AI Consulting
Practical AI for Businesses That Actually Have to Work
We both came out of Riot Games and Wargaming, and between us we have spent our careers making complicated operations run. Now we work with small businesses in Las Cruces and El Paso to find where AI genuinely helps, and to get it running without months of disruption or consultants who disappear after the invoice.
What we offer
Almost everyone begins with the assessment. Where it points, we go. Advisory and training are regional. Builds and care plans are remote-friendly, with no geography limit.
Start here
AI Readiness Assessment
$1,500
Almost every engagement starts here. We spend time inside your operations and come back with the two or three places AI could realistically save you time or money, plus the places it isn't worth the effort. You get a written deliverable either way.
- In-depth conversation about your current workflows
- Written summary of recommended tools and the reasoning behind each
- A clear list of what to skip, and why
- Stands alone as a deliverable, with no obligation to continue
Advisory and training
Regional work, in Las Cruces and El Paso. Some clients take one of these. Some take none.
Team Training & Workshops
A tool only helps if your team actually uses it. We run practical workshops, in person or remote, that get your people comfortable and confident without the jargon.
- Half-day or full-day formats
- Focused sessions on a single tool or workflow, if that is all you need
- Customized to your specific tools and industry
- Hands-on practice, not just slides
- Follow-up Q&A session included
Ongoing Advisory
AI is moving fast. For clients who want a steady hand, we offer monthly advisory sessions to help you stay current, troubleshoot what's not working, and plan next steps. This is strategic advice, not technical upkeep.
- Two monthly strategy sessions via video or in person
- Async support for quick questions between sessions
- Priority access when urgent issues come up
- Quarterly review of tools and ROI
Builds
Fixed price, fixed scope, no hourly billing. Remote-friendly, so geography is not a limit. If a build takes longer than we estimated, that is our problem and not your invoice.
Single Tool
$2,500
One tool that does one job properly. Discovery call and written scope up front, so you know what you are getting before we start.
- Discovery call and a written scope
- Build and testing
- One revision round
- Handoff walkthrough with written instructions
- 30 days of bug fixes
- Typical delivery: two weeks
Connected Workflow
$6,000
Several systems that need to talk to each other, with the handoffs automated and the failures surfaced instead of silent.
- Everything in Single Tool
- Integration across up to three existing systems
- Error handling and notifications
- Two revision rounds
- 60 days of bug fixes
- Typical delivery: three to four weeks
Custom System
From $12,000
Multi-workflow builds, AI-assisted processing, or anything replacing a role's worth of manual work. Scoped and priced after the assessment.
- Multi-workflow builds
- AI-assisted document and data processing
- Work that replaces a substantial manual process
- Priced after the assessment, never estimated blind
Care plans
For builds we have already delivered. A care plan keeps a tool running and lightly extended, which is a different product from Ongoing Advisory above: that one is strategic advice about what to do next, this one is technical upkeep of something that already exists. You can buy either, or both. Month to month, cancel with 30 days notice.
Maintenance
$350/mo
Keeps what we built running.
- Hosting and monitoring
- Bug fixes and breakage repair
- Email support, two-business-day response
Active
$1,200/mo
Running, plus a steady trickle of small improvements.
- Everything in Maintenance
- Up to 4 hours of changes or additions monthly
- Priority same-business-day response
- Quarterly review call
Partner
$2,800/mo
A standing share of our build capacity every month.
- Everything in Active
- Up to 12 hours of build work monthly
- Direct access, no ticket queue
One-Time & Add-On Services
Not every engagement needs to be a retainer. These are standalone services for businesses that need something specific.
Website AI Integration
Add a chatbot, review responder, or booking assistant to your existing website. Priced per project based on scope.
Bilingual Content Package
AI-assisted social media posts, email templates, or website copy in English and Spanish, built for the Las Cruces and El Paso market.
How we bill
The same terms apply to every build, so there is nothing to negotiate and nothing buried in an appendix.
- 50% deposit to start, balance due at delivery.
- Anything outside the written scope is a change order, quoted and approved before work begins.
- No hourly billing, ever. If a build takes longer than we estimated, that is our problem, not your invoice.
- Care plans are month to month. Cancel with 30 days notice.
Services are provided by Strategy and the Machine, LLC, a New Mexico limited liability company.
