Helping Small Businesses in the Heartland Grow in the AI Age - Ashley Coffey

'cause everyone, like regardless of if you're 99 or five, you have heard AI mentioned in the past, you know, year probably at least a thousand times. So I think we all have a general understanding that it exists. I think the through line is helping people, one, understand what it is and what it isn't.

that's beautiful. Ashley Coffey, CEO of Coffey and Consult podcast, host of the Coffey and Code podcast. Welcome to the Glow Up. Thank you for joining me today. I'm so glad to chat with you.

I'm so glad to be here.

Ashley, could you please, take a minute and introduce yourself and, what you're doing, with Coffey and consult?

Absolutely. Okay, so hello everyone. My name is Ashley Coffey and I am the CEO of Coffey and Consult. We are a technology consulting firm based in Oklahoma, but working worldwide, and we help small to medium sized businesses really leverage their technology for efficiency and profitability so they can spend less time being, overwhelmed and more time being empowered so they can focus on that zone of genius or whatever brings them joy in their business. And I started this in August of 2023 because I saw a need here in the Oklahoma market. We are smack dab in the middle of the us, which means we're smack dab in the middle of the east and west coast. And as someone who has been involved in the emerging tech world since 2018, I see where we are lacking in terms of bringing innovation and new types of technologies to business owners here in Oklahoma. So they don't necessarily have to go to the east or west coast to get that knowledge. So bringing access to business owners here in Oklahoma is really why I decided to start Coffey and consult here. And I also am the podcast host. Of Coffey and Code. So that's spelled C-O-F-F-E-Y if you're wondering. And I started that podcast in 2020 because I got laid off from my job and I really wanted to do something and keep myself going. And I loved having conversations with really cool people that were interesting, innovative, and I just really wanted to those conversations with a broader audience. So I've been doing that for five years. Listeners across 21 countries, 35, 5 star reviews. So you can find us wherever you get your podcasts and I've had you on the show, Nathan, so I encourage listeners to go listen to your episode. And that podcast is created for everyone. It's meant to make technology accessible to anyone out there, regardless of what your background knowledge is, because at the end of the day. Coffee and consult, coffee and code. And myself, I exist to bridge the gap between technology and people.

Thank you for that. I love this space that you found for yourself or that you're working in helping to distill and teach and coach people through some of the biggest global trends, you know, technology developments and others, but doing it in a really local focused way. Identifying that pain point of like, wow, you know, you literally have to go hire an agency on the coast, you know, potentially, Build relationships outside of where your industries are known, where your you know, your peer. Like, there's some very interesting things about like serving the, the local community just as a as a founder in general. But identifying that pain point of, you know, really needing to leave home base to get help and to be current. So why not just bring that, bring it right to the people? it.

Why? Well, why not? And, I like to call it the Silicon Prairie. we're working on it and it's kind of wild to see how quickly things have changed over time, and as you know, it will continue to change and really wanna challenge people to really lean into that change and embrace it and look at it as an opportunity for innovation and efficiency and profitability. I like to think of work smarter, not harder.

Can you dive in a little bit, about some of the ways, that you're helping, businesses with things like ai, these, tech processes, just, getting their stacks and strategies in order?

Yes. So one thing I want to acknowledge here right off the bat is that it is challenging because I am the first service provider of my kind here in Oklahoma. So there's nothing to compare to, and I started my business without a book of clients like most people do. I started from scratch, so really spending time working on my service offerings and the value that those bring was instrumental. In me being able to articulate what it is I'm trying to do to help businesses. That right there was a whole journey in itself that took about a year, and I'm almost two years into this now, so I wanted to acknowledge that right off the bat so that people don't think this is a walk in the park, because it's not just because AI is making things easier. It doesn't necessarily mean that we're not doing more, we're doing more, but we're having a higher output here. And I think at the end of the day, the human connection, the human touch will be at a premium. So I'm really trying to toe the line very carefully and very thoughtfully with the services that I provide to businesses here in Oklahoma. And if you look at my website, Coffeyandconsult.com, you'll see that I'm very industry agnostic. And that is on purpose because technology is industry agnostic. It's the through line, through everything regardless. If you're a consulting agency that focuses on marketing, branding, and design. Or a trial attorney law firm, or even a scientific consulting firm. all of these companies are gonna interact with technology in some way, shape or form through hiring processes, technology of what they share on the internet, what they have internally. And what I see the most across the businesses that I help is that they're wasting so much money on so much software that's not solving their needs. And I am sure you see this too, and it's really disappointing when I see people pay so much money for these platforms that they should be coming with a software rep and like working in the technology field, I know that they get a software rep or a person that's supposed to be their point of contact, but it's not happening And a lot of these people are left with these out-of-the-box solutions that seemed really awesome at surface level. But then they're like, how do I do this? What do I do? And you know, I am. Here kind of picking up the pieces because those software companies aren't doing their due diligence to provide that educational opportunity to help those business owners make the most of their investment. So I really come in and provide that all encompassing technology transformation service from a subject matter expert and someone who has been trained in this field to identify and optimize and make things more efficient so that you can achieve more efficiency and profitability. So things like Software Scout where I come in and create an assessment of your current tech stack and make recommendations on what you should do to either consolidate or. centralized. A lot of the new tools that have come out in G Suite have really eliminated the need for a lot of tools like Otter ai or Grammarly, that are just being baked in and a lot of people aren't paying attention to those updates. So really helping to elevate these technology changes will help people save money in the long run and have more of those aha moments so that they feel more empowered and less overwhelmed.

