No hype. No jargon. Just a clear look at what AI is, what it can do for your business, where to start, and what the people building it are saying right now.
AI — specifically the kind you're hearing about right now — is software trained on enormous amounts of text and data to predict what comes next. When you ask ChatGPT or Claude a question, it's not "thinking." It's producing the statistically most useful response based on everything it was trained on.
The useful framing for a business owner: AI is like a very fast, very well-read assistant who never gets tired, never has a bad day, and can draft your emails, answer your customer questions, summarize your documents, and help you think through problems — but who also needs clear instructions and doesn't always get things right. Treat it like a capable intern, not an oracle.
The breakthrough in the last few years isn't that AI got smarter. It's that it got cheap and accessible enough for anyone to use. You no longer need a data science team. You just need a browser and a question.
The underlying technology. Trained on billions of documents, these models learn patterns in language. Claude, GPT-4, and Gemini are all LLMs. They generate text by predicting what the next word (technically, "token") should be.
How you talk to AI. A good prompt gives context, specifies a format, and is clear about what you want. "Write me something" gets generic output. "Write a 3-paragraph email to a landscaping client explaining a 2-week delay due to rain" gets something you can actually use.
The way developers connect AI to apps and automations. When a website asks AI to summarize content or draft a reply, it's calling an API behind the scenes. This is how we build the "AI-powered" features you see on modern tools.
The next step. Instead of answering one question, an AI agent can take a goal ("research competitors and summarize findings") and execute multiple steps autonomously to get there. We're in the early days of this, but it's moving fast.
There are hundreds of AI tools. These are the ones that actually move the needle for small businesses — and the ones we use ourselves.
Anthropic's model. We consider it the best for thoughtful, nuanced responses and longer documents. Use it for writing, planning, and explaining complex things simply.
Free · Pro $20/moOpenAI's flagship. Widest ecosystem of plugins and integrations. GPT-4o is strong across text, images, and voice. Best for users already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Free · Plus $20/moAI search that actually cites its sources. Use it when you need to research something and need to trust the answer — pricing, competitors, regulations, industry data.
Free · Pro $20/moAI image generation. Midjourney produces the highest quality results for creative work. DALL-E is built into ChatGPT Plus and is easier to access. Great for social graphics, mockups, and conceptual visuals.
Midjourney from $10/moNow includes AI steps — you can add a "have AI summarize this email and decide which bucket it goes in" step right inside your Zap. The automation tool just got smarter.
Free tier · From $19.99/moJoin your meetings automatically, transcribe everything, and produce an action-item summary before you're done with your coffee. Huge time saver for anyone in lots of calls.
Free tier availableThe two companies most responsible for the current AI moment — Anthropic (makers of Claude) and OpenAI (makers of ChatGPT). Here's where to follow what they're doing.
Founded by former OpenAI researchers focused on AI safety. Their approach: build powerful AI while investing heavily in understanding how to make it reliable and trustworthy.
The lab that launched the current AI wave with GPT-3 and ChatGPT. They move fast and ship often — their research blog is one of the best ways to understand where AI capabilities are going.
Beyond the labs, these sources give you practical, less hype-driven coverage of how AI is actually affecting business and work.
Not a course. Not a certification. Just the order things make sense to learn if you want to actually use AI in your business — not just understand it in theory.
Draft an email. Summarize a document. Plan a meeting agenda. Don't try to learn AI — just use it for something real.
Open Claude →The difference between a useful AI response and a frustrating one is almost entirely in how you ask. Learn to give context, specify format, and be direct.
Anthropic Prompting Guide →Write down the 5 tasks you do repeatedly that take longer than they should. At least 3 of them can likely be improved or automated with AI.
See what's automatable →Pick the smallest thing on your list and build one Zapier workflow. Even a simple one — form to email to spreadsheet — changes how you think about work.
Start with Zapier →One day with Michael. Every tool. Your actual business. Leave with a working AI stack and no more "I should really learn this" on your list.
See the Bootcamp →The One Day Bootcamp with Mike is exactly that. One day, every tool, your actual business use cases. You don't just learn AI — you leave with it running. $197 for the full day.
See the Bootcamp →No sales pitch. If we don't think AI will help your business right now, we'll tell you that too. Most conversations take 15 minutes and you leave with a clear next step.
Talk to Michael →