The 7 Best AI Tools For Small Business Owners

Did you know that there are AI tools that could work like your virtual assistant, marketer, customer service rep, accountant etc. while you focus on running the business as a solo founder?

Yes! There are a number of tools that could keep your business running while you keep building before hiring employees.

We have used some of these tools like ChatGPT for strategy and ideation, Notion Ai for workflow automation, Canva for design etc. And we’ve also reviewed a number of them that are popular with small business owners and founders locally and internationally.

And from our review, I have learned that you don’t have to subscribe to all AI tools. If you’re starting a business on a tight budget, the goal should be to build a small, useful technology stack that helps you do more with what you already have. And hire people later.

So, if I were starting a small business today and couldn’t afford to employ a team yet, these are some of the tools I’d consider.

The 7 AI-powered tools I’d start with

Here’s a quick table for the 7 best AI tools I’d use today:

The point is not to pay for all seven at once. Start with the ones that solve problems you actually have.

We evaluated these tools based on the jobs a small business actually needs to get done. Let’s discuss them briefly.

ChatGPT: Useful for Strategy, Ideation and Research

ChatGPT is probably one of the best AI tools for small businesses I would put on the list. It has been very popular in the Nigerian market and across other developing markets in countries like Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, etc.

Using ChatGPT and any of these tools as a part of your business does not mean you should ask it to run your entire business for you.

You can use it as an assistant especially when it comes to research and other specific tasks. You can also use its plugin to automate other tools, creating a seamless workflow.

For most founders, it is very useful for things like business strategy, brainstorming, content ideas, research, writing and thinking through problems.

The free version is enough to get you started, if you can’t subscribe at first. Although the free plan is useful with some limitations, you can upgrade to paid plans when you want.

My take: Start with the free version. Upgrade only when you’re regularly hitting its limits or the additional features are actually saving you enough time to justify the cost.

Notion: Very useful for Project and Task Management

Notion is one of the best AI tools for small business owners, that is very useful for project management and organizing.

If you’re running a business with multiple clients, you can use it to organize your schedules, track your projects or generally manage your tasks.

It is very useful for solopreneurs, freelancers, consultants etc.

You can use it to manage and keep the following in one place:

• Tasks
• Business ideas
• Content calendar
• Client information
• Project plans
• Meeting notes
• Procedures
• Business documents

I’ve used Notion AI to help navigate my personal at some point, and I think this is particularly useful when you’re still doing almost everything yourself.

The good news for a bootstrapped founder is that you don’t have to start with a paid plan. Notion currently has a free individual plan that can be useful as you get started. And you can upgrade whenever you want.

My advice: Start free. As your business and team grow, you can consider upgrading. You don’t need a complicated project-management system when you’re the only person using it.

Canva: Useful for Graphics Design, Images and Short Videos

Canva is another tool I would recommend to a founder who can’t afford to hire a designer for every social media or blog post image.

It is very popular with small business owners, solopreneurs, freelancers etc. and many have used it for designs and small video clips. It can handle a lot of the visual work you need in the early stages.

You can use it for:

• Social media graphics
• Presentations and Flyers
• Simple advertisements
• Business documents
• YouTube thumbnails
• Posters
• Marketing materials
• Basic videos

Canva’s current free plan for one person includes a large library of templates and design assets, as well as a limited amount of AI usage. This makes it one of the best AI powered tools for small business owners especially if you’re on a tight budget.

Mailchimp: Useful for Email Marketing and Automation

Mailchimp is one of the tools we have used for client websites and our own brand projects, particularly for email marketing and website-focused automations.

And this is an important part of running a business. You don’t want every customer interaction to depend on you remembering to send an email manually.

With email automation, you can do things like:

• Welcome new subscribers
• Send follow-up emails
• Share new content
• Promote products or services
• Nurture potential customers
• Build an email list
• Keep existing customers engaged

Mailchimp’s Free plan currently supports up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends per month, although the exact features and limits can change as its plans evolve. 

For a business just starting to build an audience, that’s a useful place to begin. You can integrate it to your website and have it all set up to send mails for your contacts.

My advice: Build your email list early. You may not have many subscribers at first, but you’re building an asset you can keep as the business grows.

