Questions business owners actually ask

Who can you trust

Straight answers about trusting anybody, me included, with your business.

• Can my clinic use AI without breaking HIPAA?Yes, if patient information stays out of public AI tools and anything that touches patient data runs through a vendor that signs a business associate agreement. Start with work that involves no patient data at all: scheduling templates, policies, marketing, and staff training. A one-page AI policy is $750, and your compliance officer has the final say.
• What are the red flags in an AI vendor?Watch for a demo on their data instead of yours, a contract that lets them train on your data, a price that grows with usage and has no ceiling, no way to export what you put in, and nobody who can say what happens when the model is wrong. Any one of those deserves a hard question. Two of them is a reason to walk.
• These days, who can you even trust with AI advice?Trust the people who have built something that is still running, who will tell you what not to do, and who put a price on the page. If someone has none of the three, keep looking.

AI and your people

Will people hate it, will it replace anyone, and what using it responsibly looks like.

• Can a nonprofit use AI without it feeling wrong?Yes, and the places it helps most are the boring ones: grant writing drafts, donor data cleanup, the inbox, the newsletter, the board report. Keep it away from the parts of the work that are about a person being seen by another person. Nonprofits get a rate from me, and the first step is a half day for $1,500 or less.
• Can't I just do the AI stuff myself?Probably, yes. Most owners I meet are already good with the tools. What they cannot do is get the rest of the team using them the same way, or keep it going on the days they are out. Teaching the team is cheaper than people expect. The first step is a 90-minute session at your place for $450.
• How can a credit union or community bank use AI?Start in the back office: drafts of member service replies, searching your own policies and procedures, prepping loan files, and marketing copy. Member data stays out of public AI tools, and your compliance officer decides what is allowed. The first step is a half-day workshop for $1,500 or a full day for $3,500.
• How can a small law firm use AI?Start with the work a lawyer reviews anyway: first drafts of routine letters, intake summaries, research that cites sources the lawyer checks, first-pass document review, and the billing and admin side. Client confidential information goes only into tools the firm has vetted, and a lawyer reviews every output. A 90-minute session on the tools you already pay for is $450, and a one-page AI policy is $750.
• How do I write an AI policy for a small company?Keep it to one page with five rules: what you use AI for, what you do not, what never goes into a tool, who checks the output, and what you tell customers. If your team cannot read it in five minutes and repeat it back, it is too long.
• How can a small retailer or consumer brand use AI?Use it on the repeat work: drafting product descriptions and cleaning up photos, first drafts of customer service replies, inventory and reorder notes, reading reviews in bulk, and getting your products named when people ask ChatGPT for a recommendation. Keep a person on anything a customer reads before it goes out. Start with a 90-minute session for $450 or a half-day workshop for $1,500.
• Will AI change how accounting and law firms work?Yes. The drafting, searching, and first-pass review get faster, while judgment, signing, and the client relationship stay with people. When a draft takes minutes, clients start asking about hourly bills, so a firm should write a policy, run one pilot, and train its people on real files this year. A half-day workshop to start is $1,500.
• Is AI going to replace my employees?In most businesses I work with, no. The owners want to grow without adding headcount, not cut the people they have. Done right, AI takes the worst hour out of everyone's day, the people stay, and the company handles more work with the same team.
• Should a small medical practice use an AI receptionist?Use one for after-hours calls, routine questions like hours and directions, and rescheduling, and keep it away from anything clinical, anxious patients, and callers who want a person. Test it on one call type first and make sure a human is always one step away. A one-day service design session to sort your calls is $3,500.
• Will people hate my business if I use AI?No, not if you use it the way a good employee would use a good tool. People hate being tricked, being stuck with a bot that cannot help, and being treated like a number. Use AI to make your people faster and your service better, and nobody minds. Use it to replace the people and hide it, and they will.

What things cost

Real numbers for workshops, seats, branding, websites, and builds.

