I heard at a conference once: “Entrepreneurs work 70 hours a week for themselves so they don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else.” The room reacted with a lot of head nods and chuckles. There’s something special about business owners who started their venture because they just wanted to see their vision come to life. That was me. I just wanted to turn the idea I had into reality. Let me tell you about it.
From the Army to Escape Rooms
In 2016, after retiring from the Army after 20 years of service, I wanted to try my hand at business. The Army taught me a lot of useful skills: leadership, wherewithal, Python and C++ coding, and most importantly a relentless temperament to accomplish the mission, no matter the cost. I dove into the business world head-first, using my programming skills to create high-tech Escape Room props for the budding Escape Room industry. The demand was high. But there was only one of me.
I was the concept designer, logic writer, code writer, alpha and beta tester, photographer, marketer, and shipping manager. Of course, those pesky “other business tasks” kept getting in the way of production and progress: payroll, social media, bookkeeping, tax filing, licensing… gah! I had no other choice but to hire additional staff, including an office manager.
Administrative staffing, as it turns out, is one of the single biggest expenses in a small business, even if it’s a necessary one. More cost, less profit. Less profit, the more projects you have to take on. The more projects you have to take on, the more staff you have to hire. It’s a vicious cycle.
At this point, I was creating Escape Rooms and props at scale. Staff had grown to include admin, hardware specialists, carpenters, and an additional programmer. Realizing I might be on the wrong side of the Escape Room transaction, I shifted focus to building our own Escape Room in Augusta, Georgia. We launched in 2017.
Owning a venue, while different, comes with its own challenges. Now I’m dealing with waiver systems, booking systems, camera systems, command-and-control systems, on top of the standard payroll, insurance, and all the other business matters that demand their share of attention.
The Pandemic Pivot
In 2020, the Escape Room world changed. The pandemic that shuttered all of our businesses for weeks also changed the landscape of what people were willing to do at a venue, including getting into a small room with guests they didn’t know. The business model had to shift to private rooms. I was not going to be able to sustain that. A date night now got the entire Escape Room for the price of two tickets.
I had to pivot, yet again. I had always hosted Axe Throwing as one of our experiences, but it was just a quarter of what we did. So I reconfigured the venue into a premier Axe Throwing facility, home to tournaments, leagues, casual throwing, and a bar. In 2021, I pivoted. It was a simpler business model. At least, that’s what I tried to convince myself of.
As a small business owner, the entirety of the customer experience lands squarely on your shoulders. From intake to farewell, the details are carefully curated to create the best environment for your guests. Many of these tasks happen behind the scenes. In my case, that included axe selection. The hatchets needed to be durable, light enough to throw, but hearty enough to stick. The wood they throw at needed to be durable, but soft enough to accept the blade of an axe in flight. What are the best drinks to serve? What are the best snacks? Should we always have classic rock cranked to the max?
While all of that is going on, someone fills out a request for a corporate event. Pricing sheet sent. Another guest is inquiring about league participation. Sign-up form provided. We want to run a special for the new beverage my distributor talked me into carrying. Social media ad created. Oh wait… I haven’t heard back from that corporate event request. This is the circus I built. I better get along with the clowns.
It was all doable. But it was exhausting.
Then AI Walked In
Alas, Artificial Intelligence (AI) began peeking its head out into the mainstream. Starting with ChatGPT, a business owner could have a helpful little assistant writing the first draft of a Facebook post that would eventually be boosted as an ad, or write a level-headed response to an email from an unhappy patron. This saved me on numerous occasions. “Re-write this email response so I don’t sound like a jerk.” I was grateful for the on-demand assistance. But dang it, I still forgot to follow up with that company I sent the pricing sheet to.
Then one day, I was watching YouTube, and a system called n8n came across my feed. Holy. Smokes. This changed everything.
At the time, n8n was the go-to platform for turning automations into agents by injecting a large language model into the mix. Imagine a standard automation. Do this, then that, then this. But with something that can contextualize the data and act accordingly. I was hooked.
I began transforming my venue’s business systems into an agentic enterprise. If you sent me a request for information about a team-building event, you’d get the pricing sheet immediately. The system would wait two days, and if I hadn’t heard back from you, it would send a follow-up. And another. My corporate event conversion rate nearly tripled. It was working. What else can I build with this thing?
Social media copy and graphics started streaming out of my system and into my Google Drive. I could finally get my business posting at the frequency all those small-business advertising workshops told me would “keep my algorithm happy.” Engagement went up. More feeds were serving me. It was working.
Why I Built Insomniac AI
This is when AI business tools started picking up real speed. The moment I’d learn how to build an agent for a task, a better version would be out the next week. It was hard to keep up. I was AI-ifying everything in my business. And it kept working. It worked so well that I was able to sell that business last year.
AI felt like the equalizer between what small businesses can do and what big businesses have been doing. I was having fun in business again. That’s when I founded Insomniac AI.
I found that many business owners in my area are using AI the way I used ChatGPT in the beginning, as a writing assistant, nothing more. And I found that there are very few AI practitioners lending their expertise to small businesses, a sector that needs it most. Not to replace people’s jobs, but to start doing the best-practice business tasks small businesses have been leaving on the floor for years.
Affordable solutions exist now. Smart CRMs. Agents trained on your business that can answer the phone when you’re with a customer, answer questions, even get them booked. Agents that help get your social media “algorithm healthy.” AI helps small business do big things.
This is a business I love.
Running a small business in Augusta and curious where AI could lighten your load? Book a strategy call or see what Insomniac Smart CRM does. No pitch deck, no pressure. Just a useful conversation.