Practical AI that takes the grind out of the workday

Lodestep runs fixed 60 and 90 day AI programs for teams of 5 to 40 people in Waterloo Region, with a larger-team version on request. You get a dated plan, one person in charge of every step, a point on Day 30 where you can stop, and a result you keep.

Book a free 30-minute call See the days

You tried the tools and Monday looked the same

Plenty of business owners have a login for an AI tool. A few people use it. Nobody has decided what it is for, what data may go in, or who checks the output.

  • Tasks that eat hours every week and never get fixed.
  • Staff who suspect the tools are aimed at their jobs.
  • Rules about client data that nobody wrote down.
  • Subscriptions with nobody in charge and no result.

Lodestep gives the effort a start date, an end date, a person in charge of every step, a way to tell whether it worked and a point on Day 30 where you can stop.

Every step has a person in charge and a date

Every program follows the same path. The plan is the accountability tool, and you can read it before you sign.

  1. Fit call

    Who
    You and Broxton
    What
    30 minutes on your task, tools, team and busy weeks
    By when
    Before you sign
    How we know
    You hear which program fits, or that none does. The written terms come with the proposal

  2. Team talk and work review

    Who
    Your team, the business owner and Broxton
    What
    A 45-minute conversation on Day 2 about what stays with people and what may move to a tool, then interviews or a step-by-step walk-through of the task
    By when
    Days 2 to 5
    How we know
    A list of the best tasks to improve, in order of payoff, starting numbers you can check and written answers to staff questions

  3. Rules and action plan

    Who
    You sign, and each step has one person in charge
    What
    The Rules Workshop sets which data may go into which tool. The plan is signed after it
    By when
    Day 5 in a Boot Camp, Day 12 in a Plan
    How we know
    A signed AI rules sheet, a signed plan and a progress sheet you keep

  4. Workshops and reviews

    Who
    Your team and Broxton
    What
    Workshops on set days and reviews on Days 30 and 60 (and 90 in a Plan). Day 30 is continue, change or stop
    By when
    Dates fixed on Day 1
    How we know
    A results summary, added up by team, against your starting numbers

  5. Handover

    Who
    You and your named backup
    What
    Final report, progress sheet and templates
    By when
    Day 60 or Day 90
    How we know
    The check that each step is finished is done and the next steps are listed
Two people reviewing a plan on a laptop at a table

Example only, not a client’s plan

What one step looks like in the plan

Step
Write the weekly status email routine down, step by step
Person in charge
Example: the office manager
Due
Day 20
What finished looks like
The routine is written down, and everyone who sends the email uses it at least three days a week
Number to track
Minutes spent on the email each week, compared with your starting numbers
Check date
The Day 30 review

Pick a program and a price

Prices are in Canadian dollars plus 13% HST, with the price including HST shown under each one. They are fixed before Day 1. Half is due at signing. The other half is due after the Day 30 review, and only if you continue. You own the plan, the progress sheet and the templates at the end.

Rules Workshop

1.5 hours, up to 12 people
$950

$750 while Lodestep is new. With HST: $1,073.50, or $847.50 at $750.

For
A team that wants one page on which data may go into which AI tool, before anything else happens
You get
The team sorts its own data into green, amber and red by tool. You leave with a signed one-page AI rules sheet, a one-page no-blame procedure for mistakes and a short written follow-up
Credit
The fee you paid is credited toward a Boot Camp or Plan for nine months. It is also the first workshop inside every program
Ask about the Rules Workshop

60-Day Boot Camp

Day 1 to Day 60
$11500

$12,995 with HST. 60 days, one weekly 90-minute session and three workshops, in person or online.

For
One team or one workflow, up to 8 people
You get
The team conversation and the Rules Workshop on Day 2, eight weekly sessions, three workshops, homework with feedback, a pilot, a roll-out and a written action plan
What finished looks like
The workflow is written down step by step, with one named person in charge, in use by the people who do that task at least three days a week, and measured against starting numbers
Ask about the Boot Camp

90-Day Plan

Day 1 to Day 90
$24500

$27,685 with HST.