• Can a nonprofit get free consulting?Yes. Nonprofits, co-ops, and arts groups can ask for my sliding scale, down to pro bono. I take up to two pro bono projects a quarter. The projects that get a free slot have a clear problem, one person who owns it, and a finish line.
• How much do consultants charge per hour?Independent consultants charge about $150 to $350 an hour, depending on seniority, specialty, and what the rate includes, and the hourly number alone tells you little until you know the total for your job. I charge $150 an hour for prototypes, second opinions, and odd jobs; most other work is a fixed price, like workshops at $1,500 for a half day, $3,500 for a day, or $6,500 for two days, or a monthly seat from $3,500 a month (about two days a month).
• How much does a brand refresh cost?A brand refresh with me runs from $1,200 for a tune-up of the mark you have, to $2,500 and up for a refreshed identity, to $6,000 and up for naming and a full brand. The website is usually part of it, from $1,500 to $3,000 to fix the site you have or from $6,000 for a new one. Most businesses need two of those pieces, not all of them.
• How much does a logo cost in Minneapolis?In Minneapolis a logo from an experienced independent designer runs $2,500 to $6,000, agencies start around $15,000, and the $99 online version costs you more later. My brand identity work starts at $2,500 and includes the mark, the files, the colors, the type, and a one-page guide so the sign shop and the web person get it right.
• How much does a service design project cost?A service design workshop with me starts at $3,500 for a day in a room with your team. Two days with the workflow maps and a written plan is $6,500. A full project, where I deliver the blueprint and stay through the fixes, is quoted before we start, once I know how many customer journeys and teams are in it.
• How much does a small business website cost?A small business website from a designer who does this for a living runs $6,000 to $15,000. Template sites are $500 to $2,000 and look like it. Agencies start around $25,000. A one-page site with me is $1,500, and full sites start at $6,000, which covers design, help with the writing, the build, the phone number where people look for it, and the setup that helps Google and the AI assistants find you.
• How much does a UX consultant cost?With me, a review or second opinion is $150 an hour and a one-day working session with your team is $3,500. A senior UX lead on the team for a while is $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week. A single usability study is a fixed price quoted before it starts. Most small businesses should start with the hour.
• How much does AI search optimization cost?With me, AI search starts with a one-hour check-up for $150. A Google Business Profile done properly is $600, and answer pages come with a website from $1,500. Ongoing work runs inside a fractional CMO seat from $3,500 a month (about two days a month), or at $150 an hour.
• How much does an AI automation project cost?I build automations at a fixed price agreed before the work starts, or at $150 an hour. The cheapest useful step is $450 to switch on the AI inside tools you already pay for. Running costs are the software and the AI usage, and I estimate those alongside the build price so you know the monthly bill before you say yes.
• How much does an AI workshop cost for a small business?Mine run $1,500 for a half day of AI 101, $3,500 for a full day in a room with your team, and $6,500 for two days that include workflow maps and a plan by department. Speaker bureaus quote $3,000 to $15,000 for a full-day workshop.
• How much does branding cost for a brewery or distillery?A brand identity for a brewery or distillery starts at $2,500, and naming plus a full brand with a label system starts at $6,000. A tune-up of the mark you already have is $1,200. Anything over $3,000 can be paid by the month, no interest.
• What does a fractional CMO cost?Nationally, fractional CMO retainers run about $3,000 to $15,000 a month (MarketerHire, 2026). Mine are $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
• What does a fractional CTO cost?Nationally, fractional CTO advisory runs $4,000 to $10,000 a month for ten to fifteen hours, active engagements $10,000 to $25,000, and near full-time $20,000 to $40,000. Mine are $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week, and I currently hold two of these seats.

Picking a consultant

How to tell who knows what they are doing, and the red flags.

