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Price a New Service in 10 Minutes, with a Source for Every Number, using Felo

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You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Felo. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 10 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. Open full screen

Free · Live nowAI Automation for Accounting & Bookkeeping FirmsFelo~10 min27 stepsBeginner

Updated . Built step by step in a real Felo Free-plan account on 20 October 2026. Every screen in the practice is a real Felo screen, and every answer is what Felo produced in that run. How we check this lesson

Before you quote a new service, you need to know what the market pays. In this free lesson you follow Dana Ortiz (made up), who runs Northfield Bookkeeping, a 6-person firm in Columbus, as she prices a monthly fractional CFO package. You ask Felo, an AI search tool, with Pro Search on, and get a price range and three firms with published prices, each with a numbered source. Then you do the part that matters: check a number against its page, spot a price that came from a comparison article instead of the firm, and ask Felo where every price came from. You finish with a mind map and the export options. Our run used 45 credits on the Free plan.

At a glance

QuestionAnswer
What you buildA business case for small firms: before you price a new service, ask Felo, an AI search tool, what the market pays and which firms publish prices, with a numbered source on every number. Then check the sources, catch a second-hand price, and save it as a mind map or PDF. Free plan.
ToolsFelo
TimeAbout 10 minutes, 27 steps in 6 parts
LevelBeginner, no coding needed
CostFree
Ways to learn itPractice it step by step, read the guide with screenshots

The 6 parts, in short

  1. A new service with no price: Put a price on guessing, Meet Felo, Read the question first.
  2. Ask Felo the question: Paste the question, Turn on Pro, See the model choice, Send it.
  3. Read the answer and check the sources: Watch it search, Read the estimate, Find a firm and its source, Check the number on the page, and 3 more steps.
  4. Ask where each price came from: Ask where each price came from, Send the follow-up, Read the new table.
  5. Turn it into something to share: Turn the answer into something else, Make a mind map, Close the mind map, Find the export options, and 1 more step.
  6. What it cost, and what is next: Check your credits, See where credits come from, See what each job cost, See what you have now, and 1 more step.

Start here first: Turn a Client Meeting into Action Items and a Follow-Up Email (Accounting Firms) (module 1 of AI Automation for Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms)

Part of: AI for Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms (step 30 of 38). Next up: Guardian: Make Your n8n AI Agent Ask Before It Emails a Customer

Part of: AI for Consulting & Agencies (step 25 of 33). Next up: Tell the Client, the Boss and the Team in One Go using ChatGPT

Part of: AI for Marketing Teams (step 31 of 36). Next up: ChatGPT Projects vs Chats: Keep Each Client's Work Together and Stop Re-explaining

Part of: AI for Sales Teams (step 20 of 23). Next up: n8n + ProLevelMax: Weekly Review Themes From Trustpilot to Google Sheets

Part of: AI for Operations Teams (step 30 of 37). Next up: Kosuke: Let the AI Test Its Own Changes with Automated QA

Part of: AI Apps Worth Knowing (step 56 of 77). Next up: Smallpdf for Beginners: Which Tool for Which PDF Job

Part of: AI Presentations & Client Decks (step 8 of 10). Next up: Presentations.AI for Beginners: Prompt, Brand and Export Explained

Price a New Service in 10 Minutes, with a Source for Every Number, using Felo: step-by-step guide with screenshots

About the screenshots. They come from Stepthrough’s simulated practice environment (a practice copy of Felo), not the live tool, so no real account appears. The buttons and labels match the real screens the lesson was built against. Practice it yourself free at learn.ynteractive.com.

  • Tools: Felo
  • Time: about 10 minutes, 27 steps in 6 parts
  • Level: beginner, no coding needed

Part 1: A new service with no price

Step 1: Put a price on guessing

Meet Dana. She runs a small bookkeeping firm. Her clients want a new service. But she has no idea what to charge. Guess too low, and she loses real money.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 1 of 27 (Put a price on guessing): the cursor is on “Northfield Bookkeeping”, highlighted.
Step 1 of 27. Dana Ortiz (made up) runs Northfield Bookkeeping, a 6-person firm in Columbus. Clients want a monthly fractional CFO package, but she has no price. Pricing at $1,000 a month when the market pays $3,000 a month would leave $96,000 a year on the table across 4 clients. Click that total.

