The AI Till

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Otter or Fyxer? One fixes meetings, the other fixes email. Most small businesses only need one.

Otter joins your calls and writes transcripts and summaries. Fyxer sorts your inbox and drafts replies for you to check, and takes meeting notes too.

In pounds, per person a month, before VAT:

Otter Pro: $16.99 (£12.68), or $8.33 (£6.22) billed yearly
Otter Business: $30 (£22.39), or $19.99 (£14.92) billed yearly
Fyxer Pro: $49 (£36.57), or $37 (£27.61) billed yearly
Fyxer Team: $99 (£73.88), or $64 (£47.76) billed yearly

A year for one person, billed yearly: Otter Pro $99.96 (about £74.60), Fyxer Pro $444 (about £331.36).

Both have free plans:
Otter Basic: 300 transcription minutes a month, 30 minutes a conversation
Fyxer Free: 400 credits a month, about 6 hours 40 minutes of recording, but no drafted replies or inbox sorting

Using both? Turn Fyxer's meeting recording off so only one notetaker joins each call.

And tell people at the start of a call that you're recording.

Prices re-read 2 November 2026, ECB rate for 30 October.

Full table and which one suits which business:
https://t.co/kOGnEFZi7y

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Your Google Business Profile description has a 750 character limit, and Google doesn't allow links, prices or offers in it.

Here's one you can copy for a cleaning business. Swap the [brackets] and delete anything that isn't true:

"Friendly local cleaning in [town] for homes, holiday lets and small offices. Weekly and fortnightly cleans, one-off deep cleans, end of tenancy cleans and cleans after building work. Same cleaner each visit where possible, our own products and equipment, and fully insured [only if true]. Pets and keys handled with care. Tell us the size of the property and how often you would like us, and we will come back with a time that suits."

That's 433 characters before you fill it in.

How to build your own:

First line: what you do and where. Google may cut the rest off behind "more"
Middle: the jobs people search for, by name ("blocked toilets", "end of tenancy cleans")
Proof: registrations, insurance, years in the trade, only if true
How you work: on time, tidy, price confirmed before you start
Last line: what to do next. No phone numbers or links, Google has separate fields

Offers and prices go in Google posts instead.

Free generator with a live character count, plus plumber, electrician and dog walker versions:
https://t.co/0cL9EOiK6T

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Got a bit of side income? There's a trading allowance of £1,000 a year.

Above £1,000 you take off either the allowance or your real expenses, not both.

Example from our free calculator:
£2,400 of side income, £600 of costs
Allowance: £1,400 taxable
Real expenses: £1,800 taxable
So the allowance wins.

From 6 April 2027 it goes up to £3,000 (Budget 2026).

Check yours, free:
https://t.co/RhVLfXnTJA

Rules from https://t.co/QWsUn78rh8. Example figures, not tax advice.

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Xero Ignite costs £118.80 for your first year, not £216. If you diary one date.

New UK customers get 90% off the base plan for 6 months:

6 × £1.80 = £10.80
6 × £18 = £108
Year one: £118.80, excluding VAT

Year two at the full price is 12 × £18 = £216.

Every UK plan, a month, excluding VAT:

Simple: £7 (not VAT registered, 10 invoices a month)
Ignite: £18, was £16
Grow: £39, was £37
Comprehensive: £55, was £50
Ultimate: £70, was £65

The four bigger plans went up on 1 September 2026. Simple stayed at £7.

Worth knowing:
The offer covers the base plan only, so add-ons are full price from month one
CIS returns to HMRC are a £5 a month add-on
Xero shows a free month too, but treat that and the 90% off as one or the other, not both
There's no free plan

Put a reminder in your diary before month seven, when the full price starts.

Three worked businesses (window cleaner, electrician on CIS, small limited company) and every add-on price:
https://t.co/t8Yyhv6qaJ

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Working out your day rate? Don't divide by 260 days.

