There are hundreds of AI tools fighting for your attention and your money. Most of them don't matter. In this episode, I break down the only three I actually use in my electrical contracting business — ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity — what I pay for, what I use for free, and the one I stopped trusting. I also share why I went from free to Max on Claude, how I use Perplexity for on-the-job troubleshooting, and exactly what I'd recommend if you're only going to pay for one tool. No sponsored opinions. Just what works.

I used to spend almost $8,000 a month on customer service reps and an outsourced call center to answer my phone. Now I spend about $40 a month on an automated AI intake system, and my quote conversion rate has actually gone up. In this episode I break down exactly how I replaced my call center, why the old model of paying humans to take messages doesn't make sense for most trade businesses anymore, and the simple SMS-and-form workflow I run instead.

If you're a contractor, electrician, plumber, or any kind of trade business owner drowning in phone calls, missing leads outside office hours, or paying a virtual receptionist hundreds of dollars a month to take messages, this episode is for you. I cover what I tried first (in-house CSRs and a 24/7 answering service), what didn't work and why, and the asynchronous intake system that now handles 90% of my inbound calls automatically.

Tools mentioned: Twilio, Zapier, n8n, AI voice greeting, SMS automation, and CRM request forms.

After more than a year on CompanyCam, I moved all my job photos and files to a simple Dropbox setup with one automation on top — and saved money in the process. In this episode I explain what CompanyCam does well, the three things that drove me to leave (connectivity, cost per user, and long-term data lock-in), and the basic system I use now to keep job photos organized without paying for features I don't need.

The biggest lesson isn't really about Dropbox vs CompanyCam. It's about the difference between losing access to your data and losing your data altogether — and why that matters when a customer calls you three years after a job asking for documentation. If you're a solo electrician, a small trade team, or a service business owner trying to keep your tools simple and your data yours, this one's for you.

Topics covered: CompanyCam, Dropbox for trades, job photo management, file storage for contractors, data ownership, CRM tool switching, n8n automation, and choosing the right level of complexity for your business.