21 Hats Podcast I Can Help with AI. Do Owners Want Help?
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Feb 3, 2026 Alan Pence, a consultant who helps small business owners adopt AI, warns a major disruption is coming and wrestles with whether owners want help. He explores why adoption lags, which knowledge-work industries are most exposed, and different business models from training implementers to AI-savvy VAs. The conversation probes messaging, scalability, and what proof would convince him to build this service.
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Working With Agents Replaces Doing Work
- AI agents are shifting work from doing tasks to working with agents as coworkers.
- Alan Pence predicts owners will spend most of their workday interacting with AI agents instead of traditional tools.
Built An Agentic CRM In Days
- Alan built an agentic CRM for his government consulting firm in a couple of days using Microsoft's environment.
- That experience convinced him agent deployment is now practical for small businesses.
Agents Need Continuous Tuning
- Agent deployments require continuous tuning and daily interaction, not one-off delivery.
- The classic consultant-deliver-and-exit model won't capture the compounding benefits of agents.