For
The whole company, up to about 40 people and three teams, with a larger version on request
You get
A 7-day work review, a map of who does what, a signed action plan, a progress sheet, five workshops, a Boot Camp that builds your first workflow and reviews on Days 30, 60 and 90
What finished looks like
Every step has a person in charge, a due date, a sentence saying what finished looks like and a number to track. One workflow is live. Two more are started, each with a person in charge and a 30-minute weekly call with Broxton to answer questions
Ask about the Plan
Free 30-minute fit callThe front door. You hear which program fits, or that none does.
Other workshops, $950 to $1,350AI Basics for Your Team, Find Your First Five Workflows, Prompting and Checking Work, Build One Workflow Live, and Who Does What: What Changes and What Stays. Fees are credited for nine months, up to $1,350 in total.
30-day check-in, $750Two 60-minute sessions after handover and a one-page update. $847.50 with HST.

In plain words: a Boot Camp is 60 days with a weekly session and workshops, on your site or online. A champion is the person on each team who tries it first. A workflow is a task written down step by step. A person in charge is the one named person who answers for a step. Starting numbers are how long things take today, measured before anything changes. The progress sheet is a simple shared list of every step and whether it is done. The work review is the first week, when Broxton looks at how your team gets its work done.

Three sizes of Boot Camp

Prices in CAD plus 13% HST. Every size has the same 60 days, the Day 30 continue, change or stop review and the same rules.
SizePriceWho it is for
Standard$11,500
$12,995 with HST		One team and one workflow, up to 8 people. Weekly 90-minute sessions and three workshops.
Small-Team$6,500
$7,345 with HST		A firm of about 8 to 10 staff where 2 or 3 people take part. Weekly 60-minute sessions and two workshops.
Plant or Shift$13,500
$15,255 with HST		A line, cell or shift team, up to 8 people per shift group and up to two groups. Half-day sessions between shifts, never during production. The champion's paid time and cover for their normal work are priced as a separate line.

How the programs fit together

Prices in CAD plus 13% HST. Final prices are in your written proposal.
PathPriceWhat carries over
Rules Workshop first, program laterWorkshop fee creditedThe fee you paid, up to $1,350 in total, comes off if you sign a Boot Camp or Plan within nine months.
Boot Camp, then a Plan within 30 daysPlan is $18,750Half the Boot Camp fee ($5,750) comes off the Plan. The Boot Camp workflow counts as the Plan's first finished step. The work review skips that team and starts from your starting numbers.
Plan, then another Boot Camp within 60 daysBoot Camp is $10,500The Plan's work review covers the walk-through, so Week 1 is shorter.

Which program fits?

Three questions. Nothing is saved or sent.

1. How big is the job?
2. What do you need most?
3. When would you like to start?

Answer all three to see a suggestion.

People talking around a shared table in a bright workspace

See the days before you sign

Day 1 is the Monday you choose. A session that would land on a weekend moves to the Friday before, and none is held on an Ontario statutory holiday. These are the key days. Your proposal lists every date.

  1. Day 1Week 1
    Kickoff call60 minutes with you and Broxton. Staff list, tools and access agreed.
  2. Day 2
    Team conversation45 minutes with everyone in the work review, before any task is counted. Interviews follow.
  3. Day 5
    Work review findingsThe tasks worth improving, in order of payoff and a first map of who does what, with the written work review report.
  4. Day 8Week 2
    Plan sessionThe action plan is walked through and the progress sheet is handed over.
  5. Day 9
    Rules Workshop: Data, Privacy and Team Rules1.5 hours. Which data may go into which tool, and what stays out. Confidential information never goes into an AI tool.
  6. Day 12
    Rules sheet and plan signedEvery step has a person in charge, a due Day, a sentence saying what finished looks like and a number to track.
  7. Day 15Week 3
    Boot Camp startsThe first workflow is built with its team on Days 15 to 74, with a session every Wednesday.
  8. Day 16
    AI Basics for Your TeamTwo hours, everyone, on their own tasks, now that the rules are in place.
  9. Day 30Week 5
    Day 30 Review: continue, change or stopResults summary against your starting numbers. You decide in writing. The second half of the fee is due only if you continue.
  10. Day 32
    Prompting and Checking WorkA first template library built from real work.
  11. Day 37Week 6
    Build One Workflow LiveThree hours building the first workflow with the team.
  12. Day 44Week 7
    Who Does What: What Changes and What StaysTask by task, with a training plan for each role.
  13. Day 60Week 9
    Day 60 ReviewSecond results summary and a reordered list of remaining steps.
  14. Day 74Week 11
    First workflow signed offThe check that each step is finished is done. Two more workflows are started, each with a person in charge.
  15. Day 90Week 13
    Day 90 ReviewHeld on the Friday, Day 89. Final report: what was finished, what carries over and the next 90 days.

