Whale Digital Consulting is a Melbourne AI consultant for small businesses and sole traders. We look at how your whole business runs, find what is costing you time or money, and recommend the right fix for each problem: cleaning up your data, setting up one place for your records, connecting your tools, putting AI into the work, or training your team. Then we do it one piece at a time and check every result with you.
Updated 21 October 2026
What does an AI consultant do, and what does it cost?
An AI consultant looks at how your business runs, finds the problems worth fixing, and recommends what to do about each one: clean up the data, set up a proper database, connect the tools, automate a job, put AI into it, or train the people doing it. With us, the first 15 to 30 minute consultation is free, the diagnosis day is a fixed A$399, and anything built after that is quoted per job before we start.
| Step | What you get | Time | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free intro | A straight answer on whether AI can help | 15 to 30 minutes | Free |
| Diagnosis day | A look at the whole business, the problems ranked, and what we'd do about the top three | Half a day to a full day | Fixed A$399 |
| Quote | One page, fixed, split into stages | Within 48 hours | Covered by the diagnosis day |
| What comes next | Training, a written report or an AI workflow, case by case | Quoted with a date | Quoted per job |
What we can do for your business
Four areas. The diagnosis day decides which ones you need and in what order. Most small businesses start with one or two.
Tools shown are examples with sample data, not endorsements or partnerships. We pick what fits the tools you already use.
Business map · sample
Café, 8 staff: where the week goesOrange = what costs the most time. Drawn on the day, corrected by you.
SAMPLEWhere work comes in, where it goes, and where it gets stuck or retyped, written down as it actually happens. You bring 60 to 90 minutes of your time. Day 1.
Problems · ranked, with a fix
- Bookings into one viewfix: connect the systems
- One clean supplier listfix: data clean-up, then drafted orders
- Roster draftsfix: AI drafts, the manager approves
Ranked by time given back. The rest are listed too, including the ones to leave alone.
SAMPLEEvery problem gets an answer: clean the data, connect the tools, automate it, add AI, train someone, or leave it alone. Ranked by what it gives you back. Day 1.
One-page quote · sample
Stage 1: bookings in one view| What we'd do | clean up + connect |
| What you have to do | a short afternoon |
| How long | a dated week |
| Price | fixed, on this page |
Stages 2 and 3 priced separately. Stop after any stage and keep the map.
SAMPLEOne page, split into stages so you can stop after any of them. If we've misread the business, that's ours to find on the day, not yours to discover in month three. Within 48 hours.
AI consulting for Melbourne businesses like yours
This is for you if you run the business and still do the admin. Sole traders, one to twenty people, hospitality, salons, trades, and professional services. You do not need to know anything about AI. You do need to know your own business.
Usually bookings in three places, supplier orders retyped every week, rosters sorted by text, and sales figures nobody has time to read. The first fix is often pulling bookings into one view, then cleaning up the supplier list so orders can be drafted for you.
The diary is split across two systems and a phone, client notes live in one person's head, and rebooking reminders never go out. One client list that everyone reads from fixes the first two, and the reminders can be drafted from it.
Usually quotes typed at 9pm, job photos lost in WhatsApp, and finished jobs that are slow to become invoices. The first fix is often a draft quote from photos and voice notes that you approve from the ute, then the job flowing into your accounting.
File notes get rebuilt from memory on Friday, client documents are chased by hand, and the same questions get answered all week. We'd usually start with meeting notes drafted while they're fresh, then train the team to hand that kind of work to AI themselves.
It isn't for you if you want AI running without anyone reading the output, or if you want a system you never have to look at. We also don't take enterprise rollouts. That needs a bigger team than we choose to run, and it changes the kind of attention you get. We're based in Bayside and work on-site across Melbourne, or online anywhere in Australia.
What does an AI consultant actually do?
In one sentence
An AI consultant looks at how your business actually runs, finds the problems that cost you time or money, and recommends the right fix for each one, which is not always AI. Most of the work is mapping and testing, not installing software. A Melbourne AI consultant should also know what your customers here expect, and what you can say to them.
- 01Map What is happening now?
We watch the job get done, step by step.
- 02Match What if AI took part of it?
We test the tools you already pay for first.
- 03Build What would wow you?
We build the smallest version that works.
- 04Verify What actually works?
You run it for a week. A person signs off. Nothing goes out to a customer without someone reading it first. That rule does not change once the project ends.
What an AI consultant isn't
Someone who sells you a subscription and walks away. If nobody reads the first month of output, you've bought a tool, not a result. The tool was never the hard part.
