Solo, Not SmallOne-person businessMy proposal desk
How I write client proposals with AI: my proposal desk.
Stop writing every proposal from a blank page.
I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi. My proposal has twelve pages. Eight are fixed and I never rewrite them. Four change for each client. Claude builds the PDF, I look at every page, and it goes out the same day.
The short answer
Decide once. Send the same day.
When I wrote each proposal fresh, it went out days after the call, and I argued with myself about the price every time. A proposal that arrives on Thursday for a call on Monday has already lost some of the client.
Now the parts that are true for every client are written once. What is left is the part about them. For a solo founder that is the difference between an evening of writing and an hour.
Only on this page
The page map below is my real proposal for Google Knowledge Panel work: which pages are fixed, which change, and why I fixed them.
- 12 pages in total
- 8 fixed pages
- 4 pages that change
- Sent the same day
The proposal
Twelve pages. I rewrite four.
- 01CoverChanges. The client's name and the one line the proposal is about. It changes every time.
- 02What a panel isFixed. The plain explanation. I wrote it once, carefully, and every client gets the same one.
- 03The diagnosisFixed. How I check where a name stands on Google before I promise anything.
- 04Why it matters in your fieldChanges. Written for the client's own field, in the words that field uses.
- 05Proof, the finished stageFixed. Real Google screenshots of panels that are live on the person's name. I never swap them for prettier ones.
- 06Proof, the early stageFixed. Real records that are live while the panel is still forming. Showing the unfinished stage is what makes the rest believable.
- 07The build, part oneFixed. The record Google reads about a person. The same steps for everyone.
- 08The build, part twoFixed. The outside sources that confirm that record. The same steps for everyone.
- 09The roadFixed. The timeline. My build takes 60 to 90 days. The panel tends to show for the bare name in six to twelve months, and that part is Google's call.
- 10What I need from youFixed. The intake list. The same list every time, so nothing is forgotten.
- 11InvestmentChanges. The price for this client. One page, and I don't argue it again in each proposal.
- 12CloseChanges. The next step for this client, and a date.
The rules of the desk
Six rules I wrote down after getting each one wrong.
- Never open a blank document.The generator starts from the twelve pages. A new design for each client is how a proposal takes three days.
- A blank beats a guess.If I don't know the client's title, company or city, that field ships empty and I ask while the PDF builds.
- Look at every page as a picture.Before it is sent, each page is turned into an image and read. Mistakes hide in a file and show in a picture.
- Text the client can read.Body text is 16 points or more on a wide page. Small type was my most repeated mistake, so now it is a number.
- One promise, decided once.The timeline page says what I control and what Google controls. I don't improvise a promise in front of a client.
- Filed the same day.One folder holds every proposal I have sent, with one index. In August 2026 I found mine spread across five places.
What stays with me
I wrote the eight pages. Claude assembles.
The fixed pages are my words, written slowly, once. The price is my decision. The four changing pages start from my notes on the call. Claude puts the twelve together, checks the type and hands me pictures of every page.
I read, fix what needs me and send. It is one of the thirteen jobs in a one-person business, and the one clients feel first.
Your turn
Build your own proposal desk in four steps.
- 1
Open your last three proposals side by side.
Mark every paragraph that is the same in all three. Those are your fixed pages, and there are more of them than you think.
- 2
Write the fixed pages once, properly.
What you do, how you do it, your proof, your timeline, what you need from the client. Take a full day. You won't write them again.
- 3
Decide the price page once.
Set how you package and price, and write the page. Changing it should be a decision you make on purpose, on a calm day.
- 4
Give the AI the four pages that change.
Hand it your notes from the call and the fixed pages. Read every page as a picture before you send it.
Questions
About client proposals when you work alone.
Can AI write a client proposal?
It can build one from pages you already wrote. Mine has twelve pages. I wrote the eight fixed ones once, and Claude fills the four that change from my notes on the client.
How long should a proposal be?
Mine is twelve pages, and the client reads four of them closely: their field, the proof, the road and the price.
What if I don't know a fact about the client?
The proposal ships with that field blank and I ask. A blank is honest. An invented job title in a proposal is how you lose the client on page one.
How fast does it go out?
The same day as the conversation. The fixed pages are done, so the work left is the four pages about them.
Does this work for a freelancer or a solo founder?
Yes. Any small business owner who sells the same kind of work more than twice has pages that never change. Find those first.
What is Solo, Not Small?
My initiative for solopreneurs and small business owners. In each video lesson I do one real job inside Claude, start to finish, and hand you the system file so Claude does that job your way.
- My exact AI setupSix files and folders that do thirteen jobs.
- From 75 people to oneWhat replaced the team I hired.
- Websites with ClaudeMy sites, built with no developer.
- All thirteen jobsThe one-person business, job by job.
Solopreneurs start here: what Solo, Not Small does for you. I also give this as a talk: AI talks for solopreneurs. More on the About page.