Start dates and stops

These rules go into the proposal. They exist so that your busy season, a holiday or a delay does not catch either of us out.

Start when your year allows

Day 1 is a Monday you choose, at least three weeks after signing. Before you sign you name your busy weeks, such as tax season, audit weeks, shutdowns or peak season. Lodestep does not offer a start with a named busy period inside the 60 or 90 days unless you agree the pauses in writing. Off-season starts are available. Example: an accounting practice would usually start after the April deadline.

No sessions on holidays

The proposal lists every date and checks it against Ontario statutory holidays. No session is held on one, and Day 60 and Day 89 never sit on one. Example: a Monday 3 May 2027 start puts Day 60 on Canada Day, so the review would move to the day before or the start would move one week.

Day 30: continue, change or stop

At the Day 30 review you decide in writing. Continue: carry on as planned. Change: up to three changes to the plan. Stop: the program ends, you keep the plan, the AI rules sheet, your starting numbers, the progress sheet and the templates, and the second half of the fee is not charged. Broxton gives his own recommendation in writing at the same review.

If someone is delayed

If you delay a step by more than five business days, the Day count pauses and the progress sheet records it. If Broxton is ill or cannot attend, the session is rescheduled within five business days. If that cannot happen, the Day count pauses by the days lost and the fee for that session is credited to you.

Your people stay at the center

The first thing in a program is a conversation, not a measurement. On Day 2, before any task is counted or timed, Broxton and the business owner spend 45 minutes with the people who do the work. They cover what stays with people, what may move to a tool, what is new and what happens to the time a change frees up. Questions get a written answer by Day 5.

Tasks change. Before any task is counted we agree in writing what happens to the time it frees up, and nobody's role is changed by the numbers alone. Nobody can promise that no one's job will change. The business owner decides where freed-up hours go and when, after the team has been heard. Lodestep does not plan layoffs, and a business owner who wants fewer people as the main outcome is not who this is built for.

What changes and what stays, task by task. One example row to show the format. It is not a client.
Task (example)May move to a toolStays with a personWhat we would teach
Weekly status email to clientsA first version written from the project notesDeciding what the client needs to know, and the final check before it is sentWriting a clear brief and checking the output
Two colleagues talking across a glass partition

Before Day 1

The business owner tells the staff what the program is and is not before Day 1, in their own words. Broxton supplies a one-page text and a checklist.

The scoreboard

The results are added up by team, with no names, and anyone in the company can read it. A team of fewer than five sees only the combined company number, never a number for that team. At the Day 30 and Day 60 reviews Broxton also reads a small sample of real work, with the business owner's OK.

If something was already pasted

If anyone has already put customer or client material into a personal account, tell the person leading the program on your side, or Broxton, the same day. A report made in good faith is never penalised. The one-page procedure from the Rules Workshop says: stop using that account for work, write down what was pasted and where with no names in the progress sheet, recover or delete what the tool allows, let that person decide who must be told, and change the rule.

What you get in writing before you sign

Lodestep sends this pack with the proposal, before any signature. Each document is prepared before the first agreement is signed. If one is not ready when the proposal goes out, the proposal says so, and nothing is signed until it is.

