Coaches teach fundamentals.
That's what BearTown AI is — coaching, not consulting. Built around a simple idea: most people don't need more AI hype. They need someone to sit with them and show them how to use it well.
Hager Patton
IT trainer · Lacrosse coach · New Bern lifer
I've spent my career as an IT trainer — teaching real people how to use technology that's supposed to make their lives easier (and often doesn't, until someone shows them how).
I'm also an assistant lacrosse coach for the New Bern Bears program, where I work with kids who are learning to do hard things on a tight timeline. The coaching mindset transfers directly to AI training: meet people where they are, focus on fundamentals, and run reps until it sticks.
BearTown AI is the combination of those two roles — bringing practical, hands-on AI training to the small businesses, nonprofits, and professionals who make eastern North Carolina what it is.
Three rules I don't break.
Plain English, always
If I can't explain it without jargon, I don't understand it well enough yet. Every concept gets translated into something you can actually use on Monday morning.
Your work, not demos
We train on your actual emails, your actual documents, your actual workflows. Generic examples don't stick — your real problems do.
You leave with a win
Every session ends with you having built or done something useful you couldn't do an hour earlier. No fluff, no theory dumps, no "we'll get to that next time."
This is my town.
"BearTown" is what locals have called New Bern for as long as anyone remembers. The bear is on our flag, on our high school logo, on the statues downtown. It means something here.
I named the business BearTown AI because this is the community I'm building it for. The big AI consultancies in Raleigh and Charlotte aren't going to drive two hours to sit with a five-person law office in Bridgeton or a dental practice off MLK. I will.
If you're an eastern NC business and you want a real person to teach your team how to use this stuff well — that's what I'm here for.
"Learn. Practice. Master. — that's the order. Most AI failures happen because people skip practice and expect to win."
— Coach Hager
Ready to get on the field?
Book a free intro call. We'll see if it's a fit, and you'll walk away with at least one useful AI insight either way.