You tell me where it hurts. I build the thing that fixes it.
One operator + AI systems that multiply the output. Three tiers, diagnostic, build, retainer. Every engagement starts with your operation.
Work-Smart.ai offers three tiers: AI Ops Audit (2-4 week diagnostic), AI Foundation Build (4-16 week implementation), and Fractional Head of AI (monthly retainer). Each tier includes strategy, implementation, and governance. No generic solutions, everything is scoped from your specific operation.
Every company that hires me has a different problem. A construction company needs real-time cost visibility across 7 projects. A wealth advisory firm needs 12 years of institutional knowledge made searchable. A law firm needs an AI agent that stops the founding attorney from answering WhatsApp at 11pm. The entry point is always the same: you tell me what hurts, and I build the thing that fixes it.
Here's what I've learned from every engagement: the scope can't be determined from a service menu. It comes from understanding your operation. Some companies need a 3-week diagnostic. Some need a 9-month build. Some need an AI agent and a CRM built in 60 days. First working system ships in 4-8 weeks. Full build, all layers, governance, team enablement, takes 4-9 months depending on scope. You see results before you commit to the full build. I'll tell you honestly what makes sense after we talk.
Every buyer I talk to says some version of the same thing: "We know AI matters. We don't know where to start." That gap between knowing and doing is exactly where I operate.
That said, here's the general shape of how work flows:
Start: Diagnostic
What it is: I come in, map your data, your tools, your processes, your team's AI usage. I find where you're losing time and money. You get a clear report with specific recommendations, not a strategy deck.
What it costs: Fixed fee, scoped to company size and complexity. You know the number before we start. The diagnostic fee applies toward the build cost if you move forward. Most clients do.
What you get:
- •Complete inventory of what your team actually uses (including the tools you don't know about)
- •Data readiness assessment, can your data support AI, or does the foundation need work first?
- •Top 10 time/cost drains mapped with "can this be automated?" ratings
- •Specific roadmap: what to do first, second, third. In business language.
- •60-minute executive briefing with me directly
Timeline: 2-4 weeks.
Full AI Ops Audit details and deliverables →Build: Custom Implementation
What it is: Based on what the diagnostic reveals, I build the system your operation needs. Could be a data layer and dashboard. Could be a WhatsApp AI agent. Could be a full platform with CRM, automation, and AI. The scope comes from your reality, not from a menu.
What it costs: Fixed-fee build, scoped from the diagnostic. Milestone-based, you pay as deliverables ship.
What it's looked like in practice:
Concreto (construction, 650 employees): Project costs were a mystery until 30 days had passed. Seven concurrent projects running on spreadsheets with no visibility into schedule slippage or cost overruns. Now every project's real-time cost, timeline status, and compliance certifications update automatically. The team recovered 10 to 15% in margins they were losing to blind spots. 9-month engagement.
A $14B wealth advisory firm (wealth advisory, financial services): 12 years of institutional expertise but invisible to AI search. The gap between branded and non-branded visibility was roughly two orders of magnitude. The 6-week visibility project uncovered six operational gaps and expanded into a 9-month Fractional Head of AI engagement: Voice DNA, 60 authority pages, proposal automation, knowledge base, intelligence briefing, team training. Everything built belongs to the firm.
Grupo Lyown (Miami-based law firm with operations in Colombia): Three senior attorneys were fielding lead qualification calls and booking meetings manually. The firm converted 14% of 167 monthly leads because no one was following up. Now Victoria, a WhatsApp AI agent we built for the firm, qualifies every inbound lead and books meetings with the CRM. Conversion jumped to 47% in the first month. 60-day build.
Almaga (coaching/membership): The business owner was manually operating Shopify, Systeme.io, WhatsApp, Calendly, and email separately, losing leads in the gaps. Now a unified platform handles memberships, bookings, email sequences, and orders in one place. No lost handoffs. 3-month engagement.
