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Your Business Should Run Without You. We Teach You How to Build That.

Workshops, courses, and certifications for Pioneer Valley business owners who are done doing work a machine should be doing.

Everything ABAS teaches comes from systems already running in production. You're not learning theory — you're installing what's already working.

Built by the person who already deployed these systems for real Western MA businesses3 Live Production Systems500+ Hours Saved
“ABAS Academy doesn't teach AI. It teaches your business how to think, decide, and act automatically — without you in the room.”
Not an AI tools course Not a prompt engineering course Not a coding bootcamp Not a theory lecture series

A Business Operating System educator. A systems architect who teaches operators to think in workflows. The only educator in Western MA who ships real systems before teaching them.

The ABAS Teaching Formula

Every lesson, every workshop, every module follows this exact sequence.

01
PROBLEM

Real business. Real pain. Real cost.

02
ANALOGY

Human language. Roles, pipelines, employees.

03
WORKFLOW

Input → Decision → Output → Action.

04
PROMPT

The structured instruction that makes it work.

05
BUILD

Hands-on. They execute while you narrate.

06
ROI

Time saved. Money made. Always close with the number.

Why prompting is step 4, not absent: A vague prompt produces a broken system. A precise prompt produces a deployed one. That's the distinction — and it's teachable.

Why This Exists

The national consulting firms aren't coming to Northampton to teach your team how to use n8n. LinkedIn Learning won't run a half-day workshop at a coworking space on Main Street.

But your competitors are already using AI. Some quietly. Some badly. A few very well.

ABAS Solutions started as an automation agency — we build the systems. After doing this long enough, the same question kept coming up from business owners who weren't ready to hire us yet: “Where do I even start learning this stuff?”

That's why these programs exist. Whether you want to learn it yourself, train your team, or just know enough to ask the right questions — there's a path here for you.

60%

of the workforce will need new AI skills by 2030

(McKinsey)

$0

national AI educators serving Western MA small businesses

(until now)

36 mo

window before every competitor in your niche has an AI system

Four Ways to Build AI Into Your Business

Pick the path that fits where you are right now.

Waitlist Open

AI for Business — Half-Day Workshop

In-person, hands-on sessions for Pioneer Valley business owners. One niche per event. Walk out with a real workflow you can implement that week. Hour 1: audit your bottleneck. Hour 2: see a live system. Hour 3: build one yourself.

$97 – $197 / person

In-person · Northampton / Springfield / Amherst

Monthly (rotating industries) · 12–20 people max

Join Waitlist →
Waitlist Open

Corporate AI Training for Teams

We come to your office. 3-session program: Session 1 maps workflows & scores bottlenecks. Session 2 teaches the tool stack & deploys a live system. Session 3 scales it with a 90-day roadmap and internal AI champion training.

$2,500 – $5,000 / engagement

On-site or remote · 3 sessions

Best for: Regional employers with 10–100 staff

Join Waitlist →
Founding Member Waitlist

ABAS Academy — Self-Paced AI Course

8 modules. 0 fluff. From orientation to exit-ready operations. Includes structured prompting, the 4-part system build, automated reporting, AI agent deployment, and a 90-day roadmap. Built by the same person who built PropAuto and the Larri system.

$497 – $1,997

Self-paced · Online · Cohort-style

Includes: Video curriculum, prompt library, workflow templates, Notion toolkit, community access

Join Waitlist →
Waitlist Open

AI-Ready Business Certification

20-question operational audit → Chrishawn reviews & maps all workflows → written report with top 3 opportunities, ROI estimates, and tool recommendations → certified AI-Ready badge for your website. 5–7 business day turnaround.

$200 – $500

Async audit + written report + certification badge

Badge validity: 12 months · Upsell path to full agency engagement

Join Waitlist →

Workshop Niche Calendar — Rotating Monthly

Each workshop features a live demo system built for that niche.

