The problem
Event organizers ask for current public liability insurance, a food hygiene rating, a gas safety certificate for LPG appliances and a risk assessment, and festival applications close months ahead. A street food trader with about 15 such dates a year who checks them by hand spends about 20 minutes a week looking through the diary and documents folder (20 x 4.3 = 86 minutes, about 1.4 hours a month), and one missed renewal can stop you trading.
What the AI does
Your primary record stays where it is: every renewal and application date goes first in your main diary, with the document it relates to, and someone checks the list. This adds a second line of defense. Make a Google Calendar event for each date, then build two Zapier automations that start a set time before an event, one at 30 days and one at 7 days, and send an email through Gmail to you and your partner or manager. The reminder is a prompt to check the real record, not proof that a certificate is valid or an application is in.
A worked example
A street food trader in Leeds with one van has about 15 key dates a year: insurance renewal, LPG gas safety check, extinguisher service, street trading consent renewals and festival application deadlines. The owner keeps them in a paper diary and adds a backup calendar event and two Zapier emails for each.
Before
About 20 minutes a week checking the diary and documents folder: 86 minutes, about 1.4 hours a month
After
About 5 minutes a week acting on reminder emails and checking the main record: 22 minutes a month
What it's worth
The value here isn't monetary: it's a backup behind your main diary, so the monthly value is set at nil. It also saves about 1 hour a month (64 minutes), which isn't priced. 15 dates x 2 reminders = 30 emails a year, about 3 tasks a month on Zapier's Free plan (100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps).
How to set it up
- List every date first in your main diary with the document it relates to, such as the insurance schedule or gas safety record, and have a second person check the list.
- Add a Google Calendar event for each date with a clear title, such as 'LPG gas safety check due'.
- In Zapier, create one Zap that starts 30 days before an event and sends you a Gmail email, and a second at 7 days.
- Test with a dummy event and confirm both emails arrive.
- Once a month, compare the calendar with your diary and check a test email still arrives.
What goes wrong
- Automations can fail silently: a disconnected Google account stops the emails with no warning. The monthly test is what catches it.
- When you renew something, update the diary and the calendar event together, or the next reminder goes on the wrong date.
- The reminder doesn't decide what you need. Each organizer's terms, your insurer, your Gas Safe engineer and your council set the real requirements.
- Keep scans of current certificates in one folder you can send at short notice; organizers often ask the week before.