Nikos runs a small consulting firm in Thessaloniki. Three people, good clients, solid work.

Every time a new lead came in, he'd open a blank Word document. Stare at it. Write a paragraph. Delete it. Write it again. Forty minutes later he had a proposal that looked almost exactly like the last one…same structure, same sections, slightly different numbers.

He told me last week: "I knew what I wanted to say. I just couldn't start."

That changes today.

The problem

Writing proposals from scratch is one of the most expensive habits in any service business.

Not because proposals are hard. They're not. You know your work, you know the client's problem, you know what you're going to charge. The information is all there.

The problem is the blank page. It creates a psychological bottleneck that turns a 10-minute task into a 45-minute ordeal — every single time.

Multiply that by 3 proposals a week, 50 weeks a year. That's 112 hours. Nearly three full working weeks. Gone. On formatting.

The fix

Two things. No new software, no subscription. Just Chat GPT and a Notepad file.

Step 1 — Build your context block (one time, 10 minutes)

Open a Notepad and write down the following:

Save this file. You'll paste it into Chat GPT every time you write a proposal. This is your "business brain". Chat GPT reads it and already knows who you are before you ask it anything.

Step 2 — The proposal prompt (every time, 8 minutes)

Open Chat GPT. Paste your context block first. Then add:

"New client: [name/type of business]. Their problem: [one sentence]. What they asked for: [service]. Timeline: [X weeks]. Budget discussed: [range or TBD]. Write a professional service proposal with these sections: problem summary, proposed approach, deliverables, timeline, investment, and next steps. Tone: confident and clear. No buzzwords. Max 400 words."

Read it once. Adjust the price. Send.

That's it. Eight minutes. The structure is there, the language is professional, and it sounds like you. Why? Because you gave it your context.

The only thing you're doing manually is adjusting the number and hitting send.

Steal this prompt

"I run a [type of business]. A new client needs [service]. Write a service proposal with: a one-paragraph problem summary, three bullet deliverables, a 4-week timeline, and a placeholder for investment. Tone: direct, no fluff, no corporate speak. Write as if the reader is a busy owner who will read this in 90 seconds."

Copy it. Paste it into Chat GPT right now. See what comes back.

One-liner

I asked Chat GPT to write its own bio once. It was more accurate than the one on my LinkedIn. I'm still thinking about what that means.

Before you go

What does your current proposal process look like — do you use a template, start from scratch every time, or something in between? Subscribe to get next week's answer and if this issue was useful, forward it to one person who writes proposals for a living.

— George K.