• Should an AI workshop be on site or remote?On site, when you can. The workshop puts the team's real work on the wall and has them rank it together, and that goes faster in a room. Remote works for distributed teams and for the AI 101 half day. On site anywhere in the Twin Cities is included in the price; travel outside the Twin Cities is at cost.
• AI workshop, AI consultant, or do it myself?Do it yourself if you are the only one who needs it. Book a workshop, $1,500 to $6,500 with me, when the whole team needs to start in the same place. Hire a consultant, by the hour at $150 or a fractional seat from $3,500 a month (about two days a month), when someone has to own the plan and the vendors for months. Most businesses should start with the cheapest one that fits.
• How do I check a consultant's experience before I hire them?Ask for artifacts, not adjectives. Look at work they made with their part named, something they built that is still running, references you can call yourself, and anything in the public record, like awards in an archive or talks on an event page. A real record is easy to show and easy to check.
• How do I choose a branding agency in Minneapolis?Look for work in your category and at your size, meet the people who will do the work, and get in writing what you receive: naming, identity, voice, and guidelines. Ask for the price up front and call two references. With me, identity starts at $2,500 and naming and a full brand at $6,000.
• How do I choose an AI consultant?Decide what kind of help you need before you compare people. A trainer gets the team using tools. A strategist ranks what to do. A builder makes the thing. A fractional executive owns the plan and the vendors for months. Hire the kind that matches the problem, then check that the person has done that kind of work for a business your size.
• How do I know if an AI consultant is full of it?They cannot show you anything running, they will not say a price, they never say no, and they are in a hurry. Any two of those and you have your answer.
• How do I find the best marketing consultant in Minneapolis?The best one is the one who fits your size and your problem. Sort the list with five questions. Have they run marketing with their own money on the line? Will they put a price on the page? Can they show something they built that is still running? Will they say no to you? And do they talk like a person or like a deck?
• What should I ask before hiring a consultant?Ask what exactly you get, who does the work, what it costs and what it does not include, what you own at the end, and how either side gets out. Get every answer in writing. A good consultant can answer all of them on the first call without checking with anyone.
• Should I hire a consultant or an agency?Hire an agency when you need a team producing a lot of work at once: campaigns, content, ads, a large rollout. Hire a consultant when you need a senior person's judgment and that person doing the work, on a smaller scope. Many companies do best with both: a consultant who directs, and an agency that produces.
• What happens after I hire a consultant, step by step?A first call to see if there is a fit, a written scope with a price, a first few weeks of listening and quick fixes, the main work with regular check-ins, and a handoff where you own everything. You should know the price, the first step, and how to get out before you sign anything.
• Why do companies hire consultants?Companies hire consultants for skills they need for months and not years, an outside view, speed, someone who has done the job before, and a decision that needs defending to a board or a bank. The bad reasons are delaying a decision and having someone to blame. Start small: a second opinion from me is $150.
• Why hire a consultant who does the work, not just advises?Because a consultant who has to carry out their own plan writes a plan that can be carried out. Advice-only consultants can recommend anything, since someone else pays for the doing. Ask any consultant to show you something they built that is still running. If all they can show you is a deck, you are buying a deck.

Where to start

First steps, what to automate first, and why the tool is rarely the problem.

