How I Bet Everything on AI Automation

By Kelly Stephens

For 14 years, I climbed the corporate ladder at a Fortune 500 home builder, earning a six-figure salary in construction operations. From the outside, I had it made. But inside, I was miserable.

I'd been unhappy for years, going through the motions while secretly dreaming of something more. Like so many ambitious women, I spent six years trying multiple business paths. Nothing worked. Every attempt fell flat, never coming close to replacing my full-time income and sucking every second of my life. I was starting to believe entrepreneurship just wasn't for me.

Then everything changed when I discovered AI automation.

A few months before my world flipped upside down, I started experimenting with no-code tools like Make.com and AI platforms. For the first time in six years, I saw something actually working. Real clients paying real money for automation solutions that transformed their businesses overnight.

That's when the universe forced my hand. I got laid off.

Standing at that crossroads, I faced two choices: scramble for another corporate job or bet everything on myself. The safe choice would have been finding another six-figure position. But I'd seen what was possible with automation. I knew if I went all in, I could exceed my corporate salary.

So I made the scariest and best decision of my life. I bet on myself.

Here's what nobody tells you about making that leap: I was completely tech-challenged just a few years ago. I couldn't even get a printer to work properly. Zero coding experience. Zero computer programming background. If someone like me can master AI automation and build a thriving business, anyone can.

The key was diving headfirst into every opportunity. I worked with clients across industries like real estate, construction, healthcare, property management. Each project taught me something new. Every spare moment, I was learning new applications, mastering new tools, figuring out how to solve complex business problems with simple automation.

The results speak for themselves. In just the last few months, I've generated over $50,000 building custom AI solutions for clients across the US, Australia, and the UK.

Take my roofing client who was hemorrhaging $3,000 monthly on a full-time admin just to manually enter web leads into their CRM. I built an automation that captures every lead instantly and feeds it directly into their system. They eliminated that position entirely, saving $36,000 annually.

Or the healthcare staffing agency burning 20+ hours weekly creating blog content. My AI blog engine now researches topics, writes SEO-optimized articles, and publishes automatically. They've doubled their organic traffic while reclaiming those 20 hours for high-value work.

My specialty is creating "central sources of truth" or custom databases and portals where all business information lives and breathes together. Think subcontractor portals where teams access schedules and lien waiver information instantly. Project trackers with real-time dashboards. CRMs where AI integrates every system so they actually talk to each other.

What started as technical build work has evolved into something bigger. I'm now scaling with freelancers and building a team. My time is shifting from hands-on automation to high-level coaching and consulting, helping other businesses see what's possible when AI handles their repetitive work.

As a woman in the tech space, I'm proud to prove that you don't need a computer science degree or years of programming experience to build six-figure automation solutions. You need vision, determination, and the courage to bet on yourself when the moment comes.

Connect With Kelly

www.eyeonautomations.com

www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-stephens12