🏭AI-Run Businesses · Step-by-step guide

A small food business replaced a retiring administrator with an AI agent

When their admin person retired, a family pasta maker set up an always-on AI agent called 'Assunta'. She matches bank transactions, processes supplier invoices and posts them to the accounts system, flagging only the odd ones.

⏱️ 1-3 weeks to get reliable🎯 Medium💵 AI subscription from about USD 20-30/month; the original used the Claude API (pay as you go)📋 7 steps
🧩 Other
🎯 What you'll have at the endYou'll set up an AI admin assistant that matches bank transactions and supplier invoices and only asks you about the odd ones.

🧰 Before you start

⏱️ Time needed1-3 weeks to get reliable
💵 Rough costAI subscription from about USD 20-30/month; the original used the Claude API (pay as you go)

🪜 Step by step

🐣 Beginner mode: showing the 6 essential steps only. Extra steps are hidden; tap 🚀 Advanced at the top to see all 7.
✅ 0 of 7 steps done 📄 Printable page
  1. 1
    ☐

    Start with one job

    Pick bank-to-invoice matching first. Don't try to replace all admin on day one.

  2. 2
    ☐

    Make a shared folder

    Create a folder (e.g. 'Admin Inbox') where you drop bank exports and supplier emails/PDFs.

  3. 3
    ☐

    Give the AI the rules

    Paste the 'Admin assistant' prompt below with your supplier names and categories.

  4. 4
    ☐

    Run it on last month

    Test it on a month you've already done by hand and compare the results.

  5. 5
    ☐

    Fix the misses

    Tell it why any match was wrong. Add new rules (e.g. '[electricity company] = Utilities').

  6. 6
    ☐

    Go live weekly

    Each week drop in new files and ask it to process them. Review only the 'problem items' list.

  7. 7
    ☐

    Add the next job

    Once matching is reliable, add supplier invoice entry, then payroll checks.

    ➕ Extra step: hidden in 🐣 Beginner mode

💬 Copy-paste prompts

Tap Copy prompt, paste it into your AI (Grok, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini), then replace the [yellow bits] with your own details.

💬 Admin assistant
You are my admin assistant. Each week I'll give you a bank export and supplier invoices.
1. Match each bank line to an invoice (same supplier, amount and roughly the same date).
2. Give each match a confidence score: High / Medium / Low.
3. Put matched items in a table: date, supplier, amount (MYR), invoice number, category.
4. Put anything Low or unmatched in a separate 'Problem items' list with your best guess and why.
Never post anything to the accounts system or pay anything without my approval.
Category rules: [e.g. electricity supplier = Utilities; Facebook ads = Marketing].
💬 Monthly check
Compare this month's matched totals by category with last month's. List anything that changed by more than [20%] and suggest why.

⚠️ Tips & common mistakes

🌟 Why it's worth it

💡 Why it mattersCovers about 70% of a part-time admin role and saves 20+ hours a week.
🏷️ Real exampleMaria's Pasta, Melbourne – launched March 2026.
🔌 Connects to:SpreadsheetsERP / accounting systemShared email folder
📰 Found via Source: Autonomee: Maria's Pasta runs its admin agent on GoBot ↗

🔗 Helpful links

🔗 Maria's Pasta story ↗🔗 Grok Bot docs ↗🔗 n8n: Sheets to QuickBooks template ↗

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