Thank you for calling out, right, that, there's this cool trend with AI and it, it's kind of a, a marker of the robustness of the AI ecosystem as well as this pain point that you're talking about, that like, often times like people are paying for way more than they need. and it's because of like. You know, needing to like, have a microservice for every different business process where now there's a lot of things that are baked

in.

A software or like a technology initiative at an organization is either connected to a core business pain point, or a pet project for an executive. Right? And those are all like big stones. To move when you're trying. Right. And as a consultant, you know, to come in with big, bold ideas and to be like, this is wrong. that can be, a challenge to leaders and big visions. How do you approach. those conversations. And how do you, what's your approach to getting leadership and, business people to really sit down and reflect and understand the choices that their technology choices, are building into their business.

That's a really good question and a stakeholder buy-in is so important. And what sets me apart from other companies and other consulting firms is that I teach organizations how to fish. I don't give them the fish. And the fish is software. and platforms, because a lot of the times people ask me, and this comes from my days working at Apple too. What's the best machine? What's the best software, what's the best tool? And I challenge people to change that thinking of what are we trying to accomplish first? What is the best tool for what we need to do. So really taking a step back and helping organizations answer those questions first can lead them to a lot of deeper insights and success in the long run.'cause if you don't know what you're measuring or why you're measuring it, then what the heck are we doing here? and by providing that, to me, that is more long-term success for me as an educator, for someone to have that knowledge. That way no matter what happens. Five, 10 years from now, we're gonna see a lot of different software platforms come in, come out. But I want people to remember the general foundational framework of how to make those decisions like privacy and where is that data stored do you own it? is it private? Is it public so many considerations are to be made right now that are going to make an impact in the next future decade, future century? And I hope people understand the importance of that right now.

Amazing. you mentioned something at the top that's kind of juicy, right. you discussed that, you've been working on. These offers you've been really trying to learn and, Can you talk about a moment where you've learned something from your customers and, and how that helped you in this journey.

Thank you. Thank you. So for everyone that's listening, different buckets of my business involve consulting and training and coaching. So when it comes to technology training, that can be workshops that are customized to a specific business or a specific idea. one of those workshops that I did for an organization here in Oklahoma, is for a food group that has a stamp of approval saying, this is made in Oklahoma. the audience was a group of business owners who are in the food industry or who have been seasoned in the food industry. And these are big names that in Oklahoma, you name it. And, a different age range too. And I love having different perspectives in a workshop because to me, peer-to-peer learning can be so powerful when it's happening in the moment and it can unlock. The ability for people to have confidence in asking questions versus being too shy. And here's what I uncovered in that workshop. I uncovered through a exercise using ChatGPT that some people were using ChatGPT as a search engine. Which blew my mind. So the example was, I was talking to a woman and she said, oh, I don't use ChatGPT it doesn't work for me. And I was like, okay, tell me more, tell me more. And she said, yeah, I was trying to get, recipes for my pepper relish so that I can post recipes about my pepper relish business on Instagram, Facebook and newsletter and, fun things. And she was going to ChatGPT and just typing in"pepper relish. Pepper, relish." And at first I was like, okay, what? And then I realized, whoa, this was such an insightful thing to uncover, to understand how people's brains work and how different people might be using this. So through that, we were able to take a step back and the whole group was like, okay. What if you typed"ideas for pepper relish recipes that can be used for newsletter and social media content." Like really diving into what are you trying to accomplish here versus just throwing things in here. And that's another thing that I see often and I'm sure you do too, is there's a disconnect between people's brains. Ai, ie. The machine or what language learning model we're trying to put action through that we're not being as specific or articulate enough to the machine, and therefore we're getting, inadequate outcomes that don't meet our expectation, but we're not putting the information out there for it to meet that expectation.