Who we work with
We focus on independently owned businesses in the Las Cruces and El Paso region for advisory and training work, and take build clients anywhere. Services are available in English and Spanish. If your industry isn't listed, reach out anyway. This list isn't exhaustive.
Healthcare & Medical
Dentists, chiropractors, urgent care, physical therapy. Reduce no-shows, handle after-hours inquiries, and stop losing patients who called once and never heard back.
Professional Services
Lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, financial advisors. Spend your hours on billable work instead of intake paperwork and unqualified leads.
Restaurants & Food Service
Fill more tables with less effort. Manage online reviews, keep your social media active, and handle reservations without tying up your staff.
Local Retail
Competing with online retailers is hard enough. Get consistent marketing, better customer follow-up, and more time to focus on the in-store experience.
Trades & Contractors
HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping. Capture more leads during peak season, tighten up scheduling, and automate the follow-ups that slip through the cracks.
Auto Services
Repair shops, detailing, tire shops. Stop losing customers to booking chaos, missed follow-ups, and seasonal demand swings you can see coming.
Nonprofits
Grant writing support, donor communications, volunteer coordination. We work with nonprofits at reduced rates where we can.
Worked Examples
These are models, not client stories. We built them from current tool pricing and realistic hourly costs so you can see how the arithmetic works before you spend anything. Every assumption in them is one we'll walk you through on a call, and change if it doesn't match your business.
Model: family restaurant
12 employees · single location · catering on the side
The Problem
Owner spending 3–4 hours weekly manually responding to reviews, losing track of underperforming menu items, and no system for following up with catering leads.
What We Did
- AI-assisted review response system
- Sales tracking dashboard
- Automated catering lead follow-up sequence
Results
- 3+ hours per week recovered
- Catering bookings up 40% in 90 days
- Eliminated $400/month marketing assistant cost
Total first-year ROI: ~$8,200
Model: outdoor retail shop
6 employees · ~800 SKUs · seasonal demand swings
The Problem
Over-ordering slow inventory, stockouts on fast-moving items, customer emails piling up unanswered, no profit visibility.
What We Did
- AI inventory forecasting
- Automated customer service assistant for common questions
- Profit-margin dashboard
Results
- Overstock purchases down 30%, freeing $12,000 in working capital
- 8 hours/week saved on email
- Stockouts eliminated on top 20 products
Total first-year ROI: ~$18,500
Every figure here is a projection. Ask us for the spreadsheet behind either model and we'll send it over.
Common Questions
Answers to the questions we hear most from business owners considering AI consulting.
An AI readiness assessment includes an in-depth conversation about your current workflows, a written summary of recommended tools and why they fit your business, an honest assessment of where AI is not worth the effort, and no upsell pressure. It stands alone as a deliverable, so you can take the recommendations and implement them yourself or with someone else.
It depends which service. Assessments, team training, and ongoing advisory are focused on independently owned businesses in the Las Cruces and El Paso region, because that work goes better in person. Builds and care plans are remote-friendly and have no geography limit, so we take those clients anywhere.
Most clients start with an AI Readiness Assessment, which is a flat $1,500 and stands alone as a deliverable. Builds are fixed price and fixed scope: a Single Tool is $2,500, a Connected Workflow is $6,000, and a Custom System starts at $12,000 and is priced after the assessment. Care plans for delivered builds run $350, $1,200, or $2,800 a month. Training and advisory retainers are scoped individually. There is no hourly billing, and the 30-minute introductory call is free.
They solve different problems and you can buy either, or both. Ongoing Advisory is strategic advice: what to do next, what is worth adopting, what to ignore. A Care Plan is technical upkeep of something we already built for you: hosting, monitoring, bug fixes, and a bounded amount of new work each month. If you want a thinking partner, that is advisory. If you want the tool we delivered to keep working and keep improving, that is a care plan.
We work with independently owned small businesses across healthcare, professional services, restaurants, retail, trades, auto services, and nonprofits in the Las Cruces and El Paso area, and remotely with build clients elsewhere. If your industry is not listed, reach out anyway.
A Single Tool build is typically two weeks from scope to handoff, and a Connected Workflow is three to four weeks. Larger custom systems are scoped after the assessment. Timeline depends on the complexity of your existing systems and how many workflows we are improving at once.
Ready to talk?
Start with a free 30-minute call. No commitment, no pitch, just an honest conversation about whether AI can help your business.
Already know the tool you want? Tell us about it and skip the diagnostic.