I used AI to start a business in a completely new industry. Then I used it to help me decide to walk away from one that was working. And honestly? The second part was more valuable.
This isn't a story about scaling or success in the way you usually read about online. It's about using AI as a thinking tool, not just a doing tool, at the moments that actually matter.
How I used AI to start a business in an industry I didn't know
When I began building Hawthorn & Willow, a separate arm of a family business in interiors and construction, I wasn't starting from zero in terms of experience. I had over two decades of marketing, business and data science experience behind me.
But none of it was in interiors or in construction.
And there was no budget for a branding agency, a marketing consultant, a web developer, a photographer, or even much room for experimentation. Everything had to work, or at least not waste money.
On top of that, I barely knew how to use Instagram. I had never built a website. And I was trying to establish credibility in an industry I was still actively learning.
What I actually needed
The problem wasn't a lack of ideas or information. I had plenty of both. What I needed was a way to keep moving without a team, a budget, or the luxury of slowing down to figure it out.
This is where ChatGPT came in. Back in 2023, my AI toolkit looked very different to what I use today, but ChatGPT was that initial anchor that made everything else possible. ChatGPT was my toolkit back then, along with Canva.
What that actually looked like
In practice, it was quieter than you might expect. Not big dramatic outputs. Just steady, unglamorous support across every part of the business.
Learning an industry I wasn't trained in. Instead of Googling endlessly or second-guessing myself, together with YouTube I could ask ChatGPT what things meant, how things worked, what to expect. And move forward swiftly.
Building a website from scratch. After I delved into YouTube, I used ChatGPT to structure pages, write copy, sense-check messaging, and understand what needed to be included. Not perfectly, but enough to get it live.
Showing up on Instagram and writing blogs. Interiors is a highly visual, highly competitive space on Instagram. I was starting with no content plan, no real posting experience, and very little confidence. ChatGPT helped me understand what to post that was relevant to my particular audience, structure captions, and build enough momentum to show up consistently. It didn't make it polished, but it made it possible. Same situation with blogging for my website.
Communicating like a professional from day one. Drafting emails, responding to clients, communicating with suppliers, all while I was still learning the industry. Not to pretend I knew more than I did, but to communicate clearly while I was figuring it out. There was one particularly difficult client who wanted me to ship a large order and basically pay for customs charges into the UK. I didn't even know if this was something they could ask for, but ChatGPT came up with a diplomatic response where we ended up splitting the cost of the customs fees.
Making decisions without a team. When everything sits with you, as every solopreneur understands, the weight of small decisions adds up. I used ChatGPT to think through options, sense-check ideas, and break down next steps. It didn't replace my judgment, and it didn't make the decisions. I still did that. But it reduced the hesitation and the imposter syndrome.
Using AI to make the decision, not just build the business
Hawthorn & Willow was never going to be a seven-figure business empire, and I knew that. But it was real and it was working, and I could see strong potential in it. Which is exactly what made the decision to step back so difficult to articulate.
The next step was obvious, and that was the problem. Real growth would mean real investment of my time, energy and money, and the version of it I'd built, lean and manageable, wasn't built for that. And that's when it got uncomfortable.
Because this wasn't a "how do I do this" question anymore. It was: do I want to do this at that level? Does this make sense for my life right now?
The backstory was I'd left a corporate marketing career and moved to the West of Ireland to have more time with my family. Real time, not leftover time. Scaling Hawthorn & Willow would have taken that back again. And I hadn't made all those changes just to rebuild the same pressure under a different name.
How I used ChatGPT at this point was different. Up until then, I'd used it to learn, build, and communicate. Now I used it to help me think through things.
I asked things like: "If I scale this, what does that realistically look like day-to-day?" and "What are the genuine trade-offs of continuing versus stepping back?" I used it to lay everything out clearly. To see the reality, not just the potential.
And what it gave me back was something I hadn't expected. Not a decision exactly, but a kind of clarity. It quietly helped me see things from another perspective and showed me the positives and negatives that I was perhaps avoiding.
And so eventually I made a decision, and that decision was mine, based on 20 years of corporate experience. I stepped away. Not because it failed, but because I understood what scaling the business would actually require. And I chose my time over my ambition at that point in my life.
Why this matters
AI didn't just help me build something. It helped me evaluate it, understand it, and step away from it with clarity. It became my thinking partner, and is to this day still my thinking partner. Even though the questions and the tools have shifted, the purpose is still the same. And that's a different kind of value.
Because the hardest decisions in business aren't about what to post or what tool to use. They're about where to focus, what to commit to, and what to let go of. And having something that helps you think those decisions through, clearly, without panic, without outside noise, is genuinely useful, especially for female solopreneurs.
Most people talk about AI in the building phase: apps, automations and dashboards. But very few talk about using it to step back, assess, and choose a direction.
That's where I think the real opportunity is being missed.
A simple place to start
If you're building something new, moving into a different industry, or trying to do more with less, you don't need to have everything figured out first.
Try this: open ChatGPT or Claude and ask:
I'm at a decision point in my business. Here's the situation: [describe it in as much detail as possible]. Help me think through the full picture. Not just the next step, but the real trade-offs.
Use it the way I did: to think out loud, to find some structure in the uncertainty, and to keep going when the path isn't fully clear.