There are 261 weekdays in 2027. Take off bank holidays, your own holiday, sick days and time on quotes and admin, and a full-time sole trader is usually left with somewhere near 180 to 195 billable days.

Example electrician (made-up figures from our page):
£40,000 wanted + £12,500 business costs = £52,500
Spread over 182.4 billed days = £287.83 a day before VAT

Work out your own, free:
https://t.co/Ga0qAuVgEt

2027 bank holidays from https://t.co/QWsUn78rh8. Example figures, not advice.

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Late tax return? Here's what it costs ⏰

£100 straight away.
£10 a day after 3 months (up to £900).
£2,000 tax, 200 days late = about £1,585 extra.

Self Assessment is due online by 31 January.

Free calculator: https://t.co/2ad4fbND2V

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Paid late by another business? Charge interest 💷

8% plus base rate = 11.75% a year (late 2026).
£2,400 paid 60 days late = £116.36, including the £70 fixed sum.

Business customers only.

Free calculator: https://t.co/nwsU1GVVKh

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Fireflies or Fyxer? Pick the one that fixes the job eating most of your week.

Fireflies joins your calls and writes the notes. Fyxer sorts your inbox and drafts replies for you to check, and takes meeting notes too.

In pounds, per seat or person a month, before VAT:

Fireflies Pro: $18 (£13.43), or $10 (£7.46) billed yearly
Fireflies Business: $29 (£21.64), or $19 (£14.18) billed yearly
Fyxer Pro: $49 (£36.57), or $37 (£27.61) billed yearly
Fyxer Team: $99 (£73.88), or $64 (£47.76) billed yearly

A year for one person, billed yearly: Fireflies Pro $120 (about £89.56), Fyxer Pro $444 (about £331.36).

Both have free plans. Fyxer's free plan gives 400 credits a month, about 6 hours 40 minutes of meeting recording, but drafted replies and inbox sorting start on Pro.

A fair two-week test:

Week 1: Fireflies free for calls, Fyxer's 14-day trial for email, with Fyxer's meeting recording off
Each evening: count the Fyxer drafts you sent with little editing
Week 2: Fyxer's notes on, Fireflies off. If Fyxer's notes are good enough, one tool does both

Prices re-read 2 November 2026, ECB rate for 30 October.

Full table, the test plan and what to tell people before you record a call:
https://t.co/JPHrdmKvm5

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

ChatGPT will happily invent a case study for your tender answer. This prompt stops it.

Copy and paste:

"Write a [x]-word answer to this question using only my notes: [question] [notes]. Use plain British English, short paragraphs and the buyer's own terms. Don't add any facts, figures, case studies or accreditations that aren't in my notes; mark gaps as [EVIDENCE NEEDED]."

Then score it before the buyer does:

"Act as a public sector evaluator using this scoring guide: [paste]. Score my answer out of [x], explain what's missing for full marks and list any vague or unsupported claims: [answer]."

Worth knowing before you bid:

Using AI to write a bid isn't banned. The Cabinet Office says buyers may ask you to disclose it and may run extra checks, like clarification questions, site visits or presentations. So only claim what you can prove.

Don't paste confidential tender documents or your pricing into a free chatbot that may train on them.

Price in your own spreadsheet. Don't let a chatbot set your prices.

All 10 supplier prompts (bid or no bid, compliance checklist, social value, method statement) plus 8 for buyers:
https://t.co/Zofl9dNQEm

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

ChatGPT Pro has no yearly price. Twelve months of Pro 100 is £1,066.80.

UK App Store prices, checked 2 November 2026:

Plus: £19.99 a month, £239.88 a year
Pro 100: £88.90 a month, £1,066.80 a year
Pro 200: £200.00 a month, £2,400.00 a year
Pro 500: £444.99 a month, £5,339.88 a year

On the web from a UK connection, Pro starts at £89 a month.

So Pro 100 costs about £827 a year more than Plus.

