An independent consultant in a bright home office on a video call, a whiteboard diagram, a dog asleep on the rug

Every inquiry answered within the hour. Every proposal and invoice followed up before it goes quiet.

A small crew of AI agents takes the office work off your practice: the reply to every prospect who writes in, the follow-up on every proposal that hasn't been signed, every scheduling thread that's stalled, and every invoice that's late, and the engagement renewals, session packages, and deliverable dates nobody should have to carry in their head. All of it in your voice, none of it sent until you say so, and you get back to the billable hours.

Built for independent consultants, executive and business coaches, fractional executives, and advisory practices of one to five people. Runs alongside Calendly, HoneyBook, Dubsado, and the tools you already use.

Book a free 45-minute assessment

Why this exists

Most consulting and coaching practices are one person, sometimes two, and an inbox that never closes. You do the work, sell the next engagement, and answer everything else at night. Every week the inbox fills with a prospect who found you through a referral, a proposal you sent that's gone quiet, a client trying to find a time across three time zones, a package that's down to its last session, an invoice at 40 days, and a past client who would re-engage if anyone asked. All of it waits for the gap between calls. Very few practices this size have help: an assistant is the first hire that never quite pencils out. The reason is the math, almost never effort. That kind of help is a salary, and a practice of one carries it badly.

A prospect writes on Thursday, hears back on Monday, and has already had a discovery call with someone else. A proposal goes out and never gets a follow-up, which is where half of them are won. A client's package runs out and nobody raises the renewal until the client has drifted. An invoice sits at 60 days because asking felt awkward mid-engagement. A deliverable date slips because it was in an email thread nobody reread. None of it is hard. There's just too much of it, and all of it waits for you.

At some point we stopped thinking the answer was “hire a part-time assistant and manage them too” and started thinking there had to be a better way for a practice of one to support itself. That's what Second Unit is.

It isn't for every practice. If you have an operations manager and an assistant you trust, you don't need this. If you don't, and you're doing the client work and running the practice from the same chair, we built this for you.

The proposal that went quiet was won by the consultant who followed up on day four. Yours was the better proposal. Nobody had the hour.

The same crew we run our own business on

Second Unit is built and run by Noettic Labs, a Los Angeles studio that builds with AI to solve real business problems. We build products that do real work, and we install crews that do it inside your business: the quotes, the follow-ups, the renewals, the records, the reports, the paperwork that keeps a company moving and keeps its best people from doing any of it.

The crew on this page is the system we use to run our own business. We sat down with the people doing the best work with agents, kept what held up under a real week, and wrote it into the job cards and rules every crew ships with. An install is that system, set up on your business, by hand, on a call.

Second Unit is one of several products from Noettic Labs. See what else we've built.

What we built for you

Job CardInquiry Desk
One Job
Job
Draft a reply to every prospect, client, and referral email within the hour, in your voice, with your qualifying questions and two discovery-call times, and route the ones you must see.
Reads
Your inbox, the website form, your services and rates, your calendar, your rules on who’s a fit.
Writes
A draft reply, a lead record, a task for you.
Never
Sends. Gives advice or an opinion on a prospect’s situation. Quotes a rate that isn’t on your sheet. Commits a date the calendar can’t hold.
Reports to
Your Second Unit Lead, in the daily status.
Checked by
You, before anything goes out.

Second Unit is a service. There's no software for you to learn. We install a small crew of AI agents in your own accounts, one job each, and train each one on how your practice works: your voice, your services, your rates, your rules. An inquiry desk that drafts a reply to every prospect, client, and referral within the hour, asks your qualifying questions, and offers two discovery-call times from your calendar. A proposal and scheduling follow-up agent that chases every proposal that's gone quiet, every scheduling thread that's stalled, and every invoice that's late, on a schedule, until each one lands or dies. An engagement and renewal tracker that holds every engagement's deliverable dates, every package's remaining sessions, every renewal date, and every invoice in one record and drafts the note before it's late. The crew works alongside Calendly, HoneyBook, Dubsado, Notion, or whatever you already run; that stays your system of record. Between them they take hours of office work off every week, and you approve every one before it goes out.

