calm out of chaos

Your operation is surly. Let's make it serene.

AI-native operations for teams of every size drowning in scattered knowledge, undocumented process, and tools nobody actually adopted. From a crew of under ten to a national rollout, I untangle the chaos and build quiet, self-running systems — so you get back to the work you love.

Start a conversation → See how it works
PMP-certified BFA, Summa Cum Laude 20+ years creative & operations Enterprise-scale experience Louisville, KY · remote everywhere
sound familiar?

The same four problems, in every industry.

A wallpaper studio, a medical practice, a classroom, a growing service business — different doors, identical chaos behind them. If two or more of these sting, we should talk.

Tap any problem to see which move fixes it.

the method

Four moves from chaos to calm.

A productized approach refined across enterprise operations and right-sized for small teams. We start small, prove it, and scale only what works.

01

Untangle

Map how work really flows today.

Surface the bottlenecks, the tribal knowledge, and the handoffs quietly breaking. You'll see your operation clearly, maybe for the first time.
02

Systemize

Turn the map into documented structure.

Documented SOPs, a single source of truth, and clean handoffs — structure to hold together whether or not any one person is in the room.
03

Automate

Layer in AI where it earns its keep.

Reporting writing itself, knowledge staying current, busywork no longer needing a human. Practical automation, embedded into real tasks.
04

Scale

Build the habits to make it stick.

Dashboards, rituals, and adoption habits so the system grows with you instead of breaking the next time you do.
the quiet workforce

The AI agents I'd build to run your busywork.

Not chatbots for the sake of it. Each agent takes one recurring job off your plate, runs it the way you'd run it, and hands back a finished result. Here's the crew, arranged around the one thing they protect — your time.

🛎️Front Desk
📐Quote & Estimate
📚Ask-Anything SOP
📊Weekly Pulse
Your businesscalm at the center
🔁Follow-Up
⭐Reputation
🌱Onboarding
♻️Content Repurposer

Eight agents, one quiet operation. Start with the one that hurts most, prove it, then add the next.

🛎️
Front Desk Agent
Automate

Watches inbound email, DMs, and voicemail. Answers FAQs from your playbook, books appointments, and routes anything real to you.

New message in→Front Desk Agent→Booked · answered · routed
StudioMedicalEducationService
📐
Quote & Estimate Agent
Systemize

Takes a customer's photos, measurements, and a rough description, then returns a branded estimate built from your own pricing rules.

Photos + scope→Quote Agent→Branded estimate sent
StudioService
📚
Ask-Anything SOP Agent
Systemize

Trained on your documented playbooks. Answers "how do we do this?" so the knowledge stops living in one person's head.

"How do we…?"→SOP Agent→Step-by-step + linked doc
MedicalStudioEducationService
📊
Weekly Pulse Agent
Automate

Pulls from your calendar, project board, and inbox, then writes the weekly status update or client report for you — before you ask.

Calendar + board + inbox→Pulse Agent→Weekly report, ready
ServiceEducationStudioMedical
🔁
Follow-Up Agent
Scale

Chases unsigned quotes, no-shows, and lapsed customers with personalized nudges. The agent that pays for itself the first month.

Open quote / no-show→Follow-Up Agent→Nudge + booked revenue
StudioServiceMedicalEducation
⭐
Reputation Agent
Scale

Asks for reviews at the right moment, drafts your replies, and flags an unhappy customer before the bad review ever goes public.

Job complete→Reputation Agent→Review request · drafted reply
StudioServiceMedical
🌱
Onboarding Agent
Systemize

Walks a new hire or new client through the documented steps, the checklist, and the first-week plan — no hand-holding required.

New hire / client→Onboarding Agent→Guided checklist + plan
StudioMedicalEducationService
♻️
Content Repurposer
Automate

Turns a single job photo into a social post, a newsletter blurb, and a review request. Marketing on autopilot for shops with no marketer.

One job photo→Content Agent→Post · newsletter · review ask
StudioMedicalEducationService
where this comes from

Enterprise-grade operations, sized for wherever you are.

I spent years designing the operating systems behind national, multi-location brands across food & beverage, retail, and live venues — documentation architecture, AI workflows, and platform migrations at real scale. Surly & Serene brings the same playbook to the under-10 shop writing its first SOP and to the operation running hundreds of locations. Same operator. Same rigor. Right-sized every time.

0
years in creative + operations
0
enterprise programs run
0
teams led across verticals
PMP
certified project leader
scales with you

From a crew of (kris)10 to a national rollout.

Pick the tier you're in today. Each one is built to carry you into the next — no rip-and-replace the moment you outgrow it.

Not sure where you land? That's the free first conversation.

Kristen Estes, founder of Surly & Serene
THE HUMANsave your photo as kris.jpg in this folder
the human

Kristen Estes

Founder · Operations & AI-Native Systems
  • BFA, Graphic Design — Summa Cum Laude
  • PMP — Project Management Institute
  • 20+ years across creative & operations leadership
  • Enterprise content-operations director turned small-business ally
  • Louisville, KY · working with teams everywhere

I build the boring systems to set creative people free.

I'm a designer who fell in love with operations — which means I care as much about how a system looks and feels to use as whether it works. After two decades building the operational backbone for large, demanding brands, I kept hearing the same frustrations from friends running far smaller shops: the wallpaper installer, the medical office, the teacher buried in admin. Same problems. No enterprise budget.

Surly & Serene exists to close the gap — to bring real operational design and AI fluency to the businesses long priced out of it. Surly about the chaos. Serene about the fix.

Let's make your operation serene.

Tell me where it hurts. A first conversation is free, refreshingly jargon-free, and there's no pitch deck waiting to ambush you.

Start a conversation →