AI and automation for small business

Built by a teacher. Powered by purpose.

Practical AI and automation for small businesses, from someone who built it for a classroom first.

Ten years in the private sector, guiding companies and universities through environmental regulations. Twenty-plus years teaching after that. I automated my own job before I ever sold automation to anyone else. I'll tell you straight where AI actually helps — and where it's not worth your money.

First conversation is free and takes about half an hour.

Why a teacher

Teaching is mostly explaining hard things to people who are not impressed by you.

That turns out to be most of this job too. A consultant who cannot explain what they built has not finished building it.

The other half is constraints. Schools have no budget, old hardware, and no patience for something that needs a training day. Anything I built had to work on the first try, on whatever was in the room. Small businesses run on the same terms.

Before the classroom I spent ten years in the private sector, helping companies and universities work through environmental regulations. Dense rules, the records to prove compliance, and explaining both to people who had an organization to run. Businesses were my clients long before students were.

Read the longer version
Ten years in the private sector, twenty-plus in education
Automated my own job before selling automation to anyone
Shipped working software, not slide decks
Plain explanations, because that was the job
One person start to finish, so nothing gets lost in a handoff
Will tell you when AI is the wrong answer

How it works

Three steps, no surprises on the invoice

  1. 01

    We talk

    Half an hour, no charge. You describe the part of the week that keeps eating your time. I tell you honestly whether this is something I can help with.

  2. 02

    I look at the actual work

    Not a questionnaire. I watch how the work moves through your business and put real numbers on what the repetitive parts cost you.

  3. 03

    You get a written plan and a fixed price

    Ranked by what saves the most time for the least money. You own the report. Take it to me, take it to someone else, or take it nowhere.

Built for ELL students

The proof is a set of tools students still use.

PotentELL started as visual, multilingual tools for English Language Learners, built while I was teaching, for the students in front of me. They are free, they are still running, and they are the most honest answer to "can you actually build things?"

Straight answers

What this costs, and when to walk away

An audit is a fixed fee agreed before I start, and it is the smallest commitment here. You get a written report either way. If it concludes that nothing is worth automating, that is a real result and you have saved a great deal more than the fee.

Builds are quoted per project, never hourly, so a job running long is my problem and not your invoice. Nothing starts until you have the number in writing.

I work on one or two projects at a time. If I am booked, I will say so rather than stretch the timeline quietly.

When I am not the right fit

  • You want AI because it sounds good in a pitch deck, not because something is broken
  • You need enterprise software with procurement, compliance sign-off, and a security review
  • You want the cheapest possible quote and nothing else matters
  • The real problem is a staffing or process decision that software would only paper over

If any of these describe you, say so early and I will point you somewhere better rather than take the work.

What part of your week keeps eating itself?

Tell me the task you dread. Half an hour, no charge, and a straight answer about whether AI or automation would actually help.