About
I build AI systems for my own businesses first.
Then I build them for yours. I'm Ethan Peterson, a Utah-based marketer turned operator who got tired of watching good companies drown in busywork AI can already handle.
Ethan Peterson
Founder, Peak AI Consulting · Utah
My story
I started in marketing because I liked figuring out why people buy. Over ten years I ran campaigns, rebuilt websites, untangled CRMs and built reporting for more than 30 brands.
The pattern never changed. Owners knew what needed to happen: follow up with every lead, send the quote today, update the customer, check the numbers. They just didn't have the hours. Good businesses lost deals to slower, worse competitors because a lead sat in an inbox for two days.
When AI tools got good enough to do real work, I started building with them on my own companies first. At Pickled Court and Peak Engine I've shipped a CRM, an estimator, project management, an AI lead-response system and a website pipeline that goes from research to deploy. My own week runs on a command center I built.
Peak AI Consulting is how I bring that to other owner-led businesses. I'm not a strategist who hands off a deck, and I'm not an agency that builds whatever you ask for. I find where AI actually pays, build it myself, and stay accountable for whether your team uses it.
If it doesn't make your business faster or more profitable, it isn't worth doing. That's the bar.
What I run
The businesses behind the advice
Everything I recommend has been tested in companies where I'm on the hook for the results.
Pickled Court
Pickleball court construction franchise
I run the business side: marketing, CRM, franchise systems and the software behind them. Project management, lead handling and reporting all run on tools I built with AI.
Peak Engine
Growth for home-service contractors
My company that gets contractors booked jobs. The service is run by people; the tools are AI-native: a CRM, estimator, project management and lead-response system, all included with the service.
Client builds
Websites, automations, analytics
A decade of client work across health and wellness, home services, med-spa, retail and professional services. Websites, ad accounts, CRMs and the automations that connect them.
Background
Ten years of marketing, growth and systems
Where it started
BYU AdLab
BYU's student ad agency. Real campaigns for real brand partners, which taught me that marketing is mostly applied psychology with a spreadsheet.
BYU Broadcasting
Leading a team of 12
Ran social for BYU Sports Nation and managed Google, Meta, Spotify and email campaigns with real budgets on the line.
Leadgenix
Growth at scale
SEO, CRO, link acquisition and reporting systems on accounts spending six figures a month on ads.
2016 – today
Independent practice
30+ brands served (startups, agencies, nonprofits and local businesses) across websites, paid media, SEO and analytics.
2025 – today
Vibrant Wellness
Started as Performance Marketing Manager and moved up to Marketing Intelligence Manager. I own SEO, paid media, CRO, analytics and RevOps.
Now
Operator
Running Pickled Court and Peak Engine alongside my role at Vibrant Wellness, all on AI-first systems I build.
Philosophy
How I think about AI in a small business
Ship, then polish
A working system in three weeks beats a perfect plan in three months. You learn more from real usage than from any workshop.
Boring is the point
The best AI wins are unglamorous: answering every lead in minutes, killing double data entry, writing the first draft of every quote.
Humans stay in charge
AI drafts, sorts and follows up. People decide, approve and build relationships. Guardrails go anywhere a mistake would cost you.
Numbers or it didn't happen
Every project starts with a baseline and ends with hours saved and dollars measured. If it isn't paying off, we change it or stop.
Let's see what AI can take off your plate.
Book a free 30-minute call. I'll ask about your team, your tools and where the hours go, and tell you honestly whether AI is worth it for you right now.