Joy of Impact (nonprofit consulting): Grant blueprint writing took 6 to 8 hours per nonprofit client. VA time costs exceeded the value delivered. Process redesigned to 1 to 2 hours per blueprint with AI-assisted drafting and Claude workspace organization. Business owner doubled client capacity without hiring. Quick engagement.
A packaging manufacturer (40 years old, 4 countries): A 40-year-old packaging manufacturer operating in 4 countries with a field sales team using email and WhatsApp to find product specs, pricing, and lead status. Built a unified corporate platform with an AI-powered product search, multilingual sales portal, and lead tracking that cut sales cycles by 2 weeks.
Timeline: 4-16 weeks depending on scope.
Full AI Foundation Build details and real examples →Stay: Ongoing Operations
What it is: Monthly engagement where I maintain what was built, optimize based on real usage data, deploy new automations and features, monitor governance, and keep your AI infrastructure current.
What it costs: Monthly retainer, scoped to your needs.
What it includes:
- •System monitoring and optimization
- •1-2 new automations or improvements per month
- •AI governance, policy enforcement, shadow AI monitoring (tracking unapproved ChatGPT and AI tool use across your team)
- •Monthly AI Office Hours + async support (Slack, Teams, or WhatsApp)
- •Monthly operations report: what's working, what's at risk, what's next
- •Vendor evaluation, when new AI tools emerge, I tell you adopt/wait/skip
Who needs this: Companies where AI is now part of the operation and someone needs to own it. Not every company needs ongoing support. I'll be honest about whether you do.
Full Fractional Head of AI details →Also available:
AI Ops Setup (Solo/Small Team): Fixed-fee setup. Full Claude workspace configuration, custom skills, shortcuts, and automation for 1-4 people. If you're a solo consultant or small practice, this is the entry point. Details →
AI Training & Workshops (fixed-fee per session or phased rollout). If you're under 20 employees and need a focused AI setup, the AI Ops Setup is the entry point.
Your Investment May Qualify for Tax Credits and Grants
Most of what I build qualifies for federal and state funding programs, and over 60% of eligible companies never claim them.
- •AI builds and diagnostics qualify for the IRC §41 R&D Tax Credit. 65% of contract fees count as Qualified Research Expenses. Dollar-for-dollar credit against your tax liability.
- •AI training and workshops qualify for Florida's Incumbent Worker Training Grant. 75% reimbursement for companies with 50 or fewer employees.
- •Section 174A (restored 2025) allows immediate expensing of AI and software development costs. Retroactive to 2022. filing deadline July 6, 2026.
I connect every client with R&D credit-experienced CPAs and provide the documentation required.
See all tax credits, grants, and qualifying criteria →Most fractional AI firms are advisory-only, they tell you what to build, then you find someone else to build it. Automation agencies build narrow tools but skip the data layer. Big consulting firms bring a team of 12 and deliver a deck. I diagnose, build, and stay to make sure it works. Here's how it compares:
What you get
Big Consulting: Strategy deck (6-12 months)
Team-Based: Advisory + governance (team rotates)
Agency: Tool-specific automation
Work-Smart.ai: Diagnosis + build + governance
Who does the work
Big Consulting: Junior team
Team-Based: Team of 3-5 (you manage handoffs)
Agency: Contractors
Work-Smart.ai: Me, directly, one person, start to finish
Data layer + AI
Big Consulting: Rarely
Team-Based: Rarely (advisory-focused)
Agency: Never
Work-Smart.ai: Always (core of every build)
Timeline to working system
Big Consulting: 6-12 months
Team-Based: 90-day advisory cycles
Agency: 2-4 weeks (narrow)
Work-Smart.ai: 4-16 weeks (production-ready)
Entry cost
Big Consulting: $100K+
Team-Based: Premium diagnostic
Agency: Varies widely
Work-Smart.ai: Fixed-fee diagnostic (applies toward build)
Monthly retainer
Big Consulting: N/A (leaves after deck)
Team-Based: Team-based monthly
Agency: None
Work-Smart.ai: Fixed-fee monthly retainer
