Imagine having a consultant who's available at 3 AM, never gets frustrated when you ask the same question for the fifth time, and costs less per month than your favorite coffee shop habit. That's the power of a properly trained AI assistant, and it might just be the competitive edge your business needs.
The Inside Scoop on AI Assistants with Michael Stelzner
I recently had the pleasure of joining Michael Stelzner on his podcast, AI Explored. If you're not familiar with Michael, he's the founder of Social Media Examiner and host of several highly regarded podcasts including the Social Media Marketing Podcast. He's been helping marketers navigate digital trends since before many of us knew what social media even was.
Our conversation centered on how businesses can create customized AI assistants that transform from generic chat tools into strategic business partners. Think of it as moving from "Hey, AI, write me a blog post" to "Let's brainstorm our Q2 content strategy based on last quarter's performance metrics.
Why AI Assistants Beat Human Consultants (Sometimes)
As I explained to Michael during our chat, AI assistants offer some distinct advantages over traditional consultants:
"Have you ever paid for a consultant?" I asked Michael. "When you did that, how long were they working with you?"
His answer was what I expected: "Typically it depends, you know, but usually it's a short-term deal for sure. Like most of the consultants that I've been working with are like 30, 60, 90 day kind of situations."
This highlights the key limitation with human consultants - they're only available for limited windows, usually during business hours, and for finite periods. By contrast, AI assistants:
- "Are available 24/7 whenever you need them"
- "Don't get impatient when you ask the same questions repeatedly"
- "Cost only around $20 per month (depending on which AI model you use)"
- "Can be customized to your specific business needs and goals"
Imagine if every person in your organization had this kind of support - a consultant or mentor they could turn to whenever they needed help. How much more could your team accomplish?
What we actually said about prompting
One of the better stretches of the conversation was the framework I use for writing prompts, RICCE. It gives anyone a repeatable shape to work from regardless of how much AI experience they have, and I have written it up in full in the RICCE framework.
The part worth repeating here is the first letter. Role. I told Michael that “research has shown a difference between phrasing like ‘act as’ versus ‘you are’ when assigning roles, with the latter being more effective.” So “You are the world’s best email strategist” beats “Act as an email strategist.” Small change, and it moves the output more than most people expect.
“If we don’t know how to do it, instead of going to YouTube or reading a book, you could just ask the AI,” I said. That applies to the instructions themselves. If you are not sure how to brief an assistant, ask it to help you write the brief.
Creating Your Own AI Work Buddy
During our conversation, I shared a resource I've created to help others build their own personalized AI assistants:
"I actually wrote an article and I called this your AI Work Buddy, because maybe you're not a founder or a CEO. And so this idea of a chief of staff kind of sounds kind of grandiose," I explained. "Maybe my job is copywriter. Maybe I'm a social media manager, something like that. And I thought, well, what if everybody just had a work buddy based in AI?"
This AI Work Buddy resource includes:
- A one-paragraph prompt to get started
- A downloadable PDF with instructions
- A guided process where the AI asks questions about your role, business, objectives, and communication preferences
- Automated generation of custom instructions for your personal AI assistant
"Once it gets done asking you all those questions, it's been programmed to give you a complete summary, a one-prompt output. Here are the custom instructions you can copy and paste into your new AI work buddy for whatever role you are in."
You can find this resource at TheAIHat.com/AIworkbuddy, complete with training on how to create, install, and use your AI Work Buddy, along with lifetime access to a community of other AI enthusiasts.
Advanced AI Assistants: Beyond Basic Tasks
I shared with Michael some of the more sophisticated ways businesses can utilize AI assistants:
Strategic Planning Assistants: These go beyond basic content creation to become strategic partners in business planning. They can help map out entire marketing campaigns, translate content into different languages, and even push that content into other systems.
Brand Voice Content Creation Assistants: These assistants learn and consistently apply your specific brand voice and style, ensuring all content authentically represents your brand. As I explained:
"After my business pivoted to helping St. Louis businesses implement AI, I trained my assistant to keep this focus front and center. When I brainstorm an email campaign or a blog post, the assistant constantly reminds me to include St. Louis businesses in the content.
Specialized Task Assistants: These are designed for very particular workflows. I shared how I created a "showrunner production assistant" to handle the preparations for each new guest on my podcasts, ensuring no important preparation tasks are missed.
The Google Gemini Advantage
During our conversation, I explained why I prefer using Google Gemini for creating AI assistants:
- Integration with the Google ecosystem
- Very large context window (allowing you to include more information)
- Reference to living Google Docs (which update as you change them)
- Tools like Deep Research for comprehensive information gathering
I shared a real example of how I used Gemini's Deep Research feature when rebranding my business:
I asked Deep Research to help me understand the St. Louis business landscape by identifying the top industries in St. Louis, examples of businesses that work in those industries, the challenges those businesses have that AI could resolve, and the associations or organizations that represent those businesses.
The system scanned over a hundred websites and returned a complete report in about 10 minutes, which now informs all of my conversations with my AI assistant.
Imagine If Everyone Had Their Own AI Work Buddy
I wrapped up our conversation with a vision of what's possible when everyone in an organization has their own AI assistant:
"What if every single person in your organization had their own AI work buddy? What if everyone in the organization had an AI assistant personalized, customized, and trained on their role and your business that they could turn to?"
If everyone in your organization increased their efficiency and productivity by even 10-15%, how much more could your business accomplish?
Your Turn: Get Help Building Your First AI Assistant
Ready to create your own AI Work Buddy but not sure where to start? I've created resources specifically designed to help you build a customized AI assistant that understands your business goals and can help you accomplish more.
Whether you need help drafting emails, creating content, strategizing your marketing campaigns, or just having a digital partner to bounce ideas off of, an AI assistant can revolutionize the way you work.
Visit TheAIHat.com/AIworkbuddy to download my free guide and start building your own AI Work Buddy today, or check out the AI Work Buddy Mini-Course & Community for more help. For businesses in the St. Louis area looking for hands-on help implementing AI, I also offer a three-hour workshop where we'll explore AI capabilities and workshop individual solutions for your specific business needs.
Connect with me at TheAIHat.com/connect, follow me on your preferred social platform, or check out The AI Hat Podcast for more insights on putting AI to work in your business.