• Should I build custom AI or buy a tool?Use off-the-shelf tools until they cannot do the job, which most businesses never hit. Build custom only when the work is the thing you sell, when no tool handles your data or your rules, or when the monthly tool bill has grown past what a build would cost. A one-hour second opinion on the choice is $150.
• How can a building products company use AI?Use it on the paperwork that surrounds every sale: spec sheets and submittal packages, answers to contractor and dealer questions drawn from your own documents, quote prep, and cleaning up product data. Keep code, fire, and safety statements with a person who signs off. The first step is a 90-minute session for $450 or a half-day workshop for $1,500.
• How can a car or powersports dealership use AI?Use it on the work that piles up between customers: first replies to leads, follow-up drafts, inventory descriptions, service reminders and scheduling, and reading your reviews. Keep a person on pricing, financing, and anything a customer negotiates, and keep customer data out of public AI tools. The first step is a 90-minute session for $450 or a half-day workshop for $1,500.
• How can a clinic improve patient experience?Map one patient visit from the first search to the last bill, with the staff who run it, and mark every wait, repeated question, and confusing moment. Fix the cheap ones first: the forms, the reminders, the signs, the phone tree. A one-day session that maps one visit type is $3,500.
• How can a community bank compete with digital banks?Do not try to out-app the big banks. Make your local advantages easy to use online: a named person to call, fast local decisions, and a branch that knows the customer. Then fix the handoffs between online and the branch, which is where most community bank experiences break. A one-day service design workshop to map it is $3,500.
• How can a construction company use AI?Use it on the paperwork around the work: estimating and takeoff help, answering questions from the plans and specs with the page cited, drafting RFIs and submittals, daily logs, schedule updates, and finding bid opportunities in permit data. Safety decisions stay with people. Start with a 90-minute session for $450 or a half-day workshop for $1,500.
• How can a dental office use AI?Start at the front desk: appointment reminders, rescheduling, insurance verification prep, and answers to routine questions like hours and what to bring. Notes and treatment plan drafts belong only in tools covered by a business associate agreement, and diagnosis stays with the dentist. A 90-minute session on the tools you already pay for is $450, and a one-page AI policy is $750.
• How can a food or beverage brand use AI?Use it on the work that repeats: distributor and retailer sell sheets, recipe and pairing content, and reading reviews in bulk. Keep label copy and anything a regulator reviews with a person and your own compliance expert. The first step is a 90-minute session for $450 or a half-day workshop for $1,500.
• How can a manufacturer or distributor use AI?Start in the office, where the paperwork piles up: quotes and estimates, product data and spec sheets, orders that arrive as emails and PDFs, and sales prep. Keep it out of safety-critical decisions on the floor. The first step is a 90-minute session for $450 or a half-day workshop for $1,500.
• How can a real estate agent or brokerage use AI?Use it for listing description drafts you check for accuracy and fair housing language, follow-up with leads, market summaries from data you already have, and accurate photo edits. Then make sure your name comes up when buyers ask ChatGPT for an agent. A 90-minute session is $450, a half-day workshop for a brokerage is $1,500, and an AI search check-up is $150.
• How can an independent insurance agency use AI?Use it on the work around the advice: quote prep and side-by-side comparison summaries, renewal reminders, answering staff questions from the policy documents, email drafts, and marketing. Client data goes only into tools the agency has vetted, and licensed agents give the advice. A 90-minute session is $450, a half-day workshop is $1,500, and a one-page AI policy is $750.
• How do I fix wayfinding so people stop getting lost?Walk the route the way a first-time visitor does, starting from their phone before they leave home, and write down every place you would hesitate. Most wayfinding problems are fixed with better directions before arrival, one name used for each place everywhere, and signs at the points where people turn, not where it was easy to mount them.
• How do I get my sales reps to use the CRM?Make the CRM worth it to the rep. Cut the fields to the few you use, put it inside the email and phone they already work in, let the tool log calls and emails for them, and give them something back, like a call list or an account summary. Help getting a sales team onto the tools starts at $3,500 a month (about two days a month).
• How do I get our product data out of spreadsheets?Pick one place to be the source of truth, give every field an owner, and clean up your categories before you buy any software. When products relate to each other (parts, fits, substitutes, kits), use a knowledge graph, a database that stores the connections. A fractional CTO to run the project is $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week, or I scope a one-time build.
• How do I reduce no-shows at my clinic?Send reminders that carry the address, parking, and a one-tap way to reschedule, make the booking step confirm the time the patient can make, and keep a waitlist that fills the open slot. AI helps with reminders and rescheduling by text; a person stays on the patients who keep missing. A one-day service design session on your scheduling is $3,500.
• How do I run a brainstorm that goes somewhere?Start with a sharp question, invite the people closest to the customer, get a lot of bad ideas out fast, then narrow on purpose and leave with one idea, one owner, and the smallest test of it. A brainstorm without the narrowing step is a nice afternoon that changes nothing.
• n8n, Zapier, or custom AI agents?Zapier if the people running it are not technical and the volume is low. n8n if you want control, more volume for the money, and someone on hand who is comfortable with a little code. Custom agents only when the work involves judgment on messy documents or images at a volume the platforms cannot handle. Most businesses start on a platform and never need custom.
• We bought software and nobody uses it. What now?Fix the rollout before you replace the tool. Software gets used when it fits the way people already work, when the people using it helped pick it, and when it is the easiest way to get the job done. Fix those three and the same tool usually works. Buy a new one the same way and it will sit there too.
• What happens in a one-day AI workshop?Before the day, a prep call and a short survey for the team. In the morning, each team maps its work step by step on the wall and marks where the hours go. After lunch, the room scores each idea on how much it would help against how hard it would be. The day ends with a ranked list and one decision. It costs $3,500 with me.
• What is a crawl, walk, run AI roadmap?Crawl is using the AI already inside the tools you pay for. Walk is small automations that move work between those tools. Run is building something custom. Each stage pays for the next one, and you move up only when the current stage is in daily use. Most businesses should spend their first year in crawl and walk.
• What is a customer journey map, and how do I make one?A customer journey map is a picture of every step a customer takes with your business, from first hearing about you to paying and coming back, with what they do, think, and feel at each step. You make one by walking a real customer's path with the people who serve them, and marking where things go wrong. The useful part is the list of fixes it produces.
• What is a service design session for finding AI uses?A service design session for finding AI uses is a working session where your team maps how the work moves through the business, step by step, and marks where time disappears, where things wait, and where mistakes happen. Then we sort those spots into what a person should keep doing, what a tool could do, and what should just stop. You leave with a ranked list of AI opportunities and one of them decided.
• What is service design, and does my business need it?Service design is mapping how a customer moves through your business, front to back, including the parts they never see, and then fixing the steps that leak money or patience. You need it when customers complain about things that are nobody's job, when you are launching something new, or when you are about to put AI in the middle of it.
• What is workflow mapping?Workflow mapping is drawing how one piece of work moves through your business, step by step, person by person, system by system, as it happens today. The map shows the hand-offs, the waiting, and the extra steps nobody planned. It is the cheapest way to find what to fix, and the step to take before buying software or building any AI.
• Where do I even start with AI in a small business?Start with where the hours go, not with a tool. Get the people who do the work in a room, map the work step by step on a wall, and find the one boring hour everybody has. Fix that one. Then the next one.
• Which AI plan should a small business pay for?Pick the business plan that keeps your data out of training by default, gives you admin controls and a shared workspace, and fits the tools you already pay for (Microsoft 365 often includes Copilot, Google Workspace often includes Gemini). Let the team try two for a month and keep the one they use. A 90-minute session to switch on what you already pay for is $450.
• Why do people abandon our loan application?People quit a loan application when it asks too much too early, asks for documents before they trust you, uses words they do not know, will not let them save and come back, or leaves them with nobody to ask. Find your reasons by watching five people try it and reading your funnel data step by step. A one-hour review of your application with me is $150.

