APPLIED MARGIN / FIELD GUIDE15 FIELD NOTES · 10 INSTALL PLAYBOOKS

Useful before
you hire us.

Clear thinking for the work between an AI demo and a dependable operating system. Read the argument. Steal the process. Keep the judgment.

START HERE

Three ideas that prevent expensive mistakes.

FIELD NOTE01

AI strategy

Stop Buying AI Tools. Filter Them on Money, Time, and the Customer.

A three-door filter for how to choose AI tools for small business: money, hours back, and a better customer experience.

FIELD NOTE03

First workflow

How to Pick the First AI Workflow in a Local Business

How to pick the first AI workflow in a local business: score frequency, dollars, mess, and owner visibility — then map one loop.

FIELD NOTE12

AI strategy

90% of “AI Transformation” Is Not the Model

AI transformation for small business is not picking a model. Map the messy job, feed real examples, then put a helper in one person's hands.

01 / FIELD NOTES15

Arguments for owners making real operating decisions.

Strategy, workflow selection, tool discipline, measurement, adoption, and what not to build.

FIELD NOTE01

AI strategy

Stop Buying AI Tools. Filter Them on Money, Time, and the Customer.

A three-door filter for how to choose AI tools for small business: money, hours back, and a better customer experience.

FIELD NOTE02

AI strategy

Buying ChatGPT for Your Team Is Not an AI Strategy

A $20 ChatGPT seat is a calculator, not a ChatGPT for small business strategy. Here's how to attach seats to one real workflow.

FIELD NOTE03

First workflow

How to Pick the First AI Workflow in a Local Business

How to pick the first AI workflow in a local business: score frequency, dollars, mess, and owner visibility — then map one loop.

FIELD NOTE04

First workflow

Why I Won't Do a Free AI Audit of Your Business

A free AI audit for small business is a sales call. Here's why I sell a paid 45–60 minute owner interview and seven-business-day analysis instead, and what you actually get.

FIELD NOTE05

First workflow

Send Me a 7-Minute Walkthrough of Your Shop. I'll Tell You Where AI Pays.

For an AI assessment for local business, skip the org chart. Film a 7-minute walkthrough of one job and I'll score where AI pays.

FIELD NOTE06

First workflow

What an Embedded AI Partner Actually Does for a Small Business

What an embedded AI operating partner should deliver each month, how the work is measured, and when a retainer is premature.

FIELD NOTE07

Operating workflow

How Local Shops Use AI to Get More Google Reviews (Without Sounding Fake)

How local shops use AI for Google reviews: time the ask, draft replies in your voice, never fake a star. Human still sends.

FIELD NOTE08

Operating workflow

Your Inbox Is Eating the Day. Here’s the AI Workflow I’d Install First.

If the owner is still the help desk, you have a routing problem. Here's the AI email workflow I'd install first in a small business.

FIELD NOTE09

Operating workflow

Stop Playing Scheduler. Use AI to Protect the Calendar You Actually Sell.

AI scheduling for a service business should protect chair time, truck time, and consult time — not auto-book over your real constraints.

FIELD NOTE10

Operating workflow

Your CRM Is a Graveyard. AI Won’t Fix It Until You Decide What a Lead Is.

AI CRM for small business fails on a graveyard of names. Define a lead, require a next action, then draft follow-up a human still sends.

FIELD NOTE11

Operating workflow

AI Won't Save a Bad Offer. Here's How I'd Use It on Ads Anyway.

AI for local business advertising is variants, negatives, and a landing page that matches the offer — not faster creative on a lie.

FIELD NOTE12

AI strategy

90% of “AI Transformation” Is Not the Model

AI transformation for small business is not picking a model. Map the messy job, feed real examples, then put a helper in one person's hands.

FIELD NOTE13

Buying AI help

How to Explain an AI Retainer to Your Spouse or Your CPA

Is an AI consultant worth it for a small business? Say the cost, what it replaces, and what done looks like — or don't buy it.

