Consultants
Direct answer
Consultant guides assume the raw material is email, a calendar, and a few unpaid invoices. Triage the inbox, send a booking link instead of negotiating times, and let a Monday note list what is waiting. Meeting notes can become tasks you check. Nothing here sends a proposal or chases a fee on its own.
Independent consultants whose raw material is email, a calendar, and a small set of unpaid invoices.
Client work often includes material you should not paste into a consumer chatbot: strategy, personal data about their staff, unpublished numbers. The email playbook tells you to keep that out of the draft tool.
Your own admin is fair game: sorting newsletters from real asks, proposing a booking link, and nudging an overdue invoice you have already decided to chase.
Playbooks that fit
- File organisationChatGPTOne sitting for the tree, then files as they arrive£0 on the free plan/mo
A client folder layout in Google Drive
Organise client files by creating a short folder tree in Google Drive and moving files yourself. ChatGPT can propose names from a list you type. Google's own help says names should be short and meaningful, and that you need permission to move a file. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Research for quotes and suppliersGrok15 minutes to save the prompt, then the time you spend checking linksabout £0–£23/mo
A Grok research brief for supplier quotes
Give Grok a fixed brief for supplier research: three companies, their websites, and a price only when that price is printed on the page you are given. Open every link before you trust a figure or put it in a quote. Estimates are not allowed. Not live-tested yet.
- Weekly admin digestn8n2–3 hours the first timeabout £0 licence if self-hosted, or about £17 for Cloud Starter/mo
A Monday admin digest with n8n
Use n8n to email you one Monday morning note: unread mail that needs a reply, the week's calendar, and invoices you have marked overdue. It is a reminder, not a manager. Start on n8n Cloud if you do not want to host a server. Not live-tested yet.
- Research for quotes and suppliersChatGPTOne sitting per company, with the sites open£0 on the free plan/mo
A one-page lead brief from pages you opened
A lead brief is a short note on a company you are about to contact, built only from pages you opened. Companies House lists some company details for free. ChatGPT may arrange those notes and must mark anything without a page. It does not replace the supplier-quote guide. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting and job schedulingChatGPT30–45 minutesabout £0–£15/mo
A scheduling agent that does not touch the calendar
Set up a free Google Calendar appointment page so people book a real gap in your diary, then use ChatGPT only to draft the reply that sends the link. Do not let an agent create events from incoming email without you. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageGeminiAbout 30 minutes, once the button is visibleAbout £4 and £15 at the planning rate, from those US list prices/mo
AI email assistant in Gmail with Gemini
Help me write inside Gmail is an email assistant only if the account has it. Google lists it as global on eligible paid plans and US-only on unpaid personal Gmail. On 25 October 2026 the US plans page showed Plus at $4.99 a month and Pro at $19.99. You still send. This has not been live-tested.
- AI receptionist and missed callsSmith.aiAbout an hour, plus test calls£0 for 25 real calls, then about £2 a call/mo
AI receptionist for a small business with Smith.ai
Smith.ai can answer a small business line on a free plan of 25 calls, then stop. The script takes a name, a number, and the job. It does not quote a price or promise a visit. Confirm callers can reach a normal UK number before you divert. This page has not been live-tested.
- Meeting and job schedulingCalendlyAbout 45 minutes£0 on the free plan/mo
Appointment booking with a Calendly link
Appointment booking for a small business should be a page of real gaps, not a chat that invents a time. Calendly's free plan, on 25 October 2026, was one event type and one calendar. You send a link. An agent may draft that email. It must not create events. This setup has not been live-tested.
- Lead capture to a CRMZapier45–75 minutesabout £0, or about £15 if you need multi-step Zaps/mo
Capture leads in a sheet with a two-step Zap
Send a short enquiry form into a Google Sheet with a two-step Zapier automation, which fits the free plan. Reply yourself the same day. Add people to a marketing list only if they ticked a box that was not pre-selected. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate invoice chasingMake1–2 hours if the built-in reminder is not enoughabout £0, or about £7 if you outgrow the free plan/mo
Chase overdue invoices with Make drafts
Turn on the reminder feature inside the accounting software you already pay for. If that wording is too blunt, use Make to create Gmail drafts for overdue invoices and send them yourself. Do not let an automation mark invoices paid. This has not been live-tested.
