🙅 6 Admin Tasks I Never Do From Scratch Anymore

Short answer: the business admin worth handing to AI is the first pass on anything repetitive and text-shaped: replying to new enquiries, prepping for calls, writing up follow-ups, drafting quotes, chasing unpaid invoices and pulling together client reports. AI does the blank page to draft. You keep the judgement: the price, the tone call, and pressing send. Each job below comes with what to hand over, the context that makes it good, and a prompt to paste.

I spent 6+ years as an OBM building the back-end systems for founders, and it’s the small repeating admin that clogs a week. Not the big strategic stuff. The enquiry sitting unanswered since Tuesday, the quote nobody wanted to write, the invoice nobody wanted to chase.

These days my own inbox agent works through my email 3 times a day, drafts the replies, and never sends a single one. That’s the model for everything on this page: AI does the first pass, a human signs it off.

One setup step first. Make a Claude Project called “admin” and paste in the basics once: what you sell, your prices, your payment terms, how you sign off emails, and 2 or 3 messages you’ve sent that sound like you. Every prompt below gets better because it stops guessing.

1. New enquiries

The job that loses the most money when it waits. An enquiry answered same day is worth more than a perfect one answered on Friday.

What to hand over: the enquiry itself, plus your standard answers to the questions people always ask (price range, availability, how it works).

Nick this one:

You're drafting my reply to a new enquiry so it goes out today, not Friday.

The enquiry: [paste it]
What I know about them: [e.g. "found me on Instagram, runs a 2-person bakery"]
Where I want this to go: [e.g. "a 20-minute call this week" or "straight to a quote"]

Give me:
1. A reply under 150 words that answers what they asked, in my voice, with one clear next step.
2. Anything they asked that you couldn't answer from what you know, marked [CHECK].
3. One question worth adding that would help me qualify them.

Rules: British English, no "I hope this email finds you well", no prices unless they're in my Project notes. Final version only, ready to edit. Ask me up to 3 questions before you start.

The line that does the work: “where I want this to go”. A reply without a next step is a nice email. A reply with one is a booking.

Once it’s working: the 4th time you notice the same question, turn your answer into a saved reply in the Project. That’s how enquiries go from 15 minutes to 2.

2. Prep before a call

5 minutes before a call, so you walk in sounding like you’d done your homework, because you had.

What to hand over: your running notes on the client or prospect, their website, and what a good outcome looks like.

Nick this one:

You're prepping me for a call in [20 minutes].

Who it's with: [e.g. "a potential client who runs an online course business, first call"]
My notes so far: [paste anything you've got, or "none"]
What I want out of it: [e.g. "enough scope to quote by Friday"]

Give me bullets I can scan on my phone:
1. Background worth knowing (use web search where it helps, and link your sources).
2. Where we left off and anything I promised last time, if this isn't a first call.
3. 6 questions in priority order, including 2 I wouldn't think of.
4. The 2 questions they'll ask me, with strong short answers.

Rules: mark anything you're inferring as a guess, don't invent numbers about their industry, no script. Ask me up to 3 questions before you start.

Worth knowing: the shape of the briefing is reliably good. The facts are trust-but-verify, especially anything from search.

3. The follow-up after a call

The call went well, and then the follow-up sat for 3 days because you were on the next thing. This is where deals go quiet.

What to hand over: the transcript if your notetaker records one, or a 60-second voice ramble straight after the call. (The full notetaker setup is in Turn Client Calls Into Actions.)

Nick this one, straight after the call:

You're turning this call into actions and a follow-up email.

The call: [paste the transcript, or ramble at me]

Give me:
1. Decisions made.
2. Actions, split into mine and theirs, each with a date if one was mentioned.
3. Anything that was agreed loosely that should be pinned down in writing (scope, price, deadlines).
4. A follow-up email to them: thanks, what we agreed, who does what next. Under 150 words.

Rules: only what was said, don't add commitments I didn't make, mark anything unclear as [CHECK]. Ask me up to 3 questions before you start.

The line that does the work: number 3. The follow-up email is the cheapest scope protection there is. “As agreed on Tuesday” in writing saves a lot of awkward conversations in month 2.

4. Quotes and proposals

What to hand over: your call notes, your price list or day rate, and 1 past quote you were happy with. The price is yours to set. AI writes the document around it.

Nick this one:

You're drafting a quote from my notes. I've set the price, you're writing it up.

The client and job: [e.g. "Hannah, bakery, wants a new booking system and 3 email templates"]
My notes from the call: [paste]
The price and terms: [e.g. "£1,200, 50% upfront, 2 rounds of changes"]
A past quote I liked: [paste, or attach]

Give me:
1. A quote in the same structure as my past one: what they get, what's not included, price, terms, next step.
2. A "not included" list based on what came up in the call, because that's what stops scope creep.
3. Anything in my notes that's too vague to quote on, as a question I should ask first.

Rules: British English, never change my price or terms, no invented deliverables. Final version only, ready to edit. Ask me up to 3 questions before you start.

The line that does the work: “never change my price”. AI will happily round, discount or helpfully add a bonus if you let it.

5. Invoice chasers

Nobody likes chasing. So write the whole ladder once, calmly, and never draft one angry at 10pm again.

Nick this one, once:

You're writing my invoice chasing ladder, so I never write one from scratch again.

My terms: [e.g. "14 days, bank transfer"]
My tone: [e.g. "friendly, I like my clients, but I'm not a bank"]

Write 3 messages:
1. 3 days overdue: a light nudge, assumes it slipped through.
2. 10 days overdue: clear, polite, asks for a payment date.
3. 21 days overdue: firm, states the amount and terms, names the next step.

Each under 90 words, with [NAME], [INVOICE NUMBER], [AMOUNT] and [DUE DATE] as blanks. Then tell me the one thing I should never say in any of them.

Rules: British English, no grovelling, no passive aggression, no legal threats. Ask me up to 3 questions before you start.

The bit that matters: a ladder takes the emotion out. You’re not deciding how cross to be, you’re sending stage 2.

6. Client and monthly reports

The report that takes an afternoon because the numbers live in 4 places and the words come last.

What to hand over: the numbers (exported, pasted or screenshotted), last month’s report, and 2 lines on what you think the story is.

Nick this one:

You're drafting my monthly report for [client or "my own business"].

This month's numbers: [paste or attach]
Last month's report: [paste, so you match the format]
What I think the story is: [e.g. "enquiries up, conversions flat, the new offer isn't landing yet"]

Give me:
1. A 3-line summary a busy founder would read.
2. What changed versus last month, with the numbers.
3. Anything in the data that contradicts my story, flagged.
4. 2 recommendations for next month.

Rules: use only the numbers I've given you, never estimate or fill a gap, and say so if something doesn't add up. Ask me up to 3 questions before you start.

The line that does the work: number 3. You’re too close to your own story. Asking it to argue with you is how the report stays honest.

What stays with me

The first pass is handed over. The judgement isn’t. Price, who to work with, what to say no to, and pressing send all stay human. My own agents draft, sort and summarise all day, and not one of them can reply to a client. It’s how you’d scope any new role: you wouldn’t hand a new hire the company card on day one either.

Handing over the first pass doesn’t hand over responsibility. Read everything before it leaves the building.

Want the same idea as a quick-fire list? The 10 Prompts That Do Your Admin has the short versions.

Tonight

Take number 5. Write your chasing ladder once, save it in your Project, and the next overdue invoice takes 30 seconds.

That’s one job off your plate. The Claude Kickstart does five of them properly, set up around your actual trade and sounding like you. £47, one weekend.