Tools directory

A scheduling tool that lets a lead book a time on your calendar themselves, without back-and-forth messages — this is the booking link you'll send leads in this course.

The free plan covers everything in this course — one event type, connected to one calendar. Paid plans (~$10-16/mo) only matter later if you're juggling bookings for several clients at once.

A drag-and-drop design tool used to make professional-looking graphics from templates — no design skill required.

The free plan has everything you need for this course's templates. Canva Pro (~₱499/mo) unlocks premium templates and brand kits — nice to have, not required.

An AI chat tool you use to draft emails, summarize messages, and brainstorm content — the core AI tool in most Academy courses.

The free plan is enough for everything in this course. ChatGPT Plus (~₱1,100/mo) adds faster responses and higher usage limits — not required to start or to get hired.

A local, open-source vector database used to store embeddings and run vector search — the tool this course uses to build a real RAG-backed knowledge base an agent can search for policy and product information.

Free and open-source, runs locally via pip install chromadb — no account or signup needed. Used in this course as a simple local vector database for the RAG module, with no cloud service required to complete the course.

An AI chat tool made by Anthropic — used the same way as ChatGPT for asking questions, brainstorming, and having a back-and-forth conversation.

The free plan (daily message limit that resets every few hours) is enough for everything in every Academy course. Claude Pro (~$20/mo, ~₱1,100/mo) removes the daily limit — not required to start or finish a course.

A separate keyboard for typing comfort during long sessions — relevant for desktop use or extended daily typing.

Not required — only worth it once you're typing for hours a day and want more comfort than your laptop's built-in keyboard, or you're working from a desktop setup. Skip this until you actually feel the need for it.

Google's AI chat tool — works the same way as ChatGPT and Claude for asking questions, brainstorming, and back-and-forth conversation, and is built into some Google apps.

The free plan (standard Gemini model, no subscription needed) is enough for everything in every Academy course. Google AI Pro (~$20/mo, ~₱1,100/mo) adds Google's more advanced models — not required to start or finish a course.

A free calling and voicemail app that gives you a US phone number — used in this course to practice cold-call and voicemail delivery. Most real clients provide their own dialer once you're hired; this is for practice, not a tool you'll pitch to clients.

Completely free with a Google account. You will not need to pay for anything to complete this course's phone-track exercises.

The everyday Google apps most small businesses already use — Gmail for email, Calendar for scheduling, Docs for documents.

A regular free Google account is all this course needs. You do NOT need to pay for the business version of Google Workspace — free Gmail, Calendar, and Docs are the same apps.

A wired or wireless headset that improves how clearly clients hear you on calls — usually a bigger upgrade than a webcam.

Not required to start, but often the single most useful equipment upgrade once you're on regular client calls — a laptop's built-in mic tends to pick up background noise and echo that a basic headset avoids. Inexpensive wired options exist; compare current listings rather than assuming a fixed price.

A customer relationship management (CRM) tool used to track every lead — where they came from, what stage they're at, and whether they showed up for their booked call.

The free CRM plan is genuinely free forever, with no contact limit that matters for this course. You will not need to pay for anything to complete this course or start freelancing with it.

The one device every AI VA task in this course runs on — everything here works in a browser, so you don't need a powerful machine.

You almost certainly already have one that's enough — this course needs nothing more than a browser with a few tabs open. Only consider buying if yours can't reliably do that; a budget laptop is enough, no need for a gaming or high-spec machine. Prices vary widely by brand and specs — compare current listings rather than trusting any single quoted price.

Meta's free scheduling tool for planning and publishing Facebook and Instagram posts in advance instead of posting manually every day.

Free to use for any number of posts on a Facebook Page and connected Instagram account — no paid tier needed for anything in this course.

An open specification for connecting AI agents to external tools and data sources in a standard way, instead of every agent needing a custom integration for every tool.

An open, free specification, not a company or paid product — there is nothing to sign up for. The link goes to the protocol's documentation, not a signup flow.

A flexible workspace app used to build client operations dashboards — inbox logs, task trackers, content calendars.

The free plan covers this entire course. Paid plans (~₱470/mo per user) only matter later if you manage many clients or need a team.

The raw API behind models like GPT-4o and GPT-4o-mini — the thing your Python code calls directly, instead of typing into the ChatGPT web app. This is what lets code, not a human, decide what an AI-powered program does next.

Pay-per-token pricing, no free tier — but this course intentionally uses a cheap model (gpt-4o-mini or an equivalent low-cost tier), and every exercise costs fractions of a US cent per test run. Realistically, finishing this entire course's exercises should cost under $1-2 total. You do need a credit card on file to activate billing before your first API call will work — there is no way around that requirement.

Battery backup for your laptop and router so a brownout mid-call or mid-deadline doesn't cost you client trust.

Not required to start, but genuinely useful once client income depends on being online reliably — brownouts are a real Philippines-specific risk. Even a basic unit that buys 10-15 minutes to save your work and message the client is worth considering once you have paying work to protect. Compare current listings rather than assuming a fixed price.

The programming language this course uses to write real, running code — every worked example, every "Try This," and the whole Module 6/10 project are written in it.

Completely free and open-source, no paid tier exists. You just need the installer from the official site.

A JavaScript/TypeScript toolkit for building AI-powered apps and agents — the equivalent of what this course teaches in Python, if you'd rather work in JS/TS later. Mentioned in this course as the alternative path, not taught in depth here.

The SDK itself is free and open-source — you still pay the underlying API provider (e.g. OpenAI) for tokens, same as with the raw Python approach.

An external USB camera for video calls — only relevant if your laptop's built-in camera is missing or poor.

Not required — your laptop's built-in camera is enough for the Module 10 mock interview and most client calls. Basic external webcams are a low-cost item if you do need one — compare current listings rather than assuming a fixed price.

The no-code tool that connects other apps together — so an action in one app (a form submission, a new spreadsheet row) automatically triggers an action in another app (an email sent, a row added), without writing code.

The free plan gives you 100 tasks/month, but restricts every Zap to exactly one trigger and one action (2 steps total) — no multi-step Zaps, no filters, no paths. That's enough to complete this course if you chain simple 2-step Zaps together (see Module 4). True multi-step Zaps, filters, and paths need the paid Professional plan (~$19.99/mo billed annually, ~$29.99/mo month-to-month).