Gagne Marketing
How I Actually Use AI
Before I recommend anything to a client, I use it myself. Here is what that looks like in practice.
I Test This Stuff First
The work I do with clients starts with understanding how a business actually runs. The bottlenecks, the manual tasks, the places where time disappears without anyone noticing.
I apply the same thinking to my own business. Every tool or automation on this page started as a real problem I had. Something I identified, had built, and put into daily use.
These are not client projects. They are internal tools that run quietly in the background while I focus on the actual work.
Facebook Post
Scheduling
Manually scheduling posts to two Facebook pages took just under two minutes per post. At six posts a week, that was close to fifty minutes a month just navigating a scheduling interface.
I had a script built with Claude Code that connects directly to Facebook's Graph API. One command, one page, one scheduled time. No login screen, no third-party platform in the middle. Six seconds per post.
- Direct API connection — Posts go straight to Facebook without routing through Zapier, Make.com, or any third-party platform
- Six seconds per post — Down from just under two minutes manually
- Two pages supported — One command handles either page at any scheduled time
- No subscription cost — Runs on a system user token that does not expire
Daily
Client Sync
Every morning I was opening my calendar, Gmail, and Google Sheets separately to look for the same information: new appointments, new form submissions, and if those people were already in my system.
A Google Apps Script now runs automatically before I start my day. It scans all three, updates my client tracker, and sends me one summary email. I open my inbox and the work is already done.
- Runs automatically — Triggers every morning between 7 and 8 AM without any action from me
- Three sources, one summary — Calendar, Gmail, and Google Sheets combined into a single email
- No Zapier, no subscription — Built entirely on Google Apps Script, which is free
- Two-minute morning review — I check the summary and move on. No hunting across tabs.
What This Has to Do With Consulting
My job is not to build these tools for clients. That is not what I offer. My job is to help businesses figure out where their time is going and what kind of fix actually fits the situation.
Both of these automations started the same way: I noticed something taking more time than it should, measured it, figured out what a realistic solution looked like, and had it built. The result runs without my attention.
That is the same process I walk clients through. The tools look different in every business. The thinking behind them is the same.
If you want to understand the difference between what I do and what an automation vendor offers, I wrote about the difference between AI consulting and AI automation. And if you want to know more about my background and how I approach this work, visit my about page.
Ready to Find Your Bottlenecks?
If any of this sounds familiar. Tasks you repeat every day that you know could run better. That is exactly the kind of thing I look at with clients. I offer a free clarity call to walk through how your business runs and where the clearest opportunities are. No pitch, no pressure.