Headcount risk
Big Consulting: External team
Team-Based: No headcount, but team dependency
Agency: Contractor churn
Work-Smart.ai: No headcount, no ramp-up, no handoffs
LATAM / bilingual
Big Consulting: Rarely
Team-Based: Rarely
Agency: Varies
Work-Smart.ai: English + Spanish
| Big Consulting | Team-Based Fractional AI | Automation Agency | Work-Smart.ai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Strategy deck (6-12 months) | Advisory + governance (team rotates) | Tool-specific automation | Diagnosis + build + governance |
| Who does the work | Junior team | Team of 3-5 (you manage handoffs) | Contractors | Me, directly, one person, start to finish |
| Data layer + AI | Rarely | Rarely (advisory-focused) | Never | Always (core of every build) |
| Timeline to working system | 6-12 months | 90-day advisory cycles | 2-4 weeks (narrow) | 4-16 weeks (production-ready) |
| Entry cost | $100K+ | Premium diagnostic | Varies widely | Fixed-fee diagnostic (applies toward build) |
| Monthly retainer | N/A (leaves after deck) | Team-based monthly | None | Fixed-fee monthly retainer |
| Headcount risk | External team | No headcount, but team dependency | Contractor churn | No headcount, no ramp-up, no handoffs |
| LATAM / bilingual | Rarely | Rarely | Varies | English + Spanish |
Investment. Clear Pricing, No Surprises
AI Ops Audit (Diagnostic)
Fixed-fee diagnostic
2-4 week deep dive. Data assessment, process map, shadow AI report, decision document, 60-min executive briefing.
Learn more →AI Foundation Build
Fixed-fee build (milestone-based)
Custom implementation. Scoped from the diagnostic. First working system ships in 4-8 weeks. Full build takes 6-9 months.
Learn more →Fractional Head of AI (Retainer)
Monthly retainer
Monthly AI leadership. Strategy, implementation, governance, team training, executive reporting. You work with me directly.
Learn more →AI Training & Workshops
Per session
Hands-on AI training for your team. Half-day or full-day. Prompt engineering, workflow automation, governance. Up to 25 participants.
Learn more →Frequently Asked Questions
Most clients start with a diagnostic. You get clarity on where you're losing money and what to build first. If you already know the scope, we can jump straight to a build. Either way, the diagnostic fee applies toward the build cost if you move forward.
First working system ships in 4-8 weeks. You don't wait for a full project to be done, each phase delivers something you can start using immediately. A wealth advisory firm went from 15-day quarterly reporting cycles to 2-3 days after Phase 1 alone.
Not necessarily. The diagnostic tells you which ones matter. Some companies need just a build and they're done. Most move to a retainer after a build because the system starts working and they want to keep evolving it. The path is yours to choose.
That usually means the data wasn't ready or the tool didn't know your business. Copilot is great for generic tasks, but it doesn't know your 15-tab Excel model or your process requirements. The foundation build includes the data layer that makes other tools actually work.
Yes. The phased approach means you build one working system, see the results, then add the next piece. A construction company went from a cost dashboard to certification automation to worker management, each phase built on the last. You commit to the diagnostic, not to a fixed multi-year roadmap.
That's exactly where most of my clients were.
the firm manages $14B and came in saying "we're thinking about it but haven't made any decisions." Concreto runs 7 construction projects and came in saying "we're losing money and we don't know where." Lyown was getting 167 leads a month and converting none, the attorneys were billing, not following up.
Joy of Impact runs a nonprofit consulting practice and came in saying "I'm spending too much time on grant blueprints and my VA costs more than the output justifies."
None of them knew the scope when they first called. That's fine. Start with a conversation. I'll ask questions, listen for what's underneath, and tell you what I think makes sense. If I can help, I'll tell you how. If I can't, I'll tell you that too.