I’ve been using AI to help with my business for more than a year now.
There. I’ve said it.
And here’s what a year has taught me about how to make AI sound like you, not a robot.
If you run a small business and you’ve been wondering whether to try it, I suspect you’re carrying at least one of these worries:
- It will make me sound like a robot
- People will judge me for using it
- It’s only for big companies with tech teams
- It’s bad for the planet
I had every single one of them. So here’s my hand-on-heart experience.
Nobody has called me a robot
I was braced for criticism. What I actually got was compliments.
People have told me how much they enjoy reading my posts. My school friend who doesn’t even run her own business has said, “Full marks, Fiona. I love seeing you show up on my page. You’re really good at marketing!”
I haven’t had a single negative comment. Now, I’m a realist. (I named my company Realistic Pilates after all) If anyone has been tutting behind my back, they’ve kept it to themselves! But the overall feedback has been warm and positive, and that’s not what I expected.
Why I think it still sounds like me
Here’s the thing. I use AI sparingly. I don’t hand it my whole business and hope for the best.
My thoughts and ideas come first. Very often I speak them out loud into a voice recording, rambles and all, because that’s where my real voice lives. Then I ask AI to do the bit I find fiddly: structure my thoughts, tidy them up, and make them easier to read.
The vast majority of what I put out there started with me. That’s why it sounds like me, and that’s why I feel good about it.
Less is MORE. AI is my helper, my admin assistant, not my ghost-writer.
What about being judged?
This worry isn’t imaginary. A 2025 study from Duke University, involving over 4,000 people, found that people who use AI at work can be seen as lazier or less competent.
But here’s the part that caught my eye. That judgement was weaker when the AI was clearly useful for the job. In other words, the problem isn’t using AI. It’s using it badly, so that everything comes out bland and generic.
Use it well, put yourself into it, and people simply see good work.
Is AI only for the big boys?
Absolutely not. I’m a small business owner who came to technology later in life, and I’ve used AI to help me write blog posts, emails, web pages and social media posts. If I can do it, so can you.
You don’t need to be a tech wizard. You need to know what you want to say, and be willing to teach AI how you say it.
And the planet?
Please be assured that this matters to me, and I think the concern is valid. We know that AI runs in huge data centres that use electricity and water, and building ever more of them puts pressure on local resources.
I won’t pretend that using AI has no impact. It does. But how you use it makes a real difference.
Text is far lighter than images. Researchers at Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University found that creating a single AI image can use about as much energy as fully charging your phone. Generating text a thousand times used only a fraction of that.
Google has published its own figures, saying a typical text prompt to its Gemini AI uses about five drops of water and the energy of watching TV for under nine seconds.
My own approach is simple. I use AI for words, and I make my graphics myself in Canva. That gives me a much lighter footprint, while still getting the help I need.
Of course she’s made a course
Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised by what comes next. Of course Fiona’s made a course. That’s what Fiona does!
I love helping people. It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning, whether I’m being paid for it or simply getting a buzz from seeing someone else do well.
And there’s a pattern. Whatever I take up, I spend a year or two learning how to do it properly. Then I share what I’ve learned, so others can do the same.
- When I started teaching line dancing, I realised other teachers wanted to teach it but didn’t know where to start. So I taught them.
- When I started teaching Pilates, training meant going to London, and not enough teachers could. So I set up an accredited training academy in Edinburgh.
- When Facebook arrived in our lives, I ran a mastermind to help people get comfortable with it.
Now it’s AI. I’m putting together a short course, How to Make AI Sound Like You, for small business owners who want the help without losing their voice.
I don’t apologise for that. It’s what I do.
So, should you be using AI?
Honestly? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on your business, how much writing you do, and how you feel about it.
That’s why I’ve put together a quick four-question quiz. It takes less than a minute, and it will tell you whether AI could help you, where to start, and how to make sure it sounds like you rather than a robot.
And if the answer is “not yet”? That’s absolutely fine. No faffing about, no pressure.
If your result says you’re ready, leave your details at the end and you’ll be among the first to hear when my course, How to Make AI Sound Like You, is ready.
I’ll be in touch personally, and I won’t fill your inbox in the meantime!
Could AI help your business?
Four quick questions, less than a minute.