Cartoon Nick has a soft spot for spreadsheets, and this month Google put a language model inside the cell. Gemini 3.8 Flash is available directly in Google Sheets, which means the boring column you have been meaning to fill in for six months can fill itself in this afternoon.
Two formulas. Both copy-paste.
AI at Work Tip #65: Categorize a year of expenses in one drag
Export your bank transactions to a Sheet. Column A is the description, column B is the amount. In column C:
=AI("Categorize this business expense into exactly one of: Software, Advertising, Hosting, Contractors, Office, Travel, Meals, Fees, Other. Return only the category word. Expense: " & A2 & " for $" & B2)Drag it down. Then pivot by category and you have the report your accountant asked for in March. Spot-check twenty rows before you trust it, and fix the category list to match your chart of accounts.
AI at Work Tip #66: Write 200 product descriptions without losing your mind
If you sell things, this is the one. Column A product name, column B a few raw notes or specs. Column C:
=AI("Write a 40 to 60 word product description for an online store. Plain, specific, no hype words, no exclamation points, mention one concrete benefit. Product: " & A2 & ". Notes: " & B2)Then paste the column into WooCommerce or Shopify via CSV import. Cartoon Nick did this for a client with 340 SKUs. It took eleven minutes and one cup of coffee.
What's hot right now
Google is holding Gemini 3.8 Flash pricing flat through December 31 and doubling it January 1. If you build anything on the Gemini API rather than using it inside Sheets, that is a budget line to fix this quarter. Inside Sheets it comes with your Workspace plan, so drag away.
Where your web guy fits in
Those 340 descriptions are useless if the product pages load slowly or the store is missing schema. Bulk content is step one. A store that converts is step two, and that is the WooCommerce work at webguynick.com.
Frequently asked questions
Can Google Sheets use AI in a formula?
Yes. With Gemini enabled in Workspace, the AI() function lets you write a prompt inside a cell and reference other cells.
Is AI categorization of expenses accurate enough for bookkeeping?
Accurate enough for a first pass. Spot-check a sample and give it your exact category list. Your accountant still signs off.