This is such an interesting space. when ChatGPT first came out there were all these memes about how the other, AI assistants like Siri and Alexa and Google were all grumpy that they could only do things like look at your calendar and tell you the weather and set timers and chat. GPT was like this next level thing. But I think to a certain degree, there was almost a decade of these like smart in-home Devices that were really dumb and not very helpful and you couldn't say more than a couple things to them, right. And so we sort of trained ourselves that like, oh, assistants are kind of stupid. You gotta be like super, you gotta say it one way. And this whole change of mind of like, well, actually large language models, if you structure it well, if you're very clear about what you're trying to do, can, take these ideas to such a deeper space. You know, a lot of the advice that I'm seeing now is like, be more thorough. In explaining what you want, you know, be very specific and, to even have, layers of context, layers of detail and, structure, is, something that's kind of novel even in the last, two or three years of, exploring these ideas. super cool.

And we, we've lost the ability to articulate too. And I think the culture of immediacy and the culture of moving towards a more visual world versus one where we read is taken out the ability for people to use descriptive and objective words that paint more of a picture for someone. and I think that's another thing that I'm seeing in younger generations too, that were in high school during covid. that really are having a hard time putting descriptors to things, and I think that's something we need to really take into consideration here, as well as the impact of a technology on humanity's way of learning.

You gave me way too many things. My brain, no, my brain's just over here exploding. I'm gonna go totally off script. I'm actually gonna keep us a little bit focused'cause, I think a, the

conversation

can like, suck the air out of any room. and we are here to, dive into the deeper, ideas of innovation. When you're working both with big ideas and local orgs, when you're really, focused on having, these strong connections with the brands that you work with, how do you measure the impact of your work and how do you, see success in what you're doing?

Thank you for that question. I think it's a question that a lot of people should ask themselves every day, and when I was building the foundation for Coffey and Consult, I built it around a pillar of five brand values And we did this because it's so important to have that driving way pointer through a business. Otherwise, how do you know if you're being successful or if you're ever driving valuable impact? So our brand values answer, how do we uphold these values and brands and why? Why do we do it? So our brand values are candor, connection, empowerment, expertise, and innovation. So those are very specific to our industry, the value that we provide and the solutions that we bring to people. Now, when it comes to. having this all encompassing conversation with people. I really like to take things outta the box and do things differently because. If you do say things the same way and they're not working for you, that is a definition of insanity. So let's shift to something that maybe might be more beneficial. And I love it when people tell me that they never considered adding something or looking at something in a different way after having a fresh set of eyes. So having a fresh set of eyes and fresh set of perspective can be incredibly valuable. And as someone who brings public, private, and nonprofit experience into my consulting, that right there in itself provides a lot of ability to move quickly and strategically, but also be able to track value and meaning through meaningful metrics. I like to ask the client of what. Success means to them, what are their metrics? That way I can tailor their solution to ensure that we're both achieving success and we're both achieving a win together,

A, as a consultant, that's an important, but often overlooked detail, right? That even though you might have, an opinion, even though you might understand, what provides the most value to your clients' goals is in the end, the thing that will, create those lasting business relationships will drive that success that, ideally they're gonna be stoked on.

And I'll add, I'll add to that. you're gonna boost efficiency and productivity. You're gonna reduce costs. You're going to enhance understanding and competence across your team, improve decision making, which, oh my gosh, we need more of that. Decision fatigue is real. Fostering innovation and alleviating stress like that just right there to me is like a huge value-add of why wouldn't I wanna bring in a consultant into my company to help augment what you're currently doing.

I like how, the values that you discussed in those pillars, Line up so nicely with the ways that you're helping businesses understand what's going on. because it's a lot about being, open, reflecting on what's now listening, to all of your internal experts. if you can build. A culture where you're looking at the data, the team can talk with candor about what's going on. you're focused on goals and efficiency rather than, tasks and tools. All of a sudden, you've built a high performing team, not just, fixing one or two, problems. I love the way that all those

come together. Thank you.

