AI assistant for small business owners — one hire, every hat

In a small business the org chart is a lie: whatever the titles say, the owner is also the receptionist, the collections department, the scheduler, and the person who answers "quick questions" at 9pm. None of those jobs is hard. Together they're a second shift, and they're why the actual work — the thing the business sells — gets squeezed into the gaps.

That second shift is exactly what an AI assistant should take. Not "AI transformation," not a dashboard, not another app your team ignores: a colleague you text like a person, that makes phone calls for you, chases the money, keeps the calendar, and asks before its own words go out under your name.

The jobs Arlo takes off an owner

• The phone — Arlo places real calls: confirms appointments, chases suppliers, asks the questions you'd otherwise spend an afternoon on hold for. The missed-call-while-on-a-job problem stops costing you customers.
• The inbox — triage, drafts in your voice, and follow-ups that don't die. You see the three emails that matter; the other forty get handled.
• The money chase — quotes that went quiet, invoices at day 30, the deposit that never landed. Arlo tracks the open loops and chases by email or by phone, politely and on schedule.
• The calendar — bookings, reschedules, and reminders handled by text, with customer no-shows cut by confirmation calls the day before.
• The records — whatever you use — spreadsheets, a CRM, QuickBooks-adjacent tools among 3,000+ integrations — Arlo keeps it updated as a side effect of the work, not a Friday chore. Even software with no API works: Arlo logs in once through a secure browser session and uses it like a person.

Why texting is the right interface for a small business

Nobody in a five-person company wants to learn software. Everyone already texts. Arlo lives in iMessage and SMS (plus Slack and WhatsApp if you use them), so "adopting AI" means saving a contact. You text it the way you'd text a sharp office manager — "push my 2pm, chase the Ramirez quote, and what did the roofer say?" — and it answers in the same thread, with one memory across every channel, so you never re-explain your business.

Trust, in writing

The reason owners don't delegate is that mistakes land on them personally. Arlo is built for that reality: when you ask clearly, it does it and tells you what it did. It shows you an email it wrote before it goes to a customer who hasn't seen it, unless you say to just send, and it asks first when a request is unclear, would spend money, or can't be undone. You can tell it to always ask before certain actions. And everything it does lands in a full audit trail: the call it made, the email it sent, what it changed and why. Delegation without the flinch.

The math is blunt: Arlo is free to start, and Plus is $20 a month for $100 of texting, calling and chasing — against ten-plus hours of owner time a week returned. It's the cheapest hire you'll ever make, and the only one that never calls in sick.

Two neighbouring versions of this page go deeper by shape of business: AI assistant for e-commerce for stores juggling suppliers, 3PLs, and customer email, and AI operations agent for the recurring work that has to happen again next week.

Frequently asked questions

What can an AI assistant actually do for a small business? Place phone calls, triage email, draft replies, chase quotes and invoices, manage bookings and reminders, and keep your records updated across your tools. It shows you its drafts before they reach a customer and asks before any money moves.

Do I need to install new software? No. Arlo works over iMessage and SMS — you text it like a person. Slack, WhatsApp, and phone calls work too. Your existing tools stay; Arlo connects to them.

Can it answer my business line? No. Arlo places calls for you, like confirmations and follow-ups, and keeps a transcript of each one you can ask about, and you can call it yourself to hand it a task. It doesn't answer or screen your customers' calls; for that, use an answering service.

Will it send things to customers without me seeing them? Not unless you tell it to. When Arlo writes a message to a customer in its own words, it shows you first, unless you say to just send. A clear ask like "text Maria that we're running 20 minutes late" just goes, and Arlo tells you it did. You can also tell it to always ask before certain kinds of messages.

What does it cost? Arlo is free to start with $20 of usage a month, and that includes calls and bookings, not only chat. Plus is $20 a month for $100 of usage, and Max is $100 a month for $500 of usage. Phone calls and everything else are on every plan: a call costs 25¢ a minute of talking, and about 1.5¢ a minute on hold. Admin policy, roles, SSO, and audit export are available on request.