A word about AI, because your clients are paying for your judgment. These agents stay on the office side of the practice. They answer the email, chase the proposal, and remind you of the date. They never give advice, never offer an opinion on a prospect's or a client's situation, never write a deliverable, and never say anything in your name that you haven't said first. The thinking stays with you. Every draft is read by you before it leaves.

The name comes from film. On a set, the second unit shoots everything that doesn't need the director: the establishing shots, the inserts, the driving scenes. The director keeps the scenes that need them. Same deal here. The agents take the replies, the chasing, and the dates. You keep the clients, the work, and the thinking.

A business coach leading a small workshop at a whiteboard covered in sticky notes
Monday morning, every open proposal and every engagement in flight. Each one has a row: when it went out, what's owed, what's due, and a drafted note in your voice. You read, edit, and send before the first call.

Three jobs, one practice

Draft · not sent
ToNadia Brooks, COO, Fernwood HealthSubjectRe: Operations review, referred by Marcus Lee

Nadia, thanks for writing, and thanks to Marcus for the introduction. An operations review for a company at your stage is right in the middle of what I do.

Two questions before we talk, so the call is useful: what's the decision you're hoping the review informs, and is there a date it needs to inform it by?

I have discovery calls open Wednesday at 11 or Friday at 2 Pacific. Reply with the one that works and I'll send the invite. My engagement structure and rates are attached so there are no surprises.

Looking forward to it,
Jordan

Inquiry Desk

Every email from a prospect, a client, a referral partner, or a past client gets a drafted reply within the hour, in your voice, from your rules: what you do and don't take on, what the two qualifying questions are, what the engagement structure and rates are, what goes to you with a note. It never gives an opinion on the prospect's situation; that's the call. Prospects who hear back the same day book the discovery call.

Reads: your inbox, the form, your rate sheet, your calendar. Writes: a draft, a lead record, a task. Never: sends, advises, quotes a rate off the sheet, commits a date.

Monday morning, in your drafts

Nadia, checking in on the proposal · one question, no pressure
Harbor Labs, three times that work · across all three zones
Dana, two sessions left · the renewal options, one line
Birchwood, the sprint invoice · statement attached, net 30
Tandem, Friday’s deliverable · confirming what they’ll receive
1 proposal signed, moved to engagements
Five rows read, five drafts, one signed, nothing lost.
Proposal and Scheduling Follow-up

Every proposal that goes out gets a follow-up on day 4 and day 10, in your voice, with one question and no pressure, until it's signed, declined, or you say stop. Every scheduling thread that's stalled gets three concrete times across the right time zones. Every invoice gets a reminder at 15, 30, and 45 days. It tells you every Monday which proposals are warm and which have gone cold. Half of consulting is won on the follow-up nobody sent, and the fix is a note that gets sent on day four.

Reads: your proposals, your calendar, your invoices. Writes: follow-up drafts, a status per proposal. Never: changes a scope or a price, negotiates, sends.
Draft · 2 sessions left
ToDana WhitfieldSubjectTwo sessions left, and what’s next

Hi Dana,

A quick note ahead of our next session: after Thursday there are two left in the package. I don't want the last one to sneak up on either of us.

Three ways we could go from there, if you'd like to keep working together: another twelve-session package at the same rate, a lighter monthly check-in, or a clean finish with a written summary of where we got to. I've attached a one-pager with each. No decision needed before Thursday; let's talk about it then.

See you then,
Jordan

Engagement and Renewal Tracker

Every engagement's deliverable dates, every package's session count, every retainer's renewal date, and every invoice goes into one record. The agent watches the dates and drafts the note before it's late: the reminder to you a week before a deliverable, the renewal conversation when a package has two sessions left or a retainer is 45 days from its end, the invoice the day a milestone is reached, the thank-you when it's paid, and the six-month check-in with every past client. You stop finding out when the client drifts.

Reads: your engagements, your calendar, your invoices. Writes: the record, a reminder, a draft. Never: changes a scope, a rate, or a date, sends.