Brand and website

Naming, identity, websites, print, and when to refresh versus start over.

• Does my small business need a new website?Yes, if two or more of these are true when you open it on your phone: it loads slow, the phone number is hard to find, the words are vague, it looks like a template, or nothing has changed since before 2023. A new small-business site starts at $6,000 and takes four to eight weeks.
• Freelancer or studio for my branding?Hire an independent when you want the person who pitched the work to do the work, and the job is naming, identity, and voice for one business. Hire a studio when you need a large rollout across many locations, many products, or a deadline that needs several people at once. With me, identity starts at $2,500 and naming and a full brand at $6,000.
• How can a nonprofit afford branding or a new website?Start smaller than you think, spread the cost, and ask about sliding scales. A one-page website is $1,500 with me, a tune-up of the mark you have is $1,200, anything over $3,000 can be paid by the month with no interest, and nonprofits, co-ops, and arts groups can ask for my sliding scale. Up to two groups a quarter get the work for nothing.
• How do I help customers choose between our products online?Give buyers a way in that matches how they think (by room, by problem, or by style), then a comparison table with only the specs that change the decision, and a cheap way to see it in their own space, like samples or a visualizer. Test the choosing path with real buyers and with your dealers and contractors. A one-hour second opinion on your product pages is $150.
• How do I make a careers site that attracts better hires?Show the job as it is, with real employees talking about their work on video, answer the questions applicants ask before they apply (pay range, schedule, location, what a day looks like), and make the apply step short and connected to your applicant tracking system. A one-page careers site is $1,500, and larger sites start at $6,000.
• How do I market a new professional services firm?Get a name and identity that say what you do, a site that answers the questions clients ask with prices or ranges, a Google Business Profile with consistent listings and reviews, and answer pages that AI assistants can quote. Then measure it every week. My own appraisal firm went from a new LLC to its first call in 90 days doing exactly this.
• How do I organize thousands of product documents online?Put every document in one library tied to the product pages, name and version them the same way, and make them searchable by model number and by old product names. Give every document an owner, and keep documents for discontinued products live and labeled. A one-hour second opinion on your document setup is $150.
• How do I redesign an outdated B2B e-commerce site?Start with how your buyers buy, not with the look: what they reorder, how contract pricing shows up, which documents they need beside the order button, and who approves the purchase. Fix those flows first, then put them on a modern design system. A one-hour second opinion on your current site is $150.
• How do I relaunch a product without breaking the old pages?Give the new version a name buyers can tell apart at a glance, keep the old version's pages and documents live for the people who own it, and send each audience to the right page instead of redirecting everything to the new one. Plan the URLs and the documentation before launch day. A one-hour second opinion on the plan is $150.
• How do we consolidate dozens of websites into a few?Inventory every site and what it is for, score each one against the same rubric (traffic, revenue, audience, cost to keep, owner), merge by audience instead of by department, and fix the categories before anything moves. Redirect every old page to its new home on launch day. A one-hour second opinion on the plan is $150.
• How should a co-op explain itself online?Lead with what members get, then explain how ownership works in one plain paragraph, and answer "do I have to be a member to shop here" near the top. A one-page website is $1,500 with me, brand identity starts at $2,500, and co-ops can ask for my sliding scale.
• Should I get my marketing campaign reviewed before launch?Yes, if real money is about to go behind it. An hour with someone outside the team catches the unclear offer, the broken link, the wrong audience, and the line that reads differently than you meant, while fixing them is still free. With me a campaign review is $150 an hour, and I can also join the team that makes it.
• Should I refresh my logo or start over?Refresh if customers recognize it. Start over if they do not, or if the business has changed. Most businesses should refresh, because a rebrand throws away recognition you spent years building, and it only pays off when what you are recognized for is wrong.
• Should we build a 3D product configurator?Build one when the product has many options that change the price, buyers want to see their own version, and dealers quote from what the buyer built. Skip it when there are only a few options or most of your buyers are on slow phones. Prototype it first: prototypes are $150 an hour or a fixed quote, and a one-hour second opinion on a configurator plan is $150.
• What does rebranding mean, and when should I rebrand?Rebranding means changing how people recognize your business: the identity, often the voice, and sometimes the name. A business should rebrand when what it does, who it serves, or who owns it has changed enough that the old brand points customers the wrong way. With me, identity starts at $2,500 and naming and a full brand start at $6,000.
• What is a design review, and do I need one?A design review is an outside expert going through your work, a website, app, brand, or campaign, and telling you plainly what works, what does not, and what to fix first. It is worth it before a launch, before a big spend, or when your team has stared at the same thing too long to see it. With me it is $150 an hour.
• What makes a good vendor or dealer portal?A good vendor or dealer portal is built around the partner's job, shows the status of every order, agreement, and payment without a phone call, and keeps agreements and commitments in one place. Test it with real vendors on a clickable prototype before you build. A one-hour second opinion on an existing portal is $150.
• What should a brewery or distillery website do?Answer the four things visitors come for in the first screen: hours, where to buy, what is on tap or in stock, and what is happening this week. The story comes second. A one-page site is $1,500 and full websites start at $6,000.
• Why can't customers find products on my website?Usually because the categories are named for how the company is organized, there are too many of them, search does not know the words shoppers use, and the filters do not match how people choose. Fix it by testing the menu with real shoppers (card sorting and tree testing) and cutting categories down. A one-hour second opinion on your site is $150.

