Consulting & Agency Services
AI Automation Consultant for Small Businesses
Most businesses don't have a technology problem. They have a workflow problem, and an AI automation consultant fixes it at the handoffs. A lead comes in Friday afternoon and nobody replies until Monday. An estimate goes out and sits there because chasing it is nobody's actual job. The same report gets rebuilt by hand every week. We find the two or three places that's happening in your business, and we build the systems that fix them.
No obligation to build afterward. If a fix isn't worth it, the audit says so.
Updated October 2026 · by Dillon Lara, founder
What a workflow automation consultant does
A workflow automation consultant maps how work moves through your business, finds the steps that repeat or stall, and builds systems so those steps happen on their own. The goal isn't more software. It's more consistent execution with the same crew.
In practice the work breaks into four parts:
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Map the process
Every step, handoff, and wait, written down
We follow a real workflow end to end and write down every step, every handoff, and every place it waits on a person. Most of what we find surprises the owner. The delay is rarely where people think it is.
You get: a map of how work really moves
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Find what's worth fixing
Candidates ranked by cost now vs. cost to build
Not every repetitive task is worth automating. We rank the candidates by what they cost you now and what they'd cost to build, then tell you which two or three are worth doing.
You get: the two or three fixes that pay back
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Build it into the tools you already run
Phone system, CRM, QuickBooks, Jobber, whatever you run
Your phone system, your CRM, QuickBooks, Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, whatever you have. We build around it rather than replacing it. You own what we build and you can take it with you.
You get: a working system you own
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Hand it over
Edge cases tested, documented, team trained
We test the edge cases, document how it works, and train whoever will be running it. Then we tell you honestly whether you need us again.
You get: docs, training, and an honest next step
Business automation consultant or workflow automation consultant?
Usually the same person doing the same work at two different zoom levels. A business automation consultant looks across the whole company for manual work worth removing. A workflow automation consultant takes one of those workflows, such as lead routing, estimate follow-up, or client reporting, and builds the system that runs it. We do both in that order: the Clarity Audit is the business-wide look, and Build and Run is one workflow at a time.
For small business workflow automation specifically, that sequence matters. A two-to-fifty-person company rarely needs a department-wide program; it needs the one or two leaks fixed, with someone keeping them fixed.
Signs you're ready for this
You don't need a consultant for every rough edge. These are the patterns that usually mean the cost of manual work has passed the cost of fixing it:
- Leads wait more than an hour for a first response, and you can't say exactly how long because nobody's measuring
- The same information gets typed into two or three different systems
- Follow-up depends on someone remembering, so it happens when things are slow and stops when they're busy
- Estimates go out and you don't know which ones are still live
- Your best office person spends most of the day on coordination instead of customers
- You've bought software to fix this and it didn't stick, because nobody had time to set it up properly
If you recognize three or more of these, there's usually a fix worth more than it costs.
What we usually fix first
The starting point depends on what your business does. Lead routing and follow-up come up in every industry; after that it varies. These are the workflows we're asked for most:
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Home services (HVAC, plumbing, roofing, landscaping)
Missed calls and slow callbacks are almost always the biggest leak. After that: estimate follow-up, appointment reminders that cut no-shows, and getting job details from the phone into the schedule without retyping.
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Realtors and small brokerages
Lead routing from portals into the CRM, immediate first-touch, and keeping long-cycle prospects warm without manual work. Clean workflows because the steps are consistent.
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Marketing agencies
Client reporting is the usual one. After that: onboarding, lead qualification, and internal project handoffs.
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E-commerce and professional services
Order follow-up, review requests, support triage, client intake, document processing.
Each of these is one system: $1,200 setup, then $250 a month.
What it costs
Most consultants won't tell you this without a call. Here's ours:
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Clarity Audit
$750 (Two weeks)
We map your current workflow, identify what's worth automating, estimate what each fix would cost, and tell you honestly whether you should build it yourself, hire us, or hire someone else. Most people start here.
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Build and Run
$1,200 setup, then $250 a month (Per system)
The setup covers building the system in the tools you already run, testing the edge cases, documentation, and training your team; your audit fee is credited toward it. The $250 a month covers hosting and platform management, monitoring and error alerts, fixes when an integration breaks, up to an hour of small changes a month, and a short monthly check-in. Month to month; cancel anytime and you keep what we built.
What the market charges: most agencies price a single workflow at $2,500 to $6,000, depending on how many systems have to talk to each other and how many exceptions the process has, then add a retainer of $1,000 or more a month.
