Running a business means constantly optimizing — both your time and your tools. This quarter, I've made some key upgrades, cut underperforming tools, and fine-tuned my workflow.

My current AI tech stack costs $39/month and now saves me at least 30-40 hours per week. Let’s put this in context:

1. My costs have decreased.

I previously paid closer to $50/month. This lower cost is partially due to removing a subscription, but primarily due to Google rolling its AI into Workspace Business and Enterprise accounts.

This is part of a larger trend: To win the AI arms race, AI companies are prioritizing distribution. So they’re adding generative AI features to your existing tech stack for free or at minimal cost, rather than asking you to upgrade or add on. (See also: My $0 line items for Zoom, Thinkific, HubSpot.)

The key takeaway: Take advantage of AI capabilities within your existing tech stack!

2. Capabilities have increased.‍

‍OpenAI is rolling out deep research to all paid users, Claude 3.7 Sonnet is now available on all Anthropic plans, etc.

We’re getting more advanced models, plus more features like Projects, Operator, Tasks, Canvas, and more, for the same price. ‍

The key takeaway: Don’t overwhelm yourself with new tools. No matter which frontier model you choose (think: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude), it’s becoming smarter and more capable. Just stick with it and keep exploring ways to use it.  ‍

3. ⬆️ Efficiency = ⬆️ Productivity.

‍How much time is AI ‘saving’ me right now? Honestly, it’s hard to say.

It easily saves me 30-40 hours per week — and sometimes far more.

When you consider the time it would actually take to create a 10-page research brief, or to build a complete marketing campaign, or to professionally edit hours of video footage, the efficiencies AI offers can be hard to comprehend. It can be hours or even days of work reduced to minutes.    

But what this looks like in practice isn’t 5-hour work weeks (though maybe it could…). Instead, I’m able to create and ship so much more, without working more hours.

I’m finally able to pursue ideas and greenlight projects that weren’t possible or practical before.

The key takeaway: What’s on your wishlist? What would you do if you have more time? Consider how AI can help you to work more efficiently — and also what you could do with the time you save.

The bottom-bottom line: If you’re still wondering whether it’s “worth it” to spend $20/month on a paid account of, say, ChatGPT Plus — don’t. 🤷🏼‍♀️

As long as you can use the technology effectively, and are applying AI to use cases that actually matter, the ROI is there. Promise.

My AI Tech Stack: Exactly What I Use, What I've Upgraded, What I've Cut, & How Much I Pay

All that said, this is the AI-powered tech stack that’s working for my business right now. I’ve listed the tools below in order of frequency, with my most-used tools at the top. (You can read my previous AI tool review here: Q4 2024)

⏰ Daily Tools

ChatGPT Plus (OpenAI)

What I pay: $20/month
How I use it: General purpose (Research, Analysis, Decision-Making, Innovation, Creation)

ChatGPT remains my most-used AI platform. You may have seen examples of how I use AI (in my ongoing LinkedIn series); I am typically firing up ChatGPT when I need:

• Background information on a topic
• Specific ideas or suggestions
• Strategic analysis or evaluation of an idea / plan
• Data organization or clean-up  

What’s changed:

• I'm using ChatGPT more than ever, especially for writing tasks when I’d previously relied on Claude. ChatGPT has caught up to Claude in tone replication and stylistic writing. Plus, OpenAI has significantly improved the co-pilot experience with Canvas, allowing me to edit inline and collaborate more seamlessly on drafts.
• I've altered how I build custom GPTs. This new approach — applied to a few strategic use cases — have helped me unlock massive efficiency gains in some of my most frequent tasks. ← (Bold, italicized, underlined, highlighted — I cannot emphasize this enough.)

Gemini for Google Workspace

What I pay: $0 (now included in Workspace Business plans*)
How I use it: Quick research (real-time web browsing), in-depth research (Deep Research), analysis (NotebookLM), finding files

ChatGPT remains my main workspace, but Gemini is my go-to for quick, one-off searches. ChatGPT is where I revisit larger projects and conversation threads, so I don't like to bog down my chat history with random questions.

In this way, Google Gemini is meeting a lot of the needs that Google search previously did.  

Google AI is now included in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans — so if you’re a Google Workspace business, there’s no reason not to test it. This includes:

• AI assistance in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, etc. I primarily use it to find files. For example, that project/campaign/idea I outlined that one time but I'm not exactly sure what I named it or where I filed it.
• Gemini Advanced. Full access to 2.0 Flash, 1.5 Pro with Deep Research, 2.0 Pro Experimental, and 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental. (The single-click export of Deep Research to a Doc is a smart feature, too.)
• NotebookLM Plus. This gained popularity for its quick generation of podcast-style conversations.I personally think it's over-hyped as a content creation tool; to me, the value is in synthesis and analysis:
  
  NotebookLM exclusively generates responses based your selected sources (controlling for quality, hallucination). Use it as a single source of truth that you can query to find information fast. (For example: Customer service answers, product details, marketing content.)  

