Anastasia Volynsky was slowly building her company’s social media presence by showcasing Lucky Goldie’s custom charm jewelry. But she wanted to quickly grow brand awareness of her San Francisco Bay area-based company, so she turned to Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. After applying learnings from the program’s free courses, Volynsky increased her social media followers by 80% and boosted her sales in the holiday season – her busiest time of year – by 144% over the previous year. She credits the sales growth in part to the AI aptitude she learned in Verizon courses, which allowed her to save time and automate processes. As a solo entrepreneur, Volynsky found that using AI allowed her to do things she simply wouldn’t have time for on her own. “I took a course called “Getting Started with AI” and it completely opened up my eyes to a whole different world of AI,” she says. Along with automating invoicing and experimenting with sales-generating chatbots, Volynsky began strategizing how to use AI wherever she could. After taking a Digital Ready course on writing contracts, for example, she then utilized AI to draft a contract to use at corporate events. “I put two things that I learned together and ended up with a final contract that I now use,” she explains. She also values Verizon as a resource she can return to, again and again, thanks to constantly refreshed offerings. “One thing that Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is really good at is keeping up with their courses and adding new things depending on what's going on and what’s trending,” Volynsky says. “They’re really good at adding new things like that.” Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is part of Verizon’s goal to support 1 million small businesses by 2030 with free resources to help them succeed. To sign up, visit Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. An individual user's experience may vary and results are not guaranteed.

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