The tool looked useful and the price seemed reasonable, so you signed up. Then the real costs showed up: setup time, staff training, workflow rebuilds, a productivity dip, and hours spent fixing bad AI output that got out before anyone caught it. None of that was on the pricing page, and a small business does not have the budget cushion to absorb surprises like that.

Dr. Mike brings a lesson from 20 years in manufacturing operations: total cost is not unit cost. You'll get three questions to ask about any AI tool you already use, a simple formula for estimating usage-based costs before the bill arrives, and why every tool needs a recovery plan.

Price and cost are two different numbers. Knowing both is how you make a real business decision.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The tool is the entry fee. The real cost is everything that happens after you swipe the card.
• The subscription fee is your unit cost. Setup, training, workflow redesign, productivity loss, bad output cleanup, and dependency make up the total cost.
• Token costs are variable and they scale. The more you use it, the higher the bill, so that conversation has to happen before you build anything around the tool.
• The broken comparison is the tool versus not having it. The right comparison is price, setup, training, maintenance, and recovery versus what the tool returns to you.
• Use the PERT formula for usage-based costs: worst case, plus four times most likely, plus best case, divided by six.
• Build a recovery plan. If the tool shut down at two AM, what would you do? If the answer is "I have no idea," you have a dependency.

RELATED EPISODES AND ARTICLES

AI Total Cost of Ownership for Small Business: What the Monthly Fee Is Not Telling You (article), the written version of this episode: https://unjammer.com/articles/ai-total-cost-of-ownership-for-small-business

EP-004: Where to Start with AI: The Honest Answer for Small Business Owners, check your starting point before you buy: https://unjammer.com/podcast/ep-4-where-to-start-with-ai-the-honest-answer-for-small-business-owners

Have a question for Dr. Mike? Send it through the contact page at https://unjammer.com/contact. Your question may become a future episode.

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