The fine print / Questions worth asking
Things people ask before booking.
Do you do free discovery calls? +
Yes. Thirty minutes, no pitch, no deck. I do them because I genuinely don't want to take someone's money if I'm not the right fit — and I'll tell you honestly if I think someone else would serve you better. Book one through the contact page.
Why fixed fees instead of day rates? +
Day rates create the wrong incentive. The faster I work, the less I earn — which is backwards. Fixed fees mean we both want the same outcome. You know exactly what you're committing to before we start, and I'm focused on the right result for both of us, not the hours.
What if I haven't done anything with AI yet? +
That's the right starting point. Most people I work with are starting from nothing or from one failed attempt. The AI Readiness session is designed for exactly that — we find the highest-leverage place to begin rather than trying to do everything at once. And I'm not the tech bro who'll get you to one prompt the next multi-million pound SaaS in an afternoon. But I can help you find time for that cheeky glass of wine with friends at a reasonable hour after work.
What sectors do you know? +
Healthcare, bids, project management and procurement I know deeply — nearly 30 years of experience across them. I also have significant experience in facilities management, construction, insurance, hospitality and events management. I run Dot Alt Events, which is actually where BeatsBingo came to life. If it's a regulated market or a highly complex multi-dependency environment, I have the skills to understand your needs. If I'm not the right fit for your sector, I'll tell you.
Will you sign an NDA? +
Yes, before any substantive conversation. I bring a plain one-page version if you'd prefer to avoid a lengthy legal back-and-forth — most clients find that simpler.
What's your cancellation policy? +
Reschedule anytime up to 10 working days before. Inside 10 working days, the 50% deposit is retained. Inside 3 working days, the full fee applies — but I'll always make a genuine effort to find you another date rather than just keeping the money.
I'm worried my team will resist this. Is that a problem? +
It's a very common one. In my experience, resistance usually comes from fear of being replaced or fear of looking stupid — not from the tools themselves. Part of what I do is help people understand that AI makes their jobs more manageable, not redundant. The workshop format is designed around that — hands-on, low pressure, no one gets put on the spot.
Will you try to sell me tools or software? +
No. I'm not affiliated with any platform, I don't earn commission from referrals, and I have no interest in pushing tools you don't need. My job is to help you figure out what's actually useful for your specific situation — which sometimes means telling you that it's not a tool that's needed at all, but a new process using what you already have, or sometimes that an extra person would fill that need better than any software.
What if we start and it's not working? +
Then we talk about it. I'd rather have that conversation early than let something run that isn't delivering. If an approach isn't working, we change it. If I'm genuinely not the right fit, I'll say so. I'm more interested in your long-term confidence with this stuff than in protecting a contract.
Do I need a technical background to work with you? +
Absolutely not. The people who make the fastest progress are usually the ones who know their business well and approach AI as they would any other new opportunity or change in business capability. You don't need to understand how it works. You need to know what you want it to do. That's the part I help with.
How quickly will I see results? +
Depends what you mean by results. After the AI Readiness session, most people leave with two or three things they can act on that week — small, practical, immediate. Bigger shifts in productivity or potential cost improvements always have a lag before you can feel the full benefit — that's the most common reason people give up after a few weeks. I've got a lot of experience implementing new processes and procedures, and I'll be there to help and keep you motivated through that bit.
I run a very small business. Is this for me? +
Yes — in fact, small businesses often see the biggest gains, because there's less bureaucracy between identifying something useful and actually doing it. Some of my most satisfying work has been with one or two-person operations who genuinely couldn't afford to keep doing things the slow way.
Have you used AI to develop this site? +
Yes. The design, the structure, and a significant amount of the build were developed with AI support — Claude specifically. Where you see an em dash, that's because it's how I write and always have, not an AI randomly generating text. The AI helped with things that would have taken me weeks, and it's helped with my spelling and grammar too — which as someone with dyslexia is very much needed. This site is a good example of what I actually mean by supportive AI: it did the heavy lifting while I stayed in charge of what it said, how it sounded, and whether it was actually true.