Recently, I fed a legal contract into ChatGPT and asked it to spot issues and rewrite a paragraph with my feedback. Minutes later, it completed the task about as well as most lawyers I’ve worked with.
I still sent it to my attorney for review. His usual five-hour bill? Cut down to one hour. That’s an 80 percent cost reduction.
OpenAI recently announced they’ll be working with investment banks to create AI agents that can do an investment banker’s job. The speculation is that AI companies are going to do this to every job vertical. Doctors. Lawyers. Accountants. Other white-collar work.
There’s a possibility for massive disruption, so how can you prepare? With these three strategies: ownership, dispersion, and a tech-first approach.
Here’s a paradox that creates opportunity: While everyone’s running to catch the AI bullet train in Silicon Valley, there’s real money in wiring yesterday’s businesses with tomorrow’s technology.
Silicon Valley moves at light speed. Main Street? It’s walking at a leisurely pace.
The contrast is staggering. ChatGPT hit one million users in five days—the fastest adoption in history. Yet as of 2022, 27 percent of American small businesses did not have a website. Even among those that do, most are running on decade-old technology.
Main Street adoption happens slowly. The first ecommerce transaction dates back to 1994, but it took until 2015 for ecommerce to make up 10 percent of retail purchases. By 2024, that climbed to 16.1 percent.
This gap between invention and integration is an AI arbitrage opportunity.
Many people are looking at AI and asking, who wins?
I’ve got a simple thesis: It’s the owners, and the people who best utilize the toolset. The owners win because as you integrate AI into a business, there’s pressure on the employees. The best employees become more productive, and the worst are replaced by AI tools.
However, the last person to get fired in any business is the owner. They also accrue the profit from productivity gains.
The thesis is simple: Buy, run, or operate low-tech Main Street businesses. Integrate AI. Dominate your local market while competitors are still working on setting up a Facebook page.
While public technology companies trade at 44.4 times earnings, I’ve repeatedly found profitable Main Street businesses that sell for 32 percent returns at 3-4 times earnings. Someone who invests in Main Street buys actual revenue, real customers, cash flowing assets—not a pitch deck and a prayer.
HVAC companies. Plumbing services. Main Street business services. They’re printing cash while startups burn through Series B funding, and the stock market sits on Everest with NVIDIA matching the total asset value of small countries.
And those same Main Street businesses all have problems AI solves. Customer scheduling? Automate it. Billing headaches? Gone. Phone calls eating up staff time? Let AI handle it.
I’ve acquired eight businesses, turning them into passive money machines, and lately I’ve been integrating AI into every one of them.
Add the tech layer, and you’re suddenly the most efficient operator in a sleepy market. Your margins expand while your competitors’ tech stack is stuck in 2015.
Here’s a three-step playbook I use when acquiring companies that will benefit from technological adoption.
Step 1: Find the right target
Look for fractured or unique market niches that can’t be easily turned into software. Perhaps there’s a huge opportunity for AI integration, like with accounting firms or digital marketing firms.
The owner should be tired. Ready to exit. Undervaluing what they’ve built because they can’t see past the daily grind.
Step 2: Rewire a company for AI
First, document all processes. While doing this, figure out how much time each process takes and what can be handed off to AI agents and automated workflows.
AI agents can do incredible things. Bookkeeping? Financial auditing? Appointment setting? Automate it.
The result? I’ve seen 20-40 percent efficiency gains. Your cost structure drops while service quality improves. Customers get faster responses. Staff focuses on high-value work. I’ll re-invest the time savings into growth to supercharge the business.
Step 3: Build your moat
Now you’re the tech-first operator in a sleepy, local market. Your competitors can’t keep up—they lack the knowledge and urgency.
Your margins expand while theirs compress. You can outbid them for talent, outspend them on marketing, and generate superior returns.
Best part? You’ve built a repeatable, scalable playbook, and the sky’s the limit.
This opportunity is huge. But it has an expiration date.
We’re in year three of the AI revolution. The dispersion gap is still wide, but it’s narrowing. The best operators are already doing this. Main Street opportunities will fall as the technology disperses throughout the economy.
You have maybe 36 months before this becomes common practice. My lawyer’s bill got cut by 80 percent. In three years, every Main Street business will face the same pressure.
The question isn’t whether AI will transform local markets. It’s whether you will be the one who profits from the transformation.
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Joseph Drups
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