If you run a small business, this probably sounds familiar
Most owners I talk to lose more than five hours a week to work a computer could be doing. Not the hard parts of the job. The work about the work:
- Chasing invoices and reminding people to pay.
- Writing the same quote, proposal or estimate for the tenth time.
- Answering the same five questions by email, text and phone.
- Copying information from one app into another by hand.
- Catching up on all of it at night, on your phone.
You've heard AI can help. Maybe you've tried ChatGPT and it wrote you a decent email. But nobody has sat down with your actual week and said: this task, this tool, this many hours back, here's how to set it up.
That's what I do.
What you get
We get on a call for 45 minutes. You walk me through your week: what eats your time, where things pile up, what you do at 9pm that you wish you didn't. I ask a lot of questions. I don't show you any tools and I don't try to sell you anything on that call.
Within 48 hours you get a written plan. Plain English, no jargon:
- The number: how many hours a week the plan finds, and what that's worth at your hourly rate.
- Task by task: what each one costs you now, what it costs after, the hours that come back, and the tool or change that does it.
- What it costs and how long it takes to set up, for every tool. Most use software you already pay for or something cheap.
- Quick wins we set up together, and a four-day quick start: one ten-minute step a day.
- My honest read on what's holding the business back, including the parts that aren't a software fix.
Then we spend 30 minutes going through it together. I set up one or two of the quick wins with you, right there on your screen, so you leave with time already coming back.
The deal
If the plan doesn't find you at least five hours a week, you don't pay. You keep the plan.
The hours come from your own numbers. Before the call you fill in a short form listing the things that eat your week and roughly how long each takes. The plan goes task by task against that baseline, with a specific tool or change for each one. On the review call we agree the total together. You don't pay for hours you don't believe.The price is $999, paid after you've seen the plan and only if it finds five hours or more. The invoice is due in seven days.
What five hours a week is worth
Even if your time's only worth $50 an hour, five hours a week is $250. The fee pays for itself in about four weeks. Over a year, that's about $13,000 of your time back. Your hour is probably worth more than $50, so use your own number.
| An hour of your time | 5 hours a week | $999 pays back in | Over a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | $250 | about 4 weeks | about $13,000 |
| $75 | $375 | under 3 weeks | about $19,500 |
| $100 | $500 | 2 weeks | about $26,000 |
| $150 | $750 | under 2 weeks | about $39,000 |
How it works
- Free 15-minute call (optional)
Tell me one thing that eats your week and I'll give you one way to cut it. If the full assessment makes sense, I'll tell you. If it doesn't, I'll tell you that too.
- Short form, 10 minutes
The things that eat your week and roughly how long each takes. That's the baseline we measure against. Then you pick a time.
- The call, 45 minutes
You walk me through your week. Recorded with your OK so I don't miss anything.
- The plan, within 48 hours
Every task, tool, cost and hour, in writing.
- Review call, 30 minutes
We go through it, set up the quick wins, and agree the hours. Five or more, I send the invoice. Under five, there's no invoice.
- Check-in, two to three weeks later. Free.
We look at how much time actually came back.
Is this for you?
A good fit if you
- Own or run a business with roughly 2 to 20 people
- Do a lot of the admin yourself, or pay someone to
- Use email, a calendar and some kind of accounting or scheduling tool
- Would rather have a clear plan than another tool to figure out
Probably not a fit if you
- Already have someone in-house setting up AI across the business
- Want custom software built before you know where the hours are
- Are part of a chain where decisions get made at head office
Who I am
I'm Patrick Pitre. I've spent 30 years in technology, and I started where a lot of good IT people start: on the help desk. Since then I've been director of IT at a shipping and logistics company, a software development manager at Christie Digital during the rollout of digital cinema, and CTO of a large nonprofit. Along the way I've designed systems from small spreadsheet add-ons to multi-year, multi-million-dollar ERP projects, written official Microsoft certification exams, and earned an MBA.
What that means for you: I speak business, not just tech. I'll look at your week the way an owner would, and I'll only recommend things that pay for themselves. I run Athena IT Group here in Southern California and work with owners locally and remotely.
A few things people ask
What's the catch?
There isn't one. If I can't find five hours a week in your business, I'd rather know that than take your money. You keep the plan either way.
Do I need to be technical?
No. If you can use email, you're fine. The plan is written in plain English and the quick wins get set up with you on the call.
I already use ChatGPT.
Good, that's a head start. Most people use it to answer questions. The hours are in setting it up to handle whole jobs, and that's what the plan shows you.
Will you set it up for me?
The quick wins, yes, on the review call. Bigger pieces I'll quote separately, at a fixed price, once you've seen the plan.
What happens to my information?
The call is recorded only with your OK, so I can write the plan accurately. I don't share it, and recordings are deleted on a schedule set out in the agreement you see before booking.
Why start with the free 15 minutes?
So you can see how I work before you commit to anything. You get one real fix either way. If you already know you want the full assessment, skip straight to the form.
Pick the one that fits
Free 15-minute call
One task, one fix you can use this week, and an honest answer on whether the full assessment is worth it for you.
Book the free callThe full assessment
Ten-minute form, then pick a time for the 45-minute call. $999, and only if the plan finds at least five hours a week.
Start hereQuestions first? Email info@athenaitgroup.com.
P.S. The math is simple. At $50 an hour, five hours a week is about $13,000 a year. If the plan can't find you five hours, you pay nothing.
P.P.S. Not sure yet? Book the 15 minutes. It's free, and you'll walk away with one thing that saves you time this week.