The Grocery Store Paradox

In a well-known study by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, researchers set up a tasting booth for jams in a grocery store.

On some days, shoppers saw 24 different flavors of jam.

On others, just 6.

The larger display attracted more attention. People stopped, tasted, explored.

But when it came time to buy, almost no one did.

At the smaller display, fewer people stopped, but nearly ten times as many made a purchase.

The difference wasn’t the product but the number of choices.

Too many options didn’t improve decisions but prevented them.

And right now, most businesses are standing in front of the 24-jam table when it comes to AI. To make matters worse, the “jams” are changing almost by the minute.

Business struggle with determining what AI models are best? What new tool or agentic platform should I use?

I think these are the wrong questions. Whenever you feel overwhelmed with a “paradox of choice”, it’s best to simply and focus.

A Basic Framework For Implementing AI

Focus on the Friction Not the Feature

Don’t start with: What AI tool should I use?

Start with your business.

Where are the pain points?

• What tasks pull you away from running the business?

• What do you avoid or put off?

• What do you need to outsource or hire for?

If you start with real problems, you avoid the gimmicks. You will also stay committed when things break or don’t work the first time.

Analyze Your Workflows and Processes

Look at how work actually gets done.

• What is repeated over and over?

• What should exist but doesn’t because of time or cost?

• What breaks often or needs constant fixing?

• What depends on expensive or clunky tools?

The best place to start is what already exists.

Start Small And Solve One Simple Problem

Pick one issue. Not five. Not a full system.

If you create social media content, don’t try to build an entire AI marketing engine.

Start with one piece:

• Generate post ideas

• Write captions

• Build a simple content schedule

Solve one problem first. Then expand.

One Tool or Model Is Fine

Don’t get stuck comparing tools.

Pick one model and start using it.

Whether it’s ChatGPT, Claude, or something else, it doesn’t matter early on.

You can optimize later. Progress matters more than picking the “best” tool.

Context Is King

AI is only as good as the context you give it.

If you hired someone and gave them no background, they would struggle. The same is true here.

If you want help with social media, provide:

• Your website

• Past posts

• Brand voice or guidelines

The more context you give, the better the output.

Now that you have a simple framework, let’s look at specific use cases I’ve seen work in real businesses.

AI Use Cases You Can Implement Today

A Second Brain

A second brain is your digital personal or business knowledge management system. Popluarized by Tiago Forte, it’s a method of storing and structuring notes, documents, files, etc. in a way so retrieval and usability increase.

AI can take this to another level.

One of my clients use Google’s NotebookLM as his company’s second brain.

All company docs, tax returns, meeting notes, etc. are stored here.

If he needs to remember what was decided at a prior board meeting, the terms of a prior funding round or any other information he can simply ask.

NotebookLM can do much more, including researching topics, creating presentations, and generating other outputs through its Studio Panel.

If you want to learn more, Teacher’s Tech has a great video on building a second brain in NotebookLM

Pro Tip: Google doesn’t use your data for model training purposes but the same privacy policy otherwise applies the same as if you’re using Google docs or other Google services.

Custom Software

I’ve been trying to grow my LinkedIn account over the past several months. Although LinkedIn provides basic post analytics and engagement, none of it is very helpful.

There are also third party apps that are either pricey or don’t provide the exact functionality I prefer.

LinkedIn does provide the ability to download your data in an Excel file so I decided to use it to build my own.

I simply uploaded the file to Claude.ai, told it where to find the file and described in a few bullet points what I wanted.

The exact prompt I used is available here.

I now have a web based dashboard and post analyzer I can run from my desktop.

Pro Tip: If you’re at all intimidated with building even basic web pages with AI, ask the AI for help.

For example, tell it, “I would like to build a LinkedIn dashboard (or some other application). Provide me with a prompt template I can fill out and give back to you.”

Content Creation

When most people think about AI and content, they think about low-quality posts flooding social media.

For your business, AI is far more useful for documenting the boring work. Things like SOPs, internal docs, and processes that usually get ignored or delayed.

I’ve used AI to help write:

• Monthly accounting close procedures

• Employee onboarding documentation

• Technical specifications

These types of documents are important but easy to put off.

You still need to be the subject matter expert. AI won’t replace your knowledge. What it will do is help structure it, fill in gaps, and get you most of the way there.

In most cases, it can take you from zero to 80% quickly. You refine the rest.

Pro tip: If typing feels like a barrier, use voice.

Tools like ChatGPT allow you to speak naturally. You can walk through a process out loud and have it turned into a structured document.

Sometimes the fastest way to build an SOP is to simply explain how you do the work and let AI begin filling in the gaps.

Planning

Your business is a series of projects. Some are well planned. Many are not.

Most people either overcomplicate planning or avoid it altogether. Ideas stay in their head, feel unclear, and never get executed.

AI helps turn those ideas into structure.

You can use it to:

• Break a project into clear steps

• Identify dependencies and order of operations

• Create timelines and milestones

• Think through risks and edge cases

For example, if you’re launching a new service, you can map:

• What needs to happen first

• What can happen in parallel

• Where delays are likely

You still need to guide the process. AI doesn’t know your business. But it’s very good at organizing, sequencing, and filling in gaps.

One of the most valuable uses is pressure testing your plan.

Ask:

• Where could this go wrong?

• What am I missing?

• What assumptions am I making?

It will surface blind spots you may not have considered.

Pro tip: Use “projects” inside tools like ChatGPT instead of one-off chats. Keeping related work in one place builds context over time and leads to better output.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting is one of the most underrated uses of AI. It will save you hours of effort and frustration.

You can use it to:

• Diagnose errors

• Interpret error messages

• Walk through potential fixes step by step

Although I use it mostly for technical issues, it applies more broadly.

If something isn’t working in your process, you can describe the problem and have AI help you think through:

• What might be causing it

• What to test first

• How to isolate the issue

The key is giving it the right information.

Instead of saying:

“This isn’t working”

Provide:

• What you’re trying to do

• What actually happened

• Any error messages

• What you’ve already tried

One important point: make sure you’re solving the right problem.

Sometimes the issue isn’t the tool, but the process around it.

AI can help you step back and ask:

• Is this the right approach?

• Am I solving the root issue or just the symptom?

Pro tip: Include screenshots. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude are very good at interpreting images and walking through problems visually.

The Next Step

This is the fifth and final issue in this series on understanding AI.

We started with what AI is and isn’t. Then we covered how models work, what agents are, the risks to be aware of, and culminated with how you can begin implementing AI in your business.

The goal was not to give you more tools or more ideas. It was to simplify.

Start small. Focus on one real problem. Use one tool. Give it context. Build from there.

AI is not something you “implement” all at once. It’s something you layer into your business over time.

The companies seeing real results are not chasing every new model or feature. They are solving real, specific problems in their business.

If you’re unsure where to begin, go back to your business:

• Where is the friction?

• What gets repeated?

• What slows you down?

Pick one of those and start there.

You don’t need a full strategy. You need a starting point to build from.

My goal with The Leap is to provide you each Saturday with the knowledge, tools and lessons learned to help you get started and keep going toward building your future. 

Whether you are making the leap to startups, solo-entrepreneurship, freelancing, side hustles or other creative ventures, the tools and strategies to succeed in each are similar.