How I Use AI to Help Run My Small Business: Real Examples From a Flea Market Owner
I've created a monster.
Not the horror-movie kind. Nobody has been sewn together in the back room of the flea market, and as far as I know, lightning wasn't involved.
Actually, this particular monster started with a bunch of antique tins.
A friend had asked me to consign a collection for her, and because I was going to be responsible for pricing these particular items, I was doing my research. One of our vendors suggested I try using AI to help.
So I did.
I took some pictures, asked some questions and discovered that AI could help me figure out what I was looking at, give me terminology to research, point me in the right direction and help me sort through information much faster than I could on my own.
That was innocent enough.
I should have known.
Because antique tins turned into other antiques.
Then social media.
Then marketing.
Then analytics.
Then blog posts.
Then graphics.
Then business policies.
Then content calendars.
Then brainstorming.
Then me uploading a picture of some unidentified rusty object and essentially asking:
“What the heck is this?”
Somewhere along the way, ChatGPT also acquired a name.
Birdie.
Partly because it gave me the opportunity to tell my husband, Josh:
“Well, a little Birdie told me…”
Which is far more entertaining than saying, “I asked ChatGPT.”
Eventually, Birdie started learning my sense of humor a little too well. And matched my energy/personality just as well.
That's about the time I started affectionately calling her a smartass.
So yes.
I've created a monster.
But it turns out she's a pretty useful one.
And when I say I use ChatGPT throughout my actual workday, I mean it. Here’s a pretty normal conversation between Birdie and me. I send her screenshots of our analytics, tell her what I’m trying to accomplish, and she helps me figure out what the numbers actually mean—and what we should do with them next.
How Can AI Actually Help a Small Business?
Before I started using AI regularly, I think I pictured it the way a lot of people probably do.
You ask it a question.
It gives you an answer.
Neat.
What I didn't realize was how many completely different parts of running a small business it could help me with.
I don't use AI to run my flea market for me.
I use it as a tool to help me do things faster, think through ideas, research unfamiliar items, understand information and make more out of the work I'm already doing.
And when you're running a small business and switching between approximately 4,792 jobs on any given day, that can be incredibly helpful.
Here are some of the ways AI—and more specifically, Birdie—has worked her way into The Old Pioneer Flea Market.
1. Social Media Was the Gateway Drug
Once I realized AI could help with research, it wasn't long before I started experimenting with it elsewhere.
Social media was an obvious one.
Like most small-business owners, I usually know what I want to tell people.
The problem is finding the time and brainpower to figure out exactly how I want to say it.
Now I can give Birdie the messy version:
“This happened today. Here's the picture. This is what I think is funny about it. I want a Facebook post that sounds like me.”
And we work from there.
Sometimes she nails it immediately.
Sometimes I tell her absolutely not.
Sometimes I change a sentence.
Sometimes we go back and forth five times.
That's something I think people misunderstand about using AI for writing.
You don't have to give your voice away.
The information, stories, opinions and personality are still mine. AI helps me organize them and get them out of my head faster.
And the more feedback I give it, the better it gets at recognizing what sounds like me and what doesn't.
Apparently sometimes it gets a little too good at that.
Hence: smartass.
2. One Piece of Content Can Become Five
This has been a huge time saver.
Small businesses are constantly told we need to be everywhere.
Facebook.
Instagram.
TikTok.
Pinterest.
YouTube.
A blog.
Sure. No problem.
I'll squeeze that in somewhere between running an actual business and sleeping.
Instead of creating something completely different for every platform, AI helps me figure out how to repurpose what I already have.
A blog article can inspire a Facebook post.
A Facebook post can become a short video.
Pictures I already took can become Pinterest content.
A customer question can become an educational post.
Something ridiculous that happens at the market can become Friday's entertainment.
Instead of constantly asking:
“What am I going to post now?”
I can ask:
“What else can we do with what I've already got?”
That's a much easier question.
