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How I work

process. how I work — the AI & automation process

A clear four-step path from “our operations eat too much time” to systems that quietly do the work for you.

After 300+ projects, my process is built around one idea: understand the business first, automate second. At every step you know what’s happening, what it costs, and what you’re getting back in saved hours. To see where this process leads, have a look at recent projects.

Order & invoice automation

● In progress

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Step 3 of 4 — Build & connect · 60% complete

Customer-support AI assistant

✓ Delivered

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All 4 steps complete · Live and monitored

Tools I work with

n8n

OpenAI / Claude

Notion

GitHub

Slack

Loom

The engagement

Four steps, no mystery

Whether it’s a single workflow or a full operations overhaul, every business automation project works through the same four steps.

1

Week 0 — free

Understand how your business operates

We start with a free 30-minute call, then — if it makes sense — a short walkthrough of how work actually gets done: which tools you use, where information lives, what gets copied between systems by hand, and which tasks your team quietly dreads. I’m mapping the process, not selling.

You talk, I listen — no forms or questionnaires to fill in before we speak

I map the real workflow, including the workarounds that never made it into any manual

Free and without obligation — you leave with a clearer picture of your own operations either way

Book a slot — pick a time that works for you

Google Meet
Process notes

2

Days 1–5

Identify what’s worth automating — and what isn’t

I come back with a short, plain-language plan: the handful of steps where automation or AI will genuinely save hours, roughly what each is worth to you per month, and a fixed price to build it — you can see typical prices for automation, AI and web projects before we ever speak. Just as important — I’ll tell you which parts of your process should stay human. Not everything should be automated, and I’d rather say so now than bill you for something you’ll switch off in a month.

Opportunities ranked by hours saved — not by how impressive the technology sounds

A written proposal with fixed price, realistic timeline, and what’s explicitly out of scope

If the honest answer is “automation won’t pay for itself here”, that’s exactly what you’ll hear

Written plan

Simple contract

50% to start, balance at launch

3

Weeks 1–N

Build & connect to your existing tools

I build the workflows, AI assistants, and integrations — and plug them into the tools you already use, whether that’s Gmail, spreadsheets, WhatsApp, your CRM, or an ageing internal system. You don’t migrate your business onto new software; the automation comes to you. And you watch it take shape through short Loom walkthroughs as each piece goes live.

Works with your current tools — switching software is a last resort, never the starting point

Every workflow is tested against real data and real edge cases before it takes over a task

Loom updates as pieces go live — you’re never waiting until the end to see progress

Everything versioned and documented — nothing depends on what’s in my head

n8n workflows

API integrations

Loom walkthroughs

GitHub

4

Launch & ongoing

Measure results & support

After launch we look at the numbers together: hours saved, response times, error rates — did it actually pay for itself? I monitor the workflows closely for the first 30 days, fix anything that misbehaves, and train your team so the system is truly theirs. If something isn’t earning its keep, we adjust it or turn it off.

30 days of free post-launch support — issues fixed fast, questions answered plainly

A simple before/after review — the hours saved and what that’s worth to your business

Full handover — credentials, documentation, and a recorded walkthrough for your team

Optional monthly retainer for monitoring, improvements, and new automations as you grow

Monitoring & alerts

Handover doc

30-day support

Principles

How I think about this work

The rules that shape every automation project I take on.

Business first, technology second

I start from the process and the payoff, not the tool. If a shared spreadsheet solves it, I’ll say so — the goal is hours saved, not impressive architecture.

Honest about AI

AI is a practical tool, not magic. I’ll tell you what it does reliably, where it fails, and when a plain automation — or a human — is the better answer.

Over-communicate by default

Most project failures come from silence. I’d rather send one update too many than leave you wondering for a week. You’ll always know where things stand.

Say no when it matters

I’ll push back if an automation won’t pay for itself or will cause problems later. You’re not paying me to agree — you’re paying me to help you make good decisions.

No lock-in, ever

Every workflow, account, and line of code is yours. Full credentials, complete documentation — you can hand it to anyone. I have no interest in being hard to replace.

Boring reliability

An automation that fails silently is worse than no automation. Everything I build has error handling, retries, and alerts — so when something breaks, we know before you do.

FAQ

Common questions

What business owners usually ask before starting an automation project.

A single n8n workflow starts around $600, AI integrations at $800, and chatbots at $900 — most first projects land in the hundreds to low thousands, and web builds scale from there. The more useful question is what the manual work currently costs you: if a task eats 10 hours a week, even a modest automation pays for itself quickly. Every project gets a fixed-price proposal before you commit, and the free intro call gives you a ballpark in the first conversation.

A single workflow connecting two or three tools can be live in 3–5 days. An AI integration or chatbot typically takes 1–4 weeks depending on how much of your content and data it needs to work with. Larger builds — multiple connected workflows or a custom web platform behind them — run 4–8 weeks. I give a realistic estimate upfront and stick to it; I’d rather pad a timeline slightly than overpromise and rush.

Usually not — and that’s the point. I build around what you already have: Gmail, Google Sheets, WhatsApp, your CRM, your accounting software, even older internal systems. Automation connects your existing tools rather than replacing them, so your team doesn’t have to relearn anything. If a tool genuinely is the bottleneck I’ll tell you, but switching software is a last resort, not a starting point.

That’s normal — almost every business I work with runs on processes that live in people’s heads. Mapping the process is literally step one of how I work, so “we’re not ready to automate” is rarely true. Often we automate the stable, repetitive parts first and leave the messy edges to humans, which is exactly where they belong. Sometimes the mapping alone is valuable: you see your own operations clearly for the first time.

Yes — and it stays yours. Workflows run under your own accounts and API keys, not mine, and I can self-host n8n on your server so nothing passes through a third party you haven’t approved. Where AI is involved, only the data a task actually needs goes into a prompt, and sensitive fields are kept out where they’re not required. I’m happy to sign an NDA before we discuss anything, and every credential is handed over at the end.

In my experience, no — it removes the repetitive part of jobs, not the jobs. The person who spent two hours a day copying orders into a spreadsheet still knows your customers; they just get those hours back for work that actually needs judgment. I also train your team on every system I build, so automation makes them more capable rather than more replaceable.

Every project includes 30 days of free post-launch support — I monitor the workflows, fix anything that misbehaves, and answer questions fast. We also review the results together: hours saved, what’s working, what could be tightened. After that, many clients move to a monthly retainer for monitoring, improvements, and new automations, but it’s optional — you own everything and can run it without me.

Tell me how your business runs today.

Step one is a free 30-minute call. I’ll tell you what I’d automate first — and you’ll leave with ideas you can use, whether or not we ever work together.

Book a free intro call Send me a message

No pitch deck, no obligation.