What keeps it at one price: the audit scopes each system before we build, so the setup covers one clear workflow. If the audit finds more than one worth building, each is its own system at the same price.
Who does the work
Dillon Lara
Founder, Alpenglow AI · Colorado Springs
Twelve years building websites and systems for marketing agencies and the businesses they serve, and three-plus years building automation. One person, no handoffs: whoever maps your workflow is the person who builds it and the person who answers when it breaks. More about Dillon.
Recent result
Front Range Bike Shuttle, Colorado Springs
Booking administration went from 20 to 30 minutes per ride to zero, double-bookings stopped entirely, and custom ride requests get an instant response, with no monthly booking-platform fees.
When automation isn't worth it
We turn down work for these reasons, and it's worth knowing them before you spend anything:
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The process isn't settled yet
If how you do something changes month to month, automating it just locks in a version you're about to abandon. Fix the process first, then automate it.
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It happens rarely
Something that takes twenty minutes once a month isn't worth a build. Four hours a week is a different story.
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One tool, one step
If it's a single connection between two apps, you can probably do it yourself in an afternoon with Zapier or Make. We'll tell you that instead of billing you for it.
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Nobody owns it
Automation still needs a person who notices when it breaks. Without that, it quietly stops working and you're worse off than before, because now you trust it.
How we work
Our business workflow consulting process is three fixed steps, in order: find the leaks with a two-week audit, fix the one that matters most, then keep it running. No step starts until the one before it is done and priced.
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Find the leaks
We map what's actually happening, not what the process document says. This is the Clarity Audit.
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Fix what matters most
We build the highest-value fix first and prove it works before touching anything else.
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Keep it running
We document it, train your team, and stay available for when something changes.
What we build with
We pick the tool for the job, not the other way around. These are the platforms and languages our builds actually run on.
- AI models and agents
- Claude, Gemini, Hermes Agent (self-hosted, owned by you)
- Languages and frameworks
- JavaScript and SvelteKit, Astro, Go, Python
- Websites and CMS
- WordPress, Emdash CMS
- Connected to what you already run
- Your phone system (including Quo), CRM, QuickBooks, Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan
Hiring someone versus doing it yourself
The tools have gotten cheap and genuinely good. If you're comfortable poking at software and the workflow is simple, build it yourself. We mean that.
Where people get stuck isn't clicking the buttons. It's process design, error handling, and knowing what to automate first. A no-code build that works on the happy path and breaks on every exception creates more work than it saves. Most of what we get called in to do is either untangling one of those, or building the thing someone started and ran out of time on.
The honest test: if you've tried twice and it didn't stick, the problem probably isn't the tool.
Where we work
Serving Colorado Springs, Monument, Pueblo, and the Denver metro, plus remote clients nationwide. Pricing is the same everywhere. All service areas.
Frequently asked questions
What does a workflow automation consultant do?
Maps how work moves through your business, finds the repetitive steps and stalled handoffs, and builds systems that move those steps forward automatically. Most engagements start with mapping and prioritizing before anything gets built.
How much does workflow automation cost?
A Clarity Audit runs $750. Building a workflow is $1,200 to set up, then $250 a month to host, monitor, and maintain it, and the audit fee is credited toward setup. Market rates for a single workflow run $2,500 to $6,000, so ask what is included if you are comparing.
What's the difference between workflow automation and business process automation?
Workflow automation usually means one repeatable sequence with clear inputs and outputs. Business process automation is broader: how several workflows fit together across departments, and where delays compound between them. Most small businesses need the first one. We'll say so if that's the case.
Do we have to replace our current software?
Almost never. We build around what you already run. Replacing a tool only makes sense when it is genuinely the thing that is broken, and that is rarer than software salespeople suggest.
How long does a project take?
The Clarity Audit takes two weeks. A single build is usually two to three weeks after that, depending on how quickly we can get access to your systems.
What size business is this for?
Roughly two to fifty people. Below that there usually is not enough repetition to justify the cost. Above it you likely need someone in-house.
What if we don't know what to automate?
That's what the audit is for. Most people come in convinced the problem is one thing and leave knowing it's another.
Ready to find out what manual work is costing you?
Two weeks, $750, and a clear answer about what's worth building. Prefer to talk? Call (719) 314-1500.
No obligation to build afterward. If a fix isn't worth it, the audit says so.