From a small showroom in Alamogordo, New Mexico, Javier Casillas competes with national retailers using AI to give his lean team the capacity of a much larger one.
At a glance
- Business: Live Well Mattress & Furnishings, Alamogordo, New Mexico
- Owner: Javier Casillas, 30+ years in marketing
- SBDC: SBDC at NMSU Alamogordo, part of the New Mexico SBDC network
- Advisor: Trish Livingston, Center Director and 2024 AI U participant
- AI tools: ChatGPT and Google Gemini
- Results: 12x more monthly organic views, content reaching up to 80,000 views, and 159 five-star Google reviews
Where a mattress still has to be tried
Nearly anything can be ordered online and delivered by morning, yet a mattress remains one of the few purchases most people still want to experience in person. Shoppers want to lie down, test the support, and feel confident before committing to something they will use every night for years.
That makes location matter. Live Well Mattress & Furnishings sits in Alamogordo, a high-desert city in southern New Mexico’s Tularosa Basin, a 1.5-hour drive from Las Cruces, NM. For families in Southeastern New Mexico, Live Well is a local resource for one of the most personal purchases they will make, in a region where the nearest alternative showroom can be a long drive away.
Serving that market comes with a unique set of challenges:
- A long sales cycle. A mattress is a significant, personal purchase, and most customers compare options for weeks before committing.
- Few repeat buyers. A good mattress lasts for years, so Live Well is always working to reach its next new customer.
- National competition. Large brands sell direct to consumers online, backed by marketing budgets no local store can match.
- A lean team. Javier manages marketing, finances, and customer follow-up alongside the sales floor.
Through it all, he relies on the advantage every small business shares. “In this day and age, the only thing a small business has to compete with corporate entities is trust,” Javier says.
How Live Well Mattress & Furnishings puts AI to work
Javier deploys ChatGPT and Gemini as working agents across every corner of the business.
- Personalized follow-up. AI keeps track of each customer’s earlier conversations, in the store and over the phone, and helps him draft follow-up emails in his own voice, centered on that customer’s sleep concerns.
- Educational content. AI supports his YouTube channel, where he tests each mattress himself and rates it for back, side, and stomach sleepers.
- Financial insight. He uses AI to analyze business performance, work through financial information, and plan ahead.
- Everyday operations. AI handles meeting preparation and organizes information across Gmail and Google Drive.
His content follows one guiding principle: educate first. “Very rarely have I made a video just to sell,” he says. “That would break our trust building.”
My productivity has skyrocketed. Work that once required hours of research, analysis and preparation can now be completed much faster. It doesn't make the decisions for me, it helps me reach better informed decisions faster.
A sale from 1,000+ miles away
That approach once brought a call from Asheville, North Carolina. A couple had been studying Javier’s video reviews online and found themselves torn between two mattresses. Both were side sleepers, and both were convinced they needed something super firm.
Javier took the time to understand their builds, traded videos with them, and walked them through the fit in an hour-long video consultation. They chose the mattress that truly suited them, then posted a review praising an experience they never expected. That review went on to generate additional online sales.
The results
Customers are finding Live Well, trusting it, and recommending it.
- 12x growth in organic views, from about 100 a month to 1,200 a month
- Up to 4x greater reach, with content that once drew 20,000 views now reaching 60,000 to 80,000
- 159 five-star Google reviews
- Better-informed customers, many of whom tell Javier his videos, posts, and reviews brought them through the door
The SBDC behind the story
Javier has worked with the SBDC at NMSU Alamogordo, part of the New Mexico SBDC network, since he first opened his doors. Center Director Trish Livingston has advised him through business planning, market research, marketing strategy, and the challenges of COVID.
The training. In 2024, New Mexico SBDC Executive Director Russell Wyrick selected Trish and other advisors with a strong interest in AI to attend the first AI U cohort from America’s SBDC. Working alongside SBDC advisors from across the country, she explored practical applications for businesses of every kind, from marketing to reviewing complex documents. She returned with sharper skills, greater confidence teaching AI, and a national network of peers to keep learning from.
The workshops. Trish put that training to work right away, launching AI for Small Business workshops in Alamogordo and Ruidoso and building AI into her marketing and financial management classes. “I wanted our clients to understand that AI wasn’t just for large companies,” she says. “It was something they could use in their everyday businesses.”
The partnership. With three decades of marketing experience and a long record of helping fellow business owners, Javier became a natural collaborator. He now co-teaches AI workshops alongside Trish, including sessions for Alamogordo MainStreet businesses. “Javier is what I would call an ideal client,” Trish says. “He’s always learning, he’s innovative, and he’s willing to share his knowledge and help others succeed.”
The advising. AI U has also strengthened how Trish serves every client. Research that once took weeks, such as a recent restaurant feasibility study, now takes about half a day. “AI doesn’t replace our experience,” she says. “But it allows us to research faster, ask better questions, and spend more time helping business owners make informed decisions.”
Why AI for rural small business matters
Rural small businesses often operate without the staff, budgets, and technical expertise available to their urban counterparts. Trish sees AI as the fastest way to close that gap. “Through SBDC advising and training, we can help these businesses catch up, become more competitive, and take advantage of technology that was previously out of their reach,” she says. “Javier is a great example of what’s possible.”
AI U is built to multiply that impact. Every advisor America’s SBDC trains returns to a local center, a roster of clients, and a community of small businesses ready to grow.
Since 2024, AI U has certified 547 SBDC advisors, who have gone on to train 1,000+ more staff across their networks. Together, they have brought AI-specific guidance to more than 8,000 small businesses nationwide.
In Alamogordo, one advisor’s training has grown into a workshop series reaching Main Street businesses in rural New Mexico, and a mattress store whose reputation now travels far beyond city limits.