Most of the AI consulting content online is written for companies with budgets. If you are a solo business owner, a small nonprofit, or an office administrator who just wants to get hours back in your week, you do not need any of that. You need five specific things, and they all cost less than a bar tab.
1. Claude Pro ($20/month)
Claude Pro gives you higher message limits, access to the best model, and — this is the big one — Claude Projects. Projects are the single biggest productivity unlock for solo operators. Set up one Project with your organization's facts, your voice, and your FAQ, and every conversation inside it is ten times more useful.
2. A free Google Workspace account
If you already have one, skip this. If not, a free Google account gives you Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and Docs, which are the tools Claude integrates with most cleanly via MCP. Nonprofits get Google Workspace for free through Google for Nonprofits — apply if you qualify.
3. One hour of AI literacy training
This is the hour where someone sits down with you and actually shows you how to use Claude for your real work. Not a YouTube video. Not a webinar. An hour of one-on-one time where they watch you do your actual job, and point out the three places AI would help most. I charge $150 for this. Some consultants charge more, some less. For a solo owner, it is the single highest-ROI hour you will spend on AI, period.
4. A written brand voice guide
You can write this yourself in an hour. Three adjectives that describe your voice, three you never want to be, five example sentences in your voice, five examples of how you do not want to sound. Paste this into your Claude Project. Every reply, blog post, and social caption Claude writes for you will suddenly sound like you instead of a chatbot.
5. A short Micro Project
Most consultants, including me, offer one-off projects in the $500 to $1,500 range. Things like: fix the SEO on your site, build a one-page Squarespace landing page with Claude Code, clean up your Google Business Profile, or set up a Claude Project with all four of the documents above done for you. These are the affordable on-ramp for people who do not want a multi-thousand-dollar engagement.
The realistic outcome
A solo owner or tiny nonprofit team who follows the five steps above typically gets back 4 to 8 hours per week within the first month. That is not a sales pitch, that is observed reality from clients. The investment is around $200 in software and time, plus whatever a short training session costs. It is the best hourly ROI you will see in small business technology this decade.