Anastasia Volynsky used Verizon’s free online training to build AI and digital skills, helping her save time and grow her social media followers by 80%.
At a glance
- AI skills for a solo entrepreneur: Verizon’s free training helped a jewelry company owner develop practical AI skills that save time and support smarter business decisions.
- AI put into practice: Volynsky uses AI to help automate invoicing, draft contracts, plan her week and make inventory decisions.
- More than 2x holiday sales: Sales during Lucky Goldie’s busiest season more than doubled compared with the previous year.
For solo entrepreneurs, putting AI and digital skills to work can create more time for what matters most: growing their business. Anastasia Volynsky, owner of the custom charm jewelry company Lucky Goldie, used Verizon’s free training to learn about AI tools that helped her automate tasks, sharpen her social media strategy and make more informed business decisions. In one year, her social media following grew by 80%, while sales during the holiday season, her busiest time of year, more than doubled over the previous year.
Volynsky had dreamed of making jewelry and owning her own business since childhood. When she became an entrepreneur, she went looking for guidance and found free small business AI courses through Verizon Small Business Digital Ready. Lucky Goldie is now “truly like a dream come true,” she says. “I just didn’t know how I was going to get here.”
She describes Verizon as a resource that helped her find the way forward: “I kind of look at Verizon as a mentor.”
Her experience reflects the goal of Verizon’s new Verizon AI Skills for America, which offers free AI training and certifications to help people build skills for an AI-driven workplace.
How AI tools help this small business owner save time
Volynsky credits the AI skills she developed through Verizon courses with helping her save time and automate routine business processes. As a solo entrepreneur, she found that AI could take on work she otherwise might not have time to do.
“I took a course called ‘Getting started with AI,’” she says. “It opened up my eyes to AI in general and made me understand what other platforms I could be using to make my life a little easier, especially because it’s just me.”
Volynsky helps a customer try on her custom necklace. Photo credit: Gabriela Hasbun
She has since automated invoicing, experimented with sales-generating chatbots and looked for other practical uses of AI. After taking a Verizon course on writing contracts, she used AI to draft a contract for corporate events. “I put two things that I learned together and ended up with a final contract that I now use,” she says.
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