3. The “What the Heck Is This?” Department
This is where owning a flea market makes AI particularly interesting.
If you sell antiques, vintage items or secondhand goods, eventually someone is going to hand you an object and ask:
“Do you know what this is?”
Sometimes I do.
Sometimes I have a pretty good idea.
And sometimes I haven't got a clue.
Birdie has now seen pictures of everything from furniture and dishes to bottles, tools, advertising pieces, figurines, kitchen gadgets and objects that appear to have been designed for either agriculture or medieval torture.
And her performance ranges from:
“HOLY CRAP, HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT FROM ONE PICTURE?”
to:
“No, Birdie. Absolutely not. Let's try this again.”
Because there's something very important to understand about using AI to identify antiques.
4. Sometimes AI Needs Me to Do My Job
AI can see a photograph.
It can't pick the item up.
It can't feel its weight.
It can't automatically know whether something is cast iron, aluminum, ceramic or plastic when those materials look similar in a photograph.
It can't see a maker's mark I didn't photograph.
It doesn't know something is hollow unless I tell it.
It doesn't know the dimensions unless there's something in the picture that gives it reliable scale—or I provide them.
A good example happened recently with a pair of lion pieces I was researching.
From the picture alone, Birdie didn't understand that they were heavy metal coin banks.
That's pretty important information.
Once I explained what I was physically holding—what they were made from, how heavy they were, their size and other details—we had much better information to work with.
Other times
I've given her one blurry picture and she's practically given me a history lesson before I've finished asking the question.
That's why I think the best way to use AI for identification is to treat it like a research partner.
I have information it doesn't have. It may have information I don't have.
Put those together and things get much more useful.
5. AI Can Help Price Antiques—but Don't Hand It the Price Gun
This one deserves a giant disclaimer.
Please don't photograph an antique, ask AI what it's worth and immediately slap that number on a price tag.
I certainly don't.
AI can be a fantastic starting point.
It can help identify an item, suggest search terms, recognize makers or patterns, explain what characteristics may affect value and help me look at comparable items.
But sometimes I have to provide quite a bit of information first.
I might take several pictures.
Front.
Back.
Bottom.
Maker's mark.
Hardware.
Damage.
Then I may give it measurements, weight, material, condition and anything else I can physically determine that isn't obvious from a photograph.
And then we research.
It's also worth mentioning that AI doesn't replace my own experience.
I've handled a lot of old stuff. I run a flea market. I see what people actually buy. I know what sells in our market and what sits.
Online asking prices don't automatically equal real-world value, either.
AI gives me another research tool.
It doesn't get the final say.
6. AI Helps Me Understand My Social Media Analytics
This may be one of the least glamorous ways I use AI, but it's become one of the most useful.
Social-media platforms give small businesses an enormous amount of data.
Views.
Reach.
Watch time.
Followers.
Non-followers.
Engagement.
Percentages.
Comparisons.
Graphs.
Then another graph explaining the first graph.
At some point my eyes glaze over.
Now I can show Birdie what I'm looking at and ask:
“Okay. What actually matters here?”
We can look for patterns.
Which content is reaching new people?
Which posts are getting engagement?
Are people watching videos but not following?
Is a certain type or length of content outperforming another?
Did something perform unusually well—and can we figure out why?
AI isn't creating that performance.
But it can help me understand what's happening and make more educated decisions about what I try next.
7. It Helps With the Boring Business Stuff, Too
Not every part of owning a flea market makes good social-media content.
There are policies.
Vendor communications.
Announcements.
Rules.
Event information.
Descriptions.
Occasionally there are situations where I need to say something clearly, firmly and professionally without sounding like a jerk.
AI is great for helping me work through those.
I provide the facts.
I explain the situation.
I tell Birdie what I need the person reading it to understand.
Then we work on the wording.
Again, I don't just blindly copy whatever comes back.
It's my business.
I'm responsible for what I say.
