How to set up an AI chief of staff as a solo consultant

What does a chief of staff draft?

The job is the morning. The draft has four piles for mail: reply, wait, read, and file. It has a short look at what is booked and what is still open. It ends with a brief you can read in a few minutes.

The brief names the three things that need you today. It can point at a follow-up, a delivery note, or an invoice, and leave those drafts to the other roles. The chief of staff routes. It does not write every piece of client work.

What do you paste in on the first morning?

Paste your labels, a calendar export for the week, and a batch of mail you have already handled. Ten to twenty messages is enough. Mark which ones you replied to, which ones waited, and which ones you filed.

Add two sentences on how you talk to clients. Add the approval gate: the AI agent may sort and draft, and you send. That agent persona stays in the file. Each morning you only paste the new mail and today's calendar.

What does a useful brief look like?

A useful brief lists the mail that needs a reply today, the meetings that need prep, and one thing that will slip if you ignore it. Each line names the person and the next action. If you still have to open every message to learn what it is, ask for a verb and a name on every line.

How does the 30-day rollout work?

Week one is the setup and five mornings. Keep the sentences you delete. They show the rules you forgot to write down. Week two adds the calendar look if week one was only mail. At day 30, keep the role if the brief is a first pass you trust. If you are still reading the raw inbox beside it, change the inputs before you add another role.

How do you set up the chief of staff?

1. Write the persona. One short page. Name the job, the four mail piles, the length of the brief, and the approval line.
2. Add handled examples. Paste mail you already answered. Label each one reply, wait, read, or file, in your own words.
3. Add this week's calendar. Export or paste the week. Ask for a note on what is booked and what is still open.
4. Run a first brief. Use today's unread mail. Read every line. Correct the piles before you trust them.
5. Save the edits. Turn repeated corrections into one new rule in the persona. Do this at the end of the week, not after every message.
6. Put it on weekday mornings. Same time, before the first call. The routine is the calendar hold as much as the prompt.
7. Review at day 30. Keep the role if the brief is the first pass you trust. Change the inputs if you are still reading the raw inbox beside it.

What does a morning routine look like?

What are the approval rules?

The chief of staff may sort, label, and draft the brief. You decide what is actually answered.

It may not send a reply, even a short one. A draft reply can sit in the brief. You send it from your own mail.

It may not move, cancel, or create a meeting with a client. It can flag a clash. You change the calendar.

It may not delete mail. File means a suggested folder, not a deletion.

If a message is from a client and the draft is unsure, the line should say so. Uncertainty is a reason for you to open the original.

Common questions