MonthNiche
Month 1HVAC & Plumbing
Month 2Property Management
Month 3Real Estate Agents
Month 4Landscaping & Pest Control
Month 5Retail & Local Service
Month 6General SMB

Academy Pricing Tiers

Founding Member
$497
  • Full 8-module curriculum
  • Workflow templates
  • Prompt library
  • Community access
Join Waitlist →
Standard
$997
  • Everything in Founding
  • 1 live Q&A call with Chrishawn
  • Priority community support
Join Waitlist →
Done-With-You
$1,997
  • Everything in Standard
  • 2 build sessions with Chrishawn
  • Live system review & feedback
Join Waitlist →

Built for Western MA Business Owners, Not Silicon Valley

This is for you if:

  • You run a service business with 2–50 employees
  • You know AI is relevant but don't know where to start
  • You've tried ChatGPT but haven't automated anything real
  • You want to train your team before a competitor does
  • You're in the Pioneer Valley (or nearby)

🏢 Industries we've trained:

  • Property management
  • HVAC & plumbing
  • Construction & contracting
  • Automotive & specialty services
  • Healthcare & home health
  • Professional services (law, accounting, real estate)
  • Local government & nonprofits

📍 Where we operate:

  • Northampton, MA
  • Springfield, MA
  • Amherst, MA
  • Hadley, MA
  • Chicopee, MA
  • Holyoke, MA
  • Greater Pioneer Valley
  • Remote available for corporate training

What ABAS Academy Teaches

8 modules. 0 fluff. Every lesson is a decision you'll make in your real business.

What this is, what it isn't, and what you'll build.

  • The only thing that matters: working systems that run without you
  • Why you don't need to code (and when you might want to)
  • Your learning environment setup: n8n, Supabase, Claude API, Notion
  • How to use the prompt library throughout this course

Find the $18,200 problem in your business before building anything.

  • The 5-question workflow audit (do it for your business right now)
  • The 3 universal bottlenecks: lead capture, follow-up, reporting
  • Bottleneck scoring: frequency × time × error rate × cost
  • Choosing your first build: the highest-ROI target
  • The analogy test: if you can explain it like an employee's job, you can automate it
Exercise: Complete your personal bottleneck audit. Rank your top 3. Pick one.

Four tools. That's the whole system.

  • n8n: your automation backbone (the plumbing)
  • Claude API: your AI worker (the brain)
  • Supabase: your memory layer (the filing cabinet)
  • Resend: your communication layer (the voice)
  • How the four connect: every system uses this same architecture
  • What you don't need (and why people waste money on the wrong tools)
Exercise: Set up all four accounts. Connect them. Send one test email triggered by a database insert.

A vague instruction produces a broken system. A precise one produces a deployed one.

  • Why most people's AI "doesn't work" (they're giving it bad instructions)
  • The ABAS Prompt Structure: Role → Context → Rules → Output Format
  • Writing your first system prompt: AI lead qualifier
  • Bad version vs. good version: live comparison with real output difference
  • Prompts that stay consistent: deterministic vs. creative outputs
  • Building a prompt library: save, version, and reuse across systems
  • Prompt governance: when a prompt breaks in production and how to fix it
Exercise: Write the AI qualifier prompt for your Module 1 bottleneck. Test with 10 real inputs.

Build the Lead → Intelligence → Decision → Action engine.

  • The 4-part architecture: Trigger → Intelligence → Decision → Action
  • Trigger: setting up your intake point (website form, email, missed call)
  • Intelligence: the AI qualification layer
  • Decision: the scoring layer (rules + thresholds — NOT just AI)
  • Action: routing logic (high value → alert; medium → queue; low → nurture)
  • The log layer: every system must write its own audit trail
  • Testing: how to break your system before a lead does
  • Going live: production checklist before you flip the switch
Exercise: Deploy the lead intake system for your business. Submit 5 test leads. Confirm all outputs.

The report that builds and sends itself.

  • Why reporting is always the last thing automated (and why it shouldn't be)
  • The reporting architecture: data source → formatter → PDF → delivery
  • Connecting to your data (Google Sheets, AppFolio, QuickBooks, Airtable)
  • The AI formatting layer: turning raw numbers into readable narratives
  • PDF generation: building the template once, running it forever
  • Scheduled delivery: setting the trigger so it runs on the 1st without you
  • The PropAuto model: how this exact system saves 40+ hours/month
Exercise: Build a report for one recurring data set. Schedule it. Let it run one full cycle untouched.

Deploy an AI worker that handles a real job in your business.