Want a different agent first, or the whole crew at once? Session Prep and Notes, Referral Follow-up, Content Desk, and Marketing are all on the menu. Ask on the call.

Meet the crew

Each agent is set up for one job, the way you'd brief an assistant on day one if you had one: the instructions for that job, the rules it works inside, the skills it needs, and nothing else. Your inquiry desk knows your rates and your qualifying questions. Your follow-up agent knows every open proposal. Your tracker knows every engagement and every date.

Start with one. Add the next when you're ready. The Second Unit Lead comes with any setup and ties them together.

Needs youThe reply to Nadia Brooks at Fernwood Health
ApproveNot now
Done today17 tasks · 4 agents
Daily status sent, one thing waiting on youSecond Unit Lead
Drafted 5 replies to prospects and clientsInquiry Desk
Followed up on 3 proposals, 1 stalled scheduling threadProposal and Scheduling Follow-up
Whitfield package has 2 sessions left, renewal note draftedEngagement and Renewal Tracker
  1. Second Unit LeadIncluded with any setup

    Your first agent. Runs the daily status, keeps your queue to one request at a time, and walks you through changes to the other agents so you never need us for a small tweak.

  2. Inquiry DeskLaunch agent

    Drafts a reply to every prospect, client, and referral within the hour, asks your qualifying questions, and offers two discovery-call times from your calendar.

  3. Proposal and Scheduling Follow-upLaunch agent

    Chases every proposal that’s gone quiet, every scheduling thread that’s stalled, and every invoice that’s late, on your schedule, until each one lands or dies.

  4. Engagement and Renewal TrackerLaunch agent

    Keeps every deliverable date, session count, renewal, and invoice in one record and drafts the note before it’s late.

  5. Session Prep and NotesOn the menu

    The pre-session brief from last time’s notes and the client’s latest email, and the post-session recap draft with the agreed next steps, for you to edit and send.

  6. Referral Follow-upOn the menu

    The thank-you to every referral partner the day a referral comes in, the note when the engagement closes, and the quarterly check-in that keeps the referrals coming.

  7. Content DeskOn the menu

    The newsletter draft from what you said on calls this month, the LinkedIn post from each one, and the talk abstract when a conference asks, from your own words.

  8. MarketingOn the menu

    The case study when an engagement ends well, the services page copy, and the one-pager for each offer, from your own words.

Once you say yes: what you get in the first week

Nothing is left for you to figure out. This is what we set up, and when.

  1. Day 1Installed and Running.

    Your Second Unit Lead and your Inquiry Desk are set up on your own accounts, interviewed on your voice, your services, your rates, and your rules, and one real inquiry is answered before we end the call.

  2. Day 2The Inbox Stops Waiting for the Gap Between Calls.

    Every new inquiry has a drafted reply within about an hour, with your questions and two call times. You read, edit if you like, and send.

  3. Day 3First Check-in.

    We read the week's drafts together, note what you changed, and tighten the rules so the next ones need less of your hand.

  4. Day 7Your First Number.

    How many drafts went out untouched. It's the one figure we track from here, and it tells you whether this is giving you back billable hours.

Fully booked the week we install? Your Inquiry Desk drafts every reply the hour it comes in, and your follow-up agent chases last month's proposals while you're in sessions.

How it works

  1. Assessment.

    A free 45-minute call. We find the tasks that are eating your week and match them to the agent that can take them over.

  2. Install.

    Everything works from day one, and you don't set up a thing alone. We help you sign up for Grok Bot, and for Notion if you don't have it yet, both on your own accounts. Then, in one screen share, we install the agents, connect your email and calendar from your side, and run the interview that teaches them your voice, your services, your rates, and your rules. We walk you through the whole thing and check every piece before we hand them off to you.

    Runs on
  3. Two Weeks of Tuning.

    We read the drafts with you every few days and tighten the agent until most go out with no edits. Then a monthly check-in, and the next agent setup when you want it.

  4. Most practices are running within a week of the assessment.

Everything that comes with a crew

One price, once. Beside each piece is what the same work costs when you buy it as a person's time. Rough US figures, so you can see what you're getting.

