1838% ROI on AI Tools (Part 1 of 2)

Your Weekly AI Lesson

Happy Monday folks,

ChatGPT, Midjourney, Otter, HeyGen, they’re all great and all - but how do you get from:

Dabbling with AI tools ➡️ Actually seeing strong ROI?

Over the next two weeks, I’m going to show you where to start with integrating AI properly and exactly how I get 1838% ROI on the AI tools that I use. I’m going to break it down by tool, and take you through my AI integration framework too.

But First, 🔥 Big News 🔥

Tickets are finally 🔥 LIVE 🔥 for my first ever Build an AI-First Business bootcamp.

This intense 4 day bootcamp is designed for those wanting to either (a) transform their existing business with AI or (b) start a brand new AI-first business.

Head to this page for full details of the bootcamp, and the live link to buy your ticket. It starts on 22nd October, so hurry to grab yours.

OK, let’s get some serious ROI, shall we?

There’s something almost everyone does wrong when they start using AI. I hear the same thing all the time, regardless of business size, industry or location.

Them: “We’ve all got licences to [insert AI tool]
Me: “OK, great. Why?”
Them: “I don’t know yet. I was hoping you could help us find use cases.”

They’re starting with the tech. Let’s call this tech-centricity.

That’s NOT the right place to start.

You need to start with real problems. Let’s call this problem-centricity. I’ll explain why shortly.

In order to do that, you need to follow these 3 steps:

Step 1: Lay out the goals of your business or role

  • What are those big things you’re looking to achieve? Revenue growth, profitability, career advancement, efficiency, new skills.

  • When do you want to achieve them by?

  • What will it take to get there? What needs to happen?

Step 2: Now pull out the obstacles, challenges, problems in achieving these goals

List everything that's standing in your way. Be specific. Instead of "lack of time," try "spending too much time on repetitive tasks." Instead of "poor communication," try "difficulty in conveying complex ideas to non-technical stakeholders."

Remember, these aren't just minor annoyances. We're looking for the real blockers that are keeping you from reaching your goals.

Step 3: Prioritise your problems using the Impact-Effort Matrix

Not all problems are created equal. Some are quick wins, others are major projects. Here's how to sort them:

  1. Draw a 2x2 grid. Label the x-axis "Effort" (low to high) and the y-axis "Impact" (low to high).

  2. Place each problem on the grid based on how much effort it would take to solve and how much impact solving it would have.

  3. Focus on the high-impact, low-effort quadrant first. These are your quick wins.

  4. Next, look at high-impact, high-effort. These are your strategic projects.

Impact/Effort Matrix

OK, so that’s your first 3 steps. you’ve now got your list of problems: your quick wins and your strategic projects.

It’s now time to decide something important:

Step 4: Is AI actually the answer here?

It’s a toughie - particularly when you’re not sure what AI can do.
Maybe automation is a better solution?
Maybe it’s neither.

A great way to assess this is to use this prompt that I’ve written for you and run it in Perplexity. (Switch the ‘Pro’ search on - you get 5 of these a day in the free account.) Just fill in the blanks and add in your problem lists.

Act as a generative AI consultant. I’m a [insert job title] working at a [insert company type] company. I’m going to give you two lists of challenges I’m experiencing in my role/business that are preventing my achieving my goals.

I deduced this challenges by using the Impact/Effort Matrix, so we have a list of quick wins (high impact, low effort) and strategic projects (high impact, high effort).

Your task is to help me determine if I can solve these problems with generative AI, automation or neither.

Create a table with 5 columns:

1. Problem Type (Quick Win/Strategic Project)

2. Problem

3. Solution (Generative AI, Automation, Neither, Partly [insert combination of previous options])

4. Explanation (a succinct explanation in no more than 2 sentences as to why you believe that solution is the suitable. If ‘Partly’ explain the role of both solutions.

5. Generative AI type (if applicable) - 2-3 ideas around the type of generative AI that could be suitable - AI note takers, LLMs, AI research tools, etc. You do not need to give specific tool names.

[Here/Attached] are the two lists:
[insert or attach quick win problems and strategic project problems]

If there are any problems you don’t fully understand, ask questions to clarify before creating the table.

Perplexity Prompt

Great. So for now, we’re focusing on generative AI here, so let’s pull out those quick wins and strategic projects with potential generative AI solutions. Here’s your starting point.

Step 5 is finding the searching for the right tools.

🌐 AI Tool Sites

There are quite a few AI tool sites, but these are the only two you need:

  • FutureTools.io - this cracking site is run by one of my AI heroes, Matt Wolfe. Simply type into the search what you’re looking for, or use the categories, and you’ll find tons of options to try out. Two top tips here:

    • Have a look at the most upvoted ones

    • The News section of this site is my favourite for AI news

  • Futurepedia - another great site for finding new tools. There are also some decent tutorials and interesting innovations to explore on there too, all free.

📰 Newsletters

It’s also very useful to have a regular stream of newsletters, so you get tools come to you. Here are a few of my favourites:

🎥 YouTube

There’s one standout YouTuber for me in the AI world and that’s Matt Wolfe (he’s the owner of the Futuretools website recommended above, too). He’s engaging, warm, honest and on top of all the latest stuff.

🎙️ And finally, Spotify

Again, one major standout here for me - and that’s The Artificial Intelligence show, by the Marketing AI Institute. Of course, it definitely has much more of a marketing leaning, but it’s insightful, accessible and comprehensive. A fantastic listen.

If something useful is coming out, they’ll not only talk about what it is, but why it’s important.

So…Let’s have a look at where we are so far.

If you’ve been following along with me, you’ve done a LOT.

Step 1: Looked at business/role goals
Step 2: Explored obstacles in the way
Step 3: Used the Impact/Effort Matrix to prioritise them
Step 4: Prompted Perplexity to see which can be solved by AI
Step 5: Searched for the right AI tools

That’s a big chunk of the way, and will be extremely useful in helping you integrate AI and see that elusive ROI.

Next Week: Part Two

In next Monday’s issue, we’ll pick up where we left off, so hang onto those notes. We will be working through:

  • How to assess and pilot AI tools

  • Critical questions to ask around data privacy

  • The whole AI integration framework broken down visually

  • Video: My own ROI breakdown (1838%)

Have the most magnificent week, and don’t forget to grab your bootcamp ticket.

Take care and until next week,

Heather

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