Macpreneur

How I Saved Thousands Using AI Research Tools on My Mac

• Damien Schreurs • Season 7 • Episode 164

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In this episode, I delve into the transformative capability of modern AI for solopreneurs, especially for Deep Research and managing internal digital clutter. 

You'll discover how tools like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Google's NotebookLM can save time and legal fees by providing accurate, comprehensive research. 

Listen to hear real-life examples of AI's impact on business expansion strategies. 

Get ready to unlock productivity boosts by integrating these AI tools into your business. 

Plus, take a quick quiz to find out your AI journey stage today.

🆓 Discover Your AI Archetype: https://macpreneur.com/aistage

Missed any of these past episodes? Catch-up on now!

Highlights

  • [00:00] Introduction  
  • [00:56] Using AI for Deep Research  
  • [01:21] Case Study: Expanding Business Internationally  
  • [04:58] Comparing AI Tools for Deep Research  
  • [08:47] Internal Research with NotebookLM  
  • [10:26] Using NotebookLM for Macpreneur  
  • [12:46] Conclusion  
  • [13:20] Discover your AI Archetype  
  • [13:42] Outro  

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MP164: How I Saved Thousands Using AI Research Tools on My Mac


Introduction: AI's Evolution & Deep Research Potential

Damien Schreurs

Hello, hello.

In December 2022, I asked ChatGPT a simple question: How can I find the videos that take the most space in iCloud Photo?

It replied, "I'm sorry, but I'm unable to browse the internet. My knowledge is s- based solely on the text that I've been trained on."

It was useless.

It couldn't see my data and it couldn't look up the answer on the internet.

Fast-forward to today, and that same AI technology has evolved from a blindfolded chatbot into a master researcher that saved me thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Nova AI:

Welcome to Macpreneur, the show for seasoned solopreneurs looking to streamline their business on a Mac. Unlock the secrets to saving time and money with your host and technology mentor, Damien Schreurs.

Damien Schreurs

If you think that AI is just for writing emails or generating funny images, you are missing its most powerful capability for solopreneur: deep research.

In this episode, you'll discover how to use AI to research the outside world, in other word, the web, and your inside world, so your files, so that you can stop searching and start deciding.


Case Study: AI for External Tax Research (Cost Savings)

Damien Schreurs

As solopreneurs, we wear every hat, and usually the legal department hat doesn't fit very well.

In the first quarter of the year, I wanted to expand my business services to the U.S., Canada, and the UK, but I was terrified of the tax implications.

I had two choices: hire expensive international tax lawyers or spend weeks Googling it myself.

Instead, I used the deep research capability of AI.

I gave it a specific prompt explaining my business model.

It didn't just guess.

It visited a lot of websites, analyzed tax treaties, and produced a seventeen-page report with citations.

I shared this story with Kalapa Menes in episode 154.

She was still on the free version of ChatGPT and was blown away by what the paid deep research tools could actually do.

I was interested in expanding Easytech towards the U.S., Canada, and the UK, and I was not sure, from a tax point of view does it make sense?

Is it, is it feasible or is it complicated?

I had two o- three options.

I could hire a tax specialist, actua- may- most probably three tax specialists, one for the UK, one for Canada, (laughs) and one for the U.S.

It would have costed me-

Karla Pamanes

Yeah.

Damien Schreurs

... thousands of dollars, right?

That was option number one.

Option number two, I could have started going to Google and search and, (laughs) and try to understand (laughs) tax-related and try-

Karla Pamanes

Right.

Damien Schreurs

... and try to find blog posts that were trying to explain in a simple manner, (laughs) what, uh, what I was trying to do and, and string everything together.

I don't know, I don't know how many hours I would have spent.

But instead, I used deep research.

I explained thoroughly what my business is, what I was, what I was researching.

It devised a research plan, started going through different websites, and the first batch was twenty-seven website.

From those twenty-seven website, it found other websites to, to visit, (laughs) and prepared a seventeen-page report about the different things.

(laughs) And I was like, "Wow." (laughs)

Karla Pamanes

Wow, how, how long it would have taken you-

Damien Schreurs

Uh, yeah.

Karla Pamanes

... to even do half of that-

Damien Schreurs

It's, it's, it's-

Karla Pamanes

... which is crazy.

Damien Schreurs

... hours and hours of time that I have saved, thousands of dollars of potential legal, legal, uh, uh, fees, right?

It's so complicated, the tax system in the U.S.

Now I know that if I want to attack the U.S. market, I will start with Del- the Delaware and New Hampshire-

Karla Pamanes

(laughs)

Damien Schreurs

... because these are the two states where B2B service are not taxed, and it's only six hours behind me in terms of timezone.

So I do, I provide IT training.

Karla Pamanes

Yeah.

Damien Schreurs

So my afternoon is their morning, so I can (laughs), it matches-

Karla Pamanes

Yeah.

Damien Schreurs

... uh, well.

And yeah, so deep research, only that, right?

If, if only I had that on top, it would be, for me, worth the $20 per month.

Karla Pamanes

Yeah, oh my God.

Damien Schreurs

(laughs)

Karla Pamanes

Yeah, definitely.

It's incredible.


The Importance of Accuracy: ChatGPT vs. Gemini Advanced

Damien Schreurs

But there's a catch: when you are using AI for high-stakes research like taxes or salary data, accuracy is everything.