So Ashley, as somebody who's looking, to build more efficient businesses and to help, founders live, in that unique voice, that unique space that they have, what's the glow up that you're looking to make in the next six months or so? And, how are you looking to elevate or take Coffey and consult,

to the next level? Thank you for this question. I love that it ties into the title of your podcast, the Glow Up, and also it's good to reflect on what does the glow up mean to you. Right. And honestly, as a business owner and entrepreneur and innovator, scaling is hard and it's something that I've thought about a lot. And ultimately my vision for the company was to like start small and be able to hire on 1099 contractors and build that so I can tap into the network of amazing people that I've met. Throughout the years that have these very specific skill sets that are being laid off from their companies that don't value that, unfortunately. So like providing that space for them to make a living wage and actually use their expertise in, in an innovative way. And it's, it's a hard, it's hard to do that. I mean, I tried to onboard a virtual admin and it is just. It just didn't work out and that's okay. And those were factors outside of my control. I don't consider that a waste because now I have great documentation of what I'm looking for and I can just use that for the next thing. So there's always gonna be some kind of challenge or obstacle. So really, what is a glow up? For me, it is focusing on my mental health as being a business owner and making sure that I'm taking time for myself so that I can show up as the best version of myself, not only for me, but my husband, the people around me, my friends. My professional colleagues and my clients what I have found myself doing in the first year or so of business is deprioritizing myself so I can prioritize my clients. I thought that that's just what you do when you're a hard worker. That's just what you do when you're run a business. And I realized very quickly that's not the case. So I have been shifting that a little bit to prioritize, but differently so that I'm showing up for my clients in the best possible way. And showing up for myself too. I see direct benefits from not just, you know, tracking my sleep, tracking how often I work out or spend time outside now that we're getting out of winter. Thank goodness. Seasonal depression is real. the glow up of Coffey and consult is, I have a three year roadmap of goals that I work with my business coach. And each time that we meet, we go over those goals to see am I on track? What do I need to lean into? And I'm on track from my one year goals. And so many times do I sit down with the anxiety of thinking I'm so far behind, and finally I'm like, oh my God, I'm actually not. So I encourage everyone to work with a business coach or if you can't utilize CGPT to visit, be your business coach. it's really important, but serving more clients, expanding the industry. Being able to get out of Oklahoma and serve clients in like Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, and that tech sarcoma region is ideal. And really seeing where XR is going excites me because Oklahoma is finally starting to pay attention to it again, even though It was here in 2018, it just wasn't being paid attention to. But the Chips and Science Act and the state initiatives are providing funding for virtual reality to be reintegrated into educational institutions. So that excites me, and I wanna bring that to some of my clients and that are looking for innovative ways to activate or provide solutions to their customers. that's the glow up. Hopefully we get there.

Oh my goodness. so I love that the glow up that you shared is a combination of. of Scaling your business, building into new markets and prioritizing your balance and focus as an entrepreneur, that trap of like, if I just hustle more, right, like hustle culture really did a bad thing for a lot of people's mental health, which is right if. you know, sort of the virtues of capitalism that really prioritize doing over, you know, being, can be just a trap for somebody who is passionate about an idea that wants to succeed faster. I talk a a lot with people that I coach and you know that I advise that like especially if you're in marketing, if you're in strategy, if you're in a creative field, you know a business founder needs to be somebody who can respond. Bond with a clear head. They need to be able to be decisive. They need to be able to be present, absorb things, move on. And those are things that you physically cannot do if you are in a state of fight or flight, right? If your sleep is messed up, if your cortisol is all jacked, like your brain and body will not let you think strategically. It will not let you think long term. And that's where you start to make, you know, choices out of out of fear and out of scarcity. And so by. Prioritizing your health. You know, making sure that the things that are important are getting done, not just doing all of the things or doing more things We can't do it all. We can't be the experts at everything. So like hire people to help coach you and keep you focused, you know, to give you that accountability, that, that time for reflection, Like get a therapist and make sure that you've got plan to get your brain and, anxiety on track so that you can be there for those customers. And so lovingly, like intertwined, these personal values. And these goals that you have for the org, it that takes a lot of courage, you know, to listen and, to find what works for you and, advocate for it. So, bravo.

Thank you. Thank you. And speaking of marketing, because I don't do enough, I'm stepping in as president of the American Marketing Association, Oklahoma City chapter starting in June, which is a nonprofit organization here in Oklahoma. There's a national organization called American Marketing Association. So I'm able to stay really on, keep my finger on the pulse of what the marketing trends are, but you're so right. I have found, and as as you age, that also changes and I've noticed that, That's really humbling. So as I continue to do more, like I teach at OU as an adjunct professor, a podcast host. I'm a business owner. I've tried to stay hydrated and be a good friend and wife and all those good things. And at the end of the day, it's like there's always gonna be something to do. And if everything's important, nothing is important. Tomorrow's gonna come, like, let's hope. you can only do your best. And if you're showing up and doing your best, that's all you can do. The rest of it is outta your control. the hustle culture is very toxic and can lead us to have these misshapen and beliefs of how we serve in our business. And then you start to feel the effects of that and it's not fun. And as a business owner, you gotta be on 24/7 You gotta be ready for any opportunity that comes your way.'cause it's gonna come to you when you're least prepared and you've gotta be able to turn it on and do it. Because I've found myself that if I overexert and I don't put those boundaries in, I find myself in those situations of potential opportunity that I lose out on because I'm not a hundred percent myself.