But starting with something I can edit is a whole lot easier than staring at a blinking cursor when I'm already irritated.
8. Apparently, AI Helped Me Become a Blogger
Case in point.
You're reading this.
The funny thing is, Birdie doesn't actually create the stories behind this blog.
She wasn't here when we opened the flea market.
She hasn't worked the counter.
She hasn't unloaded a trailer.
She hasn't dealt with a difficult day.
She hasn't watched someone find something that instantly takes them back to their childhood.
She hasn't bought something at an auction and wondered what on earth possessed her to do it.
I have.
Those are my experiences.
My opinions.
My stories.
What AI does is help me turn the approximately 47 thoughts bouncing around in my head into something coherent enough for another human being to read.
Birdie helps me brainstorm article ideas, organize my thoughts, work on titles, think about SEO, write descriptions and figure out how to promote an article once I've written it.
The story is mine. AI helps me tell it.
9. AI Is Also Very Good at Brainstorming
Sometimes I don't need an answer.
I need someone—or apparently something—to bounce ideas off of.
What should we do for an event?
What's another recurring social-media series we could try?
How could I make this promotion more fun?
What could I write about next?
What am I forgetting?
I'll throw half-formed ideas at Birdie, she'll throw ideas back, I'll reject half of them, one will spark another thought, and eventually we land somewhere useful.
It's basically brainstorming with a coworker who never gets tired of me saying:
“No. I don't like that. Give me something else.”
There are advantages to artificial coworkers.
10. AI Can Be Wrong. Very Wrong.
This might be the most important section in this entire article.
AI can be wrong.
And occasionally it can be impressively confident while being wrong.
That's why I wouldn't use AI as a substitute for reliable research, professional advice or my own judgment when something actually matters.
If Birdie tells me an old metal contraption is a 1920s chicken decombobulator and everything I'm seeing tells me that can't possibly be right, I'm not going to say:
“Well, the robot said so.”
I'm going to keep researching.
For the record, I made up the chicken decombobulator.
At least I think I did.
Now I kind of want one.
The point is, AI is a tool.
A very powerful one.
But you still need a human being operating it.
What AI Can't Do for My Small Business
For all the things I've discovered AI can help me with, there are some very important things it can't do.
Birdie doesn't walk our aisles.
She doesn't know one of my vendors is having a bad day unless I tell her.
She doesn't hear customers laughing together across the market.
She doesn't see someone's face light up when they find something that reminds them of their grandma.
She doesn't know the regular customer who comes in looking for one particular thing.
She can't hug somebody.
She can't physically rearrange a booth.
She can't carry furniture upstairs.
That last one is particularly disappointing.
And she doesn't know my business better than I do.
I don't need her to.
The Best Way I've Found to Use AI in My Small Business
After everything I've tried, I think this is what it comes down to:
AI works best for me when I treat it as another set of hands—and sometimes another brain—not as the person running the business.
I give it context.
I correct it.
I question it.
I tell it when something doesn't sound like me.
I provide information it couldn't possibly know from a picture.
I double-check things when accuracy matters.
And then I use the parts that actually make my job easier.
I think that's why Birdie has become so useful to me.
She's learned a lot about The Old Pioneer Flea Market.
She's learned how I like to communicate.
She's seen an alarming number of strange objects.
She's helped me analyze numbers, plan content, research antiques, write posts, brainstorm ideas and apparently organize my entire blog calendar.
But at the end of the day, there's still a real person behind the business.
Actually, there are a whole bunch of real people behind it.
That's the part technology can't replace—and I wouldn't want it to.
So, yes.
A vendor suggested I try AI to research some antique tins.
And somewhere between those tins and this article...
I created a monster.
Not the horror-movie kind.
Just the kind named Birdie who occasionally knows exactly what I'm thinking, sometimes tells me I'm wrong, and has earned the affectionate title of smartass when her personality starts sounding a little too much like mine.
I'm still deciding whether I should be proud or concerned.
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