I used to spend 25 minutes on every proposal.
That doesn't sound like a lot. But when you're sending 8-10 proposals a week, that's over 4 hours. Four hours of writing the same kind of document over and over. Different client. Different project. Same structure. Same effort.
One Tuesday evening, I was staring at a blank proposal for the third time that day. And I thought: why am I still writing these from scratch?
So I ran an experiment. For 30 days, I let AI write the first draft of every proposal. Then I'd review it, tweak it, and send it.
Here's what happened.
Week 1: Awkward but promising
The first few AI-drafted proposals were... okay. Not terrible. Not great. They read like a competent stranger had written them. The structure was right. The tone was off.
The problem was generic language. "I would be happy to assist with your project." "My expertise aligns well with your requirements." Nobody talks like that. Certainly not me.
But the bones were solid. The AI understood the structure — problem, approach, proof, price, next step. It just didn't sound like a human wrote it.
So I started being more specific with my inputs. Instead of "write a proposal for a website project," I'd give it: "Booking website for a dental clinic. 5 pages. Next.js. Budget around £2,000. They need online scheduling and a contact form. Three-week timeline."
The more context I gave, the better the output got. By Thursday, I was editing drafts instead of writing from scratch. That alone saved me 15 minutes per proposal.
Week 2: Finding my voice
I figured out the trick. The AI writes the structure. I write the voice.
I'd take the draft, keep the flow, and rewrite the opening and closing in my own words. The middle sections — approach, timeline, pricing — stayed mostly as-is because they're factual. The parts that need personality are the first paragraph and the last paragraph.
My process became: generate draft (30 seconds), read it (1 minute), rewrite the opening (2 minutes), adjust the details (3 minutes), send (1 minute).
Total time per proposal: about 7 minutes. Down from 25.
I sent 9 proposals that week. In the old world, that would've been nearly 4 hours of writing. Instead, it was just over an hour.
Week 3: The close rate surprised me
Here's what I didn't expect. My close rate went up.
Not by a huge amount. But noticeably. In the month before the experiment, I closed about 35% of proposals. In week 3, I was at 45%.
I think I know why. When writing from scratch, I'd sometimes rush the later proposals. The fifth proposal of the day was never as good as the first. Fatigue crept in. I'd skip the proof section. Make the approach vague. Phone in the closing.
With AI handling the heavy lifting, every proposal was consistent. Same quality. Same structure. Same level of detail. Whether it was the first of the day or the eighth.
Consistency beats brilliance. At least in proposals.
Week 4: The results
After 30 days:
I sent 38 proposals. Previously, I'd have sent maybe 25 in a month because the writing time limited my output.
My average time per proposal dropped from 25 minutes to 8 minutes. That's a 70% reduction.
My close rate went from 35% to 42%. That's two extra clients per month from the same effort.
And honestly? The quality was better. Not because AI writes better than me. But because it writes a solid B+ draft every single time. And turning a B+ into an A is much easier than starting from zero.
What AI gets wrong about proposals
It's not perfect. There are things you should never let AI do unsupervised.
Pricing. AI doesn't know your rates. It doesn't know the client's budget. It'll make up numbers if you let it. Always input your actual pricing.
Proof and examples. AI will fabricate case studies if you're not careful. "I recently completed a similar project for a healthcare client..." — did you? If not, delete it. Your proof section should be real projects with real results.
Personality. The opening paragraph needs to sound like you. Not like a LinkedIn post. Not like a template. If you wouldn't say it in a conversation, rewrite it.
Reading the brief. AI doesn't read the client's job posting. You do. The best proposals reference specific details from the brief. "You mentioned needing the site ready before your April launch" — that's the kind of line AI can't write because it doesn't have that context (unless you give it).
The tool question
You can use ChatGPT or Claude to draft proposals. Paste in the brief, add your details, ask for a first draft. It works. It's free. It's a bit manual — copy, paste, format, send — but it works.
What I wanted was something integrated. Where I type the project details into my proposal tool, click a button, and the AI drafts it inside the same app where I'll send it. No copy-pasting. No formatting headaches. No switching between tabs.
That's what I built into SoloPad. The AI drafting lives right next to the send button. You give it the details. It writes the draft. You edit. You send. The client receives a clean, professional proposal — not a Google Doc link.
But the principle works regardless of the tool. AI draft first. Human edit second. Send.
The freelancers who won't try this
I've talked to freelancers who refuse to use AI for proposals. "It feels impersonal." "I want my proposals to sound like me." "Clients can tell."
Respectfully: no, they can't. Not if you edit the draft. Not if you add your voice to the opening. Not if you include real examples and specific details from their brief.
Clients can tell when a proposal is generic. They can't tell whether the first draft was written by you or by AI — as long as the final version sounds human and addresses their specific needs.
The question isn't "should I use AI?" The question is "should I spend 4 hours a week writing documents that are 80% identical?"
I know my answer.
Start small
If this feels like a big change, try it with one proposal. Just one. Use whatever AI tool you have. Give it the project details. See what comes out. Edit it. Send it.
If it's terrible, you've lost 10 minutes. If it's good, you've just found 15 extra minutes in your day. Multiply that across a month and you've bought yourself an entire workday back.
That's time you can spend on actual client work. Or finding new clients. Or, honestly, just not working on a Friday afternoon.
All of those sound better than writing proposal number eight.
SoloPad has AI drafting built right into proposals and contracts. Type your brief. Get a polished draft. Edit and send — all in one place. Starting at £5/mo. Try it free for 30 days.