The AI Tradesman

🎙️ **NEW EPISODE: THE £10 PER HOUR TRAP**

Well, I've tested my newly acquired GarageBand editing skills pretty much to their limit with this one. 😂

But Episode 13 of **The AI Tradesman** is finished and ready to go.

And strangely enough, learning to edit it actually proves one of the points I make in the episode.

If you're a tradesman earning £50, £60 or £80 an hour when you're doing what you're good at…

**why are you spending your evenings doing £10-an-hour jobs?**

Emails. Quotes. Chasing invoices. Finding customer information. Updating spreadsheets. Booking appointments. Repeating the same bits of admin over and over again.

I've done all of them.

And sometimes I've spent an hour doing something that somebody with decent admin skills could probably have done in 20 minutes.

So in this episode I talk about a very simple idea:

**KEEP. AUTOMATE. ELIMINATE.**

Keep the things that need you.

Automate the repetitive stuff.

And ask whether some of the rest needs doing at all.

I also talk about how I've used AI this week to teach myself GarageBand — working through problems in real time rather than sitting through hours of YouTube tutorials.

I'm certainly not becoming a sound engineer any time soon. 😂

But I've learned enough to get the job done.

And that's really what The AI Tradesman is about.

You don't need to become an AI expert.

You need to find the bits that make running your business easier.

🎧 **Episode 13 – The £10 Per Hour Trap**

Have a listen and then tell me:

**What's the £10-an-hour job in your business that you know you shouldn't still be doing?**


https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/stop-doing-10-tasks-%e2%80%94-and-start-paying-yourself-properly/

🚨 **New Podcast Episode – Episode 12 is now live!**

Most tradesmen know how to do the work.

Far fewer know the numbers that make the business work.

Do you know:

✅ How much it really costs to win a new customer?
✅ What that customer is actually worth over their lifetime?
✅ How quickly you respond to new enquiries?
✅ Which jobs make you the most profit per hour?

These aren't just figures on a spreadsheet.

They're the numbers that help you decide where to spend your money, where to save your time, and how to build a better business.

In this episode I explain how AI can do the hard work for you—analysing your marketing, spotting patterns, calculating your customer lifetime value, and helping you make better business decisions without needing to be a numbers expert.

If you're a plumber, electrician, builder, decorator, window cleaner, landscaper—or any tradesman running your own business—this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/episode-12-how-to-understand-your-business-numbers-with-ai/

Because better information leads to better decisions.

**Get Found. Be Chosen. Stay Remembered.**

What can the British Army teach a tradesman?

More than you might think.

In this week's episode of The AI Tradesman, I share three lessons I learnt during my time in the Army that have helped me build and run a business ever since.

🎯 Planning
🎯 Discipline
🎯 Adaptability

Whether you're a plumber, electrician, builder, decorator or window cleaner, these aren't military lessons—they're business lessons that can save you time, reduce stress and help you work more effectively.

One of my favourite quotes comes from General Dwight Eisenhower:

"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything."

It sounds like a contradiction... until you've had one of those days where nothing goes according to plan.

🎙️ Episode 11 is available now.
https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/lessons-from-the-army-that-work-in-business/
I'd love to know which of those three lessons has made the biggest difference in your own business.

📞 How many customers have you lost without ever knowing it?

You could be the best tradesman in town...

✔️ You answer your phone when you can.
✔️ You do a great job.
✔️ Your customers are happy.

But what about the people who rang while you were up a ladder, under a sink or driving between jobs?

Or the emails you didn't spot until it was too late?

Or the quote that sat on the passenger seat for three days?

Those are the customers you'll never know you lost.

In this week's episode of The AI Tradesman, I talk about the four hidden leaks that quietly cost trades businesses work every single week—and how AI can help plug those leaks without replacing the person on the tools.

If you're a tradesman, or you know someone who is, I'd love to hear what you think.

🎧 Listen here:
https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/the-four-hidden-leaks-costing-tradesmen-customers/

Which of these is the biggest problem in your business?

📞 Missed calls
📧 Unread emails
📋 Slow quotes
🔁 Forgotten follow-ups

🚨 New Podcast Episode is Live!

Episode 9: The First Hour

How quickly do you respond when a potential customer gets in touch?

The truth is, the first hour after an enquiry can make the difference between winning a customer for years... or losing them before you even knew they were interested.

In this episode, I explain why speed matters, why customers don't wait around, and how AI can help small trade businesses respond instantly—even when you're up a ladder or on another job.

If you're a tradesman or run a small service business, I think you'll find this one useful.

🎧 Listen here:
https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/episode-9-the-first-hour/

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Is AI really coming for your job?

I don't think so.

But I do think the tradesperson who learns to use AI will have a huge advantage over the one who ignores it.

In Episode 8 of The AI Tradesman Podcast, I explain why AI is becoming another tool in the toolbox—not a replacement for skilled people.

If you run a trade or a small business, this one's for you.

🎧 Listen here:
https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Has AI helped your business yet, or are you still deciding whether to give it a try?

🎙️ New Episode: The £10,000 Question

If someone handed you £10,000 and said you could only spend it on your business...

Would you buy another van?

Upgrade your tools?

Or invest in something that keeps paying you back for years?

In this week's episode of The AI Tradesman, I share a lesson I learned the expensive way when I owned an estate agency, and why I believe AI is becoming one of those technologies that's easy to ignore today—but much harder to ignore tomorrow.

🎧 Listen here: https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/the-10000-question/

🎙️ New Episode Released: You Don't Need More Leads... Until

Every struggling business owner seems to want the same thing.

More leads.

More enquiries.

More people contacting them.

But what if the real problem isn't a lack of leads?

What if you're already losing opportunities because of what happens after somebody gets in touch?

In this week's episode of The AI Tradesman, I look at why chasing more leads isn't always the answer, and why speed, follow-up and customer experience often matter far more than spending money on marketing.

If you're a sole trader, tradesperson or small business owner, this episode could save you time, money and frustration.

Listen here:
https://theaitradesman.podbean.com/e/
you-dont-need-more-leadsuntil

Most trades businesses don't have a lead problem.

They have a visibility problem.

If customers can't find you, they can't buy from you.

If they find you but choose somebody else, you're invisible again.

And if they use you once and forget you exist, you're constantly starting from scratch.

In this week's episode of The AI Tradesman, I talk about three things every business owner should focus on:

✅ Being Found

✅ Getting Chosen

✅ Staying Remembered

If I were starting a trade business from scratch today, these are the principles I'd build around.

What do you think is the hardest of the three?

Most trade businesses don't have a lead problem.

They have a visibility problem.

Or a trust problem.

Or a follow-up problem.

Customers need three things before they'll buy from you:

✅ Find you

✅ Choose you

✅ Remember you

That's it.

Being found means showing up where customers are searching.

Getting chosen means giving them confidence you're the right person.

Staying remembered means delivering a great service and staying in touch so you're the first person they think of next time.

The technology changes.

The principles don't.

Whether customers find you through Google, Facebook, recommendations, or AI, the journey is still the same:

Found. Chosen. Remembered.

Which of those three areas do you think most trade businesses struggle with?