In 2023, I made a decision that surprised even me.
I walked away from twenty years in FMCG consumer marketing and data science. The research, the strategy, the teams, the rhythm of it all. A career I was good at, and one I'd quietly built my identity around without realising it.
Life had shifted. Covid hit. We'd moved to the country. I had three young children. I wanted something different: more time, more presence, more room to think. So I took a leap and joined my family's brand new venture in interiors and construction.
A world I knew absolutely nothing about. And honestly? Day one was exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure.
There's a particular kind of learning curve that comes with starting over in a new industry. No team to bounce ideas off. No familiar rhythm. Just you, a long to-do list, and a steep climb.
I learned fast what it actually takes to run a small business: the decisions, the juggling, the days when you're not sure anyone is watching or caring but you keep going anyway.
I wore every hat. Often all at once. Website, social media, sourcing, negotiating, selling.
If you're a small business owner or solopreneur, you already know exactly what I mean.
And Then I Found ChatGPT
It was mid 2023. I was drowning in tasks that had nothing to do with my actual strengths: writing captions, drafting emails, trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about in an industry I'd just arrived in.
I started using ChatGPT almost by accident. And then I couldn't stop.
At first it was simple stuff. Copy. Captions. Blog drafts. But something started to shift. I began to see AI not as a shortcut, but as a thinking partner. A way to move faster in areas where I was slow, so I could spend more time in the areas where I was genuinely useful.
It didn't replace my judgment. It freed it up.
For a solo business owner trying to do everything alone, that was everything.
Why I Now Focus on AI for Small Business Owners
Last year, I made another decision. I stepped back from the family business to spend more time with my children and to go deeper on something I'd become quietly obsessed with.
AI tools for small businesses. AI is vast. It moves fast. Nobody has the whole map, including me. But I do have a map of the parts that matter most, and more importantly, the parts that matter to the people I most want to help.
I focus on three areas:
- Interiors and design: how designers and creative businesses can use AI tools to support their work, not replace the magic of it.
- Brand building for small businesses: how you can now access the kind of visual and strategic tools that used to belong only to big corporations, for very little cost beyond time and imagination.
- Small business owners and solopreneurs, particularly women, who are doing it all themselves and trying to find five minutes to themselves each week.
That last one is personal. I walked that road. I know what it feels like to wear all the hats and wonder if you're doing any of them well. I know how much difference the right AI tool, used in the right way, can make on a Tuesday afternoon when you're out of energy but still have a long to-do list.
This Is Not an AI Expert Newsletter
I want to be honest with you about what this space is, and what it isn't.
I'm not here to overwhelm you with tech jargon or tell you AI is going to replace you, or that it is a magic bullet for everything, because it's definitely not. I'm an AI practitioner and translator in progress. Someone with two decades of marketing and business experience who is learning, testing, and figuring this out, and sharing what actually works for real small business owners along the way.
If you're AI-curious but not sure where you fit in all of this, you're exactly who I'm writing for.
No hustle. No tech bros. No guru energy. Just practical AI for small business, in plain language, from someone who has sat where you're sitting.
Welcome. I'm glad you're here.