AI consultant for small business: what one does, and when to hire one

Office time gets lost in the same places: a quote rebuilt from scratch, the technical question answered for the tenth time, invoice figures copied into the accounts system. As an AI consultant I start there, and leave you a tool that prepares that work for you.

Are small businesses already using AI?

Fewer than you’d think, which is why starting now still counts.

US businesses

AI use is growing, and small firms are behind

17% to 20%

of US businesses used AI between December 2025 and May 2026

Under 20%

of firms with four or fewer employees reported using AI

Source: US Census Bureau. The survey asks whether a business used AI in any business function in the past two weeks.

What does an AI consultant actually do?

Shows you where AI saves hours and where it’s better to leave things as they are. Some stop there, with a report. I go a step further: I build the tool, we test it together, and I hand it over working.

Where I start most often

Four jobs that come back every week

Quotes

From your price list

Built from your price list, with the total already worked out.

Technical answers

From your manuals

Taken from your manuals, with the page they come from.

Orders and invoices

From PDFs

Read from PDFs and moved into the spreadsheet or the accounts system.

Email

Sorted

Each message sent to the right person.

How each one works is on the AI tools page.

Should you hire an AI consultant, or start with one process?

Both: hire someone to do one process properly. A broad AI strategy for a team of eight is usually a document nobody opens. One job that runs every week shows what works in your business, with your data.

Two kinds of consultant

Advice, or a tool that works on Monday

Advice only

A report

Where AI could help, and which tools to look at.

• ✓Sì: A map of opportunities
• ×No: A tool built on your files
• ×No: Tested by your team on real cases
• ×No: Looked after once it runs

Advice and delivery

A working tool

One job handed to AI, end to end.

• ✓Sì: A map of opportunities
• ✓Sì: A tool built on your files
• ✓Sì: Tested by your team on real cases
• ✓Sì: Looked after once it runs, if you want

How does the first project work?

It starts with the brief. You write the job that comes back every week and which files you use for it today, even just the name of the program. We go through it on a video call, with the real work on screen.

Then I build a first version you open in your browser. The people who do the job by hand today test it on real cases, and wherever it gets something wrong it’s fixed before the full version. The tool prepares, a person checks: nothing goes to a customer before someone has looked at it.

The same pattern works with your price list: the items change, the principle stays.

What does an AI consultant cost?

It depends on what you get at the end. Day rates buy advice; a project price buys a tool. Before you compare offers, ask each one what you’ll have in your hands when it ends.

My AI tools cost €500 to €6,000, no VAT added. The price depends on how many of your systems the tool connects to, such as the price list, the PDFs and the accounts system, and whether you want me to look after it over time. You can have the full quote whenever you like.

What should you ask before you hire one?

• What will I have at the end? A report, or a tool my team uses.
• Which job do we start with, and why that one?
• Which data does it use, and where do they stay? Get the answer in writing.
• Who checks the output before it reaches a customer?
• Who looks after it when a price or a file changes?

AI also makes images and ads. For two solar installers I made ads, carousels and reels with AI from one photo of their work, and three AI video ads for a mattress. Both are spec work, not commissioned. If that’s your interest, read the guide to the AI advertising agency.