For agencies

Backup, training, and leadership for agencies that need a boost.

• Can my agency bring in a senior person for one pitch?Yes, and it is common. Agencies bring in a senior freelance lead for a pitch, a launch, or a new service line when they do not want to hire for it yet. With me it is $150 an hour or a monthly seat, I can work under your agency's name, and I have done it for Minneapolis agencies since 2001.
• How can an agency sell service design to its clients?Sell one workshop with a clear deliverable to a client who already trusts you, and tie what it finds to work your agency can build next. Clients approve a day that ends with a map of how one service works today and a ranked list of what to fix first. A service design workshop with me starts at $3,500 for a day, and I can run it under your agency's name.
• How can my agency add AI services without hiring an AI team?Start by using AI inside your own work, train the team on real client jobs, and bring in a senior AI lead part time for the client work you cannot do yet. Sell one small, clear AI offer first, like an AI audit or a workflow automation, and grow from what clients buy. Hire full time only when the work is steady.
• Should my agency hire a creative technologist?Hire one when your pitches keep promising things nobody in the building can build, or when good ideas die in the handoff from creative to development. A creative technologist talks to both sides, prototypes the idea before it is sold, and keeps the pitch buildable. If the work is not steady yet, bring one in part time at $150 an hour or as an interim lead by the month.
• When should an agency rename or rebrand itself?Rename when the name describes work you no longer sell, when clients keep hiring you for the thing you have outgrown, or when good people will not apply. A new name only works if the positioning, the work you show, and who you hire change with it. Naming and a full brand with me start at $6,000.
• Who can train my agency's staff on AI?Someone who has run an agency team and builds with the tools every day. The training should be hands-on, on your own client work, with the creatives and the account people in the same room. A half day is $2,000, a full day $3,500, and it should end with a one-page policy your clients can read.

Fractional and interim seats

CMO, CTO, Chief AI Officer, and leading a team for a while.

