Pick one or two. Each works on a free plan. Free versions of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot all work for the writing tasks. One house rule before you start: paste in only what you’d be fine posting on your shop window. Vermont state employees work under a similar rule. They can use public AI tools only with public data.
1. Set your holiday hours by typing one sentence
If you manage one verified Google Business Profile, connect it to Gemini at gemini.google.com (personal Google account, Keep Activity on) and type:
“@Google Business Profile set special hours for Thanksgiving.”
Then check your listing on Google before you trust it.
Source: https://support.google.com/business/answer/17142585
2. Draft replies to your last five reviews
Paste a review and ask:
“Write a two-sentence reply from a small Vermont business. Thank them by first name, mention one specific thing they said, no exclamation points. If the review is negative, offer a phone number instead of arguing.”
Edit every reply before it goes up.
3. Answer the question you get every day, once
Paste five customer emails (names removed) and ask:
“List the questions these customers are asking, then write one short, friendly answer for each that I can save as a canned reply.”
4. Turn a shoebox of receipts into a spreadsheet
Photograph 10 receipts and upload them (free plans allow limited uploads). Ask:
“Make a table with date, vendor, amount and category. Flag any receipt you can’t read instead of guessing.”
Check the totals against the paper. AI misreads numbers.
5. Plan for stick season and mud season
“I run [type of business] in [town], Vermont. Business drops in November and April. Give me five low-cost ideas to bring in local customers during those weeks, and a one-paragraph email for each.”
6. Rewrite a job posting so people finish reading it
Paste your current posting and ask:
“Rewrite this in plain English under 150 words. Put pay, hours and location in the first three lines.”
7. Read a long document without reading all of it
Upload a grant guideline, town bylaw or lease to Gemini Notebook, Google’s tool formerly called NotebookLM (notebooklm.google.com), and ask:
“What do I have to do, by when, and what happens if I miss it? Quote the section for each answer.”
Read the quoted sections yourself before acting.
8. Test the tool before you trust it
The Vermont Agency of Transportation writes test questions and grades AI answers before relying on a tool. Do a small version: write 10 questions about your business that you know the answers to, ask them, and mark each answer right, wrong or incomplete.
9. Draft a week of social posts in one sitting
“Write three short Facebook posts for [business] in [town], Vermont, for next week. One practical tip, one behind-the-scenes, one about an event or offer. No hashtags except our town name.”
10. Bring your AI questions to a free adviser
The Vermont Small Business Development Center offers no-fee, one-to-one, confidential advising statewide. Write down the two tasks from this list that worked for you and the one that didn’t, and bring them.
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