‘Tis the season: Back to school, back to work, back to pretending we're going to be organized this year. This week, a conversation with Julia's aunt reminded us that getting your life together might be easier than you think, especially if you use the tools you're already paying for.
Let’s get into it.
What was that thing called again?
Julia's aunt runs her own business, solo. Like every solo operator, she's the CEO, the accountant, the admin, and the customer service department all at once. Recently she decided to get her billing process in order and bought a subscription to a new billing software platform.
Then she genuinely forgot the name of it. She had no idea what it was called or where the login went (...we've all been there).
But the part that got us was that she already pays for Claude AND ChatGPT. So Julia sat her down to show her what those subscriptions can actually do:
Find the thing you forgot. We connected Claude to her email and had it search for the mystery billing platform. Claude found it in seconds – the receipt, login link, everything.
Flag what matters. We showed her how Claude can scan her inbox and surface high-priority items: client emails, unpaid invoices, and things with deadlines so she's not digging through hundreds of messages to find the three that matter.
Skip the software entirely. Instead of learning a whole new billing platform she didn't even like, we showed her how Claude could help manage her billing directly (flagging overdue invoices, giving her a current picture of her finances, sending reminders about outstanding payments.)
This didn’t require a new app, a team of engineers, or a big budget. It just required a better setup.
Working with Claude to plan out a new billing tracking system.
We’re sensing a pattern
Every client we talk to who runs their own business says the same thing: "I spend too much time on administrative stuff that doesn't bring in more business." The invoicing, the follow-ups, the inbox monitoring. It eats your week.
A five-minute conversation with Claude might change that. And if you don't know how to set yourself up for a productive fall, you know where to find us.
Stay curious,
Julia & Russell
