Make AI useful at work.

Choose one tool. Get a result you can use today.

Build a prompt

Answer four short questions. Get three prompts ready to paste into your AI tool.

Set my business voice

Lock in how your business should sound. Save it and use it in every prompt.

Turn a task into a workflow

Six short answers. Get a repeatable workflow, a starter prompt and a review checklist.

Three simple steps 1 Choose a tool2 Answer a few questions3 Copy and use the result

Which AI tool do you use?

Platform tip

Pick the AI tool your team is most likely to use. The best platform is usually the one already closest to your daily work, not the fanciest one on a list.

Build your business voice

Answer four short questions. We will turn them into one voice guide you can reuse.

Question 1 of 4

What does your business do?

Two short answers, both optional. This is what makes the voice sound like your business, not a generic one.

Build your AI workflow

Six short answers. We will turn them into a workflow, a starter prompt and a checklist you can reuse.

Question 1 of 6

What task are you trying to improve?

Pick the closest fit.

Business + AI Guide

The Small Business AI Knowledge Base

Prompting is only the starting point. Use these guides to get better answers, protect sensitive information and build useful habits. Projects, custom workflows and automation are the next layer when you are ready to go deeper.

Understand AI before you rely on it

You do not need a computer science degree. You do need to know what AI is good at, where it makes things up and where a person still needs to make the call.

Level 1 · New to AI

What AI actually is

AI generates a likely response from patterns in its training and the instructions you give it. It does not know your business like a human does.

  • Useful for drafts, summaries and ideas
  • Can sound confident and still be wrong
  • Needs a human to check important answers
Level 2 · Using it well

How to get better results

Clear context, a specific outcome and a requested format give the tool less guesswork to do.

  • Give it a role and business context
  • Say who the audience is
  • Ask for a format, tone and limits
  • Improve the draft through follow-up prompts
Level 3 · Using it at work

Where it fits in a real business

Use AI to support repeatable work, not to quietly make high-consequence decisions without review.

  • Draft customer replies, checklists and SOPs
  • Prepare information for a person to approve
  • Keep privacy, access and version control clear
  • Keep people in charge of safety, legal and workplace decisions
What this free guide does not doIt gives you a safe starting point and useful prompts. It does not build your complete AI workflow, connect your systems or decide what should be automated. That is the part we can work through together. See what AI implementation support can cover.
Strategy

1. The Golden Rules of Prompting

How you talk to AI dictates what you get back. Follow these four basic rules to turn average answers into exceptional outputs:

  • Give it a role: Tell the AI what kind of expert or helper it should act as (for example, "Act as a practical Australian customer service coach").
  • Add context: Explain your business size, location, customer and the situation it needs to understand.
  • Choose the format: Tell it how to present the response (for example, a checklist, short SMS or table).
  • Refine it: Do not assume the first answer is final. Ask for changes such as "Make it shorter", "Sound more local" or "Add more warmth".
Best Practice

2. Safe AI & Privacy Rules

Never put private, sensitive, or client-identifying data into any AI tool. Keep your small business secure:

  • Anonymise: Replace real client names and numbers with placeholders like [Customer Name].
  • Financials: Do not upload full profit/loss spreadsheets or bank accounts to public models.
  • Check the answer: AI can confidently make things up. Always verify tax, workplace, compliance and financial information against a reliable source.
  • Aussie Regulations: Verify regulatory statements against Australian government sources (ATO, Fair Work).
Growth

3. 5 AI habits that can save time

Use AI for small, repeatable parts of the working day. These habits show where it can assist without pretending every task should be automated:

  • Inbox triage: Remove names and sensitive details, then ask your AI tool to sort the issue, identify the action needed and draft a clear reply.
  • Toolbox Talks: Ask: "Create a 3-bullet safety brief for my landscaping crew working in high winds today."
  • Drafting SOPs: Write down your rough work steps and ask: "Turn this into a formal standard procedure."
  • Content Ideas: Ask: "Give me 3 seasonal social media topics for my business in my local area."
⚡ Quick Reference

AI Copy-Paste Cheat Sheet

Need a quick result? Copy these general business command prompts directly into your AI tool of choice. They work for almost any new small business.

Rewrite to sound professional Turn a rushed, frustrated draft into a polite, professional reply.
Act as a customer service expert. Rewrite this message to be polite and clear: [Your draft]
Summarise long meeting notes Condense notes or ideas into action items with owners.
Summarise these meeting notes into key decisions and a checklist of actions: [Notes]
Generate social media ideas Get ideas for local Instagram or Facebook promotion.
Give me 5 Facebook post ideas for a local business in Australia. Include captions and hashtags: [Describe business]
Simplify jargon for clients Translate technical trade, admin, or accounting jargon.
Rewrite the following text so that it is simple, plain English and easy for a client to understand: [Your text]