You’re invited. One hour, and one problem off your plate.

“Give to help others.”

The first AI Brown Bag Where: Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space, Hathaway Creative Center, 10 Water St, downtown Waterville When: date announced soon. One hour, coffee on. Bring: a laptop or just your phone, and one real task that is eating your week. Cost: free. No tickets, no vendors, nobody selling you anything.

One hour. Six problems. Zero lectures.

0:00The six things, live. Quick real demos, from shops like yours.

0:15Pick yours. Everyone names the one eating their week.

0:20Do it, together. Pull out your real task. Someone sits with you until it is done.

0:55The close. Everyone answers one question: what would you actually try?

Nobody leaves with homework. You leave with one problem already gone.

Six things AI can do for you this week.

Real tasks from real shops. Each takes about ten minutes to try, and every card ends with a prompt you can steal.

Write the thing you keep putting off

Estimates, listings, the friendly‑but‑firm payment reminder, the apology that keeps a customer.

Steal this prompt“Rewrite this message so it is friendly but firm, and shorter: [paste it]”

Answer every customer

Replies to reviews and inquiries, quotes turned around the same day, a FAQ built from the questions you answer every week.

Steal this prompt“Here is a one‑star review. Draft a calm reply that owns the mistake and offers a fix: [paste it]”

Do a month of marketing in an hour

Social posts that sound like you, flyer copy, and your Google profile finally filled out.

Steal this prompt“Write 8 Facebook posts for a [your business] in [your town]. Plain local voice, no hashtag soup.”

Shrink the paperwork pile

Photograph a stack of receipts and get a tidy list. Summarize a lease. First‑draft an invoice.

Steal this prompt“Turn these receipt photos into a list with date, vendor, amount, and category.”

Read the fine print for you

Contracts in plain English. Three insurance quotes in one table. What that new rule actually means for your shop.

Steal this prompt“Compare these two quotes in a table and tell me what questions to ask before I sign.”

Take back your evenings

Dinner plans a kid will actually eat, the trip itinerary, homework help, the gift idea.

Steal this prompt“Plan five weeknight dinners a picky ten‑year‑old will eat, with one grocery list.”

AI is the great equalizer.

The greatest way to redistribute wealth is to increase participation in capitalism. Big companies win because they can afford a back office: schedulers, bookkeepers, marketers, collectors. AI hands that same back office to anyone with a truck, a storefront, or a license.

2xsmall‑business AI use has more than doubled since 2023

1 in 4owners using AI say it shortened their workday

US Chamber of Commerce and Intuit QuickBooks owner surveys, 2024 to 2026

Same wrenches. Same trucks. Big‑company margins, with your name still on the door.

Find your seat.

Two tracks run through everything: working with agents, and staying human. Free at every rung.

101 · bring your lunch

Use AI tonight

No jargon, no setup. Bring one real task from your week and leave with it done. This is where everyone starts.

201 · bring extra

Build with AI

Agents that do whole jobs. Your first workflows, your first harness, your first GitHub repo.

301 · run the lunch counter

Run on AI

Wire agents into a real business: quoting, books, marketing, dispatch. You review the work like a manager.