want to see what’s possible when you train AI on your own expertise, this is a real-world example of how it works.
Custom GPTs / AI training platforms: If you want to build your own AI trained on your knowledge (like I did with CarrieAI), look into platforms like Coachvox, CustomGPT, or OpenAI’s custom GPT builder. You don’t need to be technical to get started.
AI-integrated business tools: Many of the tools you’re probably already using (email platforms, social media schedulers, CRMs) are adding AI features. Check what’s available inside the tools you already pay for before you go searching for something new.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be technical to use AI in my business?
Not at all. If you can type a question into a search engine, you can use ChatGPT. The barrier to entry is incredibly low, and the tools are designed to be conversational. Start by asking it to help with something simple, like summarising a document or brainstorming ideas, and build from there.
Will AI replace what I do?
I don’t believe so, not if you’re building a business around your expertise, your voice, and your unique perspective. AI can do a lot of things, but it can’t be you. The people who will struggle are the ones offering generic, easily replicable work. If you’re building something personal and relationship-driven, AI is a tool that makes you better, not a replacement.
How do I make sure my content doesn’t sound like it was written by AI?
Always start with your own thoughts, your own stories, and your own voice. Use AI to help you structure, refine, and speed up the process, so you don’t generate your message from scratch. If you voice note your ideas first and then use AI to shape them, the result will always sound like you.
What should I focus on first?
Start with the boring stuff. Use AI to handle one repetitive or admin-heavy task this week. Once you see how much time that saves, you’ll naturally start exploring other ways to use it. Don’t try to revolutionise your entire business in one go.
Is it too late to start learning about AI?
Absolutely not. We are still in the early stages of this shift. The landscape is going to change dramatically over the next 18 months to five years, and the people who start learning now will be in a much stronger position than those who wait. The best time to start is today.
The Bottom Line
AI is not something to be afraid of. It’s something to learn, to experiment with, and to use to your advantage. The online business world is going to look very different in the next few years, and the business owners who will thrive are the ones who get comfortable with AI now, while it’s still early enough to be ahead of the curve.
Start where you are. Use it to save time on the tasks that drain you. Use it to pull the best ideas from your own head. And if you’re ready, start exploring how it could enhance what you offer your clients. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to start.
💕 Carrie xx
Ready to go deeper? Join me for the free Ideas to Income Challenge, where I’ll walk you through my entire blueprint for generating consistent income in your online business, including how we use AI to help you implement faster. Sign up for free here.
Want even more support? Keep an eye out for our next Create & Sell Accelerator intake, where we’ll help you build all of this step by step inside your business. Details coming soon.
