AI Consultant for Small Business

An AI consultant for small business who actually ships AI.

Most AI consultants are tool resellers, marketing agencies with a new menu, or $150/hr automation freelancers. This one ships AI in production every day — and turns the work into a $799 productized engagement with a guarantee.

See how it works
Productized $799 — fixed scope
5+ hours back per week, guaranteed
Operator-fluent, no jargon

Why most AI consultants fail small businesses

The four ways small businesses get burned hiring AI consultants.

The market for "AI consulting" exploded faster than the supply of people who actually ship AI. Most operators looking for help end up with one of these four — and walk away poorer, with the same manual work still eating their week.

Tool resellers reading the same launch posts you are

Most "AI consultants" repackage what they read on Twitter last week. They demo three apps you've already heard of and call it a strategy. The recommendations don't survive contact with your actual workflows.

Marketing agencies that bolted "AI services" onto the menu

The most common alternative real prospects mention. They lack the foundation: workflow automation experience, software engineering rigor, having actually built and scaled production systems. They apply AI as a marketing layer, not as an operations rewiring.

Hourly automation freelancers at $150+/hour

You'll spend $1,500–$3,000 on a single workflow and get nothing back if it doesn't move the needle. No recommendations, no roadmap, no guarantee — just an invoice and a Zap that may or may not survive.

Fractional AI retainers at $5K–$15K/month

Made for funded startups, not small businesses. The pricing assumes runway you don't have, and the deliverables assume an internal team to brief. Slow, expensive, and overscoped for a 1–5 person business.

If you've already paid one of these and nothing changed, you're not the problem. The model is.

What's different here

An AI consultant who works the way a small business needs.

Productized. Guaranteed. Run by an operator who ships AI in production every day, not a marketing layer with a new homepage.

An operator who actually ships AI

Bryan ships AI in production every day at Crafted Labs — built and runs Cira (an AI receptionist running 24/7 for real businesses). 10+ years as CTO/VP of Product Management at a cybersecurity SaaS company that exited in 2023. Not a tool reseller. Not an agency add-on.

Productized scope, fixed price

One $799 engagement. 3–7 specific AI tool recommendations, a priority matrix, step-by-step setup, a 4-day quick-start plan. No scope creep, no surprise invoices, no "phase 2" upsell pressure.

Skin in the game

5-hour-back guarantee. Implement the recommendations and recover 5+ hours per week within 30 days, or get the full fee back. Most consultants won't put their fee on the line. This one does.

Plain-English, operator-to-operator

No jargon, no enterprise frameworks, no 60-page strategy decks. Recommendations come in language an operator can read on a Sunday and implement on a Monday — picked from tools Bryan personally uses.

Bryan Smith, AI consultant for small business and CEO of Crafted Labs

Bryan Smith

CEO, Crafted Labs

Who you're hiring

The AI consultant behind The Smart Operator.

Bryan Smith spent 10+ years as CTO and VP of Product Management at a cybersecurity SaaS company that exited in 2023. He runs Crafted Labs, ships AI in production daily, and built Cira — an AI voice receptionist running 24/7 for real businesses. Different lineage from a marketing agency that learned about AI last quarter.

Every Smart Operator engagement is run by Bryan personally — discovery call, report, walkthrough. No junior consultant. No subcontracted "AI specialist." The guarantee works because the work isn't passed off.

More about Bryan

What you get

What working together actually looks like.

The work is delivered as a written report you keep, plus two short calls. About 90 minutes of your time, end-to-end. Done in 1–2 weeks, not 1–2 quarters.

45-minute discovery call

A recorded conversation about how your week actually runs — what waits on you, where time leaks, what the tools so far have missed.

Custom written report

3–7 specific AI tool recommendations for your business, with the reasoning, the time-back math, and step-by-step setup instructions.

Priority matrix

Every recommendation ranked by time saved, setup effort, business impact, and urgency — so you know what to do first, second, and last.

4-day quick-start plan

Day-by-day actions for your first week. Recommendations become real on Day 1, not Quarter 3.

01

Discovery call

45 minutes on how your business actually works. Where work enters, what's manual, where you keep losing leads or hours. No pre-work required.

02

Workflow analysis

Between the call and the report, your time leaks get mapped. Quick wins get separated from overbuilt distractions.

03

Report delivered

Within 5 business days: a custom written report with your recommendations, priority matrix, setup steps, and 4-day quick-start plan.

04

Walkthrough

30-minute call to review the plan together, answer questions, and pick what to implement first. Optional implementation engagements available after.

How this compares

Productized assessment vs. typical AI consultant.

The shorthand: same outcome, lower price, faster turnaround, guarantee on the line.

 
The Smart Operator
Typical AI consultant
Engagement model
One-time, productized $799
Hourly retainer or monthly fractional fee
Typical cost
$799 flat
$1,500–$15,000+ per engagement or month
Deliverable
3–7 picked tools, priority matrix, 4-day plan
One workflow built, or a strategy deck
Turnaround
Report in 5 business days; full engagement 1–2 weeks
Weeks to months
Guarantee
5+ hours back per week or full refund
Almost never
Built by
An operator who ships AI in production daily
Often a tool reseller or marketing agency

“I knew I was losing leads because we couldn't keep up with follow-up. Bryan looked at how my business actually worked and gave me a plan I could run on day one. The outreach automation alone freed up 40 hours a month on my team.”