Where a diagnosis usually lands
Teach us to do it
Sometimes the work is fine and the gap is that nobody in the room knows how to hand it to AI properly. Then the answer is training on your own jobs, not a build.
AI training →Clean up the data first
The mess is in the records: duplicates, old prices, three versions of the customer list. Sorting that out often shrinks the other problems before anything gets automated.
Book the free intro →Connect the tools you already have
Each system works fine on its own, but none of them share information, so someone copies it across by hand. We join them up so it's entered once.
Business process automation →Build this one workflow
The most common path. One job, mapped, built and run for a week with a person signing off, at a price fixed on one page before anything starts.
Book the free intro →This needs a system, not a workflow
When three or four jobs all lean on the same customer list, separate automations start fighting each other. That's when it's worth building something that holds them together.
AI Builder →Don't automate this
Some jobs are judgement, or too rare to be worth it, or the mess is in the process rather than the tool. We'd rather say so on the day than sell you a build that quietly gets switched off.
The diagnosis day is the product. What it recommends depends on what we find, and one of the six answers means you stop there.
How it works: from a free call to a plan you can act on
Free intro, 15 to 30 minutes
You tell us the job that annoys you most. We tell you straight if AI can help, and where it would fit. No slides, and no homework before the call.
Send us what you've got
If you want to go ahead, send us what you can before the day: the problems you see, the tools you use, and a few examples of the work. We read it first, so the day isn't spent on background.
The diagnosis day, a fixed A$399
We set a date and meet, on-site in Melbourne or online. We go through how the business runs with you, and by the end you know what to fix, in what order, and where we could help.
The quote
One page, fixed, within 48 hours: what we'd do, what it costs, how long it takes, and what you have to do.
- You can stop hereKeep the map and the advice, and act on them yourself.Or go onTraining, a written report or an AI workflow, quoted case by case.
What comes next, case by case
Depending on what the day finds, that might be training for you or your team, a written report, or building an AI workflow. Each is quoted on its own, and nothing moves to the next job until the last one has survived a normal week.
English or Chinese, on-site in Melbourne or online
Same consultant, either language
We work in English and Chinese. Same consultant, same workflow map, whichever one you think in. That matters most in the diagnosis day, when you're describing how your business actually runs and the words have to be yours. You shouldn't have to translate your own business to get help with it.
Who you'll be working with
Ray and Haylee — the two people you'll actually deal with, from the first call to the workflow going live. There are only the two of us. Our backgrounds are on the About page.
The person who pitches you is the person who builds it
There's no account manager in between, and no team to hand you off to. We make our money when you come back for the next workflow, not from the diagnosis day alone. That's why we'd rather be straight with you on day one.
The model is the engine. The harness is the job.
AI on its own doesn't make a business faster. What makes it work is the goal, the rules, what it's allowed to touch, and who signs off. That's what the day is for.
How much does an AI consultant cost in Melbourne?
The first consultation is free, 15 to 30 minutes, in Melbourne or online. The diagnosis day is a fixed A$399 and that's the only number you commit to before you've seen us work. Anything we build after that is quoted per job, on one page, before we start. We don't quote a system before we've watched the workflow. If the diagnosis says AI isn't the answer for that job, we'll say so and you'll still have the map. We publish the number for one reason. You shouldn't have to sit through a sales call with a Melbourne AI consultant just to find out whether we're in your range. The diagnosis day costs the same for a sole trader or a team of twenty.
Want the wider market first? Here's what an AI consultant costs in Melbourne, from the prices other firms publish.
AI Search Score
Put your website in, get a read on whether AI search engines can find you. About 90 seconds, no signup, and you keep the result.
Run the AI Search ScoreTwo more demos are on the way. Ask us on the call
Related services
AI training
We put the latest AI tools side by side and explain them in plain English. You pick the topics, and leave knowing which tools fit your business and how to use them well.
AI Builder
From the page your customers see to the dashboard you run the business from, joined up by workflows, with a person still in charge.
Whale Marketing in One
It reads your sources, drafts in your voice, and keeps a record of what went out. Nothing leaves the building until you say so.
Questions we get asked
Who you'll deal with
Ray S · Founder & CEO, Whale Digital Consulting (ABN 45 585 389 673), Melbourne's Bayside. About us →
15 to 30 minutes, in Melbourne or online, in English or Chinese. You tell us the job that annoys you most. We tell you straight whether AI can help. If it can't, that's a two minute answer and you've lost nothing.
Book a free call