How to prepare for an AI consultation

Why preparation matters

A paid AI consultation is a working call, not a sales pitch. Thirty or sixty minutes goes quickly, and the quality of what you leave with depends heavily on what you bring in. An owner who arrives with one real workflow and a few rough numbers will get far more value than one who arrives with a vague worry about being left behind by AI.

This guide is written for small business owners preparing for a call like the AI Clarity Call, but the advice applies to any practical AI consultation.

What to bring

You do not need a strategy deck. You need the everyday detail of how your business actually runs.

• The one task or workflow that eats the most time each week, described step by step.
• Rough numbers: how often the task happens, how long it takes, and who does it.
• A list of the tools you already pay for, such as your booking system, accounts software, inbox, and spreadsheets.
• Your website address, and access to Google Search Console if search visibility is on the agenda.
• Anything you have already tried with AI, even if it went nowhere. Failed experiments are useful evidence.

What a good 30 minute call covers

A 30 minute call suits one focused question. That might be a quick scan of where AI could genuinely help in your business, a first pass on website and search visibility, or a sense check on a tool you are about to buy. Expect the person on the other end to narrow the conversation quickly. That is a good sign, not a brush-off.

What a good 60 minute call covers

A 60 minute call has room to map a problem properly. That usually means walking through the workflow, separating what should stay human from what can be automated, comparing options against the tools you already have, and putting the candidate fixes in a sensible order. Repeated admin, handoffs, reports, and inbox triage are common ground here, and the automations capability page describes what that work looks like when it turns into a build.

What you should leave with

Before the call ends, make sure you can answer three questions. What is the first thing to do next? What did we decide not to do, and why? What would a sensible second step look like if the first one works?

In practice that means a short, ordered action list, a clear note of anything parked as not worth it yet, and enough plain-English reasoning that you could explain the plan to a colleague afterwards. If a build makes sense, scoping it is a separate conversation, so there is no pressure to commit on the call.

Booking details, durations, topics, and prices for the studio's own calls are on the consultations page.

Related capability

Automations

Workflow automations that save time across handoffs, repeated admin, and reporting.