You can't pitch when you're burnt out and crashed out.

No

do you have your summer

vacation on your calendar

yet? yet I don't. So thank you for, I plan like, AWE,

I mean, it's not a vacation it's a conference

break,

summer break. Yes,

founders need breaks Founders

My husband and I will probably go to Colorado. That's our place to seek refuge and get recharged in nature.

I just put mine on my calendar last week, so

I love it.

gonna do that. it's it's my challenge

Thank you. I appreciate that.'cause that's a conversation my husband and I had too, of like, you know, being a founder and he has a full-time job and he loves what he does, but working with someone like me, it's sometimes hard to plan for the future. being made Any advice if I'm giving advice to anyone out there is just like, enjoy the journey. It's gonna be a fun ride.

Ashley, is there anything that you're looking for, to help you with this glow up or, any of the big goals that you have for these projects that you're working on? whether it's networking, learning partners, clients.

Great question. So first off, one would love to have people sign up for my weekly newsletter. I don't spam you. It's once a week, only Mondays. And it provides you with tech tips, an update of what's happening in the tech world, how it's impacting businesses, and a little bit of behind the scenes of being a business owner and entrepreneur. Technology, what are the trends that I'm seeing? I went to South by Southwest and did a recap of that, so there's a lot of value in that newsletter, and I invite people to subscribe. You can go to Coffey and consult.com/newsletter to sign up there. Super easy. Please follow me on Instagram. You can find Coffey and consult on Instagram at C-O-F-E-Y-A-N-D-E-C-O-N-S-U-L-T. Also the podcast Coffey and Code. Please do follow us on Instagram and YouTube and anywhere you get your podcast, you can be notified of new episodes go live and one. Also follow me on my social, my personal social. It's at@AshleyRCoffey89. And the reason why I say that is because every Friday you will get a reminder from yours truly to stay hydrated and do something nice for someone. And anyone can do that, regardless of your background, ability, how much money you have. Welcome.

Follow, like, subscribe. it's Coffey and code y'all. I love it. it has been, a treat to be reminded, to stay hydrated and to get a little peek into, the Oklahoma landscape throughout the year. So, I do recommend, signing on for the Fridays. We also like to make the opportunity to give a shout out to a community group or an org that's doing something, fantastic in the world. is there a shout out or a spotlight you'd like to, share your time with?

Absolutely. It's called Launch Ahead AI. It's built by Amnoni Myers, and I actually had Amnoni on my podcast and I realized that Launch Ahead existed because they are a startup here in Tulsa, Oklahoma that made it to the startup. pitch competition finals for South by Southwest. Amnoni was a foster child herself, and went through the foster care system and had a very. Unique experience and probably not an uncommon experience that a lot of foster kids go through. the reason why she developed Launch Ahead is to be a system that provides support for foster kids and caseworkers through self-assessments, resources, and the ability to actually know what's happening with the child and provide a more holistic care. So they actually, they didn't win the. Pitch competition, but they did win the inclusive award that was given out. So highly recommend checking them out. It's a great initiative and one that I believe in, and I hope to see it go to the next level'cause it's something that actually has tangible benefit and tangible good for the people that are, that are being left behind.

That's amazing. Thank you so much, for that. I can't wait to go learn more. And how cool to have, Oklahoma connections via South by Southwest.

Who would've thought, yeah, I looked at the whole list and only one was from Oklahoma, which was really surprising..

Ashley Coffey, it is always a pleasure to chat with you. I am so inspired, to hear about, the updates to the work that you're doing, both with Coffey and consult and, with the Coffey and Code Podcast and all the other, deep community engagement, that you're doing for, your community. there in. Oklahoma and, soon worldwide. it's great to talk about the power of ai, how to build mindful business processes that actually help you with your goals and how to not waste your money on tech, just for tech's sake. Thanks again for joining us today.

Thank you for having me, Nathan. This has been awesome. I appreciate the work that you put into the glow up to make it intentional for guests and for your listeners. So thank you for the work. It's been exciting to see your journey. We met through the technology world and here we are years later on each other's podcast, which I think is really cool. flowers. Yes.

Thank you so much.