• Do I need a fractional CTO or a dev shop?Usually the CTO first. A dev shop builds what it is told. A fractional CTO decides what to build, picks the shop, and checks the work. A shop with no CTO means nobody is checking; a CTO with no shop means nothing gets built. Most small companies need a little of both.
• Fractional CMO, marketing agency, or a full-time hire?It depends on revenue. Under about a million, run a one-page plan yourself with a freelancer. From one to twenty million, a fractional CMO who directs an agency or freelancers usually wins. Past that, hire full-time. An agency alone, with nobody on your side directing it, is the option that most often disappoints.
• How do I get my nonprofit board on board with AI?Bring the board two things: a one-page policy that answers their worries about mission, donors, data, and staff, and one small pilot with a measured result. A half-day board session with me is $1,500, and nonprofits, co-ops, and arts groups get a sliding scale below that.
• How do I turn a strategy into vendor RFPs?Break the strategy into jobs, write each job as a problem with a measurable result instead of a feature list, add your must-haves (data, ownership, security, budget range, timeline), and send it to three to five vendors. Score the answers against the same list. A good RFP fits on a few pages and makes the bad vendors drop out on their own.
• Interim or fractional executive: what is the difference?An interim executive fills an empty seat close to full time for a set stretch, usually while you hire the permanent person. A fractional executive works part of the week, ongoing, in a seat you may not need full time at all. My fractional seats are $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week; interim team leadership is part time at the same three levels.
• What does a fractional Chief AI Officer do?A fractional Chief AI Officer owns your AI plan part time. That means deciding what to build, buy, or skip, picking and managing the vendors, setting the rules for what the tools may touch, and answering for the results. Published rates run from about $2,500 a month for an advisor to $25,000 and up for someone embedded a day or more a week. I charge $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
• What does a fractional creative director do?A fractional creative director keeps the brand, the campaigns, and the people making them pointed the same way, part time. They review the work, set the standard, run the creative calls, and manage the designers, writers, and agencies. With me it is $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
• What does a fractional exec do in 90 days?Month one is listening: reading what exists, meeting the people and the vendors, and finding what is about to break. Month two is the first fixes and the plan. Month three is running the plan and reporting on it. By day 90 you should have a written plan, at least one problem fixed, and a clear answer on whether the seat is worth keeping.
• What is a fractional executive?A fractional executive is a senior leader who works for your company part of the week, on an ongoing basis, and is accountable for results like any member of your leadership team. The common seats are CMO, CTO, CFO, and Chief AI Officer. I take CMO, CTO, and Chief AI Officer seats for three months to two years: $3,500 a month for about two days a month, $6,500 for about a day a week, or $11,000 for about two days a week.
• Why does a fractional seat end at two years?Two years is enough to take a new initiative from zero to working, and short enough that nobody can hide in analysis. Every fractional seat I hold runs at least three months and at most two years. By the end, the work stands on its own with a full-time owner or the team you have, or we stop it.

New ideas and prototypes

Testing an idea before you spend real money on it, and whether you need an app at all.

• Are games and microsites worth it for a product launch?Yes, when the product is something people want to play with, the idea is worth sharing, and every visit ends with a clear path to the dealer or the buy button. No, when it is a microsite nobody can find or a game with no link back to the product. Prototypes and one-off builds are $150 an hour or a fixed quote.
• How do I find new customers without hiring a sales team?Pick one or two channels, run each one like an experiment for a month, and keep the one that works. The usual options are asking current customers for referrals, being findable on Google and in AI assistants, partnering with a business that already has your customers, and using automated research to find and qualify leads so the few hours you have go to the best ones.
• How do I test a business idea before spending money?Build the smallest version a real customer can react to, put it in front of ten of them, and watch what they do. A landing page, a clickable prototype, a sign-up form, or a one-month trial of a new sales channel usually costs a small fraction of the full build and tells you whether to keep going.
• Should my small business build an app?Usually not first. Most things a small business wants an app for, like booking, ordering, reminders, and loyalty, work as well on a mobile website or by text message for much less money. Build an app when customers use you often enough to keep it on their phone, or when you need something only an app can do, like working offline or using the camera all day.

Getting found by AI

Showing up when people ask ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Google AI, and how to measure it.

• Does AI-written content rank on Google?Yes, AI-written content can rank, because Google judges whether a page is useful, not who or what typed it. Mass-produced filler written to game rankings gets ignored or penalized. What works is an AI draft that a person with real experience edits, adding the facts, prices, and first-hand detail only your business has, which is also what AI assistants look for when they pick a page to cite.
• How do I get my business mentioned by ChatGPT?Answer the questions your buyers ask, in plain sentences, on pages that say who you are, where you are, and what things cost. Keep your name, address, and services the same everywhere you are listed, get mentioned on sites assistants already trust, and measure it with the AI citation reports in Bing Webmaster Tools, because nobody's guess is reliable. On my own appraisal firm's site, Bing Copilot citations went from 835 to about 2,100 between readings five weeks apart.
• How do I improve my small business's Google ranking?Do the basics in order: finish your Google Business Profile, make your name, address, and phone match on every listing, ask for reviews and reply to all of them, and give each service its own page with a price. Then make the site fast on a phone and watch Google Search Console. I set up a Google Business Profile for $600, and a one-hour check-up is $150.
• How do I show up in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode?Write pages that each answer one buyer question in the first sentence, rank for those questions on regular Google, add structured data, keep your Google Business Profile complete, and get mentioned on other sites Google trusts. Nobody can buy placement in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Google Search Console shows how often you appear, and on my own appraisal firm's site Google AI impressions went from 689 to about 1,450 in 90 days.
• How do I track whether ChatGPT mentions my business?Start with the free sources: Bing Webmaster Tools reports Copilot citations, Google Search Console reports impressions from Google's AI features, and GA4 shows visits referred from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, and other assistants. Add a fixed list of buyer questions you ask each assistant once a month, logging who gets named. Read the numbers weekly and compare them to last month; paid trackers exist, but they come after the free setup.
• Is a Google Business Profile worth it?Yes, for any business that serves customers in a place, including service-area businesses that go to the customer. It is free, it puts you on Google Maps and in the local results, and Google and the AI assistants read it when they answer questions about businesses near someone. Setup done properly by me is $600.
• What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of getting your business named and quoted in answers from AI assistants like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. It is mostly the same work as good SEO, measured on a different scoreboard: plain answer pages, consistent listings, structured data, reviews, and steady measurement. A check-up with me is $150, and answer pages with a website start at $1,500.
• What is llms.txt, and does my business need one?llms.txt is a plain text file at the root of a website, like yoursite.com/llms.txt, that tells AI tools in a few lines who you are, what you sell, what it costs, and which pages answer which questions. It is a proposed standard, not a requirement, and no assistant promises to read it. It takes an hour to write and does no harm, so it is worth having once the website itself is in good shape.

Research and UX

Usability testing, card sorting, information architecture, and when research pays for itself.

• Do I need UX research before I build something?You need a little, almost always. Talk to five people who would use the thing, and watch three of them try a rough version, before you pay for the real build. That takes days, not months, and it catches the expensive mistakes while they are still cheap. Skip it only when you are copying something that already works for the same customers.
• What is card sorting, and when should I use it?Card sorting is a research method where customers group your products, services, or pages into piles and name the piles, so you can build menus and categories in their words. Use it before a site redesign, a new product catalog, or any menu change. A one-hour second opinion on whether you need one is $150.
• What is information architecture? Is it a sitemap?Information architecture is how a website's content is organized, labeled, and connected so people can find what they came for. A sitemap is one picture of it, the list of pages and how they nest. The rest is the categories, the menu labels, and the links between pages, and it decides whether customers, Google, and AI assistants can find your answers.
• What is usability testing, and how do I run one?Usability testing means watching real customers try to do real tasks on your website, app, or form while you stay quiet and take notes. Five people per round is common practice and finds most of the big problems. A one-hour second opinion on what to test is $150, and a full study is quoted as one fixed price.

For students

Portfolio reviews and getting hired in the Twin Cities.

• What should a student portfolio include?Six to ten of your strongest pieces, chosen for the job you want, each with a few lines on the problem, what you did, and how it turned out. Put the best piece first, cut anything you have to apologize for, and make sure the link opens on a phone.
• Where can I get a free portfolio review in Minneapolis?Start with your own school's faculty and career office, then add people working in the field. Professional groups like AIGA Minnesota run student events, and I do free 30-minute portfolio reviews for students in design, tech, marketing, multimedia, and art. I have hired from most Twin Cities schools and taught at seven of them.