Welcome back to this week’s Side Income Roundup, Monday, April 27.
AI got everywhere in the last twelve months, but most solopreneurs still can’t tell which of their AI tools are actually paying for themselves. This week we break down the one filter that sorts useful from useless, three AI tools worth testing, and the new HubSpot feature that tells you whether ChatGPT even knows your brand exists.
📢 The 5 questions to ask before you buy another AI tool
🛠 Three tools: voice-to-text, conversational link analytics, and agentic ad campaigns
⚡ A free audit that shows how AI sees your site, plus free AI meeting notes
📝 Last week’s eCom niche post
🤖 HubSpot’s new AEO feature
Let’s get into it.
THIS WEEK’S BIG IDEA
📢 Before You Buy Another AI Tool, Ask These 5 Questions
MarTech reported this week that 75% of marketing teams have adopted AI tools, but most teams still can’t show clear value from them. The five questions the piece recommends asking before any purchase cover data readiness, stack integration, who actually owns the decision, scalability risk, and true total cost.
Our Take: Before you swipe your card on another AI tool this month, pick the last one you bought and ask whether it actually slotted into a weekly workflow you already run. If it didn’t, cancel it and spend that 30 minutes documenting the workflow first.
TOOLS OF THE WEEK
🛠 Wispr Flow on Android
Wispr Flow lets you talk into any app on your phone or computer and get properly formatted, ready-to-send text back, so emails, captions, and replies get drafted at speaking speed instead of typing speed.
🛠 Bitly Assist and Weekly Insights
Bitly just added a conversational AI layer that lets you ask plain-language questions about how your links and QR codes are performing, and spin up new ones without touching the old dashboard.
🛠 Clarvos Agentic Workflow Platform
Clarvos is a new agentic platform in early access that plans, generates creative for, and launches paid campaigns across Google, Meta, and TikTok from a single workflow, aimed at solo operators and small teams.
Our Take: Start with Wispr Flow, because anyone who types emails or captions will save hours in the first day. Bitly Assist and Clarvos are worth a look once your content and ads start scaling.
TODAY’S QUICK WINS
⚡ Fathom Adds Bot-less Meeting Mode
Fathom is a free AI meeting tool that records Zoom, Meet, and Teams calls and turns them into clean written summaries, transcripts, and action items. The new bot-less mode means no visible bot joins the call, so your client or team doesn’t even see it running, and you get a ready-to-send follow-up email drafted in minutes.
⚡ Scrunch Free AI Rundown
Scrunch runs a free audit that shows how ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity describe (or miss) your website, so you can see where AI is mislabelling your business before you try to fix it. The audit itself takes seconds, and the output gives you the one or two content gaps worth closing first.
Our Take: Run your site through Scrunch’s free AI Rundown this week to see how ChatGPT and Gemini describe you, then hook Fathom’s free plan into your calendar so meetings write their own follow-ups.
FROM OMC
📝 The #1 Reason Most eCom Sellers Are Losing Money in 2026 (and the Stupidly Simple Fix)
Most eCom sellers are stuck competing on price because they are selling commodities, and the moment ad costs go up, their margins disappear. Last week’s post walks through three simple filters for finding product niches where a positioning change alone lets you charge three to four times more, including one filter that tells you almost immediately whether people in that niche actually spend money.
Our Take: If you are sitting on a product idea or unsold inventory, run it through the three filters this week. Most people find they need a positioning pivot, not a new product.
AI SPOTLIGHT
🤖 HubSpot Launches AEO and Expands AI Agents
HubSpot rolled out Answer Engine Optimization, a tool that tracks how your brand shows up in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity answers by using your own CRM data to surface the prompts real customers are typing. Standalone pricing starts at $50 a month and includes a brand visibility scorecard and competitor share-of-voice.
Our Take: Whether you use HubSpot or not, test your own brand and top three competitors in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity this week. Wherever you’re missing, write one FAQ-style blog post answering that exact prompt so the LLMs start pulling you in.
UNTIL NEXT WEEK…
Here’s your move this week:
✅ Pick the last AI tool you bought and decide whether it actually earns its keep
✅ Run your site through Scrunch’s free AI Rundown and fix the top content gap
✅ Turn on Fathom’s free plan before your next Zoom or Meet call
✅ Test your brand in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity and write one FAQ post where you’re missing
The useful AI tools this year aren’t the ones with the flashiest launch. They’re the ones you actually slot into a weekly workflow.
Talk soon,
Aidan
P.S. This Wednesday I’m breaking down the three vanity metrics that are quietly convincing people to quit their online business in month two, plus the one signal metric that replaces them all. Keep an eye on your inbox.
