Bigfoot Goes Digital — Post #1 of 10

When I launched Bigfoot Bounce Houses West MI, I figured the hardest part would be wrangling 300-pound inflatables into a trailer at 7am. Turns out, that’s the easy part. The hard part is everything else.

But let me back up. This isn’t my first time in the inflatable game. Back in college, I managed a company called Portable Inflatables. We operated all over the Thumb of Michigan, including the Detroit area. No winches, no tow straps, no powered dollies — just brute force and a lot of sweat. Rolling up a soaking wet 300-pound inflatable at the end of the night with nothing but your hands and a buddy? That was just Tuesday.

So when I started Bigfoot, I knew what I was getting into on the operations side. The setup, the teardown, the logistics — I had that down cold. What I didn’t have was any experience with the other side of running a business: the marketing, the ads, the content, the pricing strategy, the lead follow-ups. Running someone else’s operation and running your own are two completely different things.

I’m a one-person operation now. No marketing team. No assistant. Just me, a Jeep, and a growing pile of browser tabs. The emails, the Facebook posts, the ad campaigns, the pricing spreadsheets, the safety signage, the follow-ups with that mom who asked about a Saturday in July and then went silent — the business side was starting to bury me.

Then I started using AI — specifically Claude — as a business partner. Not a gimmick. Not a chatbot on my website. An actual behind-the-scenes operator that helps me run the parts of the business I never learned how to do.

What’s Changed in a Few Months

Here’s what looks different now compared to when I was doing everything manually:

• My Google Ads are tighter and cheaper. I went from burning $200/month on garbage clicks to getting double the qualified leads with the same budget. AI helped me build real negative keyword lists, target only the zip codes where I actually make money, and write ad copy that speaks to specific customers — not everyone at once.
• Leads get scored and followed up on automatically. Every inquiry that comes in gets tagged as hot, warm, or cold in under 60 seconds. I know exactly who to call first and who’s just browsing.
• A month of social posts takes me an afternoon instead of a weekend. I batch-create content calendars with brand voice prompts that sound like me, not like a robot wrote them.
• I have professional safety signs on every unit. I used AI to design 24×36 coroplast signs with proper safety rules and QR codes — no graphic designer needed.
• My pricing logic is actually logical. Delivery zones, surge rates for holidays, tiered pricing based on distance — all built with AI helping me think through the math.

Why I’m Writing This Series

I know the inflatable side of this business inside and out. I learned it in college — no fancy equipment back then, just hard work. But running the business? Marketing it? That’s the part nobody teaches you when you’re the one rolling up tarps at midnight.

This blog series is me pulling back the curtain. Every post will cover one specific thing I’m doing with AI in this business — the prompts, the workflows, the wins, and the stuff that didn’t work.

If you run a small service business, a party rental company, or really any solo operation where you’re wearing every hat, there’s something in here for you. AI didn’t replace the work I’m good at. It filled in the gaps where I had zero experience. And that’s the best hire I never had to make.

What’s Coming Next

Over the next nine weeks, I’ll be breaking down:

• How I built Google Ads campaigns so focused they only show to parents within 15 miles who are actively planning a party
• The system that scores every lead automatically
• How I create a month of social media content in one sitting
• Using AI to turn my Bigfoot mascot into a marketing machine
• Answering customer emails at 11pm without burning out
• Building smarter pricing with delivery zones and surge rates
• SEO tricks that help a one-person company outrank bigger operators
• Designing print materials without a designer
• And an honest look at what AI still can’t do in this business

Next up: how I used AI to build Google Ads campaigns that stopped wasting money and started booking real parties. That one changed the game.

Kevin
Bigfoot Bounce Houses West MI