An independent directory, organised around jobs
What do you want AI to do for you?
Not which product you want. What you want done. Tell us the job in your own words and we will show you what can do it, what it will cost you in effort, and how much anyone here actually knows about it.
Where this site is up to
FOBIE lists 37 tools against 21 jobs. We have published no reviews at all.
That is not modesty. A published review here carries a named editor’s name and the evidence behind it — hours actually spent, sources actually opened, who paid for the account. None of that work has been done yet, so nothing claims it has. Every listing is marked listed, not reviewed until it is. See exactly what we have and have not checked.
Browse by what you are trying to do
Talking to customers
Answering, replying, booking and following up, when you cannot be in two places.
4 jobs · 10 tools
Paperwork and admin
The jobs that eat evenings: receipts, notes, inboxes, and retyping the same thing twice.
4 jobs · 12 tools
Writing things
Emails, posts and explanations you know you should send but never get round to.
4 jobs · 11 tools
Money
Quoting, invoicing, chasing what you are owed, and knowing where it all went.
3 jobs · 6 tools
Finding things out
Reading the long thing, answering from your own files, and checking before you commit.
3 jobs · 6 tools
Making things
A website, a picture, a video — without hiring anyone or learning software.
3 jobs · 8 tools
What makes this different
Jobs, not logos
You do not have a “workflow automation” problem. You have a retyping-the-same-thing-three-times problem. The directory is organised the second way, so you can find something without first learning what the industry calls it.
Reviews that say what they are
A week of real use and a skim of a pricing page are both called “reviews” everywhere else. Here they are hands-on review, research review, reader report — labelled, with the evidence attached. How we review.
The money is on the page
Every commercial relationship is published in full, and paying us cannot move a tool up a page — not as a policy, but because the code that orders the page is never given the money. How we make money.
Every job we cover
See all 21Answer my phone when I can't
You are up a ladder, under a car, or with a customer, and the phone rings. The caller either leaves a message you will listen to at nine at night, or rings the next business on the list. This job is about having something pick up, find out what the caller wants, and hand you something useful.
Some setting up
Reply to customer messages when I'm not there
Messages arrive on your website, your social accounts and your email at all hours, and most of them ask one of about eight questions. This job is about answering the eight, all night, and putting the ninth in front of a human.
Some setting up
Book appointments without the back-and-forth
Six messages to find a slot that works, and then someone forgets. This job is about letting people book a time that is genuinely free, and reminding them it exists.
No setup help needed
Reply to my online reviews
Reviews arrive on several sites, and the ones that need answering most are the ones you least want to answer. This job is about spotting them and getting a decent reply out quickly.
No setup help needed
Turn a pile of receipts into something my accountant can use
A glovebox, a carrier bag and a photo roll full of receipts, and a deadline. This job is about photographing them once and getting rows of data out the other end.
No setup help needed
Take notes in my meetings
You cannot take part in a conversation and write it down at the same time. This job is about getting a usable record and a list of what you agreed to do.
No setup help needed