Verizon
By Frances Moffett
At a glance
- Small business benefits from free AI courses: Verizon’s free skill-development programs for small-business owners helped Destynee Turner build AI and digital capabilities that supported her business’s growth.
- AI skills help save time, drive repeat customers: Turner used AI-enabled automation to reduce manual work, including inventory tasks and appointment reminders, saving time and encouraging repeat business.
- Application of AI creates revenue growth: Her new skills contributed to an approximate 20% revenue increase and gave her the insight for improved budgeting, seasonal planning and growth for her small business.
Destynee Turner became an optician because she loves helping people see. But growing The Optical Experience, her boutique optical shop in West Palm Beach, Florida, demanded business skills no opticianry program taught her.
To fill that gap, Turner took advantage of Verizon’s free skill-development program, Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, which offers 60+ courses, mentoring, networking and grant opportunities. Those events and courses gave her new strategies to tackle her biggest challenge: working too hard in her business, rather than on it. She applied what she learned, specifically around customer retention, to support her small business’s growth, driving an approximate 20% increase in revenue. Through the program, she also expanded her knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI).
Turner’s story shows how practical AI skills can help small-business owners save time, strengthen customer relationships and support growth. Small-business owners can explore Verizon’s free AI courses and resources and the new 12-week immersive Verizon Small Business AI Accelerator to discover new ways to put AI to work.
Driving small-business growth through personalized service
Working with clients was Turner’s motivation for launching her own business. After years in large-scale optical retail, where the fast pace left little room for personalized attention, she wanted to practice the kind of care she believed in. She started a mobile eyewear service in 2018, visiting clients at home and bringing the equipment to them.
In 2022, Turner opened The Optical Experience, designing the experience around one-on-one attention. She pre-selects frames based on each client’s preferences, and eye exams are conducted on-site via telehealth with a licensed optometrist. “I’ve literally created my own lane,” Turner says. “There are people who have mobile opticals and there are other opticians who have shops, but they’re nothing like mine.”
How AI-powered automation saves hours of busywork every month
Part of creating her own lane meant exploring tools she’d never used before, such as AI. When a shipment of frames arrives, Turner snaps a photo of the SKU numbers and uses AI to generate an inventory spreadsheet in seconds—work that used to eat up time she’d rather spend with clients. “I wouldn’t have been as comfortable with AI if I hadn’t taken the Verizon courses,” says Turner, who also uses business internet and phone services as a Verizon Business customer. “I’ve taken other courses, but the Verizon ones were more hands-on, actually showing you how to use it.”
Another new strategy Turner learned was to automate annual checkup reminders through an AI-powered platform, instead of managing them manually using spreadsheets. This shift saved her about three hours a month and increased revenue by keeping existing clients coming back.
Putting new digital skills to work beyond AI
In addition to AI, other Verizon courses have increased Turner’s business acumen. During an in-person event, she received a budgeting framework she uses to manage her business finances. Previously, Turner used accounting software, but was just logging expenses without knowing how much of her profit should go to operations, inventory or her own pay. The event showed her how to categorize spending and apply general rules, such as taking 20%-30% of profit as pay. From there, Turner built a custom budget, which helped her see where she was overspending: networking events that weren’t moving the business forward. Now, she only invests in opportunities directly tied to her growth.
Seasonal planning was another shift Turner made. Early on, the shop’s slow summers caught her off guard. “The Verizon courses helped me to strategize and think, ‘Okay, these are my off-months of the year. How do I plan for this?’” she says. Now, she launches promotions that help drive business in the summer and also uses that time to recharge with her family.
Now pursuing her doctorate in optometry—with about five years of schooling ahead—Turner plans to keep her shop open while she studies and to eventually open a second location in her community. The business skills she picked up through Verizon helped sharpen that ambition. “It’s really cool when you implement the knowledge from these courses and can actually see things changing and growing. Having these tools, with all these experts willing to share this information, is gold.”
Discover free AI courses and resources designed to help small-business owners put AI to work.