🏕️ AI as your summer intern

⛑️The inbox is piling up, your calendar just overbooked itself, and someone needs a follow-up “ASAP.” Before you spiral, meet your new Summer intern: AI. It won’t get your coffee, but it will rewrite your client email, chase that unpaid invoice, and maybe even sort your tabs.

This week, we focus on tools and shortcuts that act like smart, silent interns. They fill forms, chase follow-ups, and turn chaos into bullet points.

🔦 Week’s highlights:

• Tool Spotlight: Automate clicks and replies with Bardeen and Magical AI, the browser-based duo you didn’t know you needed.

• Sherpa’s Shortcuts: AI-powered follow-ups and task triage that’ll make you feel seen (and slightly replaced).

• The Ridgeline news: ChatGPT now reads your files, AI gigs surge, and freelancers turn chaos into cash.

• 😝Tools Gone Wild: Let your eager AI intern do the grunt work, minus the donut run

AI tool spotlight:

Tool Sherpa explores the flood of new AI apps and carefully selects only proven tools.

Bardeen: Build-a-bot; skip the chores

Why it matters:
You’re copying data from Gmail, pasting it into Notion, then updating a Google Sheet...again. Bardeen quietly runs that whole sequence for you. It lives in your browser and automates multi-step tasks across your favorite tools. Bardeen is a fast-learning intern who never mistypes a field.

Who should use this:

• Freelancers juggling leads, outreach, and task tracking

• Anyone who works across Gmail, Notion, Sheets, Airtable, or LinkedIn

• Frustrated people clicking between tabs, repeating the same workflows

Best use case:
You’re a freelance writer building a prospect list for cold outreach—maybe targeting marketing leads at agencies. With Bardeen, you can run a LinkedIn search, extract names, titles, and company info, and auto-fill your client tracker in Google Sheets or Notion. An hour of tab-hopping and copying now takes one click. Initial setup takes 15–30 minutes.

Pros:
Automates complex, browser-based workflows without switching apps. Excellent library of prebuilt "Playbooks" usable out of the box. Can easily save 1-2.5 hours (per 1-2 smart workflows you set up) on repeat admin work.

Cons:
Slight learning curve when customizing typical automations. Steeper learning curve for complex workflows. Only available for Chrome (no Safari or Firefox support yet).

Pricing:
Free plan (100 credits per month). Pro plans start at $129/month.

👉 Try Bardeen for free

🔍 Magical AI: Your cross-tab typing assistant

Why it matters: You know the drill: A lead fills out your form, you find their name, switch tabs, and type the same “Nice to meet you!” email again. Magical AI saves your fingers and your sanity. It’s a browser extension that stores reusable messages and pulls info from your screen to autofill names, links, and replies.

Best use case: You’re replying to 10 new leads from your site or LinkedIn. Magical autofills their names, your intro message, a scheduling link, and even a project doc linkpulled directly from your browser. Takes 30 seconds instead of 10 minutes, (with 10 minute setup).

Who should use this

• Freelancers handling lots of client outreach or follow-ups

• Anyone tired of typing the same intros, pricing replies, or calendar links

• People who live inside Gmail, LinkedIn, or CRMs

Pros:

Works across Gmail, LinkedIn, Notion, and most CRMs.
Can save 1–2 hours/week for anyone sending repeat replies.

Cons:

Only runs in Chrome and Edge browser for now.

Pricing: Free forever for basic features. Pro plans start at $6.99/month with AI autofill and enhanced productivity tools.

👉 Try Magical for free

_{Disclaimer: Some links may earn us a small commission, but they never affect what we recommend.}

🪓Sherpa’s shortcuts

Sherpa-approved hacks to streamline your workflow—especially when you're nowhere near home base.

⚡ Hack #1: AI-powered follow-ups without the ugh

Problem:
You’ve got five clients who ghosted you—and you’d rather clean your keyboard with a toothpick than write another “Just checking in…” message.

Solution:
Use Gmail search + ChatGPT (or your favorite AI) to generate friendly, non-desperate follow-ups in one go.

