AI Consulting for Rural Minnesota

Technology Built for
Your Business

You did not start your business, church, school, or nonprofit to spend your days buried in paperwork. We find the tasks that drain your team and build smart tools to handle them. Your people stay in the driver seat.

Book a Discovery Session See How We Work
12 Hours Average time saved per month by teams using digital assistants.
28 Years Of real experience in marketing, communications, and grant writing.
100% Human in the loop. Every agent we build keeps your people in charge.
01 Our Foundation

Why Studio 1044 Exists

We take you from uncertainty to confidence. Here is what drives every decision we make.

Built for Rural Minnesota

Kristyn lives and works in a rural community. She sees firsthand how much time small teams lose to busywork, and how much a smart tool can give back.

People First, Always

Technology should never push the human out of the picture. It should give the human more room to do the work that actually matters.

Your 25th Hour

We call the time you reclaim your 25th Hour. That is the space for creativity, strategy, and the community relationships only a real person can build.

28 Years of Real Experience

Kristyn brings 28 years in marketing, communications, and grant writing. She knows what it feels like to carry the workload of a whole team.

02 The Process

How We Help

We take you from uncertainty to confidence in four clear steps. Start with one phase or follow the full path. If your team made it through the Oregon Trail and learned to set a blinking VCR clock, you can handle this.

01
Phase One

AI Readiness Audit

This phase is a high level review of your current communication assets and operational workflows. We analyze how information moves through your organization to find where technology can provide the most relief. We identify specific manual bottlenecks and evaluate how well your current data supports your brand voice.

Core Deliverables

  • Identify workflow friction and manual bottlenecks
  • A prioritized roadmap for automation
  • Assessment of data readiness and brand voice consistency
Base: $500 to $1,000
02
Phase Two

AI Strategic Roadmap and Training

Following the discovery session, we move into strategic planning and staff training. We implement an AI 101 curriculum designed to prepare your team for new digital tools. This curriculum is built for non technical staff, so that everyone feels confident in the transition.

Strategic Objectives

  • Demystify complex technology for non technical staff members
  • Establish clear governance and acceptable use policies
  • Align AI capabilities with specific organizational goals
Fee: $1,500 per session
03
Phase Three

Custom Agent Builds

Implementation

We develop tailored AI assistants that function as digital extensions of your brand identity. These tools can include specialized Grant Agents for resource generation or Crisis Communications Agents for reputation protection. We specialize in creating agents that understand your unique organizational DNA.

Levels of Agent Complexity

  1. Reactive Agents: Human led tools designed for simple tasks like responding to frequently asked questions.
  2. Contextual Agents: Hybrid systems that integrate with your existing data, such as your CRM, to provide more personalized support.
  3. Autonomous and Agentic Systems: Autonomous agents execute complex business processes with minimal intervention. Agentic systems are multi agent frameworks where specialized tools work in coordination to manage full workflows across departments.
Base: $2,500 to $5,000  |  Scale: +$1,000 per tool + usage
04
Phase Four

Stewardship Retainers

System Maintenance

AI systems are not static. We provide continuous optimization to manage large language model drift and ensure your tools remain accurate as technology changes. We move beyond one time implementation to provide ongoing architectural oversight.

  • Operational Guard: System stability and maintenance of your baseline return on investment. We monitor for model drift, manage prompt versioning, and handle threshold management to prevent budget surprises.
  • Growth Orchestrator: Manages multi agent systems and handles operational scaling across departments. We provide proactive workflow redesign and constant updates to your knowledge bases so your agents scale with your business.
  • Transformation Lead: Full stack transformation and executive strategy to expand profit margins. We focus on competitive positioning and performance based incentive layers to maximize the impact of your digital labor.
Base: $500 to $1,200
03 Our Promise

Radical Transparency. Human in the Loop. Every Time.

We are honest about what AI can and cannot do. Every agent we build follows a human in the loop requirement. Kristyn performs a mandatory monthly audit on every system to protect your brand voice and ensure accuracy. Your trust is our primary measure of success.

12.2% More efficient on the right tasks
Monthly Founder audit on every active system
04 Add On Services

More Ways We Can Help

These standalone services can be added at any point. You do not need to be in the four phase model to get started with either one.

Standalone Service

Website Health Review

Your website is often the first place someone meets you. This review looks at how well your site shows up in traditional search results and how well it shows up when someone asks an AI assistant for a recommendation.

Delivered Report:

  • SEO review covering page structure, headings, and content clarity
  • AI visibility check across tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini
  • Brand voice consistency scan across public facing pages
  • Plain language action list with prioritized next steps

$1,500 to $3,000

Standalone Service

Fractional Marketing Director

Most small to mid sized organizations cannot afford a full time marketing director. But they still need one. This service gives you nearly 30 years of hands on marketing experience without the overhead of a full time hire. You choose what fits.

Retainer or project by project:

  • Brand strategy and voice development
  • Content creation, copywriting, and campaign planning
  • Grant writing for state, federal, and private funders
  • AI assisted content workflows built around your brand

Per project, monthly retainers, and hourly rates available

05 Speaking

Speaking Engagements

Topics adapted to fit chambers, schools, small businesses, and nonprofits.

AI 101

A plain language starting point for anyone who feels behind. What these tools are, what they are not, and where they fit in a normal day. No hype. Just a friendly first step.

AI for Business

How everyday tools take over the busywork so your team gets time back, about twelve hours a month. Real examples people can try the very next morning.

Building Custom Agents

What a custom AI helper is, where it saves the most time, and how your people stay the master craftsman while the tool handles the heavy lifting.

SEO and AI Optimization for Your Website

Be found by people and by AI. How search works today, why AI tools now answer questions for your customers, and simple steps to show up in both.

Also Available

  • You Already Survived the Oregon Trail. A confidence builder that links new tools to skills people already have.
  • Human in the Loop. Why people stay in charge, with good judgment and AI literacy at the center.
  • Spotting the Hype. A clear eyed look at what AI can and cannot do, plus the questions to ask before you trust any tool.

Not Sure Where to Start?

Start with a free conversation. Tell us what is on your plate. We will tell you honestly whether we are a good fit and what the right first step looks like for your organization.

  • 30 minute call
  • Local to rural Minnesota
  • No cost, no pressure
  • Honest fit assessment