What should I automate first?

The handoff that costs the most. Usually that is where a person retypes information from one system into another more than ten times a week. The map in week one finds it. It is rarely the thing the owner guessed.

Whichever fits your stack and your volume. My own companies run on self-hosted n8n and on code. For a business already in Zapier, Make or Microsoft 365, the answer is usually to stay and build properly. The platform pages say where each one fits.

It is scoped in writing before work starts and priced by the scope, not the hours. A single workflow is days. A first engagement with the map and three to eight workflows is about three weeks. You see the number before you commit.

Is the AI part safe for my business?

Where it reads, summarises, extracts and flags, yes, with a person checking the low-confidence cases. Where it would act on its own, send, pay or decide, I build a human step in or I do not build it. Every agent has a written job and a log.

Who actually does the work?

I map it and design it. My staff and my own agents carry parts of the build and the documentation. Nothing ships without me reading it, and I am the one on the call.

Somebody in your business is the integration.

They copy the form into the spreadsheet, the spreadsheet into the invoice, the invoice into the email. They are good at it. They are also the reason it stops when they are out, and the reason nobody can see where it goes wrong.

I build the automation that does that work, for Southwest Florida businesses, the way I built it for my own.

Send me the situation How it works

Read and answered by me, usually within the day. If a spreadsheet and a checklist would do, that is the answer you get.

Fort Myers, serving Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties
My own companies run on the automations described here
Scoped in writing, priced before work starts
Your accounts, your servers, your code, documented as it is built

Twelve

companies operated, six of them his own, on automations he built

15,868

records synced between two systems every run, zero failures

3,984

recorded calls transcribed and graded by an agent, not a person

1,350

pages produced by one 24-agent workflow, every one reviewed

What gets automated

Workflow automationThe map of how work flows, then the automation that runs it. On n8n, Zapier, Make or code.Quote and invoice automationQuotes generated from a form, invoices raised on a stage change, reminders on a schedule.Data sync between systemsYour CRM, accounting, inventory and spreadsheets agreeing with each other, on a schedule.Reporting automationThe numbers you actually run the business on, built and sent every Monday without anyone opening a spreadsheet.AI inbox and call triageAn agent that reads every email and call, summarises it, files it, and flags what needs you.Document extractionInvoices, IDs, contracts and forms read by an agent and entered into your systems, checked by a person.AI agent developmentA custom agent with one defined job, a defined place a person checks, and a log of everything it did.Onboarding and intake automationNew customer, new client, new hire: the forms, documents, accounts and reminders that follow, automated.

How it works

Week one. The map.

How work actually moves through your business, by hand, screen by screen. Every handoff timed. Most owners have never seen it on one page, and it usually explains three problems on its own.

Week two. The build.

The handoffs that cost the most, automated on the platform that fits, in your account. Error handling that alerts a person. A runbook written alongside.

Week three. Running with you watching.

The workflows live, your team using them, me watching what breaks. This is where the map gets corrected to reality and the documentation gets finished.

After. It runs.

You own it. Support afterwards is by the hour if you want it. Most clients need a few hours a quarter, usually to add a workflow rather than fix one.

Built for the trades I have run

The workflows a metals dealer needs are not the ones a contractor needs. These five are the sectors I have actually automated from the inside, and each page names the workflows.

Precious metalsBullion dealers, coin shops, refiners, gold buyers and private vaults.Luxury retailFine jewelers, watch dealers, art galleries and luxury boutiques.ConstructionBuilders, roofers, pool and seawall crews, remodelers and the specialty trades.Legal servicesSolo practitioners, small firms, practice groups and legal referral networks.Real estateBrokerages, agent teams, apartment locators and property managers.

Where I work

Each market here imposes one rule on how automation has to behave. The city pages say what it is and what to build first.

Fort MyersSeason doubles the volume and halves the staff. The workflows have to absorb both.NaplesHigh-ticket, low-volume, zero tolerance for a mistake in the paperwork.Cape CoralThe owner is on a job. The automation has to work from a phone and a photo.Bonita SpringsTwo counties, two permit offices, two customers. The workflow has to know which side.EsteroYoung businesses with five subscriptions and no process. Consolidate before you automate.Punta GordaOwners near an exit. The automation is the documentation a buyer pays for.

Any of these. The right one for the job.

Five platforms and custom code. Each page says what it is good at, where it is the wrong tool, and whether my own companies run on it. I am not paid by any of them.

n8nSelf-hostable, code-friendly, fair pricing at volume. What my own companies run on.ZapierThe widest app library and the fastest start. Per-task pricing that grows with you.MakeA visual builder that handles branching and data well, at a lower price than Zapier. Formerly Integromat.Power AutomateIncluded with many Microsoft 365 plans and deep inside Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Excel. Awkward outside them.AirtableA database that looks like a spreadsheet, with automations and interfaces built in. For teams whose work lives in tables.

Custom codeA service or internal tool written as code in a repository you own. For the ten percent a platform cannot do well.

Straight answers

What should I automate first?: The handoff that costs the most. Usually that is where a person retypes information from one system into another more than ten times a week. The map in week one finds it. It is rarely the thing the owner guessed.
Which platform?: Whichever fits your stack and your volume. My own companies run on self-hosted n8n and on code. For a business already in Zapier, Make or Microsoft 365, the answer is usually to stay and build properly. The platform pages say where each one fits.
What does it cost?: It is scoped in writing before work starts and priced by the scope, not the hours. A single workflow is days. A first engagement with the map and three to eight workflows is about three weeks. You see the number before you commit.
Is the AI part safe for my business?: Where it reads, summarises, extracts and flags, yes, with a person checking the low-confidence cases. Where it would act on its own, send, pay or decide, I build a human step in or I do not build it. Every agent has a written job and a log.
Who actually does the work?: I map it and design it. My staff and my own agents carry parts of the build and the documentation. Nothing ships without me reading it, and I am the one on the call.

Tell me what is in the way.

One form, read by the person who would build it. If the honest answer is a checklist and no software, that is what you will hear.

Send me the situation Email instead