Bali, August. Between sunrise, swims and dodging scooters, I started stringing together little AI tools to solve real problems in my day job. None of them were perfect. Most were about 70% as good as a seasoned expert. But they were instant, cheap, and—crucially—good enough to create momentum. That’s been the theme ever since.

What “70% as good” actually means

With GPT, Zapier and a handful of AI-infused tools, a non-specialist can now produce:

• Decent copy, workflows and prototypes in hours, not weeks.
• Usable outputs that aren’t award-winning, but get you feedback and results.
• Tiny costs (often pennies per run) versus day rates or dev sprints.

Think of it as minimum lovable: fast to produce, simple to edit, and easy to bin if it doesn’t work.

My basic toolkit

• GPT – planning, rough drafts, data cleaning, “show me 3 ways to do X”.
• Zapier – glue between everything (Google Sheets, email, CRM, calendars).
• Riverside – studio-quality remote interviews; AI transcriptions and tracks.
• Google Sheets – my control tower and database.
• A couple of scrapers such as Apify – to pull public info into a Sheet when needed.

None of this requires you to be “technical”. You become the project manager: describe the outcome, assemble blocks, iterate.

Three real workflows anyone can copy

1) Podcast → content engine (Riverside + GPT + Zapier)

• Record on Riverside (separate tracks keep it clean).
• Use their inbuilt AI tools which create social media ready 60s excerpts of your interview
• Use their ‘Magic AI’ to clean the audio
• Remove the um’s and ah’s automatically with one click
• Ask GPT and Zapier to create a Webhook that allows you to get the transcript from Riverside.FM
• Auto-send the transcript to GPT: “Make show notes, a 200-word summary, a LinkedIn post, and 5 title options.”
• Zapier pushes the assets to Docs/Drive, schedules the LinkedIn post, and emails guests their share kit.

Result: a tidy content package in an hour, not a week. Audio engineers can make it sound better—great—but the message hits the feed today.

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2) Research at scale for estate agnets in the UK (Sheets + scrapers + GPT)

• Start a Google Sheet of target agencies and locations.
• Use a simple scraper to fetch public branch pages and social links.
• Pass bios and “About” text through GPT: “Summarise what they do, spot any differentiators, and generate three ice-breaker lines.”
• Use Phantom Buster to auto-follow these instagram profiles at 1 per hour which will result in me connecting with my target audience

Result: this creates a large scale social media presence for your target audience. If you combine this with the first step, you now have a growing target audience with content being produced in a time efficient way.

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3) Follow-ups and nurture that actually happen (Forms/Calendar + GPT + Zapier)

• After a valuation or viewing, a form in your CRM or Calendar notes triggers a Zap.
• GPT drafts a personalised follow-up text/email using appointment notes and vendor preferences. (Twillio would be the platform to use for SMS or Whatsapp)
• If no reply, Zapier nudges again in 48 hours and drops a task in your diary.

Result: consistent follow-through without heroic discipline. Is it as nuanced as a top copywriter? No. Does it win instructions you’d otherwise miss? Yep.

Clearly having your CRM do this for you (like Greenhouse OS) where Alex is building AI agents to do this is best solution. However if you are limited by your CRM, you can now build automations, in ways that just weren’t possible before.

The mindset that makes this work

• Just have a go. Your first version exists to teach you what the second should be.
• Automate single steps, not the universe. One small, reliable automation beats a complex system that’s liable to break.
• Keep humans in the loop where it matters. Final approvals, sensitive comms, anything reputational.
• Accept “decent” today over “perfect” never. You can always bring in a specialist once the ROI is obvious.

When to call in the experts

• Brand visuals & identity – a designer will save you from the uncanny valley.
• Complex integrations & security – get an engineer.
• High-stakes messaging – use a copywriter for flagship pages and campaigns.

The trick is to arrive at that brief with evidence: your scrappy 70–80% version, metrics, and user feedback. Pros love a clear brief.

Why I’ve been building like this

This whole approach started when I was in Bali—plenty of time to think, great Wi-Fi, and a desire to test ideas now, not “after the project plan”. Since then I’ve been using these mini-systems to build a training, support and accountability community for listers across the UK. The goal is simple: help good agents become consistently great at listing—using modern, lightweight tools and a bit of peer pressure—the useful kind.

I’m not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. I’m showing that with GPT, Zapier and a few well-chosen apps, any agent can move faster: better prep, tighter follow-ups, sharper marketing, and less faff.

You can find out about Flexible Fees Mastery here.

A final, honest note

I’m not claiming these outputs are perfect. They aren’t. But they are fast, cheap and compounding. Every tiny system you ship frees minutes every day, and minutes turn into instructions.

If you’re a UK lister and this resonates, I’m building a community that leans into exactly this way of working—practical tools, shared playbooks, and accountability so we all actually do the work. Drop me a message and I’ll point you in the right direction.