📪 HH #106: AI Is Replacing Jobs Faster Than Predicted

Justin Hubbard
Oct 3
5 min read

TL;DR

Big corporations are already cutting thousands of jobs and replacing them with AI. That shift won’t stop at the top — it’s coming down to small and mid-sized businesses, and even into blue-collar service industries.

Displaced corporate workers won’t just vanish; many will start service businesses, competing with you directly in your local market. That means pressure from both inside (costs, efficiency) and outside (new competitors).

If you’re already in business, you have a head start — but only if you adapt now. Roles like dispatching, quoting, and intake will be automated, so either train your team to work with AI or risk falling behind.

The winners won’t be humans or AI — it’ll be humans with AI. Those who adopt early, build playbooks, upskill their people, and reinvest savings into growth will stay ahead. Those who wait will get wiped out.

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Every wave of new technology starts the same way—at the top, with big corporations. They’re the first to adopt, the first to restructure, the first to shed jobs in order to chase efficiency. Over time, that change trickles down to everyone else.

Small and mid-sized businesses don’t have the resources to fight the trend. They won’t be able to “save” the workforce from what’s coming. They’ll be forced to adopt AI at some point—or risk going completely belly up.

It’s the nature of the beast. It’s the natural cycle of business and progression. The fact that we’re already seeing giants like Accenture, Salesforce, Amazon, SAP, Klarna, and Duolingo restructure thousands of jobs around AI only signals what’s ahead.

Accenture cut 11,000 people in just three months as part of an $865M restructuring. They made it clear: if employees can’t be re-skilled into AI-aligned roles, they’ll be exited. At the same time, they’re upskilling 70,000 workers and hiring aggressively in AI.

Salesforce admitted to cutting 4,000 customer support roles, dropping its support staff from ~9,000 to ~5,000, saying AI agents now handle much of that work. WARN filings confirm hundreds of layoffs in San Francisco and Washington.

Amazon’s CEO told employees AI agents will shrink the corporate workforce in coming years, while Klarna bragged their AI assistant does the work of ~700 agents.

SAP is restructuring 8,000 roles to shift toward AI, while Duolingo quietly cut 10% of contractors in favor of AI-produced content.

What This Means for Small Businesses

You might think: “I’m a service provider, not a tech giant—what does this have to do with me?”

Quite literally everything IMO.

AI isn’t just replacing consultants and customer support agents at billion-dollar companies. That’s where it starts. The real wave hits when it trickles into blue-collar industries like ours.

And here’s another angle most people aren’t thinking about: the same corporate employees being replaced by AI aren’t vanishing into thin air. Many of them will start looking for income elsewhere. Some will enter the trades, some will open local service businesses, and yes — some will compete directly with you.

That means the pressure won’t just come from inside your business (needing to cut costs and adapt with AI). It will come from outside too — with new entrants fighting for the same jobs in your local market.

If you’re already in business, you have a head start. But if you don’t adapt now, you risk losing your edge when that new wave of competition shows up.

Roles Inside Your Business Will Change

Dispatching, scheduling, quoting, intake—these are the repetitive, rule-based jobs that AI is built to take over. If your team can learn to use AI to enhance their work, they’ll stay valuable.

If not, well, the math is quite harsh: many businesses will cut $30k–$60k a year in payroll costs by automating those roles.

But here’s where I draw the line. I’m not firing my admin staff. Instead, I’ve been forcing them into the world of AI—learning by doing. They’re adapting. They’re moving past fear. They’re seeing AI as the powerful tool it is.

We don’t fight technology. We don’t hide from it. We learn it, bend it, and put it to work—to deliver better customer experiences and to grow profits.

My Goal Isn’t Fewer People — It’s Actually More

AI can replace jobs. But my goal is the opposite: to hire more humans—humans who can understand AI and use it to enhance the business.

The future workforce isn’t humans or AI. It’s humans with AI.

The companies who understand that early will win.

How You Can Future-Proof Your Business

Don't sit on the sidelines and waiting to see what happens, I'll tell you that much. If you want to protect your business, here are concrete steps you can take now:

Audit your processes. Write down every repetitive task—phone answering, scheduling, dispatching, payment reminders. These are the first to be automated.
Try AI in low-risk areas. Start with customer intake or simple follow-ups. Let AI handle the first touch, while your team handles the exceptions.
Upskill your team. Don’t just tell employees to “learn AI.” Assign them specific tools or workflows to master. Make AI part of their daily work so they can see results.
Create an AI playbook. Document how you’re using AI, where it saves time, and what your backup processes are. This keeps you in control instead of blindly trusting the tech.
Stay close to your customer. Don’t let AI put distance between you and the people you serve. Use it to respond faster, but always make sure there’s a human touch where it matters most.
Plan for reinvestment. Any savings you generate from AI should be reinvested into growth! Paying down high-interest debt! Anything that moves you further down the field.

The Bottom Line

AI is here and being used more and more. Big corporations are already cutting jobs, re-skilling survivors, and reinvesting in AI.

That’s the signal flare for the rest of us.

If you’re a small service business, you don’t have the luxury of waiting. You have two choices:

Adapt now—make AI part of your team, train your people, and get faster, leaner, and more responsive.
Or fall behind and risk becoming irrelevant when your competitors can out-respond and out-scale you overnight.

The natural cycle of business is unforgiving. But those who embrace it—those who learn, adapt, and get ahead—will survive.

That's the Haulers' Edge ✌️

P.S. Why are you still reading this newsletter? Put your phone down and get to work.

Every minute you waste, AI is getting better—and someone else is getting closer to taking your customers. The AI boogeyman doesn’t sleep, and he’s coming for you.

That's the Haulers' Edge ✌️