AI Is the Biggest Opportunity in Small Business History | Office Hours With Mike Cooch

In this Office Hours, Mike Cooch makes the case that AI represents the single biggest growth opportunity small businesses have ever seen - bigger than the internet - and explains why that puts agency owners in an incredibly powerful position right now. He tackles live questions on breaking into the restaurant niche with AI and POS integrations, why free websites beat voice AI for landing your first clients fast, and how to position your services around activities rather than outcomes. Mike also shares his "never do a double sale" rule and wraps up with a passionate pitch for why small businesses are the ideal AI customer. 00:00 - Welcome to Office Hours 05:43 - EV and self-driving industry trends 08:31 - Breaking into the restaurant niche with AI 11:26 - Integrating AI agents with POS systems 15:05 - AI makes almost any integration possible now 19:09 - Committing to a niche before building custom solutions 22:59 - Free websites vs. voice AI for getting first clients 23:58 - The double sale rule 27:21 - What to focus on in 2025: sales, marketing, and AI 29:52 - Why Mike recommends going all-in on HighLevel 31:43 - AI agents are the next big wave 32:37 - Why small businesses are the ideal AI customer 35:53 - Running a local media site vs. a directory 38:28 - HighLevel websites vs. WordPress 39:29 - Where responsibility for growth actually sits 43:29 - Selling activity-based services instead of results 46:23 - Packaging and pricing AI services 49:26 - How to do market research for a local business 51:54 - Final thoughts WHAT IS OFFICE HOURS? Office Hours are free calls for early-stage entrepreneurs—held weekly—with no agenda other than trying to help you with any questions you have about starting or growing your business! Click here to join our free community of thousands of entrepreneurs and register for future Office Hours calls: https://labspecial.com/office-hours WHO IS MIKE COOCH? Mike Cooch has founded successful, seven-figure businesses in technology services, agency services, publishing, and e-commerce (and flopped on a variety of attempts as well…keepin’ it real!). His businesses have been named to the INC Magazine List of Fastest-Growing Companies three years in a row and were also nominated as the Best Places to Work in their respective cities. He has an MBA from Babson College (the #1 ranked entrepreneurship school in the world 25+ years running—go Beavers!), where he has been a regular guest lecturer on the topic of ‘Managing a Rapidly Growing Business’ and a BS in Finance from Colorado State University. He has three children, is an avid skier, hiker and traveler, and is loving life in his adopted hometown of San Diego. His mission is to help other entrepreneurs build businesses that give them more freedom, more money, and more impact. RESOURCES 🟢 To learn more about his thoughts on HighLevel—what Mike believes is the #1 tool for Digital Agencies to use to deliver scalable, profitable services—and get a FREE TRIAL to the software, visit: https://servicesthatscale.com/highlevel 🟢 To learn more about Mike's HUGE HighLevel bonus package, visit https://servicesthatscale.com/highlevelbonus 🟢 To get more information on how to start a digital marketing agency using the Services That Scale strategies, visit https://servicesthatscale.com/start 🟢 To learn the 14 automated, high-margin digital marketing agency services that Mike likes best, visit https://servicesthatscale.com/14services 🟢 To register for FREE Q&A calls with Mike Cooch, join our community at https://labspecial.com/office-hours 🟢 Get FREE access to Mike's course on the 7 key strategies he's used to start and scale Agencies to multiple seven figures in revenue at https://servicesthatscale.com/growfaster STAY IN TOUCH! 🙌 Subscribe to my YouTube Channel! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getlvrg/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcooch Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mike_cooch/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecooch/ Visit https://servicesthatscale.com for strategies to scale your digital marketing agency, freelance, or consulting business quickly and profitably. Visit https://lvrg.com to discover growth strategies for online lifestyle entrepreneurs who want more freedom, more money, and more impact.