What that extra money mostly buys a small business is room for bigger documents:

Longest message you can paste (Instant): about 40 pages on Plus, about 250 on Pro
Longest input for reasoning models: about 320 pages on Plus, about 680 on Pro

If you regularly paste long tenders, contracts or spreadsheets and Plus cuts them off, Pro may be worth it.

If your work is short emails, quotes and replies to customers, Plus already covers it.

One more thing: the Pro 200 usage cut OpenAI emailed about in September has been cancelled, so check your usage again before you downgrade.

All three tiers, what Pro adds over Plus, and the yearly sums:
https://t.co/NTmQYaSBEz

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Got a price with VAT already in it? Don't just knock 20% off.

Taking VAT off: divide by 1.2
Adding VAT on: times by 1.2
At the 20% standard rate, the VAT inside a price is always one-sixth of the total

Example from our free calculator:
£1,200 including VAT = £1,000 before VAT + £200 of VAT

Work yours out, free:
https://t.co/CUZ9o2fnD0

20% standard rate from https://t.co/QWsUn78rh8. Example figures, not tax advice.

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

If you keep customer details in a job app or on your phone, you probably owe the ICO £52 a year.

That's the data protection fee. Sole traders aren't exempt just for being small.

The fee, checked on https://t.co/QWsUn78rh8 on 1 November 2026:

Tier 1: £52 (turnover up to £632,000 or no more than 10 staff)
Tier 2: £78 (turnover up to £36 million or no more than 250 staff)
Tier 3: £3,763 (everyone else)

Pay by direct debit and it's £5 less. So £47 for most sole traders. No VAT on it.

You usually need to pay if you:
keep customer names, addresses or numbers in an app, spreadsheet, phone or email
use CCTV, a doorbell camera or a dashcam for the business
use a booking system, CRM or AI tool that holds customer details

You're probably exempt if you only hold staff records, your own accounts and your own marketing list, or everything is on paper.

Don't pay it and the fixed penalty for tier 1 is £400, up to a maximum of £4,350.

Already paid? Search the ICO register before paying twice, and ignore firms charging extra to "register" you.

Quick check table and how to pay:
https://t.co/utl4rmYvbV

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Semrush only bills in dollars. In pounds, the SEO plan is about £104 a month before VAT.

Semrush prices (checked 23 October 2026), converted at the ECB rate for 30 October 2026:

SEO: $139 a month, about £104. Yearly $1,407.96, about £1,051
Starter (SEO + AI search): $199 a month, about £149. Yearly about £1,479
Pro+: $299 a month, about £223. Yearly about £2,223

Not VAT registered? Add 20%. The SEO plan is then about £124 a month.

Before you pay, try the free route:

1. Google Search Console: the searches your site already shows up for, and your position
2. Bing Webmaster Tools: the same for Bing, and you can submit new pages
3. Google Business Profile: the searches that found you on Maps
4. Semrush free account: 10 reports a day

Two things to know if you do sign up:

Monthly plans aren't refundable. Refunds only apply to a first annual plan, within 7 days.
PayPal isn't accepted, and nor are virtual cards.

Full table in pounds, with VAT, plus a free keyword prompt:
https://t.co/2Eh0Y5gbVN

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Thinking of taking someone on? The wage isn't the whole cost.

On top of pay for 2026 to 2027:
Employer National Insurance at 15% of pay above £5,000 a year
At least 3% employer pension on pay between £6,240 and £50,270
Employment Allowance can take up to £10,500 a year off your employer NI

Example from our free calculator:
£12.71 an hour (National Living Wage), 37.5 hours a week
Wages £24,784.50, employer NI £2,967.68 (covered by Employment Allowance), pension £556.34
Total £25,340.84 for the year
Holiday is paid but not worked, so each hour actually worked costs £14.56

Work out yours, free:
https://t.co/9rdc8Oe5yO

https://t.co/QWsUn78rh8 rates for 2026 to 2027. An estimate, not payroll advice.

[Collective Digital @C_DigitalMedia]

Stop counting Checkatrade enquiries. Count the jobs you won.

Fee divided by jobs won is your real cost per job.

