AI Automation Guide
This page is the hub for practical, step-by-step guides on automating your business with AI. If you want to learn the concepts, check the Agentic AI Guide; for visibility in AI search, see the GEO Guide. Here, we focus directly on implementation.
1. How to Build an AI Agent Without Code
A step-by-step guide to building an agent with no-code tools (n8n, Claude Projects, Base44), including their limits. Read this post →
2. ChatGPT for Excel: Formulas, Tables, Analysis
Getting ChatGPT to write complex formulas, clean data, and build VBA macros for you. Read this post →
3. Getting AI to Prepare Your Google Ads Report
The difference between manual and AI-assisted reporting, the step-by-step process, and honest limits. Read this post →
4. Making Money With AI: Real or a Trap
Realistic paths, questionable promises, and a checklist to tell them apart. Read this post →
5. Your First AI Project: Where to Start
Criteria for picking the right first project, good and bad examples, and a real story. Read this post →
6. How to Get AI to Answer Instagram DMs
Setup with the Meta Business API, which questions can be auto-answered, and the handoff-to-human mechanism. Read this post →
7. How to Connect AI to WhatsApp
Automated replies with the WhatsApp Business API, appointment reminders, setup steps, and what to watch for. Read this post →
8. What Is Vibe Coding
What someone with no coding background can actually do, where they hit a wall — and how it differs from no-code. Read this post →
9. Your First Vibe-Coded App: Base44
What to expect from your first Base44 app, how many revision rounds it takes, a real experience. Read this post →
10. How to Build Your Own Custom GPT
Custom GPT / Claude Project setup, a concrete example, and where it falls short. Read this post →
11. Your First Automation With n8n
Building a real automation step by step, from a form submission to Sheets and WhatsApp. Read this post →
12. Monthly Report Automation With AI
Sales, inventory, finance — whatever the department, the process of having AI prepare your recurring report. Read this post →
13. Building an Email Reply System With AI
A three-tier framework from categorization to fully automated replies, with a shipping-tracking example. Read this post →
14. Adding a Question-Answering Bot to Your Website
Off-the-shelf widget or custom build, the step-by-step process, and three things the bot shouldn’t know. Read this post →
15. Building AI That Answers From Your Documents
Feeding AI your internal documents (contracts, handbooks, SOPs) so your team can ask it questions. Read this post →
16. Does Starting an AI Automation Agency Actually Pay Off
The real workload, the difficulty of finding your first client, and a more realistic starting path — an honest look. Read this post →
17. Building a Company Assistant With Claude Projects
Uploading your company-specific documents to Claude to create a persistent assistant — setup, use cases, limits. Read this post →
18. Preparing Presentations With ChatGPT
Speeding up the content, keeping design separate, a sample prompt, and what to watch for. Read this post →
19. How to Do Competitor Analysis With AI
Scanning a competitor’s site, ad creative, and content strategy with AI — and three things AI can’t see. Read this post →
20. Moving Data From PDF to Excel With AI
Getting invoices, statements, and price lists into Excel with AI — the difference with scanned PDFs and error checking. Read this post →
21. Automatic Reports and Action Items From Meeting Recordings
A four-step process from audio recording to action list, the risk of speaker separation, and a data-protection note. Read this post →
22. Writing Ad Copy With AI
4 prompt patterns that work for Google Ads, adjusting for character limits, and common mistakes in AI-written copy. Read this post →
23. A Social Media Calendar With AI
From content pillars to a monthly topic list and draft captions — step by step with a sample prompt. Read this post →
24. Replying to Customer Reviews With AI
Automation for positive reviews, human approval for negative ones — why the two should be handled differently. Read this post →
25. Preparing a Proposal Document With AI
Separating the fixed and variable parts of a template, the risk of fabricated pricing, and checking commitment language. Read this post →
26. Getting AI to Audit Your Website
Prioritizing raw PageSpeed/Search Console data with AI — and the reality that AI can’t crawl your site on its own. Read this post →
27. Connecting Your Company Data to AI: A Roadmap
Inventory, priority, integration, testing — a four-stage roadmap and which data should be connected first. Read this post →
28. Reviewing AI Output: 5 Checks Before You Publish
Factual accuracy, timeliness, tone, commitments, and legal risk — a concrete 5-point checklist. Read this post →
29. Turning Excel Into a Web App (With AI)
When Excel stops being enough, the step-by-step process, and the real limits of a first AI-built app. Read this post →
30. What Is n8n — Through an Agency Owner’s Eyes
What n8n is, what it’s for, and what I hand to n8n versus an AI agent — a personal account. Read this post →
31. What Is AI Automation — For Small Businesses
A conceptual intro to automation: 5 types of work suited to automation in a small business, and where to start. Read this post →
32. No-Code vs Vibe Coding
The difference between composing ready-made blocks and generating real code — which fits which job. Read this post →
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with automation?
First check out Your First AI Project — it explains how to pick the right first project. Then choose the method that fits your business (a no-code agent, Excel automation, report automation).
Will this guide stay up to date?
Yes, I review it regularly.
How do I apply this to my own business?
Every page ends with a “you can bring this work to me” section — generally a 2 hour to 2 week, remote, hourly-billed engagement.