  1. The agreement

    The full agreement, in a form your lawyer can mark up, reviewed by a lawyer before Lodestep uses it. It is written to cover what is included, pauses, extra work, who owns what you receive, limits of liability, data handling and the Day 30 clause. It says what Lodestep promises and what stays with you, such as your own legal duties and every decision about your staff.

  2. An insurance statement

    A statement of exactly which cover Lodestep holds, with the certificate attached once it exists.

  3. A data-handling sheet

    For each tool: where your data is stored, how long it is kept and whether the vendor trains on it.

  4. A confidentiality undertaking

    Signed by Broxton before he sees any of your material.

  5. Exit and refund terms

    The Day 30 clause, what you keep if you stop and how any unused fee is returned.

Local and in the room

Programs run in person in these five towns. Workshops and reviews can also run online.

Kitchener, Waterloo, Elmira, Cambridge and Guelph.

A team member raising a hand during a group session

About Broxton

Broxton Leibold is from the Waterloo Region area. He builds and uses his own AI workflow tools in his own work, for things like client intake, order tracking, follow-ups and a dashboard.

Lodestep is where he helps other local teams set up the same kind of tools for their own work, one workflow at a time.

Questions business owners ask

What does it cost?

In Canadian dollars plus 13% HST: the Rules Workshop $950 ($750 while Lodestep is new), other workshops $950 to $1,350, the 60-Day Boot Camp $11,500 ($12,995 with HST), the Small-Team Boot Camp $6,500 ($7,345), the Plant/Shift Boot Camp $13,500 ($15,255), the 90-Day Plan $24,500 ($27,685) and a 30-day check-in $750. The price is fixed before Day 1. Half is due at signing and half after the Day 30 review, only if you continue.

What if I want to stop?

Day 30 is a continue, change or stop decision, made by you in writing. If you stop, you keep the plan, the AI rules sheet, your starting numbers, the progress sheet and the templates, and the second half of the fee is not charged.

What if the job grows?

The proposal lists exactly what is included. A second workflow, more people to train, extra sessions or travel outside the five towns are priced and agreed in writing before any work starts. If you delay a step by more than five business days, the Day count pauses and the progress sheet records it.

What about our busy season?

Tell Broxton which weeks are off limits before you sign. The proposal lists every date, checks each one against Ontario statutory holidays, and does not offer a start that puts a named busy period inside the program. Off-season starts are available.

Will this replace my staff?

Nobody can promise that no one's job will change. Before any task is counted, the team is heard on Day 2, and the business owner and the team agree in writing what happens to the time it frees. The business owner decides where freed-up hours go and when. Nobody's role is changed by the numbers alone, and Lodestep does not plan layoffs.

How is my business information handled?

Lodestep uses AI tools to prepare for and deliver its work. Information that is already public, such as your website, and the general business answers you give us may be processed in Lodestep’s own AI tools. We never enter financial figures, customer or employee personal information, or anything you mark confidential. General ideas and lessons about how businesses work may inform our future work, but never in a way that identifies you. Your decisions about your business and your legal duties stay with you. Lodestep is not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.

Which tools do you use?

The ones you already pay for come first, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Other tools are chosen for the job and for admin controls. Lodestep has no vendor partnerships and is not paid by any tool maker.

What do we have to do?

Pick one person on your side to lead it, tell your staff before Day 1, update the progress sheet for ten minutes every Friday, and attend the reviews. The homework between sessions is small and comes from your real work.

What if the numbers do not improve?

The final report says so and says why. The price stays fixed, nothing locks you in after Day 60 or Day 90, and you keep the plan, the progress sheet and the templates.

How is this different from hourly consulting?

The dates, the price and the finish line are set on Day 1, and the calendar is on this page. You are buying a defined result and a document you can act on, with a way out on Day 30.

Book a free fit call

Thirty minutes on your task, your tools, your team and your busy weeks. You hear which program fits, or that none does. Reply within two business days.

broxton.leibold@gmail.com

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