- Data entry from PDFs and formsClaudeAbout an hour for the sheet, then a file at a time£0 to try, or about £15 for Pro monthly/mo
Data entry from PDFs and forms with Claude
Data entry from a PDF or a form is a row you check, not a file the model files. Claude can read the page into a sheet. If a figure is unclear, the cell stays blank and the original stays attached. The row is not your statutory record. Nothing here has been live-tested.
- Weekly client reportClaudeOne sitting to write the instructions, then the Friday you already report£0, or about £13 and £15 at the planning rate/mo
Draft a weekly client report in Claude
Draft a weekly client report by pasting figures you already trust into Claude and sending the prose yourself. On 25 October 2026 Free was $0, and Pro was $17 a month billed annually at $200 up front or $20 monthly, before tax. The model must not invent a number. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageChatGPT45–90 minutesabout £0–£15/mo
Email triage for a small Gmail inbox with ChatGPT
Use Gmail labels and filters to sort a small inbox, then a ChatGPT Project to draft replies you still send yourself. It fits a sole trader under about fifty messages a day. Do not give the agent permission to send. This setup has not been timed in a live test.
- Receipts into bookkeepingChatGPTOne sitting for the folders, then one photo at a time£0 on the free plan/mo
File receipt photos in Drive, without posting the books
File a receipt by putting the photo in a dated Drive folder and one checked line in a sheet. ChatGPT may propose the filename from the supplier, date, and total you type. Do not upload the photo. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026 with no paid price in the text. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting notes into tasksGeminiOne sitting, on a call that is not with a clientAbout £4 or £15 at the planning rate, from those US list prices/mo
Google Meet notes turned into tasks
Turn a Google Meet into tasks only if Take notes for me is on an eligible plan, then copy the actions you accept into a private sheet. On 25 October 2026 the US plans page showed Plus at $4.99 a month and Pro at $19.99. The Meet-notes ticks were blank in the saved text. This has not been live-tested.
- Meeting notes into tasksFathomAbout 45 minutes before the first call£0 on the free plan/mo
Meeting notes turned into tasks with Fathom
Turn meeting notes into tasks by recording only with consent, copying Fathom's free summary into a private sheet, and writing the actions yourself. On 25 October 2026, AI action items were a Premium feature, not part of Free. You still check any list a paid plan writes. This page has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageChatGPTOne sitting, before you rely on it£0 on the free plan/mo
Outlook inbox triage with rules and a ChatGPT draft
Inbox triage in Outlook means rules that file newsletters and invoices, then a ChatGPT draft you paste and send yourself. On 25 October 2026 the ChatGPT pricing page listed a free plan and did not print a paid price in the text. This is the Outlook path. The Gmail guides are separate. This has not been live-tested.
- AI receptionist and missed callsSmith.aiHalf an hour to read the pricing tableabout £113 a month for 75 real calls/mo
Smith.ai answering service: what a call costs
Smith.ai's answering bill is a bundle of real calls, not a flat receptionist wage. On 25 October 2026 Free was $0 for 25 real calls and Pro started at $150 a month for 75. Extra calls and spam rules change the invoice. Read them before you divert. This buying guide has not been live-tested.
- Receipts into bookkeepingClaude30 minutes to set up, then about half an hour a weekabout £0–£15/mo
Turn receipt photos into checked bookkeeping rows
Photograph each receipt and, once a week, ask Claude to read the date, supplier, and amounts into a row you check before typing it into your bookkeeping software. Always check the VAT. Do not give an agent write access. This has not been live-tested.
Questions
Can it write the proposal?
A draft from your own notes is a different job from the library's quote guide, which is for trades. Do not send a proposal you have not read.
Are client names safe in a chatbot?
Treat them as personal data. The playbooks tell you what not to paste. A consumer chat plan is a poor place for a confidential file.
Where do I start?
The start-here guide. Then inbox labels, then the booking link. The digest comes after those lists exist.