Full post: https://t.co/emOOrpZWhJ

#tradesmen

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

£1,800 plus VAT is £2,160. Here is how to work out any "plus VAT" price.

Multiply the price before VAT by 1.2.

£1,800 × 1.2 = £2,160
The VAT is £1,800 × 0.2 = £360

In your head: find 10%, double it, add it on.
£375: 10% is £37.50, 20% is £75, so £375 plus VAT is £450.

A few common ones at 20%:

£150 plus VAT = £180
£500 plus VAT = £600
£1,000 plus VAT = £1,200
£2,500 plus VAT = £3,000
£12,500 plus VAT = £15,000

The mistake to avoid when taking VAT off:

£1,200 less 20% is £960. But the price before VAT is £1,000.
VAT is 20% of the price before VAT, not 20% of the total, so divide by 1.2.

At the 5% reduced rate, multiply by 1.05 instead. £1,800 plus 5% VAT is £1,890.

Free calculator plus a common amounts table, both ways:
https://t.co/ZaNRTQkRdE

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Up a ladder when the phone rings? A missed call can be a lost job.

Count every call for one normal week, answered or missed, and note which missed ones were new customers.

Example from our free calculator's default figures:
25 calls a week, you miss 3 in 10
Half of those are new enquiries, 6 in 10 never ring back, you win 4 in 10
£450 jobs at a 30% margin
That's 3.9 jobs lost a month, £526.50 of profit (£6,318 a year)

It works in profit, not revenue, because that's what a missed job actually costs you. Then set that against what an answering tool costs a month.

Pop your own numbers in, free:
https://t.co/tC6wOMbccb

Example figures only. Your own week of tally marks is what counts.

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

https://t.co/xYbSlMm7Xx looks cheap at $10 a seat. For a team of five it's $600 a year on Pro.

Fireflies prices, from its pricing page on 28 October 2026 (US dollars, per seat, before VAT):

Free: $0, unlimited transcription, limited AI summaries, 400 minutes of storage per team
Pro: $18 a month, or $10 billed yearly
Business: $29 a month, or $19 billed yearly
Enterprise: $39, yearly only

What that means for a team:

1 person on Pro: $18 a month, or $120 a year billed yearly
3 people on Pro: $54 a month, or $360 a year
5 people on Pro: $90 a month, or $600 a year
5 people on Business: $145 a month, or $1,140 a year

Two things to check first:

1. Free and Pro stop recording at 2 hours. Business is 3 hours.
2. It bills in dollars, so your card may add a foreign transaction fee, and UK VAT is usually added at checkout.

Try a month or two on monthly billing before paying yearly.

Full plan table and limits:
https://t.co/p1W0YXeDn2

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Materials gone up? Don't just swallow it.

Example: £500 job, £350 cost = £150 profit (30%). Costs up 8% and the old price leaves you £122.

Charge £540 to keep your 30% margin.

https://t.co/qqRRtxT6XC

[The AI Till @TheAiTill]

Sharing one ChatGPT Plus login with your partner or your staff? OpenAI says no.

Plus is for one person. You can use it on all your own devices (phone, laptop, tablet), but OpenAI's account sharing policy says your account "is meant for you, the individual who created it". Its help centre says sharing account credentials is prohibited and accounts can be restricted for misuse.

What goes wrong on a shared login:

1. Everyone sees every chat, including customer names, addresses and prices.
2. Memory gets mixed up between two people.
3. You share one set of usage limits, so you hit the caps sooner.
4. If the account is restricted, it hits everyone on it.

The proper options for two people:

Two free accounts: £0, each with their own chats
One Plus and one free: the heavy user pays
Two Plus subscriptions
ChatGPT Business: 2 seat minimum, $25 a seat a month or $20 billed yearly (US dollars, checked 28 Oct 2026), shared workspace and admin controls

Same rule on Go and Pro. Paying more buys higher limits, not extra people.

Full answer, with the plan table:
https://t.co/2N1LRn0fsT