What’s changed:

• I use Gemini far more for voice input on mobile, where it’s more patient with pauses compared to ChatGPT.
• Chrome's Gemini search bar has made quick lookups much more convenient.

*Technically, Google increased the price by $2/user/mo. Smart, IMO.

Grammarly

What I pay: $0
How I use it: Editing, proofreading

Grammarly provides spellcheck-style suggestions to improve my writing's grammar and clarity. Its Google Chrome extension provides assistance wherever I happen to be writing, making it one of my top (though rarely thought about) tools.

What’s changed: No major changes — Grammarly remains my go-to for quick grammar and clarity suggestions.

📆 Weekly Tools

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Anthropic)*

What I pay: $0
How I use it: Creation (writing, rewriting, summarization)

{*Editor's note: Written just before Claude 3.7 Sonnet launched.} Claude must be having some capacity issues. I was a happy user of the free version for a long time (so much so that I didn't see a real need to upgrade).

But it seems that day has come: For weeks now, I've been locked out of Sonnet due to capacity restraints and downgraded to Haiku. As a result, I haven't been using it much. It seems like it's about time to upgrade or ditch it entirely.

What’s changed: Claude 3.7 Sonnet launched 🙃 I had a feeling something was going on at Anthropic...

Zoom Meeting Summary

What I pay: $0 (included in Zoom Workplace Pro account)
How I use it: Meeting summaries

What’s changed: No major changes — Zoom’s summaries continue to be a great companion to note-taking that works well in combination with Fireflies.ai (below), which offers true transcription.

Fireflies.ai

What I pay: $0
How I use it: Meeting transcription and summaries

What’s changed: No major changes — Fireflies.ai continues to provide reliable and searchable transcripts.

Descript

What I pay: $19/month (upgraded to Hobbyist)
How I use it: Video and audio editing

Descript’s AI-powered transcription and intuitive UI make editing fast and easy. Check it out if you need to edit:

• Podcasts
• Videos
• Webinars
• On-demand courses

It can also generate short video clips, captions, transcripts, and AI voice clones.

What’s changed:

• Descript has been a massive time saver in transcription and media editing.
• I completed a major project in January (more on that soon!), and Descript was massively helpful in getting that done so quickly

🗓️ Monthly Tools

ElevenLabs

What I pay: $0 (cancelled paid plan)
How I use it: Text-to-voice generation

What’s changed:

• ElevenLabs is great, but I wasn’t using the paid version enough to justify the cost.
• For my workflow, Descript and Fireflies.ai handle most of my audio needs.
• I still use the free ElevenReader iOS app to listen to articles on the go.

BoodleBox (boodleAI)

What I pay: $0
How I use it: AI-powered analysis and innovation

What’s changed: No major changes — it's still my go-to for multi-model collaboration.

Thinkific

What I pay: $0 (included in Basic plan)
How I use it: Landing page generation (course hosting)

What’s changed: No major changes. Thinkific hosts our AI education and training, and its landing page builder generates a solid first draft — headings, body copy, and calls to action. (This is edited, but I could have published the original page as-is.)

HubSpot

What I pay: $0 (included in HubSpot Starter Customer Platform)
How I use it: CRM and marketing automation

What’s changed:

• HubSpot’s Breeze AI has started playing a bigger role in my workflow.
• I've used Breeze Copilot to summarize contact records; most recently this helped me build out a detailed buyer persona profile.
• Breeze also integrates across HubSpot’s platform, assisting with workflow automation, prospecting, and content creation.

🪦 Retired from My AI Tech Stack

Perplexity

I never found Perplexity all that useful, and it’s been fully replaced by ChatGPT Search and Gemini for research and browsing.

HyperWrite - TypeAhead (OthersideAI)

Gemini now provides native type-ahead suggestions in Google Workspace, making HyperWrite redundant.

Quick Tips to Build Your AI Tech Stack

1️⃣ Start with high-impact tools. Identify your most time-consuming tasks and test AI-powered solutions to speed them up.

2️⃣ Think about integration. Choose tools that fit into your existing workflow. If you live in Google Workspace, for example, Gemini may make more sense than ChatGPT.

3️⃣ Use free tiers to experiment. Many of the best AI tools offer free versions that provide plenty of value. But make sure to weigh risk and reward (remember: if it’s free, then your data is the product).

4️⃣ Don’t pay for what you don’t use. If an AI tool isn’t saving you time or delivering a clear benefit, cut it. There's no prize for the biggest AI tech stack.

What’s in your AI tech stack? Let me know!