Mar 05, 2026
3 min read
Justin Parnell runs a one-man business: Read here how AI agents handle quotes, invoices and schedule meetings without staff.
Justin Parnell, 39, left his VP position to become an artificial intelligence consultant.
He uses AI agents to assist him in everything from billing to quote creation.
Parnell said he could be a sole proprietor using AI agents instead of humans.
This article is based on a conversation with Justin Parnell, 39, who lives in San Francisco. His past and present activities have been verified by Business Insider (BI). The text has been edited for length and clarity.
In July 2023, my wife and I were finishing our mortgage and expecting a baby.It was a dangerous time to leave a position of control with a fixed income and an uncertain profit where everything would depend on me.
But at the age of 36, I quit my job as VP of Marketing at a San Francisco-based software company to become a solopreneur.
I have the courage to take this step because I received the first commitment from the first sponsors and believe in myself and what I am building: custom AI representatives for entrepreneurs and other companies.
I used ChatGPT, Google and YouTube to learn everything about AI
My career began in telecommunications before moving into sales management.In 2015, I started an identity verification company that I ran for two years and learned a lot about the business.Then I moved back into the B2B SaaS world – selling software that companies use on a subscription model instead of a one-time purchase online.
When ChatGPT launched in 2022, I quickly realized that it was a significant paradigm shift for knowledge workers.Because I saw first hand what it was capable of and how quickly it was improving, I was convinced that this was a technology that I needed to understand deeply.
In 2023, I completed the Google Certification for Model Transformers and other courses to learn how AI works at a basic level.It also taught me a lot by using YouTube, using ChatGPT to explain technical issues, and I collected reading material through Google Deep Search.
The more I learn, the more I want to develop.I learned best by doing, so I started experimenting with using AI in my daily work - from go-to-market operations to content creation.
Along the way, I started helping sole proprietors and small businesses who wanted to use AI to work more efficiently.I had many friends who kept asking me if AI could help with this or that.I started by creating fake intelligence agents for them.
After doing this for some of them, my friends suggested me to pursue this as a career. Finally, I plucked up the courage to start my own business again.
My little side projects turned into a business
After I left my job in July 2023 to become an independent AI consultant, by 2024 the company had reached the point where I had to register an LLC (similar to a German GmbH) for a larger company to have confidence and a contract with me.
My clients often want to use AI agents to help with customer acquisition and guide quality assessment.Clients can create new leads, research companies, evaluate them according to the criteria of the best clients, and tell the client if each lead is good enough.
In my company, agents handle everything from incoming inquiries to quoting.For example, when someone fills out an application on my website, they receive a personalized construction broker roadmap.Another agent creates an offer and sends it to a calendar with a link to book an appointment.
At this point, the agent creates a signalable offer.After our conversation, another agent will update the offer and related documents based on the conversation.That's just the recording process.Billing agents then initiate the billing process.
This agent saves you time on each project.The AI workflow is running in the background where I barely touch it, making it much more efficient.
Thanks to AI, I can grow my business without hiring employees
AI allows me to scale without hiring employees.Otherwise, I would have to hire two additional people or bring in outside help for quotes, content tracking, invoicing, and general administrative tasks.This would reduce margins.
Even though I'm a one-man show, working alone never feels lonely.San Francisco has a strong community of solo entrepreneurs.We work together on projects and pass orders to others when we don't have the capacity.
As AI accelerates and the waves of layoffs continue, I expect more and more people to become sole proprietors, bet on themselves, and become their own bosses.
