AI consulting
AI consulting for small businesses that keeps your data yours
You keep hearing what AI can do for a business like yours. What nobody tells you is where your customer list ends up, what happens when the tool picks you instead of you picking the tool, and whose name is on it when something goes wrong. I help small businesses automate the repetitive 30–40% of their work — with the data staying in an environment you control.
No pitch deck. You bring one process that eats your time, we look at it together.
30–40%
of repetitive task time is typically automatable in a small business
16 years
of federal digital forensics — I've seen what happens when technology goes wrong
2 questions
every tool must answer before it touches your business: where does the data live, and who can access it
1 human
in the loop, always — AI drafts, a person you trust approves
Why most small businesses get stuck on AI
Too many options, too many promises
Every tool claims it will run your business for you. Most of them are rule-based automation wearing an AI label — and the difference matters, because you're paying AI prices for software logic. If no AI model is processing your data at runtime, it's not AI. I'll tell you which is which before you spend a dollar.
The fear of picking wrong
You're not afraid of technology. You're afraid of being the one who signed off on the tool that leaked the customer list or produced work nobody checked. That's a reasonable fear. The fix isn't avoiding AI — it's deploying it with a human checking the output before it ships, every time.
Nobody answers the data question
Ask a vendor where your data lives and who can access it. If you get a straight answer in plain English, keep talking. If you get buzzwords, walk. Most of my clients came to me after that exact conversation went badly somewhere else.
What an engagement actually looks like
No 90-slide strategy deck. We find the work that eats your time, automate what's worth automating, and secure it so it doesn't become tomorrow's problem.
01
Find the time sink
We map where your hours actually go. Invoicing, follow-ups, scheduling, data entry between systems that don't talk to each other. You'll see the list with real numbers next to it.
02
Decide what deserves AI
Some of it needs AI. Some of it needs simple automation. Some of it needs neither. You don't need AI for everything — and you shouldn't pay for it where you don't.
03
Build it where you control it
Workflows built in an environment you own, with your credentials secured and access documented. Simple builds, fewer moving parts. Every extra piece is an extra failure point.
04
Verify before it ships
A person on your team approves the output before it reaches a customer. AI is like a new employee — you onboard it, give it context, and check its work. You don't hand it the keys on day one.
The math on doing nothing
Run your own numbers. Take the hours per week your team spends on repetitive work — copying data between systems, writing the same emails, chasing the same follow-ups. Multiply by the loaded hourly cost of the people doing it. Multiply by 52.
For a 10-person business where 3 people each lose 8 hours a week to repetitive work at $40/hour loaded cost, that's $49,920 a year. Automating 30–40% of it returns $15,000–$20,000 annually — before counting the errors that stop happening when tired humans stop doing copy-paste work.
The part almost nobody leads with: protecting your data
I spent 16 years handling sensitive data in federal digital forensics — where every file has documented access, every transfer is controlled, and "who touched this and when" always has an answer. That standard doesn't relax when I build for a small business. Your customer list, your pricing, your job history — those are business assets, and they get treated like assets.
In practice, that means every workflow I deliver has credentials secured, access limited to what each connection actually needs, and documentation of what touches your data and why. An exposed API key in an automation isn't a hypothetical — it's a bill for someone else's usage arriving on your account. That's preventable, when data protection is designed in from the start instead of bolted on after.
Is this a fit?
I'd rather tell you now than after a contract. An educated client is a better client, and not every business needs what I do.
We'll probably work well together if
- ✓You run a small or mid-sized business and know your operation better than any consultant ever will
- ✓Repetitive work is eating hours you can count
- ✓You care who owns your data and want systems that answer to you
- ✓You want honest answers, including "you don't need AI for that"
Look elsewhere if
- ✗You want someone to promise AI will run the business without people
- ✗You need enterprise network security or infrastructure overhauls — that's not my lane, and I'll say so
- ✗You're shopping for the cheapest workflow on a freelance marketplace
- ✗You want to hand it off and never look at the output — a human stays in the loop, or I'm not the right fit
Questions owners actually ask
Do I need to be technical to work with you?
No. My job includes translating. If I can't explain what a workflow does in plain English, that's my failure, not yours. Technobabble is how vendors hide what they don't want you to ask about.
Will this replace my employees?
It replaces the repetitive part of their day, not the people. The person who spent 8 hours a week on data entry now spends it on work that needs judgment. The verification step — a human checking AI output — requires more expertise, not less.
What if AI isn't the right answer for my problem?
Then I'll tell you, and you'll have saved money. Plenty of problems are solved with simple automation or a process change. I'd rather lose an engagement than sell you something you don't need. I sleep better.
Where does my data actually go?
That's the first question we answer together, in writing, before anything gets built. For most engagements the answer is: it stays in systems you own or directly control. If a tool can't meet that bar, it doesn't make the list.
Bring me one process that wastes your time
One working session. We look at it together, I tell you what's automatable, what it's worth, and whether you need AI at all. If the answer is no, you'll hear that too.
Based in Delray Beach, serving all of South Florida. Working sessions in person or remote.