Questions

Is this going to take my job, or my staff’s jobs?

Not this year, and not in the way you are imagining. What it does is the first draft. It cannot decide what matters, judge a customer, take responsibility, or be sued — and those turn out to be most of a job.

The honest change is this: the person who uses it well will be more use than the person who refuses to touch it. That is worth taking seriously. It is a change in how the work is done, not the removal of the person doing it.

Where does what I type actually go?

To the company that makes the tool, over the internet, and it is stored for a while. Whether it is used to improve their system depends on a setting — and switching that setting off is one of the first things we do together.

Is it safe to put my business information into it?

Some of it, yes. Some of it, absolutely not. That distinction is a whole lesson, and you leave with it written down.

The short version: never a customer’s name together with their details, never bank details, never passwords, never medical or employee matters, never material a client gave you under an agreement. Take the names out and most problems disappear.

How do I know it is not just making things up?

You do not, from looking at it. That is the hard part, and it is why I show you it being confidently wrong in your own trade during the session. The rule is simple: if it produced a fact, check it. If it only reshaped your words, you are fine.

Which tool should I buy?

One of them. Pay the twenty dollars a month. Stay with it three months. Which one matters far less than sticking with it — the commonest way to fail at this is to keep switching.

I take no commission from any of them, so you are getting my actual opinion.

Do I need to learn to code?

No. Nothing I teach requires it and nothing in your business will.

Is my business too small for this?

Sometimes, genuinely, yes. If your week is welding, this will help with quotes and paperwork and almost nothing else. That may still be worth an hour of my time. It is probably not worth a day of it, and I would rather tell you now than take the money.

How long before I am any good at it?

Useful in an afternoon. Comfortable in a fortnight, if you use it most days on real work. The people who never get comfortable are the ones who read about it instead of doing it.

Can you connect it to my accounting system or customer database?

Not as part of a teaching session, and you should not paste that data in either. There are proper ways to connect these tools to business systems and they are a larger job with real security questions attached. If somebody offers to do it cheaply, be careful.

What if my staff are already using it badly?

They almost certainly are — on their phones, with no rules. That is exactly why we write the never-type list together. The choice is not between staff using it and staff not using it. It is between them using it with rules and without.

What happens when the tools change?

They will, every few months. But the four parts of a good request do not change, the never-type list does not change, and checking does not change. I teach habits, not menus, precisely so this does not go stale.

Do you work outside Westchester?

Yes. On site across Westchester and the Hudson Valley, and further into the tri-state area by arrangement. Remote by screen-share anywhere — and remote works genuinely well for this, because the whole thing happens on a screen anyway.

What does it cost?

The first conversation is free — twenty minutes, no obligation. After that: $150 for an hour remote, $600 for a half day at your office, $1,100 for a full day, from $500 for a job done for you, or $300 a month to have me on call. All prices are published on the site; you never have to ask.

Do you charge sales tax?

No. This is professional services — teaching and consulting time — which is not subject to New York sales tax. You get a proper receipt.