Step 2: Meet Felo

Felo is an AI search tool. You ask a question in plain words. It searches the web. And every claim comes with a numbered source.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 2 of 27 (Meet Felo): the cursor is on “Felo”, highlighted.
Step 2 of 27. Felo is an AI search tool. You ask in plain words, it searches the web, and every claim in the answer gets a numbered source you can open. Click the Felo card.

Step 3: Read the question first

Here's the question we'll ask. It says who's asking. It says what to find. And it sets the rules. A table. A source for every number. Mark the guesses.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 3 of 27 (Read the question first): the cursor is on “question”, highlighted.
Step 3 of 27. This is the question we will ask. It says who is asking, what to find (hourly rate, monthly retainer, 3 firms with their own prices) and sets rules: a table, a source for every number, and mark the estimates. Download a copy on this page, then click the question.

Part 2: Ask Felo the question

Step 4: Paste the question

This is Felo's home screen.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 4 of 27 (Paste the question): the question is ready to paste, highlighted.
Step 4 of 27. This is Felo's home screen. Click into Ask anything... and paste the question.
I run a 6-person bookkeeping firm in Columbus, Ohio, and we may add fractional CFO services for small businesses. What do US small businesses pay a fractional CFO in 2026: hourly rate and monthly retainer? Name 3 firms that publish their prices, with the price. Put it in a table, cite a source for every number, and mark which numbers are estimates.

Step 5: Turn on Pro

For a money question, use Pro search. It splits your question into smaller searches. And it reads more sources.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 5 of 27 (Turn on Pro): the cursor is on “Pro”, highlighted.
Step 5 of 27. For a money question, use Pro search. It breaks your question into smaller searches and reads more sources. Felo's pricing page lists 5 professional searches a day on the Free plan. Click the Pro switch.

Step 6: See the model choice

Pro is on. The switch turned into a Best button.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 6 of 27 (See the model choice): the cursor is on “Best”, highlighted.
Step 6 of 27. Pro is on, and the switch became a Best button. Click Best to see what it uses.

Step 7: Send it

Best is ticked. So Felo picks the model for you. You can see your credits at the bottom.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 7 of 27 (Send it): the cursor is on “arrow”, highlighted.
Step 7 of 27. Best (Recommended model) is ticked, so Felo picks the model for you. The bottom line shows Currently remaining 500 credits. Leave it on Best and click the arrow to send.

Part 3: Read the answer and check the sources

Step 8: Watch it search

Felo shows its work. It split the question into seven searches. And it found fifty-three sources.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 8 of 27 (Watch it search): the cursor is on “Decomposed into 7 subqueries, found 53 sources, 3 languages”, highlighted.
Step 8 of 27. Felo shows its work. It Decomposed into 7 subqueries, found 53 sources, 3 languages. Ours took about 2 minutes. Click that line.

Step 9: Read the estimate

Here's the range. One seventy-five to four-fifty an hour. Or three to twelve thousand a month. And the table marks these as estimates.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 9 of 27 (Read the estimate): the cursor is on “Yes”, highlighted.
Step 9 of 27. The answer opens with a range: $175 to $450 per hour, or $3,000 to $12,000 per month, and $3,000 to $8,000 for a typical small business. The table marks these Estimate? Yes. (One sentence came out with stray asterisks in red; the numbers still read fine.) Click Yes.

Step 10: Find a firm and its source

Now the firms. Three of them, each with a price. See the small numbers? Those are the sources. Point at the five next to Island Waters.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 10 of 27 (Find a firm and its source): the cursor is on “Firms that publish prices”, highlighted.
Step 10 of 27. Scroll down to Firms that publish prices: Island Waters at $3,500 to $10,000 per month, Lucrum from $899, and Burkland at $1,600, $2,500 and $4,200. Each price has a small number: its source. Point at the 5 next to Island Waters.

Step 11: Check the number on the page

A card pops up with the page it came from. It says three thousand five hundred to ten thousand. That matches the answer.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 11 of 27 (Check the number on the page): the cursor is on “islandwaters.ai”, highlighted.
Step 11 of 27. A card shows the page it came from: islandwaters.ai. Its text says CFO-level engagements run $3,500 to $10,000. That matches. Click that line.

Step 12: Open all the sources

Now see everything Felo read.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 12 of 27 (Open all the sources): the cursor is on “53 Source & Thinking”, highlighted.
Step 12 of 27. Now see everything Felo read. Click 53 Source & Thinking at the top right of the answer.

