Interviewed by Michael Nelson and Derek Foster • Article written directly from the recorded transcript using AI, editor-reviewed by Taylor Stone, and subject-verified.

Just days after purchasing a landscaping company, Andrea Palacio discovered the seller had stolen their money—a nightmare that escalated when her manager quit and urged the entire staff to walk out.

Today, as an AI Business Strategist and the founder of Crewless in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Palacio uses the exact artificial intelligence systems that saved her family’s livelihood to help other trades businesses streamline their operations.

Surviving an SBA Loan Nightmare

Palacio and her husband purchased the landscaping business in 2023 after selling a successful e-commerce company. Just five days after the acquisition, they discovered the seller had stolen money and vanished without providing training or introducing them to suppliers and clients. Shortly after, the sales manager quit and took most of the staff with him.

The fallout was immediate and devastating. Monthly revenue plummeted from $70,000 down to $40,000, and the workforce shrank from 12 employees down to just two. Desperate for a lifeline, the couple lost $11,000 trying to figure out Google Ads on their own. Because the business purchase was backed by an SBA loan, the couple’s personal assets and home were tied up as collateral.

“We bought this company thinking that we’re going to acquire a bunch of different companies and exit,” Palacio recalled. “And we end up answering the phones all the time, emails 24/7, nonstop, with a newborn and a toddler”. Her husband handled the manual labor outside in the summer heat because they could not afford to lose any more accounts.

Automating the Administrative Burden

Realizing they were trapped working every role in the company, Palacio decided to lean into technology. “I told my husband, either we sell this business or we find a way to automate it,” she said. Without a coding background, Palacio began building custom AI agents to take over the repetitive tasks that were drowning them. Her solutions directly targeted customer retention and cash flow:

• An AI Receptionist: Built to handle incoming calls from Google Ads, this agent books appointments and answers frequently asked questions by connecting directly to the company’s CRM.
• Automated Follow-ups: Customers began receiving automated emails with before-and-after photos of their property, along with text messages asking for feedback or a Google review.
• Collections Agents: Palacio built an AI agent to call clients up to three times with escalating reminders regarding past-due invoices, automatically texting them payment links.

Catching missed calls immediately boosted revenue by 30%. “As soon as people know that the problem that they’re calling for has been handled, they will not call somebody else,” Palacio noted.

The Launch of Crewless

Today, the landscaping company is back to generating $70,000 per month, but now operates with 10 employees instead of 12. With her husband managing the landscaping operations, Palacio stepped away in 2025 to officially launch Crewless in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Her new venture packages the same “no-code” AI systems—built primarily using Claude Code—to help other business owners eliminate manual data entry and streamline customer service. She views artificial intelligence not just as a tool, but as a necessary step for blue-collar entrepreneurs to learn how to delegate effectively. Her own business coach offered a philosophy she now shares with her clients: “80% done by somebody else is better than 100% done by you”.

Looking ahead, Andrea Palacio continues to build custom automation solutions at Crewless, encouraging trades owners to stop acting as the “easy button” for their teams and start leveraging technology. Business owners looking to assess their own systems can send her a direct message on Instagram @andreapalacio with the word “stage 26” to receive a free evaluation. What repetitive daily task in your own business would you hand over to an AI agent tomorrow if you could?