About Garrett Mickley

Hi, I’m Garrett.

I’m an award winning technology strategist, Technical Director, writer, developer, and lifelong tinkerer with computers.

For roughly a decade, I’ve served as Communications+Technical Director for the American Institute of Building Design (AIBD), where I work on the technology behind a national professional association.

That means my experience with association technology comes from actually being inside one.

I’ve worked on membership systems, websites, e-commerce, online education, communications, support systems, forms, integrations, automation, internal workflows, and the assorted collection of software that accumulates when an organization has been around for a while.

Today, I’m especially interested in helping associations and nonprofits figure out what AI makes possible—but AI is only one part of the work.

I’m interested in making organizations work better.

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I like solving the expensive, boring problems.

I’m naturally drawn to systems.

• Why are we doing this manually?
• Why are we entering the same information twice?
• Why are we paying for this?
• Why don’t these two systems talk to each other?
• Why does this take six steps?
• Why does only one person know how this works?
• Could we automate it?
• Could we use something open source?
• Could AI handle part of it?
• Could we just stop doing it?

Those questions have been a recurring theme throughout my career.

I don’t think organizations need more technology for the sake of having more technology. They need technology that solves actual problems.

Sometimes…

• that’s a new AI workflow.
• it’s an automation.
• it’s connecting two systems that should have been connected years ago.
• it’s replacing an expensive service with something simpler or open source.

And sometimes the best technology decision is to buy absolutely nothing.

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My work at AIBD

I’ve spent roughly a decade as Communications+Technical Director for the American Institute of Building Design.

It’s given me firsthand experience with the realities of running technology inside an association: limited resources, legacy systems, changing member expectations, staff needs, boards and committees, vendors, volunteers, and software that doesn’t always cooperate.

I’ve helped build and improve systems across membership, education, e-commerce, communications, support, websites, internal operations, and more.

In 2026, AIBD honored that work with its Honor Award of Excellence.

I’m proud of the award, but I’m even more interested in what the work taught me.

The technically impressive solution isn’t always the right one.

The right solution is the one that works for the organization and the people who actually have to use it.

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I’ve taken a weird route here.

My background doesn’t fit neatly into one box.

I earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Video Game Design in 2014. I’ve worked in web development, digital marketing, SEO, research, content strategy, copywriting, and technology. I’ve built WordPress plugins. I’ve created OSINT guides used in professional training courses. I even had work published in 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.

I’ve also been a musician for most of my life and still make music.

For a long time, these things could look like a collection of unrelated interests.

I don’t really see them that way.

I like understanding systems, figuring out how things work, finding where they don’t work, and making something better.

That’s the common thread.

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Why AI?

AI has dramatically expanded what’s possible for small teams.

Work that would have required custom software, large amounts of staff time, or significant budgets a few years ago can sometimes be handled very differently now.

That’s exciting.

It also makes it incredibly easy to spend money solving the wrong problem.

I don’t think organizations should start by asking, 

“How can we use AI?”

Start with:

What are we trying to accomplish?

What’s getting in the way?

What would make the biggest difference?

Then we can decide whether the answer is AI, automation, open source, conventional software, a better process, or some combination of them.

Explore AI Strategy

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I also write about this stuff.

GarrettMickley.com is my professional home, but it’s also my personal website.

I write about AI, software, the internet, open source, technology, privacy, business, creativity, and whatever else I’m thinking deeply enough about to turn into words.

Some of that writing relates directly to my consulting work.

Some of it doesn’t.

I like it that way.

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Want to work together?

I specialize in technology strategy for associations and nonprofits, although I’m open to working with other organizations when there’s a good fit.

If you’re trying to figure out where AI could help, what you should automate, how you could reduce technology costs, or simply why something in your organization is much harder than it seems like it should be, I’d like to hear about it.

Explore Technology Strategy
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[Contact Me]

If someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI features who to hire, what to read, or where to start, your business needs more than keywords. It needs clear positioning, structured expertise, and words that machines can actually understand.

That’s the work I do.

What I Do

I work at the intersection of:

• Copywriting
• SEO and content strategy
• GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) / AEO (AI Engine Optimization) (What’s the difference?)
• Website messaging
• Research-driven brand positioning

In plain English:

I help businesses explain what they do so clearly and credibly that both humans and AI systems can understand it.

That can mean rewriting a homepage, building FAQ content, clarifying service pages, shaping thought leadership, or creating the kind of structured content that gets cited and reused in AI answers.

Why This Direction Makes Sense

I didn’t arrive here out of nowhere.

For more than a decade, I’ve been studying digital marketing, search, online behavior, and how people discover what matters to them. Over that time, I’ve worked across industries ranging from mobile video games to music and media to professional services.

The common thread has always been communication.

Not just writing words that sound good, but writing words that do a job:

• Explain something clearly
• Earn trust quickly
• Create emotional resonance
• Help the right people take the next step

That is exactly why GEO makes so much sense to me.

A lot of people are treating GEO like a purely technical discipline. I don’t think it is. The technical layer matters, but the real engine is language. AI can only recommend what it can understand, and it can only understand what you have actually said clearly.

That means the future belongs to businesses that can communicate with precision.

My Background

In my early twenties, I began what became a multi-decade-long study of digital marketing.

Along the way, I:

• Earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Video Game Design in 2014
• Helped businesses market products and services across multiple industries
• Worked on projects spanning content, search, strategy, and storytelling
• Had work published in the 22016 Autumn issue of the 2600 Hacker Quarterly (aff)
• Created OSINT guides that have been used in professional training courses

I also come from a creative background shaped by music, writing, and a lifelong interest in how culture moves through media.

That mix of technical curiosity and creative communication is what makes my work what it is.

What You’ll Find Here

This site is where I think in public.

You can expect to find:

• Writing about GEO, SEO, copywriting, and ethical marketing
• Notes from books, courses, and research rabbit holes
• Ideas about communication, design, technology, and culture
• Updates on projects I’m building
• Early looks at experiments, frameworks, and tools
• The occasional detour into whatever else I’m obsessing over at the moment

If that sounds broad, it is. I’m interested in a lot of things. But the thread running through all of it is the same: understanding how ideas spread, how people make decisions, and how better communication can actually matter.

Who I Work Best With

I’m especially well suited to work with:

• Experts whose value is obvious once you talk to them, but unclear on their website
• Niche businesses that need stronger positioning
• Service firms that want to be found in both traditional search and AI search
• Organizations with deep expertise but weak messaging
• People doing real work who are tired of shallow marketing

If your business is strong but your message is muddy, that is usually where I can help most.

A Better Way to Say It

Most marketing tries to be louder.

I’m more interested in making it clearer.

Because clarity builds trust. Trust creates action. And in an AI-shaped internet, clarity is increasingly what gets surfaced.

Social

If you want to follow along, connect on social, read the blog, or reach out about working together, you can do that below.

• LinkedIn
• Why I’m Not On (Most) Social Media

Testimonials: