Do it yourself when it is only you. Book a workshop when the team needs to start together. Hire a consultant when somebody has to own the plan for months. The rest of this page is how to tell which one you are.
Should I book an AI workshop, hire an AI consultant, or do it myself?
The three side by side:
- Do it yourself. Cost: your evenings. Fits an owner who is curious and a team of a few people. Breaks when the team grows and everybody uses the tools a different way.
- AI workshop. Cost: $1,500 for a half day, $3,500 for a day, $6,500 for two days with maps and a plan. Fits a team that needs a shared starting point and one decision. Breaks if nobody owns the follow-through.
- AI consultant. Cost: $150 an hour, or a fractional Chief AI Officer seat at $3,500, $6,500, or $11,000 a month. Fits a business spending real money on AI tools or builds, where somebody has to pick vendors and answer for them. Breaks if you hire one before you know what problem you are solving.
When is doing it myself enough?
When you are the main user. If the work that AI helps with is mostly yours (writing, quoting, research, email), you can get very good at it on your own, and you do not need me. Can't I just do the AI stuff myself goes through where that stops working, which is usually the day you try to hand it to someone else.
When is a workshop the right call?
When the problem is the team. Different people are using different tools, a few are scared of it, and one or two are pasting customer data into places it should not go. A workshop puts everyone in one room with the work on the wall. You leave with a ranked list and a decision.
A workshop is a one-time cost. It does not come with someone to manage what happens next. If you have a person on staff who can own the list, that is enough. What an AI workshop costs breaks down each size.
When do I need a consultant?
When there is money moving and nobody to answer for it. Signs:
- You are about to sign a contract with an AI vendor and nobody on staff can read it.
- You have a build in progress and the developers are grading their own work.
- Three departments want three different tools and someone has to say no to two of them.
That is a seat, not a session. A fractional seat is about two days a month at $3,500, up to two days a week at $11,000.
What order should I do them in?
Cheapest first. Use the tools yourself. If you want the team doing the same, book a workshop. If the workshop list has a build on it, or a vendor decision, that is when a consultant earns the money. The workshop page has the sizes, and if you are not sure which you need, say so on the start form.
Answered by Jared Lukes, Minneapolis. Twenty-five years in brand, UX, and technology, currently holding fractional AI and technology seats at three companies. About Jared.