About
About this playbook
Thirty practical guides to using AI in a small business — written for owners, not engineers.
Who this is for
I'm Mike, and I put this site together for small business owners who keep hearing about AI but don't have an IT department to sort the useful from the noise. If you run a shop, a trade, a café, a salon, a small agency, or a one-person operation, these guides are written in your language: what it does, what it costs, how to set it up, and how to tell if it's working.
How the guides are written
Every guide follows the same structure: what the use case is, who it's for, what it typically costs, the setup steps, and — most importantly — the ROI math. A few honesty rules I hold myself to:
- ROI numbers are examples, never promises. You'll see "Example:" boxes with round hypothetical numbers. They're there to show you the method, not to predict your results. Your labor costs, your hours, your customers — plug in your own numbers with the ROI calculator.
- No invented statistics. If a guide doesn't cite a named source with a date, treat the number as illustrative. Most "AI saves businesses 40%" claims you see online are marketing; I don't repeat them.
- Pricing is described, not quoted. AI tool pricing changes constantly. Guides describe the shape of pricing (free tiers, per-user plans) and tell you to check the vendor's current page before budgeting.
- Tools are named, not endorsed. When a well-known tool genuinely fits, it's named so you have a starting point. That's not a recommendation, and I don't take referral fees.
What this site is not
These are starter guides for research — not professional financial, legal, tax, or data-privacy advice. AI products change fast: features, prices, and privacy terms shift, so verify before you spend money or connect business data. Nothing here is based on hands-on testing of every tool mentioned; the guides describe established, well-documented uses.
A note on privacy
This is a static site. It doesn't track you, doesn't require accounts, and the ROI calculator runs entirely in your browser — the numbers you type never leave your device. See data privacy basics when using AI tools for how to think about the data you share with AI services themselves.