How to do it:

1. In Gmail, search for emails from clients who haven’t replied:
   label:sent after:2024/05/25 -in:chats

2. Skim your list and pick 3–5 threads

3. Paste the thread summaries or email subjects into ChatGPT with prompt:
   “Write polite, professional follow-up emails for these clients. Keep it short, warm, and useful.”

4. Copy, tweak slightly, hit send

💡Sherpa tip: Ask ChatGPT to rewrite your reply in three versions: “friendly,” “formal,” and “casual but confident.” Pick the one that fits…the mood.

👉 Saves ~20–30 minutes per batch. And your dignity.

⚡ Hack #2: The “Do It for Me” task list

Problem:
You’ve got a to-do list longer than your inbox, but zero mental energy to figure out what can be delegated—or even started.

Solution:
Let ChatGPT act like your intern. Drop in your list and ask what it can do right now, no questions asked.

How to do it:

1. Paste your to-do list into ChatGPT. Example:

   • Follow up with 3 clients

   • Draft blog intro

   • Respond to new inquiries

   • Summarize Monday’s meeting

2. Prompt:
   “Here’s my task list. Which items can you help with directly right now? Suggest prompts I can use to delegate them to you.” (Check it out and be surprised)!

3. Copy, paste, delegate.

💡Sherpa tip:
Push further? Ask: “Group these tasks into those: I can do, AI can do, and that I should delete.” You’ll feel 20% lighter in 30 seconds.

👉 Can save ~30–45 minutes of flailing, and makes your to-do list feel like a tag team.

The Ridgeline 🏔️

News on how AI is rewriting the rules for solopreneurs and small teams.

From prompt whisperers to calendar magicians, this week’s headlines prove freelancing is less side hustle, more power move. Let’s trek:

🌍 Freelance marketplace goes feral: AI job platforms are multiplying like rabbits on Red Bull. Clients are hunting for prompt pros, fast hires, and zero fluff—and freelancers are cashing in. 🔗 Discover what’s next

🐦‍⬛Bill it like Birdfy: Smart birdbath sells once, then charges forever to ID sparrows. Freelancers, imagine shipping a micro-SaaS that drips dollars while you sleep? 🔗 Steal the playbook

📈 Fiverr agents strike gold: Fiverr’s AI tools helped freelancers rake in five times more bookings in top-dollar niches. Your side hustle just got a C-suite upgrade. 🔗See what’s booming

🗃️ ChatGPT reads your files: Google Drive and Dropbox just joined the party—ChatGPT can now dig through your docs and spit out meeting notes. You're welcome. 🔗 Grab the time

🧠 Gemini gets spicy: Still prompting like it’s 2023? Five Gemini tips that turn your AI assistant from meh to mind-reader. 🔗 Snag the secrets

🚫 No more free lunch: AI companies can’t just gobble up your blogs anymore. Europe’s new law puts a price tag on your genius. Finally. 🔗 Read the ruling

☕Final sip:
Freelancers are automating their way to inbox-zero, prompt glory, and full-time freedom. The robots aren’t taking your job—they’re polishing your invoice.

###

Tools gone wild! 😜 (Success edition)

Let’s end with a laugh — when AI tools take a detour off the happy path.

Sequin bot saves prom season

Prom-dress maker Amarra was drowning in tulle, SKUs, and customer DMs like “Is this mauve or dusty rose??” So they gave the whole mess to AI. Now a chatbot handles 70 % of support, product blurbs write themselves in under a minute, and a predictive tool slashed overstock by 40 %—all without anyone crying into a spreadsheet.The three-person content team can finally get back to styling gowns, instead of formatting spreadsheets. Read the article.

📌 Lesson learned
Treat AI like an eager intern: Offload the grunt work, then polish the final cut. Freelancers can do the same. Let your bot automate, track, and triage so you can bill for the brilliant stuff.

🧭 What’s Next?

You delegated. You followed up. You even let an AI help write your to-do list. That’s not slacking—that’s freelance leadership.

👉 Climbing this AI freelance mountain too? You’re in good company. We’re all in this together. If you know a freelancer could benefit from these tips, forward this edition and help them find a smarter path up.

Until next time,
—Your Sherpa Team 🏔️