Notes on AI, automation and running a leaner business.
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AI Agents Can Now Use the Software You Already Pay For. Now What?
AI can now log into the tools you already pay for and click through them like a coordinator would. Here's what that changes, where it still falls short, and what to do about it this month.
The Future of Work Is Directing the Work, Not Doing It
AI agents are becoming the production line. The scarce skill now is running the line: deciding what gets built, in what order, and whether it came out right.
Agencies and Consultants Sold Hours. AI Just Broke That Model.
Agencies and consultants built their businesses on selling production hours. AI agents just made production fast and cheap. Here's what that means for how you buy outside help.
How to Hand Real Work to Claude and ChatGPT: The Delegation Prompt
One-line prompts get one-line thinking. Here is the six-part delegation prompt I use to hand real work to Claude and ChatGPT, plus four prompts you can copy today.
Set Up GA4 and Google Tag Manager With AI: A Walkthrough for Owners
A plain-English walkthrough for getting Google Tag Manager and GA4 to count your leads, including the embedded-form gotcha that breaks tracking on a lot of small business sites.
Hand Your Invoicing and Follow-Up to an AI Agent (Safely)
An AI agent can draft your invoices, chase overdue accounts and build the collections list. Here is what to hand it, where the approval gates go, and when a plain workflow is the better tool.
Your First Month With an AI Agent Team: What Actually Happens
Week by week, here is what the first month with an AI agent team really looks like, including the parts that go sideways and how they get fixed.
What I Never Let an AI Agent Do Without a Human Check
AI agents can do real work in your software now. Here are the seven things I never let one do without a human check, plus a plain-English look at prompt injection.
Stop Buying AI Tools. Get Someone to Run the Ones You Have.
Most small businesses now pay for a handful of AI tools and get real work out of one, if that. Here is how to audit the pile, and why the missing piece is a driver, not another subscription.
How to Write an SOP an AI Agent Can Actually Follow
Most SOPs are reminders for people who already know the job. Here's how to write one an AI agent or a brand-new hire can follow on day one, with a template, a filled example and prompts.
The Copy-Paste Tax: How to Calculate the Cost of Manual Data Entry
Manual data entry never sends you an invoice, so nobody counts it. Here's a five-minute formula to put a dollar figure on it and a plan to stop paying it.
7 Mistakes Owners Make with Manual Business Processes (and the Fix)
Most small businesses have good people and a product that works. The process is what breaks. Here are seven mistakes I see with manual processes and how to fix each one.
St. Louis Data Center Boom: What Small Business Owners Should Watch
Google in Montgomery County, TierPoint downtown, a $3 billion campus in Midtown. Here is what the St. Louis data center boom changes for a small business, and what it doesn't.
US vs. China Servers: A Data Sovereignty Guide for Small Business
Your files are not in the cloud. They are on a server in a country with its own laws. Here is a one-page way to find out where your business data actually lives.
SaaS Costs for Small Business: Do You Really Need 10 Subscriptions?
The sticker price is the cheap part of your software. Here is a simple formula for the true cost of each subscription, and how to decide what to keep, connect or cut.
Your Subscription Graveyard: The Funeral Math on Unused Software
Every forgotten subscription still bills you, and disconnected tools cost even more in wasted time. Here's a simple formula and a 45-minute audit to sort it out.
The Hammer Doesn't Make You a Carpenter: AI Tools Need a Strategy
AI app builders made software feel easy. The demo is the easy part. Here's what a real AI software strategy covers before your team depends on that app.
The Blockbuster Moment: Adding AI to Existing Software Isn't Enough
Every app you own just got an AI button, and so did your competitors' apps. The edge isn't the button. It's redesigning the process, starting with the tools you already have.
Outgrown Your Spreadsheets? When to Replace Them with an App
Every small business has one spreadsheet holding the whole operation together. Here's how to tell if it's time to replace it, and the cheaper steps to try first.
How I'd Replace $300/Month of SaaS With a Custom CRM in an Afternoon
A labeled walkthrough, not a case study: how I'd swap five overlapping subscriptions for one custom CRM using n8n, Supabase and Claude, hour by hour.
Custom Software vs Off the Shelf: Which Apps Should You Rebuild?
Almost any app on your desk can be rebuilt now. Most shouldn't be. Here's the test I use to decide what to keep, what to connect, and what to replace.
Build Your Own AI Tools First. Then Call Me.
I tell almost every owner to try building their own AI tool before hiring me. Here's a weekend plan for doing it, and how to tell when a prototype isn't enough.
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