CH
ChatGPT
AI tools · Software
Used by me
General-purpose AI assistant for drafting, research, analysis and repeatable business tasks.
Best forOwners and small teams who want one AI tool that covers most jobs without setup.
Hub
AI and automation for UK businesses
Most AI advice is written by people who have never had to answer a customer at 7pm on a Friday. This is what AI actually does in my companies: answers enquiries, drafts content, cuts admin, and quietly removes the jobs nobody wanted to do.
Where AI earns its money
AI pays for itself in three places: speed of response, volume of routine writing, and the admin nobody has time for. Everything else is experimentation, and experimentation is fine as long as you know that's what you're doing.
The businesses that get results treat AI as a step inside an existing process rather than a new department. A missed-call responder that texts a lead back in nine seconds beats a beautifully engineered chatbot nobody visits.
Where it doesn't
AI is bad at anything where being confidently wrong is expensive — tax positions, contractual wording, pricing decisions, and anything a regulator reads. It's also bad at fixing a broken process; it just makes the mess arrive faster.
Tools
The AI tools I actually pay for
CL
Claude
AI tools · Software
Used by me
AI assistant with strong long-form writing, document analysis and careful reasoning.
Best forAnyone producing written content where tone and accuracy of nuance matter.
ZA
Zapier
Automation · Software
Used by me
No-code automation platform connecting thousands of business apps.
Best forTeams that need reliable simple automations without a developer.
MA
Make
Automation · Software
Best value
Visual automation platform for multi-step, branching workflows at low operation cost.
Best forBusinesses running higher-volume or genuinely conditional automations.
GO
GoHighLevel
CRM and follow-up · Software
Top pick
All-in-one CRM, messaging and automation platform used to run lead capture and follow-up.
Best forService businesses that want CRM, messaging and automation in one place rather than five subscriptions.
Workflows
AI workflows worth copying
Each one is a system, not a prompt.
- My lead generation stackEnquiries arrive from several places, get handled inconsistently, and some are never followed up at all.
- My AI workflowAI gets used ad hoc, so output quality is inconsistent and nothing compounds.
- My reporting and analytics setupNobody can say which marketing produces jobs, so budget decisions are guesses.
- My content creation workflowContent gets published randomly, so nothing ranks and nothing compounds.
My company in this space
Keystone AI
AI-powered lead capture, CRM, missed-call response, follow-up and review automation for UK trade and construction businesses.
Guides
AI guides and reviews
- Best AI Tools for UK Small BusinessesThe AI tools that earn their subscription in a real UK small business, and the ones you can safely ignore for now.
- AI Lead Follow-Up for UK TradesHow trade businesses use AI to answer, qualify and chase enquiries without stopping work on site.
- How to Stop Losing Leads While You Are on SiteA practical system for capturing and holding enquiries when nobody can answer the phone.
- How to Automate Quote Follow-UpA five-touch follow-up sequence that runs itself and closes the loop on every quote.
- AI Automation Ideas for Service BusinessesTen automations that are small, boring and immediately useful in a service business.
- How to Use AI Without Making Your Business Sound RoboticThe editing rules that stop AI-assisted content reading like everyone else's AI content.
- Best AI Tools for Builders and TradesAI that works on a phone, on site, with cold hands — and the tools that will never get used.
Comparisons
AI tool comparisons
Explore my business stack
See how the AI tools connect to the CRM, the website and the finance side.