I'm Mike Ford. I coach individuals and small businesses on AI, and I build the websites and marketing that go with it. This spring I used the same tools to launch a studio of my own in one weekend and close a paying client in the first week. We can do that with your work too.
In person in Fort Collins · or over video
I was a photographer for years. Along the way I got to help a college student studying fashion who was also a photographer. His problem: every garment idea had to be fully produced and then shot before he could tell whether anyone wanted it. Apparel shops have the same problem. They've paid $1,000 to $8,000 for a model shoot every time they wanted to show a few new designs on a real person.
So I set out to solve it with him. Using AI, I put a design he'd drawn on a consistent, realistic model in minutes, then spun it 360 degrees. Once he'd gotten real mileage out of it, I built a studio that does exactly that for other designers and apparel shops: Fort Forged.
The part that matters for you: to do this, I didn't hire anyone. The site, the brand, the model pipeline, the sales emails, the invoice, all of it was built with the same AI tools I coach people on. If you're wondering what these tools can do for a one-person shop, this is the answer.
Your laptop, your actual work. We pick the right tool for the job and set it up so it runs. Beginner to confident daily user in a sitting or two.
Custom-built, not a template. Written so both Google and the AI assistants can read it, since that's where your next customer is asking for recommendations.
Lizziestyle.com is my daughter's bracelet-and-clothing shop. I built and published the first draft from my phone, standing in line at Lamar's Donuts. It was live before she finished her doughnut.
Cold email, social, pitch decks, one-pagers, product visuals. I've run campaigns nationally across mediums and locally for Fort Collins shops.
Mike offered critical insight to help me grow my business using AI tools. We were able to sit down and figure out specific tools and models I could use to help me keep track of spending, sales, and marketing strategies.
I appreciated his ability to speak with me one on one, and we were able to do all of this while our kids spent the afternoon playing at the park together.
I highly recommend a consultation if you are considering the jump to using AI but are unsure of how to proceed. He was very knowledgeable and really helped me with the early growing pains of starting a business.
These four are not interchangeable, and they change every few months. I keep up so you don't have to. They are good at different things, and picking right is most of the battle. Tap one.
I'll tell you straight what it's actually good at, what it's bad at, and who should be using it. This is the same conversation we'd have in your first fifteen minutes. I just do it with your work in front of us.
Text tools get the headlines. Image and video generation is where I spend as much of my day, and it's what I did for a living before AI. A photographer's eye for light, lens, and composition is what separates a usable AI image from an obvious one.
Fort Forged runs on this. Every model photo and 360 spin on that site was generated, not shot. The same tools work for product photos, social content, ads, storyboards, and mockups for any local business.
Email, writing, research, planning, job hunting, learning something new. You have an account you barely open. We'll fix that in one sitting.
Nobody says how. So: quotes, scheduling, follow-up, marketing copy, product photos, and the paperwork that eats your week. Real work, off your plate.
You are. Almost everyone is. We go past the chat box: better prompts, the right tool for the job, and workflows that run without you.
You tell me what eats your time. I tell you honestly whether I can help. If I can't, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
Your laptop, your real work, your real problems. Coffee shop, your office, your kitchen table, or video. Not a class. A working session.
Not notes. Not homework. A thing that runs. Then you use it for a week, and we decide together whether there's more worth doing.
I spent years behind a camera. When AI image tools got good enough to replace a model shoot, I didn't write a think piece about it. I built a business on it. Before that I was building websites and running marketing campaigns for local businesses, and helping a college student launch his own company while he was still in school. His trajectory is fun to track.
I'm not a developer and I'm not a big agency. I'm one person in Fort Collins who uses these tools every day, for real work, and can show you how in plain language.
Tell me what's eating your week. I'll tell you whether AI actually fixes it, and I'll tell you if it doesn't.
Mike@FoCoAICoach.comCall or text 970-233-0865