I have a chat with brand and AI strategist Phil Pallen, author of AI for Small Business, to explore how small businesses can cut through the noise and use AI in meaningful, productive ways.

We talk about:

• How to shift your mindset from “AI tools” to solving business problems

• Why “Don’t Take Action Yet” might be the best AI prompt you’ll ever use

• Practical examples of time tracking, automation, and AI-assisted creativity

• Tips for prompting, branding, and using tools like ChatGPT and Adobe AI more effectively

• Why experimenting (and even failing) is key to learning AI

• The danger of using AI lazily—and how to do better

Whether you are AI-curious or already experimenting, this episode is packed with actionable advice, real-world stories, and plenty of practical wisdom.

Learn more about Phil at philpallen.co, or check out his AI tools directory at philpallen.co/tools. His book AI for Small Business is available now on Amazon and all major platforms.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction Phil Pallen, AI and Brand Strategist

02:44 Phil's Journey into AI and Branding

03:54 About Phil's Book, AI For Small Business

05:45 Where to get started with AI

08:16 Identifying tasks you enjoy and those that could be automated

10:22 Phil's top AI prompting tips

13:50 Experimenting with AI: Learning and Adapting

14:34 How to start experimenting with AI

16:51 Using AI to Enhance Creativity

20:30 Sustainable AI Tools and Ethical Considerations

25:10 Final Thoughts and Actionable Steps

27:40 My experiment - An AI Generated sign off pretending to be me - what do you think?