I'm Jessica Hager, the founder of Backbone Studios. This is how I got here.
I built my first brand in the clean living space. A podcast, a blog, an online course, affiliate partnerships, in-person consulting. I was deep in it: educating people about what was actually in the products they were using every day and advocating for better alternatives.
I became a Beautycounter consultant and earned two trips to DC through the company. The second one was right before Beautycounter shut down entirely in 2024.
But here's the thing that matters for this story: I was always the person building the systems behind it. Figuring out how to make the content work harder, how to automate the follow-up, how to run operations that let me focus on the parts I was actually good at. I was doing online business management before I had a name for it.
For most of those 20 years, I struggled with something I couldn't name. I'd get incredibly clear and passionate about what I was building. Then a roadblock would hit, and by the time I dealt with it, I'd lost sight of the original goal. I'd end up going down a different path entirely.
I was eventually diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type). Late, like a lot of women. And even after I got the support I needed, running a business while raising twin boys as a single mom was still overwhelming. The ideas were always there. The systems knowledge was there. What was missing was the capacity to do all of it, with a limited budget to hire help for myself or my clients.
When I started implementing simple AI systems in my own life and work, everything shifted. The years of understanding what businesses need, but not having the tools or the manpower to build it, were suddenly not a limitation anymore.
AI didn't replace the knowledge I'd built over two decades. It unlocked it. The systems I always knew small businesses needed, the ones I could see clearly but couldn't build alone on a tight budget, were now buildable. Quickly. At a fraction of what it would have cost to hire a team.
That realization changed what I could offer. Not just advice about what a business should be doing, but the actual built system, delivered and running.
Backbone Studios is what happens when two decades of small business operations experience meets AI. I'm an online business manager and AI systems specialist, and I work inside small businesses to build the operational backbone that lets founders focus on the work that only they can do.
That means AI-powered client intake, automated follow-up, content workflows, scheduling systems, knowledge bases, and the kind of behind-the-scenes infrastructure that used to require a full operations hire. I build it, I maintain it, and I make sure it actually gets used.
Same observational brain that noticed what was breaking down in people's homes and products is now noticing what's breaking down in people's businesses. Different industry, same instinct.
I work primarily with women-owned small businesses. Solo founders, practitioners, service businesses that have outgrown DIY but don't have the budget for a full operations team.
The businesses I work with are competing against companies with endless budgets and entire departments. AI is the equalizer. A solo bakery owner can now have the same automated follow-up, content pipeline, and operational infrastructure as a chain with 50 employees. A nurse practitioner running her own practice can have a booking and intake system that would have cost $50,000 to build five years ago.
That's the work. Build the systems, hand them over, and watch the business owner get back to doing what she does best.
I work with a handful of clients at a time. That means I'm in your operations weekly, not checking in monthly from a distance.
If Backbone Studios isn't the right fit, I'll tell you. If something won't move the needle, I won't sell it to you. Referrals are free.
I don't hand over a strategy doc and wish you luck. I build the system, test it, and make sure it works before I call it done.
Everything I build is designed around what small businesses can actually afford. No enterprise pricing, no surprise invoices, no tools with $500/month subscriptions.
Start with the free discovery intake. Tell me where you're stuck, and I'll send back a personal recommendation within 3 business days.
Take the free discoveryOr email me directly: jessica@backbonestudios.co