If nobody sells it, I’ll build it.
The system you’ve outgrown, the spreadsheet only one person understands, the idea you’ve had for years. I’ve built tools that read court transcripts and tools that get a video company’s clips ready to post, and I start with whatever costs you the most.
The first 30 minutes are free.
A workaround gets added, then another, and after a few years it’s just how the job is done.
That’s how a business ends up running on a spreadsheet like this one. I replace it with a system of your own, made around the way you already work. Move a job along the board and see what it does for you.
JobsDrag a job, or tap it to move it on
Quoted
Booked
Done
One person spent ten hours a week
getting clips ready to post.
A video company was sending every clip to a transcription service, watching it again to fix the transcript, putting names to the voices, then typing the captions, titles and file names by hand. I turned all of it into one automation. Now they drag a clip into a folder, and minutes later a spreadsheet comes back with the work done.
Clips_ready_to_post.xlsx
| File name | Speakers | Transcript | Title | Instagram caption | TikTok caption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bell_Dunn_E12_first-hire.mp4 | Marcus Bell | Marcus: The first person I hired didn’t work out, and that was on me. I never wrote down what the job was. | My first hire didn’t work out, and it was my fault | Write the job down before you hire anyone. Marcus learned it the hard way. Full episode in bio. | The hiring mistake I made first #smallbusiness |
| Bell_Dunn_E12_raising-prices.mp4 | Claire Dunn | Claire: We put our prices up twice last year and lost two customers. Both of them paid late. | We raised our prices and lost the right customers | Two price rises, two customers gone, and both of them paid late. Claire on why it was a good year. | What happened when we raised our prices #pricing |
| Bell_Dunn_E12_answer-the-phone.mp4 | Marcus Bell, Claire Dunn | Marcus: What would you tell someone starting out? Claire: Answer the phone. That’s half of it. | Half of running a business is answering the phone | Claire’s one piece of advice for anyone starting out. Full episode in bio. | Best advice I got starting out #business |
| IMG_4476.MOV, left as it was | Nobody | (nobody speaks) | Not one to post | Left blank. Nothing was said. | Left blank |
Empty until a clip goes in the folder.
Start with a build
small enough to test.
You don’t have to replace a whole system to fix one job. I build the one piece, you try it, and then you decide how much further to go. You’ll know the price before I start.
Heard any of these at work?
Job sizeMedium
Distance18 km
Needed byNext week
ExtrasTake the old one away
$4,860
Priced from 212 jobs like it. Deb’s own number was $4,900.
Send the quote
- OrderedMonday 3 November
- MadeWednesday 5 November
- On the truckToday, between 1 and 3 pm
- Delivered
Change the delivery time
What did we agree with the landlord about the air conditioning?
The landlord repairs or replaces it. You pay for a service twice a year.
Lease_2019_signed.pdfClause 14.2, page 11
JobQuotedCostMade
1031 Harris$6,200$4,100$2,100
1033 Lee$3,900$3,950Lost $50
1035 Nguyen$2,800$1,900$900
1038 Patel$8,400$7,960$440
1033 ran two days over. Weekend jobs made the least this month.
Last week23 jobs and $18,420 in, $2,100 more than the week before.
OverdueHarris, $860, 12 days. Lee, $3,900, 9 days.
Waiting on an answer6 quotes, the oldest from 21 October.
Forward to my accountant
Nothing here yet.
Tell me the ideaYou show me the job, and I write the code.
You deal with me from the first message to the last line of code. Show me how you do the job today, workarounds and all, because that’s what I design around.
You’ll try an early version and tell me what I missed. We keep talking like that the whole way through the build.
What people ask before they spend money on this.
Surely custom is the expensive option?
Sometimes it is. I’ll price both: building and looking after your own, against a tool plus the work it leaves you doing by hand. If buying is cheaper, I’ll tell you.
We tried a big system once and it was a disaster. Why would this be different?
We start small, with the people who do the job. You test a working version early, so problems show up before you’ve committed to anything bigger.
How much will this disrupt the business while it’s being built?
Testing fits around your team, and where we can, you run the new way beside the old one before switching. I’ll tell you up front how much of your time I need.
There’s already a tool that does most of this. Should we just use that?
Maybe, and I’ll say so if I think it. But check what it doesn’t do. That part ends up in a spreadsheet or someone retyping it, and you pay for that every week.
Do we need a brief before we start?
No. An idea, a bottleneck, or a process held together with workarounds is enough. You can start with nothing except the feeling that something takes far longer than it should.
Who writes it?
I do. The person you first talk to is the person who builds it, so nothing gets lost being handed from a salesperson to a delivery team to a contractor.
What happens to it after it launches?
I look after it. We agree hosting and support before the build starts, and when your business changes, you tell me and get a price before any new work starts.
Got an idea you’re not sure can be built?
Ask me, even if you think it’s impossible. You never know. The first 30 minutes are free.
It comes straight to me. Lachlan