Zoho CRM: Useful for Sales and Customer Management Assistant

Zoho CRM is particularly interesting for small businesses because it can help you organize the part of the business that many founders initially manage from their heads. Things like WhatsApp chats, spreadsheets and notebooks: customers and leads.

Zoho is not just a popular AI tool for small business owners, we’ve used Zoho for invoices and quotations, in the past. And I’ve also noticed how widely Zoho products are used by businesses in Nigeria, particularly around business email and other business operations.

With Zoho CRM, you can manage things such as:

• Leads
• Contacts
• Sales opportunities
• Follow-ups
• Tasks
• Meetings
• Customer information
• Quotations and related sales processes

Zoho currently offers a free CRM edition for up to three users, with features including contact management, follow-up reminders, workflows, email templates and sales activity tracking.

That makes it interesting for a founder who is trying to build a proper business without immediately paying for an expensive CRM.

Zapier: Very Useful for Business Automation

Automation is one of the most important uses of AI for small business. and that’s why tools like Zapier are one of the best AI tools for small business owners.

Zapier becomes useful when you notice yourself repeatedly moving information from one application to another.

For example, this is how it works: Someone fills out your website form → their information goes into your CRM → a welcome email is sent → you receive a notification → a follow-up task is created.

That’s the kind of repetitive work automation can take off your plate. And this is exactly what Zapier helps you with.

You can connect different applications and create workflows that run when certain things happen.

This is where AI and automation become particularly interesting for a small business because at this point, you are not just asking AI to write something for you. You’re building systems that can keep working when you’re not sitting in front of your computer.

Zapier’s current plans are usage-based, so the amount of automation you need matters. The company has also recently changed how its plans handle workflows and task usage.

My advice: Don’t automate everything on day one. Find the repetitive tasks you perform most often and automate those first.

Gemini: Very Useful if you’re running on Google’s Ecosystem

Gemini is one of the best AI tools for small businesses that is very useful if you’re building or running your business while relying heavily on Google’s ecosystem.

Like ChatGPT, you can use it for research, brainstorming, writing, analysis and everyday business tasks.

But here’s something I’d emphasize, you don’t have to pay for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini at the same time. You can choose the general-purpose AI assistant that works best for you and use it.

I’ve used ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and I wouldn’t recommend subscribing to multiple AI assistants simply because each one is popular. Your money is better spent on tools that fill a different gap in your business.

So, how much would this AI team cost?

Here’s where I think small business owners need to be careful. You don’t need seven paid subscriptions. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend that.

You could start with free versions of several of these tools and only pay when you hit a genuine limitation.

For example, here’s how most small business owners we reviewed use these tools:

• Business brain: ChatGPT – free
• Business organization: Notion – free
• Design: Canva – free
• Email marketing: Mailchimp – free while your list is small
• CRM: Zoho CRM – free for a small team
• Automation: Zapier – start with the free/low-usage option
• Different AI assistant: Gemini – use free access if it fits your workflow

The exact limits of free plans will change over time, so check the current plan before subscribing.

PS: AI can help you start lean. It should NOT stop you from hiring as your business grows. Also, I don’t think the goal should be to run a business without ever employing anyone because people are still important.

There are things that require real human judgment, relationships, creativity, accountability and expertise that you should not try to automate simply because technology makes it possible.

The goal, especially when you’re starting out should be to use technology to extend what you can do with limited resources.

You may be able to handle your content, basic designs, customer follow-ups, research, planning and some repetitive processes yourself.

Then, as revenue grows, you can start handing those responsibilities to people. That’s the point.

Final Words

If you’re starting a small business today, you don’t necessarily need a big team or a huge budget for a software.

You need to know what needs to be done, find the right tools for those jobs and avoid spending money on things you don’t need yet.

A lot of small business owners have found AI useful for exactly this reason. It doesn’t have to do everything for. But it can help you think, create, organize, automate and get more done.

And when you’re building a business on a tight budget, that extra leverage can make a big difference. Reach out to us to learn about tools to grow your business here.

Now, it’s over to you. What is your experience with these tools? Drop your comments below.