Context: Run a small business (agency). With everything that's been going on, it feels like I'm missing out on a lot of stuff that COULD help my business, but was really time consuming to actually try. I set aside a couple of hours each day to go through everything systematically to figure out what I can actually use to help my business. Wanted to share what I found, hope it helps someone. **Chatbots:** Tested ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini Verdict: Truly helpful. Probably the most value you can get for $20 a month. ChatGPT is still the best for all-roundedness and the sheer number of tools made avail. Max is worth it if youre doing anything more research heavy, or if not paying for it yourself I guess lol **AI Productivity Tools:** Tested Fyxer AI (AI email manager), Motion AI (AI employees), Type AI (AI writing in their platform), Yoink AI (AI writing in any app), Gamma AI (AI slides), Beautiful AI (AI slides). Basically the stuff that has been making its way around social media the past few weeks Verdict: Mixed. Motion AI / Fyxer AI felt overly complicated for me, but might have been skill issue. Didn't end up sticking around. Type AI and Yoink AI was helpful, and saved a bunch of time. Yoink was helpful cause i could use it in whichever app I'm already using. Type needed me to use their browser writer though, which I didn't like. Gamma AI was good, would recommend for anyone doing external-heavy work. Beautiful AI flopped. Some stuff here which seems helpful, but doesnt work. Others seem dumb but help a lot **Workflow Automation.** Tested n8n, make, Zapier Verdict: These are powerful for sure, but learning curve is steep. Need to put in fair amounts of effort. N8n seemed the most flexible/powerful of the bunch, but make probably has an easier learning curve if you're just starting out. I automated some stuff around email responses, but still wouldn't let AI send anything client-work related out without my review **End Verdict:** AI is actually pretty fun to learn. Did it actually make me more productive? No idea but it was fun to test out new stuff though