Hire Ella: an AI assistant who makes your calls and takes the callbacks
Give Ella a brief and a list of businesses. She calls them from your own number, asks what you need to know, answers what you said she may share, and writes it all down: quotes, availability, who to talk to next. When they call back, she picks up.
What she does
Calls out for you
A brief plus names and numbers (or email addresses). Ella works through them inside the calling window you set, tries each contact as many times as you allow, leaves voicemails, and reports back after every call.
Takes the callbacks
People she reached, or anyone you give your Ella number to, can call or write back. She knows what the errand is about, answers from what you said she may share, and writes down what they tell her. An errand can be inbound only.
Compares the quotes
On an errand that collects offers, every quote lands in one table with Ella's recommendation and why. You decide; she tells the one you chose and thanks the rest.
Asks you only what she must
When a contact asks something only you can answer, the question comes to you (dashboard, email, or Claude and ChatGPT), and she gets back to them with your answer.
How a call goes
Every call opens the same way, played by code, not left to the model, so nobody is ever unsure who they're talking to:
Then she gets on with the errand: she asks for the person who can help, says what you need, answers questions from your brief, and never agrees to anything you didn't say she could. Afterwards you get the summary, the transcript and the recording.
Hi, this is Ella, an AI assistant calling for your name at your company. This call is recorded.”
Three errands she's run
Ella makes Seth Black's own calls. These are errands she's run for him, and can run for you.
Calls out, compares offers
Lumber yard quotes
The brief: Call six lumber yards for a price on a materials list for a deck: pressure-treated framing, decking boards, joist hangers, delivery to the site.
What she does: Ella reads out the list, asks for a total with delivery and how soon it could come, and answers their questions from the brief. Each yard's quote lands in one table, and she says which she'd pick and why. You decide; she tells the yard you chose, and thanks the rest.
Calls out, takes the callbacks
Builders about a lot for sale
The brief: Call home builders who work in the area and ask whether they'd be interested in a 2-acre lot for sale, with power and water at the road.
What she does: She gives the facts you wrote down (and only those), asks whether they build there and what they'd look for, and leaves a voicemail when nobody answers. When a builder calls your Ella number back she knows which errand it's about. Anything only you can answer comes to you as a question, and she calls them back with your answer.
Inbound only
A phone line for a listing
The brief: Put your Ella number on a sign or a listing. She calls nobody; people call her.
What she does: Callers get the details you said she may share, and she writes down who they are, what they asked and any offer, and emails you after every call. The errand runs until you end it.
Pricing
Monthly, per conversation: a call that reached a person or voicemail, a call to your number, or one email or text thread with one contact. No answer, busy and failed dials are free. Calls don't roll over.
- Your number, one per account: toll-free $2.00 a month or local $2.50 a month, on the same bill.
- Extra calls past your plan: $3.50 each, billed at the end of the month. You set a ceiling on them (25 to start, 0 to 1,000, or none); at the ceiling she stops starting new calls and tells you, and calls to your number are still answered.
- Texts need your number registered with the mobile carriers; any carrier or Twilio fee for it is passed on at cost.
- Change plans in your settings: upgrades right away, downgrades at renewal. Cancel any time.
Businesses or individuals
Every errand says whom Ella is contacting, and the rules follow from it.
Businesses
Suppliers, contractors, shops, offices: anyone you'd call at work. You confirm the list is businesses. If someone says it's a personal number, or asks not to be contacted, she stops and marks them.
Individuals
People at their own phones, only if each one agreed to be contacted by an automated or AI assistant for you. You record where and when they agreed; texts need that agreement to cover texts. She never makes sales or marketing calls to individuals.
Either way she calls only between 8 AM and 8 PM where the contact is, honours a do-not-contact list every account shares (anyone who asks never to hear from Ella again is on it) as well as your own, and every errand is checked before she contacts anyone: debt collection, political calls, harassment, deception, impersonation and emergencies are refused. You're responsible for whom you ask her to contact; the Hire Ella terms say what that means, and the privacy policy how the people she contacts are treated.
From Claude or ChatGPT
Connect Ella to Claude or ChatGPT and run errands in your own words: "have Ella get three quotes to fix my gutters from these companies", "what did the roofers say?", "go with Eddie's". There's a REST API too.
Questions
Does Ella say she's an AI?
Yes, every time. Every call opens with her saying, word for word: "Hi, this is Ella, an AI assistant calling for <your name> at <your company>. This call is recorded." That line is played by code, not left to the model. Her first text says the same, and her emails are signed as your assistant.
Whom can Ella call?
Businesses, on a businesses errand: you confirm the contacts are businesses, and if someone says it's a personal number or asks her to stop, she stops and marks them. Individuals, on an individuals errand, only if each person agreed to be contacted by an automated or AI assistant for you; you record where and when they agreed. She never makes sales or marketing calls to individuals.
What won't she do?
Every errand is checked before she contacts anyone. Debt collection, political or election calls, sales or marketing calls to individuals, anything harassing, threatening or deceptive, impersonating anyone, and emergencies are refused. An errand the check isn't sure about waits for a person to review it.
When does she call?
Inside the calling window you set for the errand, and never before 8 AM or after 8 PM where the contact is (from their area code when you don't give a time zone). She tries each contact up to the number of times you choose, spaced out, and stops when the errand's done.
What counts as a call?
A conversation: an outbound call that reached a person or voicemail, a call to your Ella number, or an email or text thread with one contact on one errand (counted once). No answer, busy, a failed dial, a call under 20 seconds that never got past hello, or a call that dropped on our side don't count. A call over 10 minutes counts once for each 10 minutes started.
What if I go over my plan?
Extra calls are $3.50 each, on the same invoice at the end of the month. You set a ceiling on extra calls (25 to start; anything from 0 to 1,000, or none). At the ceiling Ella stops starting new calls and emails you; calls to your number are still answered.
Do I get my own number?
Yes, one per account: toll-free ($2.00 a month) or local in your area code ($2.50 a month). Ella calls from it, and people who call it back reach her, on your account.
Can she text and email?
Email, yes: from ella@reply.sethserver.com as "Ella for <your name>", and replies come back to her. Texts need your number registered with the mobile carriers first (A2P 10DLC for a local number, toll-free verification for toll-free), which takes one to three weeks; we submit it for you, and pass on any carrier or Twilio fee at cost. Calls and email work in the meantime.
What happens when someone asks something only I can answer?
Ella says she'll find out, and the question comes to you: on your dashboard, by email (reply with your answer), or through Claude or ChatGPT. Once you answer, she gets back to them.
Can I use Ella from Claude or ChatGPT?
Yes. Connect her as an MCP server (or use the REST API with a key from your settings), then ask in your own words: start an errand, check how it's going, answer questions, decide between quotes. See /hire-ella/mcp-setup.
When am I charged?
You pick a plan when you sign up and add a card after you first sign in. Every new account is reviewed by a person, and nothing is charged and nobody is called until it's approved; your first month starts then.
How do I cancel?
From Billing in your settings, at any time; it takes effect at the end of the month you've paid for. Your dashboard stays readable, and your number is released 30 days after your subscription ends. Email sblack@sethserver.com to have your account's data deleted.
What languages does she speak?
English only, for now. Her numbers are US numbers.
