Blog
AI tips, workflows, and behind-the-scenes from the book series.
Introducing the Legacy Business Technology Series
Four new books for the leaders nobody writes for — IT managers, finance directors, and executives at manufacturers, utilities, and construction firms running on 15-year-old ERPs.
Why Legacy Businesses Are Underserved by Tech Books
Most technology books assume you have a modern stack, a big budget, and a team that loves change. What if you have none of those things?
Escaping Spreadsheet Hell at a Legacy Company
Your company runs on 87 spreadsheets that contradict each other. Here is how to start getting out — without a six-figure consulting engagement.
Building an AI Business Case for a Conservative Board
Your board remembers the last failed IT project. Here is how to pitch AI in a way that gets funded instead of tabled.
Hachette Pulled a Book Over AI. The Real Lesson Isn't What You Think.
A major publisher just canceled a horror novel over undisclosed AI use. The takeaway for professionals isn't 'don't use AI' — it's 'be honest about how you use it.'
AI-Powered Scripting for IT: PowerShell, Bash, and Python in Minutes
AI can turn a three-day scripting project into a 30-minute exercise, even if you have never written a line of code.
How to Cut Cloud Costs with AI: A Practical Guide for IT Teams
Most organizations waste 30 percent or more of their cloud spend, and AI can find the waste faster than any human audit.
How to Use AI to Triage Help Desk Tickets Faster
AI-powered ticket triage can classify, prioritize, and route help desk tickets in seconds instead of minutes.
How to Write an AI Strategy Your Board Will Actually Approve
Most AI strategies fail at the board level because they focus on technology instead of business outcomes. Here is how to fix that.
Predictive Monitoring: How AI Catches Infrastructure Problems Before They Crash
AI-powered predictive monitoring detects infrastructure anomalies before they become outages, reducing alert fatigue and downtime.
Reskilling Your IT Team for AI: A Framework That Actually Works
A practical three-phase framework for transforming your IT team into an AI-capable workforce without losing your best people.
From Idea to Launch: Shipping Your First AI App in a Weekend
The complete journey of taking a business problem, scoping it down, building a minimal app with AI coding tools, and deploying it — all in one weekend.
Zapier and AI: Five Workflows That Replace Your Busiest Employee
Five concrete Zapier + AI automations for lead intake, invoice follow-up, review responses, social scheduling, and weekly reporting — each with exact prompts and cost breakdowns.
How to Build a Customer Portal Without Writing Code
Your clients expect self-service. AI coding tools let you build a customer portal — intake forms, status tracking, FAQs — in a weekend, without hiring a developer.
Scenario Planning with AI: Run What-If Analysis Without 20 Spreadsheets
AI lets you generate best, worst, and base case scenarios, run sensitivity analysis, and build board-ready scenario summaries — without maintaining a dozen spreadsheet tabs.
AI Won't Replace You. Someone Using AI Might.
The real threat isn't robots taking your job — it's your competitor finishing theirs twice as fast.
How to Run Variance Analysis in 30 Minutes with AI
Variance analysis is the most time-consuming part of financial reporting. AI can cut a full-day task to 30 minutes by automating the comparison, flagging material items, and drafting root cause narratives.
Why Most Professionals Fail at AI (And the Simple Fix)
The number one reason people get bad results from AI is embarrassingly simple to fix.
How to Automate Your Month-End Close with AI
Month-end close is the most predictable crunch in finance. AI can help you automate variance analysis, draft commentary, catch anomalies, and cut days off your close cycle.
The 5-Minute AI Test: Try This Before You Buy Any Tool
A quick, practical exercise to test whether AI actually fits your workflow before you spend a dime.
How to Use AI to Cut Food Costs Without Cutting Corners
Food costs can make or break an independent restaurant. AI can help you analyze margins, reduce waste, engineer your menu, and negotiate with vendors — all without sacrificing what makes your food great.
How to Write Executive Summaries That Leadership Actually Reads
Most executive summaries get skimmed. Here's how to use AI to draft finance-ready summaries that lead with the number and drive decisions.
How to Use AI to Write Donor Communications That Actually Get Read
Donors give to organizations that make them feel connected to the mission. AI can help you write appeals, updates, and thank-yous that sound personal — even when you're sending hundreds.
Getting Started with AI for Your Business: 5 Things to Do This Week
You don't need a big budget or technical skills to start using AI in your business. Here are five things you can do this week to get real results.
AI-Powered Onboarding: How to Get New Hires Up to Speed in Half the Time
Bad onboarding is the top reason new hires leave within 90 days. AI can help you build personalized onboarding plans, generate training materials, and create the consistency that keeps people around.
AI-Assisted Forecasting: How to Augment Your Judgment Without Replacing It
AI is a powerful pattern spotter, but it can't replace the finance professional who knows why the patterns exist. Here's how to build a hybrid forecasting workflow.
How to Use AI to Create Listing Presentations That Win Clients
The agent who shows up with better data and a sharper presentation gets the listing. Here's how to use AI to build CMAs, market analyses, and listing presentations that make sellers say yes.
How to Clean Messy Financial Data with AI
Before you can build forecasts and dashboards, you need clean data. Here's how to use AI to standardize, classify, and de-duplicate your financial records.
Nonprofit Marketing on a Zero Budget Using Free AI Tools
You don't need a marketing budget to have a marketing strategy. Here's how to run social media, email, and outreach using free AI tools.
