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Use AI like a consultant for pricing, grant applications and pitch reviews, and check every answer
Paola Huffmon, co-owner of Old Barrel Tea Co., a tea maker, retailer and wholesaler with a store in Albuquerque's Old Town, in the Albuquerque Journal
Per the Albuquerque Journal, after Huffmon and some of her staff took a six-week AI prompting course at Central New Mexico Community College, she has used AI to choose a training program suited to her business and budget, fill out grant applications, determine pricing amid tariff wars, add a particular tone to presentations, analyze a pitch from a variety of perspectives and create a curated list of cities to target for future expansion. She fact-checks what it gives her and writes clear prompts because AI can hallucinate. She has drawn the line at using AI to answer emails: "I think it's important to sound like a human." The article doesn't name the AI tool.
The article doesn't name the tool; ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (our DIY build)
Easy · or we do it from $149/mo
AI tool (not named)
The problem
Huffmon had to make consultant-sized calls for a small business, such as how to price amid the past year's tariff fights and where to expand, without a consultant's budget.
What happened
"It's like having a consultant," Huffmon says. "It's just consulting, but it's not the answer. I'm still going to check and use my mind and my ideas to check what it gave me and make the final decision." No figures were given. Self-reported.
Quoted in the source: Paola Huffmon, co-owner, Old Barrel Tea Co.. Source: Albuquerque Journal: 'We'd rather be ahead of the curve': How Albuquerque's small businesses are putting AI to work (Kylie Garcia) (2026-01-04) · Added 2026-10-20.
How to set it up yourself
- What Old Barrel Tea Co. does: per the Albuquerque Journal, the co-owner uses AI for pricing during tariff changes, grant applications, presentation tone, pitch reviews from several points of view and a shortlist of expansion cities, and checks everything it gives her. The article doesn't name the tool, so the steps below are our DIY build with ChatGPT.
- Pick one decision and write down your own facts: costs, current prices, the grant's questions, the pitch text or what you need from a new city.
- Paste the facts into ChatGPT with the prompt below. Ask it to show its reasoning and say what it isn't sure about.
- Check every number and claim yourself before you use it, and make the final call. Keep writing your own replies to customers if that matters to you, as it does to her.
Copy-paste prompt
Act as a consultant for {BUSINESS NAME}, a small {WHAT WE MAKE AND SELL} business in {CITY}. The question: {PRICING / GRANT ANSWER / PITCH REVIEW / EXPANSION CITIES}. My facts: {COSTS, PRICES, GRANT QUESTIONS, PITCH TEXT, CRITERIA}. Give me 2-3 options with your reasoning, look at it from the point of view of {CUSTOMERS / A GRANT REVIEWER / AN INVESTOR}, and list anything you're unsure about or would need to verify. Use only my facts; don't invent numbers, sources or statistics.One short email a day: 3 new AI use cases from real small businesses, each with its source and setup steps, plus a Tool of the Day. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Rather not do it yourself?
We'll set this up in your tools, in your voice, tested. $149/mo with setup included (6-month minimum), or $497 pay-once. Satisfaction guarantee: we'll fix it until it works. Pay-once setups: or we refund your setup fee. $149/mo plan: cancel in the first 30 days and we refund your first month. Terms. We reply within 1 business day.
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