HB

Hannah Brees

Owner, Shine and Sparkle

Read the case study

Cleaning · commercial + residential

Shine and Sparkle

Three AI workflows: data analysis, AI on the phones, and voice-trained outreach. 40 hours a month back from outreach automation alone.

Read the case study

Equipment leasing

Fleet Equipment Leasing

A custom AI-driven app replaced a full-day quoting workflow. Quote turnaround went from a day to minutes; 277 quotes in month one.

Read the case study

Who this is for

Is this AI consultant a fit for your business?

Good fit

  • You run a real, revenue-generating small business (1–5 people).
  • Manual work — email, follow-ups, quotes, scheduling, lead nurture — eats your week.
  • You've tried ChatGPT or downloaded a few AI apps. Nothing has actually changed.
  • You'd rather pay $799 once for a specific plan than $5K+/month on retainer.

Not a fit

  • You're pre-revenue or looking for free advice.
  • You're a product builder or AI engineer who wants to learn the stack.
  • You want a course, a community, or a long retainer.
  • You're a funded startup with an internal team that needs strategy, not tactics.

Hire the AI consultant

$799. One engagement. 5-hour-back guarantee.

5+ hours back per week is roughly $26,000 a year in recovered time. The engagement pays itself back in week three.

One-time

$799

Discovery call and custom report
4-day quick-start implementation plan
30-minute walkthrough call

The 5-Hour Guarantee

If you don't recover 5+ hours a week within 30 days of receiving your report, I refund the full $799. No hoops. No questions.

Secure checkout via Stripe. You'll book your call after payment.

AI consultant FAQ

Questions before hiring an AI consultant.

Want a tighter scope of the deliverables? See the AI Audit details. Looking for ongoing AI help instead of a project? Read about fractional AI sized for a small business. Not sure if your business is ready yet? Run the 2-minute readiness check.

What does an AI consultant for a small business actually do?
A real AI consultant looks at how your business runs week-to-week, identifies where AI tools will save the most hours, and tells you which ones to set up first. They don't sell you a course, hand you a 50-tool roundup, or quote you a $10,000 retainer. The deliverable is a specific plan you can run with — not a strategy doc, not a cohort program.
How is this different from a typical AI consultant?
Most AI consultants are tool resellers reading the same launch posts you are, marketing agencies that bolted AI onto their menu, or hourly automation freelancers charging $150+/hr to build one workflow at a time. The Smart Operator is productized: a fixed $799, a fixed scope (3–7 recommendations + 4-day plan + walkthrough), a 5-hour-back guarantee, and run by an operator who ships AI in production every day at Crafted Labs.
How much does it cost to hire an AI consultant for a small business?
An hourly automation consultant typically runs $150+/hr — and you'll spend $1,500–$3,000 on a single workflow. Fractional AI retainers run $5,000–$15,000/month. The Smart Operator AI Tools Assessment is a one-time $799: discovery call, custom report with 3–7 AI tool recommendations, 4-day quick-start plan, 30-minute walkthrough. Backed by a 5-hour-back guarantee.
Do I actually need to hire an AI consultant — can't I just use ChatGPT?
You've probably tried that. Most operators have. The problem isn't ChatGPT — it's that there are 500 AI apps, a new one every week, and no way to know which one solves your specific problem. An AI consultant compresses what would take you weekends of research into 1–2 weeks and 90 minutes of your time on calls, with recommendations grounded in years of shipping AI in production.
What kind of small businesses do you work with?
Solopreneurs, founders, and small teams of 1–5 people running real, revenue-generating businesses. Industry-agnostic — cleaning, equipment leasing, professional services, agencies, contractors, home services, e-commerce. The common thread: manual work eats your week, you've tried ChatGPT a few times but nothing's actually changed, and you'd rather pay once than spend three weekends researching tools. Not a fit for pre-revenue founders, product builders, or AI engineers.
What's the difference between an AI consultant, an AI strategy consultant, and a fractional AI consultant?
AI consultants typically deliver tactical workflow recommendations and implementations. AI strategy consultants deliver high-level strategy decks and roadmaps. Fractional AI consultants take an ongoing seat in your business at a monthly retainer. The Smart Operator AI Tools Assessment sits in the first category — tactical, productized, and implementation-ready — but at a fraction of the typical retainer cost.
What do I get from working with you?
A custom written report with 3–7 specific AI tool recommendations, a priority matrix (ranked by time saved, setup effort, business impact, urgency), step-by-step setup instructions, and a 4-day quick-start plan. Plus the 45-minute discovery call and 30-minute walkthrough. About 90 minutes of your time on calls; the rest is yours to keep and run with.
Do you offer ongoing AI consulting or just the assessment?
The AI Tools Assessment is the productized starting point — most clients run with the report and don't need anything else. About 60% choose to bring me in for implementation work after the assessment, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 depending on scope. We talk about that on the walkthrough call only if it's a fit. No retainer pressure.
What's your guarantee?
If you don't recover at least 5 hours per week within 30 days of receiving your report, I refund the full $799. No hoops, no questions. Most AI consultants won't put their fee on the line — productizing the engagement is what makes the guarantee possible.