Step 13: Check the Burkland price

Here's every page Felo read. The table says Burkland published its own prices. Let's check. Point at the forty under Burkland.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 13 of 27 (Check the Burkland price): the cursor is on “53 Sources”, highlighted.
Step 13 of 27. The 53 Sources panel lists every page, with its site and a snippet. The table says Burkland's prices are firm-published. Point at the 40 under Burkland's price.

Step 14: Spot the second-hand source

Source forty is a comparison article. Not Burkland's own website. The price might be right. But it's second-hand.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 14 of 27 (Spot the second-hand source): the cursor is on “weaudit.com”, highlighted.
Step 14 of 27. Source 40 is www.weaudit.com, *Fractional CFO Companies: 9 Firms Compared*. That is a comparison article, not Burkland's own website. The number may be right, but it is second-hand. Click the weaudit.com card.

Part 4: Ask where each price came from

Step 15: Ask where each price came from

So ask Felo where each price came from.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 15 of 27 (Ask where each price came from): the follow-up is ready to paste, highlighted.
Step 15 of 27. Ask Felo to show its sources for the prices. Paste the follow-up into Ask follow-up. Pro stays on.
Redo the 3-firm table with a Source type column: say if each price comes from the firm's own website or from a third-party article, and give the page URL.

Step 16: Send the follow-up

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 16 of 27 (Send the follow-up): the cursor is on “arrow”, highlighted.
Step 16 of 27. Click the arrow to send it.

Step 17: Read the new table

Now each price says where it came from. Two from the firm's own website. One from an article. And notice, it swapped one firm. So always re-read the table.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 17 of 27 (Read the new table): the cursor is on “Third-party article”, highlighted.
Step 17 of 27. Now Burkland and Lucrum link to their own pricing pages, and Pilot's prices are marked Third-party article. It also swapped Island Waters for Pilot, so read the whole table again after every follow-up. Click Third-party article.

Part 5: Turn it into something to share

Step 18: Turn the answer into something else

Now let's turn this into something you can share.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 18 of 27 (Turn the answer into something else): the cursor is on “Convert answer to”, highlighted.
Step 18 of 27. Under the answer, click Convert answer to.

Step 19: Make a mind map

You can make a mind map, a page, or slides. Slides need an upgrade.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 19 of 27 (Make a mind map): the cursor is on “Mind Map”, highlighted.
Step 19 of 27. You can convert to a Mind Map, an AI Page, or an AI Slide. AI Slide is marked Upgrade, so it is not part of the Free plan. Click Mind Map.

Step 20: Close the mind map

Here's the mind map. Three firms, their prices, and where each price came from. You can copy it, download it, or share it.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 20 of 27 (Close the mind map): the cursor is on “X”, highlighted.
Step 20 of 27. Felo drew the three firms, their prices, source types and links as a map. The toolbar can copy, download or share it, and you can pick another layout. Click the X to close it.

Step 21: Find the export options

Now save the answer.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 21 of 27 (Find the export options): the cursor is on “Export”, highlighted.
Step 21 of 27. Next to Convert answer to, click Export.

Step 22: Save it as a PDF

Save it to Notion, Google Drive, or Felo Docs. Or download it as PDF, Word, Markdown, or text.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 22 of 27 (Save it as a PDF): the cursor is on “PDF Document (.pdf)”, highlighted.
Step 22 of 27. You can Save to Notion, Google Drive or Felo Docs, or download a PDF, Word, Markdown or TXT file. Click PDF Document (.pdf).

Part 6: What it cost, and what is next

Step 23: Check your credits

Back on the home screen. We started with five hundred credits. Now it says four fifty-five.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 23 of 27 (Check your credits): the cursor is on “455”, highlighted.
Step 23 of 27. Back on the home screen, the credits pill now says 455. We started with 500. Click the 455 pill.

Step 24: See where credits come from

On the free plan you get two hundred credits a day. Our new account also had a one-time gift of three hundred.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 24 of 27 (See where credits come from): the cursor is on “Usage Details”, highlighted.
Step 24 of 27. Our Free account showed Daily Gift Credits (200 a day, 155 left) and one-time Gift Credits (300, valid for a month). Click Usage Details.