  • What an AI agent actually is (not the hype version)
  • The 3 agents every service business needs: lead qualifier, customer responder, ops monitor
  • Building a lead qualifier agent: from prompt to production
  • Building a customer-facing chatbot: the AI receptionist
  • Giving your agent tools: web search, CRM lookup, calendar booking
  • Prompt governance for agents: update behavior without breaking the system
  • When to use an agent vs. a workflow (a critical distinction)
Exercise: Deploy one AI agent for a real job. Define its role, constraints, and escalation path.

Build the business so it runs without you — and is worth more when you sell.

  • The Ondrej principle: every process requiring the founder is a liability at exit
  • The VA test: can a $15/hr person run ops for 2 weeks without asking you a question?
  • Documenting what you built: the SOP that makes systems transferable
  • Metrics that matter: MRR, churn, CAC, LTV, founder dependency score
  • The acquisition lens: what buyers look for and how your systems prove it
  • Your 90-day automation roadmap: prioritized, sequenced, revenue-first
Exercise: Run the VA test on every system. Document any step that still requires you. Eliminate it.
Final Deliverable: Your personal 90-day automation roadmap

What We Will NOT Teach

The moat is as important as the content.

Coding (JavaScript, Python, etc.)
Slows revenue, filters out ideal buyer
Prompt tricks and jailbreaks
Unstable leverage. Systems are stable leverage.
Tool tourism ("Top 20 AI tools")
Tools change. Workflows don't.
Theory without execution
Every lesson ends in a working system or it doesn't ship
Builds that require engineers to maintain
Promise = independence + speed
"The future of AI" speculation
We teach what's deployed today, not what might exist tomorrow
Generic ChatGPT usage tips
That's not a business system. That's a search engine.

“We don't teach AI. We install operating systems for businesses.”

How All Four Programs Connect

Every education product feeds the one above it. The Academy produces the most qualified agency leads of any channel.

Free Workshop Attendance$0
Paid Local Workshop$97–$197
ABAS Academy / AI-Ready Cert$200–$997
Corporate Training$2.5K–$5K
ABAS Agency Engagement$5K–$50K
Ongoing Retainer$3K–$15K/mo

Get Early Access. Lock In Founding Pricing.

All programs are launching with a limited founder cohort at below-market pricing. Join the waitlist to be first in line.

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Built by Someone Who Actually Builds the Systems

Chrishawn Douglas-Owens isn't a content creator who just talks about automation. He learned the systems on the fly and immediately built them in the real world. He ships production AI infrastructure for actual businesses — from PropAuto, to the Larri Powder Coating operating system, to custom pipelines for property managers handling 5,000+ units. Everything he teaches comes directly from the trenches of real-world execution.

The Larri Framing

“I didn't pitch Joe a chatbot. I showed up with a chatbot already running for his business. Then I explained how it worked. That's how I teach. Results first. Explanation second.”

The PropAuto Framing

“I built PropAuto by studying property manager pain for months before touching code. I didn't assume I understood — I researched until I did. That research discipline is what I teach.”

3 live production AI systems deployed in Western MA

Pioneer Valley's only AI automation agency

$11,000+ generated for a local client in month one

Common Questions

Yes. The workshops and Academy are built for operators, not developers. You'll never write code. You'll learn which tools to use, how to describe what you need, and how to evaluate whether something is working — that's 90% of what matters.

Workshops are in-person, niche-specific, and focused on one use case per session. The Academy is a full self-paced curriculum covering 6 modules across your entire business. Most people start with a workshop and then join the Academy.

Yes — that's what Corporate Training is for. We'll run 3 on-site sessions at your location, tailored to your industry and your actual workflows. Pricing is per engagement, not per seat.

It's an operational audit that proves you've mapped your automation opportunities and taken action. You get a written report, an implementation roadmap, and a badge you can display on your website and marketing. It's also the fastest path to working with ABAS on a build — we already know your system.

We're targeting Q3 2026 for the founding cohort. Waitlist members get 30–50% off founding pricing and early access before public launch.

Workshops are local (Pioneer Valley). Corporate Training can be done remotely. ABAS Academy and Certification are fully online and available anywhere.

The Window Is Now. Not When AI Is Everywhere.

The businesses that win the next decade will be the ones that started building AI into their operations while their competitors were still watching tutorials. The Pioneer Valley is behind the national curve — which means the businesses here who move first have an outsized advantage. These programs exist to help you be one of them.

Limited to 3 builds/quarter.