FIELD NOTE14

AI strategy

The Two Files That Make AI Useful: company.md and customer.md

How to train AI on your business without a \"brain\": write company.md and customer.md, then offer, voice, and rules a human still sends.

FIELD NOTE15

AI strategy

When You Should Not Build Custom AI Software

Most shops don't need custom AI software. Buy and configure first, write an SOP, and only build after a cheap loop already works.

02 / INSTALL PLAYBOOKS10

Instructions detailed enough to run on Monday.

Copyable prompts, operating steps, failure modes, human review rules, and a clear definition of done.

PLAYBOOK01

Installation guide

Never Miss Another Call

You're the owner. You already paid to make the phone ring. Google ads, the truck wrap, the Google Business Profile you finally claimed. Then 6:40 p.m. hits, or the front desk is on the other line, and the next call goes

7 days to count, then one afternoon to install, then 15 minutes every morning

PLAYBOOK02

Installation guide

Monday Customer Health Brief

You're the owner. When the shop was small you could feel who was happy. You remembered the house where the part was late, the patient who sat too long, the invoice that never got a second notice. Then you added a truck,

One Sunday night dump, then 45 minutes every Monday

PLAYBOOK03

Installation guide

Get Found in ChatGPT

You're the owner. A homeowner in your city just typed into ChatGPT: "Who can fix my AC tonight, and what should I expect to pay to have someone show up?" A parent typed: "Best dentist for a new patient exam in [your subu

One week of owner time, not a content department

PLAYBOOK04

Installation guide

Four Ads This Month

You're the owner. You don't need a Super Bowl spot. You need four local ads this month that a tired person will stop on, that match a landing page you can honor, and that you can shoot on a phone in the lot. Missedcall.

Four ads in four weeks, about 3 hours each from idea to posted

PLAYBOOK05

Installation guide

Same-Day Proposal Deck

You're the owner or the estimator or the dentist who still owes a "we'll send something." The visit went fine. The notes are in a truck, on a clipboard, in a PMS. Then two days pass. The homeowner got another quote. The

Same day — 30–90 minutes after the visit or the call

PLAYBOOK06

Installation guide

Run the Three Outcomes Filter (and Build This Quarter's List)

You're the owner. Last month someone sold you a smart receptionist. The month before that you bought seats. Next week a vendor wants 45 minutes for an agent that does intake, reviews, and ads. You do not have an AI probl

One afternoon of owner work, plus a 5-question staff form that sits open for a week, plus one 45-minute process walk

PLAYBOOK07

Installation guide

Install a Review Ask + Human-Sent Reply (Never Fake a Star)

You're the owner. The shop across the street has 400 Google reviews. You have 40. Your work is not four times worse. Nobody asks at the right time, and the replies you do post sound like a hotel chain. Reviews are how a

One afternoon to write the rules and prompts, then one week to run the ask and the reply queue

PLAYBOOK08

Installation guide

Inbox Routing: The Owner Is Not the Help Desk

You're the owner. It's 9:40 p.m. and you're still in the shared inbox. A newpatient form. A "is this covered" from a lawfirm intake. Three HVAC estimate requests that came in while you were on a job, plus a parts vendor,

One afternoon to label and write the never-send list, then five mornings of a 20-minute review until it sticks

PLAYBOOK09

Installation guide

Protect the Calendar You Actually Sell

You're the owner. You paid to get the phone to ring. Then the calendar ate the job.

One afternoon to write buffer rules and confirmation copy, then one week of live reminders and no-show recapture

PLAYBOOK10

Installation guide

The Two Files That Make Any AI Useful (and When Not to Build)

You're the owner. You watched a chatbot write something that sounded like it was for someone else. That's not because you picked the wrong model. It's because the model has never read how you make money or who actually p

Three hours to write the first pack, then 20 minutes every Monday to keep it true

THE EDITORIAL STANDARD

No invented case studies. No fake certainty. No autonomous customer-facing work.

Hypothetical math stays labeled. Customer-facing drafts remain human-reviewed. Legal, clinical, financial, safety, and pricing decisions remain with qualified people.

WHEN READING IS NOT THE BOTTLENECK

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