You cannot afford hallucinations.

I ran a test comparing ChatGPT's deep research against Google's Gemini Advanced.

I asked both to rank U.S. states by tax attractiveness for my specific situation.

In episode 157, I discussed the results with Teah Phillips.

The difference in accuracy was shocking.

I launched deep research.

Actually, I launched two: one with ChatGPT, I have a plus subscription, and one with Gemini.

And in both cases they, it took them a ten minutes, ten, fifteen minutes, but, like, pulling, (laughs) pulling articles from the IRA- IRS, and, (laughs) and on top it wa- it was three countries, right?

Or, or...

Yeah, yeah, it was three coun- countries I wanted some research on.

In the end, the conclusion was the same: green flag, go ahead with the UK as long as you stay B2B.

Avoid Canada because that's gonna be a nightmare tax-wise.

And then for the U.S. it was like, okay, Delaware and certain states were okay, and then other- others-

Téa Phillips

It's all different, yeah.

Damien Schreurs

... you should, uh...

And, and in the end, I asked them, both of them, "Okay, can you create a table?

And you list from most attractive to least attractive states in the U.S."

And they both did a very good job, but there was an anomaly.

(laughs) ChatGPT put California way up compared to Gemini.

And I was like, "What's happening?"

And I double check the source that ChatGPT was using, and so ChatGPT had put on the table California is great because of this.

I click on the source, I read the source, it doesn't mention California at all.

(laughs) And I was like...

Téa Phillips

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

Damien Schreurs

And I was like, "Whoa."

But on the flip side, Gemini, super accurate.

I double checked the sources.

The sources were about the thing that it says, this is based on this source, and I could look and double check, and it was correct.

And so now I have much more confidence in Gemini than in ChatGPT.

This is lesson number one for Macpreneurs.

For web-based research, don't just trust the first output.

Use tools like Gemini that are built to verify sources and always double check the citations.


Leveraging AI for Internal Knowledge: Google NotebookLM

Damien Schreurs

But what about the research that you can't Google?

I'm talking about your own digital clutter, the PDFs, the e-books, the course transcripts, the SOPs that are sitting on your hard drive, gathering dust.

This is lesson number two, internal research.

We need to turn that chaos into a knowledge base.

Emvee Braverman in episode 136 shared how she uses Google NotebookLM.

It's a tool that allows you to upload your specific files and then ask questions only based on that data.

It basically eliminates hallucinations because it's only reading what you gave it.

MV Braverman

I dump a whole bunch and I'm supposedly...

So I'm at Google Workspace user, admin.

I get paid for it, I pay for it.

I'm a big fan.

I hope that unlike the like the rest of its babies, Google does not kill this one.

Damien Schreurs

Yes, me too.

(laughs)

MV Braverman

But I like it because, and I don't do that whole make the podcast to talk to each other, but like I can add a whole bunch of YouTube videos or I can dump, like, transcripts from a course and have it help me summarize things, or a whole bunch of sources.

And it's a lot less creative than other models are (laughs) and just is able to hold so much.

So I supposedly I'm going to be getting access to the larger one even, although I don't think I need it, but I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Damien Schreurs

I've started applying MV's strategy to my own content workflow.

Here is a notebook that I call the Macpreneur Podcast Assistant.

I've uploaded my LinkedIn profile, drafting guides, and the full transcripts from three seasons of the podcast.

I use this to find gaps in my content.

I ask to find topics that I haven't covered yet, and I also use it to find patterns.

In fact, this specific episode was born right here in NotebookLM.

I asked it to find guests who mentioned research or strategy across all those transcripts, and it found them for me instantly.

Now, you might be asking, "Damien, why use a notebook for this?

Why not just create a custom GPT or a Gemini Gem?"

Well, in fact, they are complementary.

Think of a Gem or a custom GPT as a specialist employee with a fixed manual.

They are perfect for repetitive, specific tasks where the knowledge base stays the same.

NotebookLM is different.

It's flexible.

I can check and uncheck sources instantly to change the context.

It's perfect for projects where the knowledge base is constantly evolving or when I need to interview a specific subset of my document.

And recently, NotebookLM got a massive upgrade.

It can now run deep research to collect sources for you.

It is literally AI-powered research to the power of two.

Look at this notebook.

It's called YouTube Strategy for Apple Edutainment Content Virality.

I didn't have to go find all these articles and videos manually.

I just asked NotebookLM to run a deep research report.

It went out, found the algorithmic trends, and generated the report, but also saved the best sources right here on the left in the sidebar.

This is helping me build a framework for the future of this channel without me spending weeks falling down YouTube rabbit hole.


Conclusion: Unlock Your Solopreneur Superpower with AI

Damien Schreurs

So we've come a long way from 2022 when AI couldn't even browse the web.

Today, you have a team of researchers at your fingertips.

You have deep research for the outside world and tools like NotebookLM for your internal world.

The question is, are you using them?

If you're still using AI just to write funny poems or generate funny videos and pictures, you are missing the biggest productivity boost available to solopreneurs.

Now, I've created a quick quiz to help you figure out exactly where you stand.

Are you an AI dabbler, an integrator or an automator?

Go to macpreneur.com/aistage.

In less than two minutes, you will get your archetype and three practical next steps to level up your AI game today.

And until next time, I'm Damien Schreurs, wishing you a great day.


Outro

Nova AI

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