Simplified StartupFind where the hours actually go
- We map where the hours actually go — not where everyone assumes they go
- Each candidate process scored: time saved, risk, and build effort
- A prioritized list you could hand to any builder — including not-us
SS-WEB-07 · Practice file · AI & Automation
Automatethe busywork.
AI and workflow automation for small business — the reports that eat your Friday, the data entry nobody checks, the follow-ups that slip. Automated, documented, and owned by you.
AI where it earns its place — humans where judgment livesNamed product · Fixed scope
What the engagement includes — in writing.
One named product, one fixed scope, one price fixed in your plan before work starts — described in named workflows, not vague retainers.
Workflows across your existing tools
- Integrations and workflows across the tools you already use
- Reporting pipelines that fill themselves and land on schedule
- Error handling and alerts built in — silent failure is the enemy
The work AI is actually good at
- Drafting, triage, summarization, and classification
- Every AI workflow ships with an explicit human-judgment step, marked in the docs
- No black boxes: you can see what it does and why
Built in your accounts, owned by you
- Every automation documented: purpose, dependencies, failure modes, maintenance
- Built in your accounts, owned by you — leave anytime and keep everything
- Run it in-house with our docs, or we monitor and maintain it monthly
Scope is written down — both directions
Your plan lists exactly which processes are in scope. New automation ideas mid-build get scoped and priced in writing as their own decisions.
How it runs
Three steps. No mysteries.
01Week 1
Audit
What happens
A working session plus a look at the real workflows — then a written map of where the hours go and what's worth automating first.
You get
The prioritized list with time-saved estimates — free either way.
02In weekly slices
Build
What happens
Automations ship one at a time, tested against the real work, with error handling and documentation from day one.
You get
Working automations you can watch run — not a big-bang reveal.
03Your call
Run
What happens
Keep it in-house with the docs, or we monitor, maintain, and keep tuning as your tools and volume change.
You get
Systems that keep working after the applause.
The house rule
AI drafts. Humans finish.
- Every AI workflow has an explicit human-judgment step — marked in the docs, not left to habit.
- AI handles volume; people handle meaning — approval, exceptions, anything a customer sees.
- If output could embarrass you in front of a customer, it does not ship without a human gate.
- You can read what every automation does. No black boxes in your business.
AI · volume
DraftingSortingSummarisingFirst-pass triage
flagged & routed →
→ meaning
People · meaning
ApprovalExceptionsAnything a customer sees
Plain answer
What to automate first.
The workflows that survive in production are high-frequency, rule-heavy, and low-variance — the ones you do the same way every week. Six show up on almost every small-business list.
Lead routing & CRM
New enquiry lands, gets scored, assigned, logged — with the follow-up already booked. Nobody types it in twice.
Reporting
Weekly and monthly reports assembled from every source you already pay for — the numbers you spend Friday copy-pasting.
Client onboarding
Contract signed → intake sent → project created → kickoff scheduled → welcome emails firing, in the same sequence every time.
Invoicing & AP/AR
Draft the invoice from the deal, chase the overdue, reconcile the payment — finance-team work a small business rarely staffs.
Follow-up & lifecycle
Post-purchase, post-appointment, quarterly check-ins — the touches you know you should do and never remember.
Document handling
Extract data from PDFs, invoices, or forms; drop it in the right system; file the source in the right folder.
In your free growth plan
We score each candidate on frequency, rule clarity, and exception rate — then automate the ones that clear the bar first.
The honest comparison
A workflow tool, an AI agency, or an automation build?
All three are legitimate — for different situations. Here's the straight version, including when not to hire us.
Scroll the table sideways →
DIY workflow toolZapier / Make
AI agencyStrategy only
Automation buildThisYou are here
Right if
Simple, stable workflow; someone in-house comfortable with no-code tools.
You need a plan or opportunity map, not a build.
You want it built, tested, documented, and owned by you.
Watch for
Volume pricing that quietly balloons; brittle API changes; nobody to call when it breaks.
Decks that stop at “here's what you could automate” and never ship.
A senior specialist owns your build by name, in the plan, before you sign.
Judgment steps
Skipped or half-handled with best-guess rules.
Documented in the plan; not implemented.
Kept human — flagged and routed, not simulated.
Ownership
You own the account and the recipe.
You own the recommendation.
You own accounts, connections, docs, and every workflow.
Price signal
Advertised $20/mo often 20–40% of real first-year cost.
Strategy engagements $3,000–$15,000.
Single automations from $2,000; packages $8,000–$20,000; managed $1,000–$3,000/mo.
Simplest test: if you already know exactly what you'd automate, you want a build. If you're still figuring out where AI belongs, start with AI consulting first — it's cheaper than building the wrong thing.
The service index
Five ways this gets bought.
Most clients start with the workflow that eats the most hours. Each service is scoped and priced on its own — combine any two for an automatic 10% discount.
01↗02↗03↗04↗05↗
Workflow automation
Repetitive processes mapped and automated, with the human-judgment steps kept explicit.
AI chatbot development
Disclosed bots grounded in your real content, escalating to humans by design.
Document automation
Proposals, invoices, and reports assembled from live data — reviewed where judgment lives.
Reporting automation
Your weekly numbers delivered on schedule, validated against manual pulls before trust.
Systems integration
Your tools connected so data entered once is correct everywhere — documented and monitored.
What it costs
Priced by scope band — set before work starts.
Your free growth plan scopes the work and fixes the exact price in writing before anything begins. No hourly meter, no surprise line items — and the number doesn't move after that.
from $2,000
One workflow, built, tested, documented, and handed to you.
$8,000–$20,000
Three-to-five workflows scoped together as one coordinated build.
$1,000–$3,000 /mo
We monitor, maintain, and keep tuning as your tools and volume change.
10%
Any two services together — applied to both.
15%
Three or more services — applied across all of them.
Payback for a well-scoped build is typically 60–90 days. The full pricing model — published bands, terms, and how ranges work — is on the price list.
Fair questions
Asked by every smart buyer.
Sometimes tools change — that's why every automation ships with error alerts, documentation, and a maintenance path. Silent failure is the real risk, and it's designed out: when something breaks, you (or we) know the same day, not at month-end.
You do. Everything is built in your accounts, documented, and yours if we part ways — the same ownership rule as everything else we make.
It's about replacing their busywork. The hours that come back go to the work that actually needs a human — customers, judgment, growth. Nobody's job is a data-entry queue.
Published here: single builds start at $2,000, three-to-five-workflow packages run $8,000–$20,000, and managed retainers are $1,000–$3,000/mo. Market-wide, builds run $5,000–$50,000 with $500–$2,000/mo ongoing — most agencies won't tell you until a discovery call. Payback for a well-scoped build is typically 60–90 days.
If the workflow is small, stable, and someone in-house can maintain it — Zapier or Make is often enough, and we'll say so in your plan. You need a build partner when the workflow crosses several systems, has judgment steps, involves customer data, or nobody in-house has time to own it when an API changes.
Adjacent practices
Often bought together.
Know what AI is worth to you
Not sure what to automate? Start with the assessment — a ranked roadmap, including what to skip.
Get more customers
Automation keeps the engine running; marketing keeps it fed. They compound.
Fill your pipeline
Outbound plus automation is how follow-up stops depending on someone remembering.
The Scale bundle
Marketing, pipeline, and automation together.Three services — 15% off
End of file · SS-WEB-07
Get your free growth plan.
A working session on your goals, then a written plan with the exact scope, price, and sequence we'd recommend — free, and yours to keep whether or not you hire us.