Daniel spent 11 years quoting at the kitchen table. Here's how he used AI for quotes, follow-ups, and automations — and started a side income without quitting the tools.
A mate sent him the Trade to Tech free roadmap. He didn't believe 'AI for sparkies' was real, but he tried one prompt to rewrite a rough quote into something professional. It took two minutes and the customer accepted it within the hour. That was the first time he thought his trade skills and tech might actually fit together.
He described a typical rewire in rough notes and asked AI to turn it into a professional quote. When it worked, he saved that prompt as a reusable template. Every quote after that was: paste the template, change three details, send.
Using Make.com on a free tier, he built a simple flow: new quote row in a Google Sheet → polite follow-up email at day 3 → firmer reminder at day 7. It took one Sunday afternoon and now runs without him.
A plumber he knew saw the system and asked for the same setup. Daniel cloned his flow, tweaked it for plumbing quotes, and charged a small setup fee. It wasn't huge money — but it was the first time he'd been paid for something that didn't require his body.
He finished AI Foundations and started using AI for site reports, customer messages, and a simple content plan for his Google Business profile. The admin that used to swallow Sunday night now fits into 20 minutes on Friday.
Start with the free roadmap — no credit card, no hype, just the exact first steps that worked for Daniel.