We start four new businesses a month.By hand, on a call, so each one gets the tune-up it needs.
What's in the BoxThe Three-Agent Crew
  1. The Assessment45 minutes with us to find the tasks eating your week and the agent for each.
    $250
  2. Install DayOne screen share. Agents installed in your own accounts, email and calendar connected from your side.
    about $1,200
  3. The InterviewYour voice, your prices, your rules, written into every agent before it drafts a word.
    about $600
  4. Three Launch AgentsInquiry Desk, Proposal and Scheduling Follow-up, Engagement and Renewal Tracker. The same three jobs as hires.
    $5,000 to $12,500 a month
  5. Your Second Unit LeadDaily status, one request at a time, and the walkthrough for every small change.
    included
  6. Two Weeks of TuningWe read the drafts with you on days 3, 7, 10, and 14, and tighten the rules each time.
    about $1,000
  7. Job Cards and Rules, Yours to KeepEvery agent's instructions on paper, in your Notion, so the crew stays with you.
    about $500
Bought as people and consultants, the first month aloneabout $8,500 to $16,000
Your crew, once$2,500 to $6,000
Then about $50 a month in software, paid to Grok Bot and Notion.
The Tune-up Guarantee.

If most of your drafts aren't going out untouched by the end of the two-week tune-up, we keep tuning at no charge until they are.

What it costs

Priced to the size of your practice, and settled on the assessment call, not before. A practice of one sits at the low end of each range. An advisory firm of five sits at the high end.

Setup, per agentRange
One Agent, Set Up and Tuned
The assessment, the install, the interview, and two weeks of tuning.		$1,000 to $2,500
The Three Launch Agents Together
Inquiry Desk, Proposal and Scheduling Follow-up, Engagement and Renewal Tracker.		$2,500 to $6,000
The Whole Crew
All eight agents, installed a week apart so each gets its tuning.		$6,500 to $16,000

Then Pick One of Two Paths

Ongoing Care

$100 to $750 a month per agent, scaled the same way. A monthly check-in, tuning as your practice changes, support when something's off, and the next agent when you want it. Ninety days minimum, then month to month with 30 days' notice.

Setup Only

No monthly fee. Your Second Unit Lead agent walks you through changes to the other agents yourself, and when you'd rather we did it, we're on call by the hour.

The assessment call is free, and there's nothing to decide until it's done. You pay for your own software: about $30 a month for Grok Bot and about $10 a month per seat for Notion, paid to them, not to us.

What the Same Help Costs as People

Rough US figures for hiring the equivalent, so you can see what you're getting. These are estimates.

If You Hired People$60,000 to $150,000a year
  • Virtual assistant, part-time$1,200 to $3,000 / mo
  • Executive assistant$55,000 to $75,000 / yr
  • Operations manager, part-time$2,500 to $5,000 / mo
  • Bookkeeper$400 to $1,200 / mo
  • Marketing and content assistant$2,000 to $4,000 / mo

Before payroll taxes, before benefits, and before they've learned how you like things done.

Your Second Unit Crew$2,500 to $6,000once, the three launch agents$6,500 to $16,000once, the whole crew
  • Works every day, fully booked weeks and travel weeks included
  • Trained on your voice, your rates, your rules
  • About $50 a month in software, paid to Grok Bot and Notion
  • Ongoing care from $100 a month per agent, or setup only with support on call
  • Yours to keep. If we part ways, the crew stays with you

Three agents for about one month of one salary.

What the agents won't do

What changes

The prospect who wrote on Thursday has a reply in your drafts within the hour, with your two questions and two call times. The proposal that went out last week gets its follow-up on day four, not never. The renewal conversation starts when the package has two sessions left, with three options drafted, instead of after the client has drifted.

You still write the important emails. You just stop writing all of them.

Book a free 45-minute assessment Not ready? Read what the agents won't do and see exactly what they read, write, and never touch.
A consultant talking with a client holding a coffee in a bright coworking lounge
Every open proposal is a follow-up someone has to send on day four.