Hire Your First AI Assistant

Recurring computer-based work with clear inputs, steps and rules is a good starting point. Examples include paperwork follow-ups, order entry, routine customer inquiries, reporting and system updates. We’ll assess your specific workflow before making a commitment.

Both, depending on what the job needs. Some work genuinely calls for AI — reading unstructured documents, handling inputs that arrive differently every time, drafting responses. Other work is faster, cheaper and more reliable as ordinary automation. Most real solutions are a mix. I'll tell you which is which for your workflow instead of forcing everything through the AI label.

Usually it means you don't make the next hire, rather than losing someone you already have. It takes over the repetitive part of a role and leaves the judgment, the relationships and the odd cases to people. Most clients use it to absorb work they were about to hire for, or to take on volume they'd otherwise have had to turn down. If someone tells you it replaces your staff outright, be suspicious.

No. Show me what your team does repeatedly, where work backs up and what you would like to delegate. I’ll help assess what is practical.

Often, yes. I’ll review your software and available integration options before quoting the work.

We agree on checks, notifications and when a person should take over. I monitor and maintain the agreed workflows, with support arrangements defined in your proposal.

We decide that together. The scope will specify which actions can run automatically and which need approval.

Management of the agreed workflows, including monitoring and maintenance. Your quote will explain the included workload, support and software or usage charges.

Typically $2,500 to $8,000, depending on how many systems are involved, how complex the workflow is, and how much exception handling it needs. You get a fixed quote before any work starts. Simple single-workflow projects land at the low end.

They're good at different things, and plenty of businesses end up with both. A VA brings judgment and handles genuinely novel situations. An assistant runs at 2am, costs the same whether it's ten orders or a thousand, and does the job the same way every time — but it only does the job it was set up for. If your problem is volume and repetition, this is cheaper and more reliable. If your problem is that nobody has time to think, hire a person.

A different job, a new system, or a sustained jump in volume well beyond what we scoped. Everything inside the job description is included, and I'm not precious about small changes — a new order format, an added rule, a reworded notification. What calls for a second assistant is asking it to take on a genuinely separate part of your business, which is the same point at which you'd be hiring another person.

Only where you've said it can. Everything starts in draft mode, where it prepares the work and waits for approval. Actions move to running on their own once you've seen them work on your real data, and only the ones you choose. Anything that spends money, sends something irreversible, or touches a customer can stay under review for good.

That depends on the workflow and systems involved. You’ll receive an estimated implementation schedule before work begins.

Your proposal will explain the cancellation terms and what happens to running workflows, access and any handover at the end of service.

Fair question. Everything I build runs on your infrastructure and accounts, not mine, so you own it outright. I document what I build and use standard, widely supported platforms rather than anything proprietary to me, so another developer can pick it up. Response times and support arrangements are spelled out in your proposal.