Workflow automation, built as a product
Maintenance Loop
For property managers. A tenant texts one number. The Loop sorts urgent from routine, offers the job to the right tradie, gets the owner's OK and closes the job when the invoice matches.
For trades, salons, shops and clinics
AI for small business, in plain English.
AI is worth it for a small business when it takes over a job you do by hand every week: typing the same quote twice, chasing quotes nobody followed up, doing invoices after hours. Graphite Digital Studio connects the apps you already pay for so that work moves by itself. Start with a $750 workflow audit: a written map of the mess, fixes ranked and priced.
- Workflow audit $750
- Builds from $3,500 per workflow
- Fixed quote after a 30-minute call
- Home base Victoria, Australia
What AI is good at
What can AI do for my business?
AI is software that can read ordinary writing and write some back. That makes it useful for a handful of dull jobs a plumber, a salon or a clinic does every day. It will not run the business for you.
- Reading and sorting. Emails and enquiry forms are read as they arrive and put in the right pile: new job, booking change, supplier bill, junk.
- Pulling out the details. The name, the address, the date and the amount come out of a document and land where they are needed. Nobody copies them across.
- Drafting the reply. A first draft is written for you. You read it, fix it and send it.
- Answering the same question. Your hours, your prices, whether you do that kind of job. Answered for the hundredth time without you stopping work.
What needs no AI
Most of the paperwork needs no AI at all.
The hours you lose at the kitchen table at night mostly go on retyping. Fixing that takes plain automation, which is a set of rules: when this happens, do that. A customer accepts a quote. The quote is passed from one app to the next and becomes the job, then the invoice. Nobody types it twice. AI only earns its place where something has to be read or written first.
Chatting is not automating
Isn't this just ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI chat assistant. You type a question, it types an answer, and you copy the answer to wherever it has to go. That helps with one email. It doesn't help with forty, because you are still the one carrying the work from app to app. Automation means the work moves by itself. The enquiry arrives, the details are read, the job is created and a reply is drafted while you are still on the tools.
We built one for ourselves. The Maintenance Loop is for property managers. Tenants text one number. The Loop sorts urgent from routine, offers the job to the right tradie, gets the owner's approval when a quote is over their limit, and closes the job when the invoice matches. It is our workflow automation, built as a product.
Proof
We built these, and we run them.
These are ours. We designed them, built them and keep them running. Each one is live, so you can click through and check the work for yourself.
An app, live on the App Store
BRACED Strength Coach
A strength coach for iPhone that reads your sleep, sets the session and calls every set. We designed it, built it and took it through App Store review. The Android version is in testing.
An online store, built end to end
EYES ONLY
Our own streetwear label. We built its store from the first page to the checkout. It is a custom store, not a Shopify template.
The tools, by name
You probably own most of it already.
These are the kinds of tools we connect. Nothing has to be replaced.
- Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks. Accounting software. Where the invoices, the bills and the books are kept.
- ServiceM8. Job software for trades: quotes, bookings and invoices on the phone.
- Zapier, Make and n8n. Connector tools that pass information from one app to another.
- ChatGPT. An AI chat assistant. The same kind of AI can sit inside a workflow, reading and drafting without anyone opening a chat window.
When to skip it
When is AI not worth it?
More often than the ads say.
- The job comes up twice a month. Automating it costs more than doing it by hand. Leave it alone.
- The mess needs a decision, not software. If nobody has agreed who follows up a quote, software will do the wrong thing faster. Decide first.
- The tool has no job to do. Bought because everyone else has one, it is another login and another bill.
- The call is the work. A phone call that wins the job should stay a phone call.
Where to start
Start with the $750 audit, not a subscription.
The workflow audit is half a day with the people doing the work. You get a written map of the mess, with the fixes ranked and priced. If a fix is worth building, that workflow gets its own fixed quote. A workflow is one piece of work that moves between people and systems, such as a quote becoming an order. The full service is on our workflow automation page. Australian dollars, ex GST.
Workflow audit
$750
Half a day. A written map of the mess, with the fixes ranked and priced.
Automation build
from $3,500/ workflow
One workflow, built and connected to the tools you already use.
Care
$390/ month per workflow
Keeps it running and fixed, with a check-in. 12-month minimum.
Founding clients
Half-price setup for the first 10 clients, monthly fee at full price, in return for a case study, a testimonial and permission to use their name.
FAQ
Straight answers.
Is AI worth it for a small business?
Graphite Digital Studio's answer is yes, when AI takes over a job you do by hand every week, such as retyping quotes, sorting enquiries or writing invoices after hours. The rule is simple. If the job comes up twice a month, leave it alone. If it eats hours every week, it is worth a look, starting with a $750 workflow audit.
Can someone set up ChatGPT for my business?
Graphite Digital Studio sets up AI inside the work itself, not as a chat window you have to remember to open. ChatGPT is an AI chat assistant: you ask, it answers, and you copy the answer across. We put the same kind of AI between the apps you already use, so enquiries are read, sorted and answered in draft without anyone copying and pasting.
What can AI do for a tradie?
For a tradie, Graphite Digital Studio uses AI and plain automation to end the paperwork at the kitchen table at night. The accepted quote becomes the job and then the invoice, with no retyping. Enquiries are read and sorted as they arrive. Quotes that got no answer are followed up. We connect job software such as ServiceM8 to accounting software such as Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks.
What is the difference between AI and automation?
At Graphite Digital Studio, automation means a set of rules, such as: when a quote is accepted, create the job. AI is software that can read ordinary writing and write some back. We use plain automation for most of the work, because most of it is retyping, and add AI only where an email, a form or a document has to be read first.
Do I have to change the software I use?
No. Graphite Digital Studio connects the tools you already pay for, so nothing has to be replaced. That might be accounting software, job software or a booking tool. Connector tools such as Zapier, Make and n8n pass information from one app to another. We build those connections and look after them every month, so the same detail is entered once.
How much does it cost to automate my business?
Graphite Digital Studio charges $750 for a workflow audit, then from $3,500 to build each workflow and $390 a month per workflow to keep it running, with a 12-month minimum. A workflow is one piece of work that moves between people and systems, such as a quote becoming an order. The quote is fixed after a 30-minute call. Prices are in Australian dollars, ex GST.
Why is there a monthly fee?
Every build by Graphite Digital Studio carries its own monthly fee. The setup pays for the build. The monthly fee pays for keeping it running: the hosting it lives on, running costs, fixes and a check-in. Automation care is $390 a month per workflow, with a 12-month minimum, so the workflow keeps working long after launch day.
Typing it twice?
Bring us a problem.
Tell us which job eats your evenings. On the call we'll tell you straight whether AI or plain automation will fix it, and what it costs.