Step 25: See what each job cost

Each Pro search cost fifteen credits. The mind map cost fifteen too. Forty-five in all.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 25 of 27 (See what each job cost): the cursor is on “Pro Search”, highlighted.
Step 25 of 27. Each Pro Search cost 15 credits, and so did the AI Mindmap Generation: 45 in all. A standard search without Pro did not use credits in our test. Click a Pro Search row.

Step 26: See what you have now

A price range with sources. Three firms, and where each price came from. And a mind map. All for free credits.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 26 of 27 (See what you have now): the cursor is on “What you have now”, highlighted.
Step 26 of 27. A sourced price range, three firms with their prices and where each came from, and a mind map, for 45 free credits and about 10 minutes. Click What you have now.

Step 27: Up next

Next, open the three firm pages yourself. Tick them off. Then set your price.

Felo in Stepthrough’s practice copy, step 27 of 27 (Up next): the cursor is on “Up next”, highlighted.
Step 27 of 27. Open the three firm pages yourself, tick them off in the source check sheet, then set your own package price. Click Up next.

Part of these free courses: Felo Tutorial: Felo Jump Start

Now do it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive lesson puts you in a practice copy of Felo: you do every step yourself, it checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Nothing touches your real accounts.

Practice “Price a New Service in 10 Minutes, with a Source for Every Number, using Felo” step by step
Felo home screen on the Free plan with the Ask anything box, the Pro switch and 500 credits in the top right
Felo home screen on the Free plan with the Ask anything box, the Pro switch and 500 credits in the top right

The business case: a price you can defend

Dana's clients keep asking for help with cash forecasts and planning, so she wants to sell a monthly fractional CFO package. Searching by hand takes about 5 hours of tabs and price pages, about $425 of her time at $85 an hour. Guessing is worse: $1,000 a month when the market pays $3,000 leaves $96,000 a year on the table across 4 clients. These are example numbers; use your own.

The question is narrow and public: what do small businesses pay, and what do other firms charge? That is what AI search is good at, as long as you check the sources behind the numbers you plan to use.

What you do in the lesson

You paste one question that says who is asking, what to find and the rules: a table, a source for every number, and mark the estimates. You turn on Pro, which Felo's pricing page lists at 5 professional searches a day on the Free plan. Felo split the question into 7 searches, found 53 sources in 3 languages, and answered in about two minutes: an estimate of $175 to $450 an hour or $3,000 to $12,000 a month, about $3,000 to $8,000 for a typical small business, and three firms with published prices.

Then you check. The citation card for one firm showed the same range on the firm's own page. But the Burkland prices in the first answer were cited to a comparison article, not Burkland's website. A follow-up asking for a Source type column and the page URL fixed that: two prices linked to the firms' own pricing pages and one was marked as a third-party article. It also swapped one firm for another, which is why you re-read the whole table after every follow-up.

Finally you turn the answer into a mind map with Convert answer to, open the Export menu (Notion, Google Drive, Felo Docs, PDF, Word, Markdown or TXT), and check the cost: each Pro Search and the mind map used 15 credits, 45 in all.

What it does not do

It does not set your price, and a citation is not proof. Open the page behind every number you will put in a proposal, check it is current, and check whether it is the company itself or someone writing about it. The source check sheet on this page has a row for each number from our run.

Links

  • Felo: the AI search tool this lesson teaches. Its Free plan showed 200 credits a day when we tested it in October 2026.
  • Felo pricing: current plans, credits and limits. Check them before you rely on the Free plan.

Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Felo, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

Start “Price a New Service in 10 Minutes, with a Source for Every Number, using Felo”

Screenshots

Frequently asked questions

What is Felo?
Felo (felo.ai) is an AI search tool. You ask a question in plain words, it searches the web and writes an answer with a numbered source on each claim. It can also convert an answer to a mind map and export it to Notion, Google Drive, Felo Docs, PDF, Word, Markdown or TXT.
Is Felo free?
Felo has a free plan. In October 2026 our Free account showed 200 credits a day, plus a one-time 300 gift credits, and Felo's pricing page listed 5 professional searches a day. Each Pro Search and each mind map used 15 credits in our test. AI Slide was marked Upgrade. Check felo.ai/pricing for current limits.
How do I check the sources in a Felo answer?
Point at the small number after a claim to see the page it came from, or click Source & Thinking to open the full sources list. Open the page, find the number, and check whether it is the company's own site or a third-party article.
Is this lesson free?
Yes. The practice copy needs no account. To do it for real you need a Felo account; the Free plan is enough.

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