Helping Small Businesses Keep Up With Digital Change Since 2007.

I've been through this kind of change before.

When I started my business in 2007, websites were the thing small businesses suddenly needed to understand.

Then social media came along and completely changed how businesses reached and communicated with their customers.

Now it's AI.

The technology changes, but the questions business owners ask me are remarkably similar:

"What do I actually need?"
"Where do I start?"
"And can somebody please explain it without all the jargon?"

That's why I created AI Academy.

Not to turn business owners into AI experts, but to show them the useful bits — how tools such as ChatGPT and other AI platforms can save time, help with marketing, improve everyday tasks and make running a business that little bit easier.

Sometimes that means showing you how to do it yourself.

Sometimes we'll work on it together.

And sometimes you'd rather we take care of it for you.

All three are absolutely fine.

I spent the best part of 25 years in retail, first on the high street and then running my own shoe shop and menswear shop.

That's where I learned the lesson most small-business owners learn eventually: when it's your business, everything lands on your shoulders. The marketing, the advertising, the money. Especially the money. That shop didn't make it in the end. It was a hard chapter, and I learned more from it than from anything since.

So when I started in 2007, I'd never been a salesman, never worked in an office and barely touched a computer. I built it from nothing. Eighteen years later, it's still going, and I'm proud of that.

At 60, I started again with AI Academy. Some people might think that's late. I think my best years may still be ahead.

So when you tell me you feel stuck, out of your depth or like a bit of a dinosaur, I believe you. I've been there. That's probably why so much of my work ends up being less about the tools and more about helping people see their business, and themselves, a little differently.

AI Academy is based at Suite G, The Arch Workspace in Crossens, Southport.

It's where I run small-group workshops, 1:1 coaching sessions and meetings with local businesses.

We're not just an online training platform. There's a real place you can come to, sit down, have a coffee and work through things properly.

When I'm not at The Arch Workspace, there's a fair chance you'll find me somewhere in South East Asia with a laptop and a coffee.

One of the things I love about technology is the freedom it can create. If I've got my laptop and decent Wi-Fi, I can keep things moving from Southport, Chiang Mai or somewhere considerably warmer.