Every week, AI makes another headline. Most of it doesn't matter for your business. This show cuts through the noise.The AI Operator is a weekly podcast for SMB owners and business leaders who want to actually use AI — not just read about it. Each episode breaks down one AI tool in plain English, covers the stories worth paying attention to, and ends with one concrete thing you can do this week.Your host Shaun Gehring is a developer and entrepreneur who builds AI tools for real business problems. He's not here to hype the technology — he's here to tell you what works, what doesn't, and what's worth your time.No fluff. No vendor spin. Just the AI moves that help small businesses compete.New episodes every week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Most small businesses aren't short on AI options. They're short on clarity about which ones are actually worth their time.This special edition of The AI Operator skips the news and goes straight to the tools. Six specific, affordable, real-world AI tools that small businesses should be testing right now — not someday, not after the technology matures, now. Each one covers a different part of how your business works: pitching, customer support, lead qualification, after-visit follow-up, automation, and research.Here's what's in this episode:Gamma — Build a client-ready pitch deck from a single prompt in under 60 seconds. No design skills, no PowerPoint fights. Includes link sharing with viewer analytics so you know exactly which slide they spent six minutes on.Tidio — A 24/7 AI customer support agent that trains itself on your existing FAQ content and handles the repetitive inbound questions your team answers every single day.Pitchit.ai — A multi-channel AI lead qualification agent that reaches out instantly across voice, SMS, WhatsApp, and social DMs. Built for businesses that lose deals because they're slow to respond.Podium — Automates the follow-up after every service visit: review requests, text conversations, repeat business nudges. Plus an AI phone agent that answers calls when you can't. Built for local service businesses where Google reviews are the business.n8n — The automation platform that connects 350+ apps and handles real AI workflows — not just simple if/then chains. If your team is doing the same manual task more than three times a day, n8n stops that.Perplexity — AI-powered research with live web citations. Ask it anything — competitor pricing, regulations, market sizing — and get a sourced, synthesized answer in seconds instead of 40 minutes of Googling.Plus the operator move: how to figure out which of these six tools solves your most expensive problem — and a simple way to make the decision in under 10 minutes.Links mentioned in this episode:Gamma (AI presentation builder): https://gamma.appTidio (AI customer support): https://tidio.comPitchit.ai (AI lead qualification): https://pitchit.aiPodium (after-visit follow-up + AI phone agent): https://podium.comn8n (workflow automation): https://n8n.ioPerplexity (AI research): https://perplexity.ai Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
AI consulting and bespoke app development for small-to-medium businesses. Based in Charlotte, NC — remote across the US, on-site in the Carolinas. Short engagements preferred.