How to Set Up an AI Voice Agent for Your Business This Weekend
Missed calls mean missed revenue. AI voice agents can answer your phone 24/7, book appointments, and answer FAQs — and you can set one up without writing a single line of code.
AI for Board Reports: Cut Your Sunday Night Prep in Half
Board packet prep shouldn't consume your weekend. Use AI to draft financial summaries, program updates, and executive summaries in a fraction of the time.
5 AI Customer Service Workflows That Keep Clients Coming Back
Most small businesses lose customers not because of bad products, but slow responses. Here are five AI workflows that help you respond faster, follow up better, and turn one-time buyers into regulars.
How to Build a Grant Proposal Component Library and Never Start from Scratch Again
Stop rewriting the same grant sections over and over. Build a reusable component library with AI and cut your proposal drafting time by 60%.
How to Build a Small Business AI Stack for Under $50 a Month
You don't need enterprise software or a big budget to use AI effectively. Here's how to build a complete AI toolkit for your small business for less than $50 per month.
Free vs. Paid AI Tools: What's Actually Worth Paying For in 2026
An honest breakdown of when free AI tools are enough and when upgrading actually pays for itself.
How to Build Your First AI-Powered App Without Writing Code
You don't need to be a developer to build real apps with AI. Here's how small business owners are using AI coding tools to ship customer-facing apps in days, not months.
How to Turn 500 Employee Survey Responses into an Action Plan with AI
Stop drowning in open-ended survey responses. Use AI to extract themes, run sentiment analysis, and build a focused action plan in hours instead of weeks.
7 AI Prompts Every Real Estate Agent Should Be Using
These seven copy-paste AI prompts help real estate agents write better listings, respond to leads faster, and create market reports in minutes instead of hours.
What AI Can't Do (And Why That's Actually Fine)
Understanding AI's real limitations makes you a better user — and protects your business from costly mistakes.
AI-Powered Resume Screening: The Hybrid Approach That Works
Neither full automation nor manual review alone gets hiring right — here's the hybrid AI screening workflow that's faster, fairer, and catches candidates others miss.
How AI Is Changing Hiring — And What HR Leaders Should Do Now
AI is reshaping how companies recruit, onboard, and retain employees. Here's what HR professionals need to know — and five practical ways to start using AI in people operations today.
How to Write Job Descriptions That Actually Attract the Right Candidates
Most job descriptions repel great candidates before they ever apply — here's how to use AI to write JDs that are clear, inclusive, and actually get the right people to hit submit.
How Nonprofits Are Using AI to Write Grants Faster
Grant writing doesn't have to eat your entire week. Here's how nonprofit leaders are using free AI tools to write stronger proposals in half the time — without losing their organization's voice.
How to Use AI to Generate Market Reports and Neighborhood Guides
Turn raw MLS data into polished market reports and neighborhood guides that position you as the local expert — using AI to do the heavy lifting.
AI for Restaurant Owners: Prompts That Save Hours Every Week
Running an independent restaurant means wearing every hat. Here are practical AI prompts for reviews, social media, menu planning, and operations that give you time back without adding to your tech stack.
How to Use AI for Budgeting and Financial Planning
AI can automate variance analysis, improve forecasts, and cut your month-end close time in half. Here's how FP&A teams are putting it to work — and where to start this week.
Speed to Lead: How AI Helps Real Estate Agents Respond in Minutes, Not Hours
The agent who responds first wins the client — here's how to use AI to build a lead response system that replies in minutes, qualifies prospects, and books appointments automatically.
How to Write Listing Descriptions That Sell Using AI
Stop writing generic listing descriptions — use AI to craft targeted copy that speaks directly to your most likely buyer and highlights what actually matters to them.
The AI Tools I Recommend for Every Small Business
A curated list of AI tools by use case — so you know exactly where to start and what's worth your time.
How to Create a Month of Restaurant Social Media Content in One Hour
Stop posting when you remember — batch a full month of restaurant social media content in one sitting using AI prompt templates and a simple scheduling workflow.
How to Write AI Prompts That Actually Work: A Beginner's Guide
The difference between useless AI output and genuinely helpful results comes down to how you write the prompt.
5 Real Tools Small Business Owners Built with AI This Year
Five small business owners built custom tools with AI that solved real problems, and none of them had a technical background.
AI Menu Engineering: Write Descriptions That Sell More
Your menu is your best salesperson — here's how to use AI and menu psychology to rewrite descriptions that move guests toward higher-margin dishes.
How to Automate Your Back Office with Zapier, Make, and AI
Zapier, Make, and AI can automate your invoicing, lead routing, appointment confirmations, and reporting without writing a line of code.
How to Respond to Every Restaurant Review in Under 10 Minutes a Week
A simple batch system using AI lets you respond to every Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor review in minutes instead of hours.
How to Use AI for Hiring When You Don't Have an HR Department
AI can help you write job posts, screen resumes, prep for interviews, and draft offer letters even if you are a one-person HR department.
AI for Small Business Marketing: Emails, Ads, and Content That Write Themselves
Free AI tools can handle your email subject lines, ad copy, social posts, and blog outlines in a fraction of the time it takes to do them manually.
What Is Vibe Coding? A Non-Technical Guide for Business Owners
Vibe coding lets you build real software by describing what you want in plain English instead of writing code yourself.
How to Write an AI Policy for Your Small Business
A simple AI policy protects your business and gives your team clear rules for using AI tools at work.