The end of data entry
Your apps hand the information to each other. A job closes, the invoice writes itself, and nobody retypes anything.
Automation, custom tools & AI
I automate the busywork.
Tell me the task you dread and I'll build the thing that does it—an automation, a custom tool, or AI that runs on hardware you already own instead of a bill that grows every month.
- 01Data entry, gone
- 02Hours back every week
- 03Free tools first
4 quick steps about 3 minutes written plan back in 2 business days
Illustrative example
Automation Map
01
Job sheets retyped into invoicesSame numbers entered twice, every week
4 hrsa week
Fix first
02
Quotes built by handThe pricing math lives in your head
3 hrsa week
Fix first
03
Monday numbers pulled by handA spreadsheet rebuilt from four places
2 hrsa week
Next
04
The same ten customer questionsAnswered from scratch each time
1 hra week
Later
Time back once all four are done
≈ 10 hrs a week
The symptoms / 01
Which of these is your week?
None of it is hard. That's what makes it expensive—it's hours of it, every week, done by the people who should be running the business.
You type the same information into three different apps.
A quote takes an hour because the pricing math lives in your head.
Invoices go out late, so you get paid late.
Sunday night is spreadsheet night.
Your inbox is the to-do list, and things fall out of it.
Someone has to remember to send every reminder, every time.
You find out a job was missed when the customer calls.
You chase the same paperwork by text, then chase it again.
You copy numbers off a PDF and into a spreadsheet by hand.
One person knows the whole process—and they're on vacation.
New hires learn the job by watching someone else do it.
Nobody can tell you which jobs actually made money.
Two or three of these usually add up to 5–10 hours a week. Worth putting a number on: 8 hours a week is about 35 hours a month, and even at $25 an hour that's roughly $875 of someone's time spent retyping and chasing. Most of what I build costs less than two months of that, and then it just keeps running. — Alex
What I build
once we know the problem.
Most of what I'm asked for falls into these four.
Tools that give you hours back
Quote calculators, intake forms, customer portals, dashboards. The thing you keep wishing existed, built around how you actually work.
AI that does real work
Reads documents, pulls out the numbers, sorts the inbox, drafts the reply. You approve anything a customer sees.
Admin that runs itself
Scheduling, reminders, confirmations, recurring reports. The jobs that only exist because someone has to remember them.
AI without the monthly bill
Most AI work doesn't need a subscription per person.
A lot of what businesses pay AI vendors for—reading invoices, sorting email, drafting the same reply for the hundredth time—runs fine on a model hosted on hardware you already own. Three ways I do it:
- On your machineThe model runs on a computer you own. Nothing leaves your building, and there's no charge per message.
- Hosted by meOne flat monthly cost, instead of a price that climbs with every seat and every message.
- Local for the volume, paid for the hard partThe routine work runs on your own model, with nothing charged per message. I only reach for a paid model where it clearly earns its keep.
Which of the three is cheapest depends on your volume. I work it out and show you the math before you commit to anything.
Not sure where to start? That's what the map is for.
Get my free Automation MapA worked example / 02
One job, before and after.
Here's what one of those actually looks like, written out start to finish.
-
Before
Monday morning is invoice morning.
The crew finishes a job and leaves a paper sheet in the truck. Monday, someone types it into QuickBooks, emails the invoice, then chases it by text for two weeks. Four hours a week, every week—and the invoice goes out five days after the work was done.
-
What gets built
The job sheet becomes a form.
The crew fills it in on their phone before they leave the site. Submitting it creates the invoice in QuickBooks, emails it to the customer the same day, and sends a reminder on day 7 and day 14 if it hasn't been paid. Nothing is retyped, and nobody has to remember the reminder.
-
After
Four hours back, and you get paid sooner.
The admin time disappears. Invoices go out the day the job finishes instead of the following Monday, and the chasing happens whether or not anyone is on top of it.
This is a typical build, not a named client. Yours gets written around your own week—that's what the Automation Map is for.
How it works / 03
Answer four questions.
Get a plan. Then decide.
1
Tell me what's eating your week.
The task, roughly how long it takes, and what software you use. Nothing to install, nothing to download.
2
I write your Automation Map.
Within two business days: what to automate first, what it's worth in hours, and roughly what each fix costs and how long it takes.
3
I build it. Then I keep it running.
Fixed price agreed before I start. I test it on your real work and hand over the code. After that I keep it alive for a flat monthly—or move the whole thing into your own accounts and step out.
Ground rules
How I work, so there are no surprises.
- Your tools firstIf software you already pay for can do it, I'll use that instead of selling you more.
- Free before customPlenty of good software is free. If it fits your job, I set it up and configure it rather than charge you to build the same thing again.
- I'll talk you out of itIf a $20 app solves your problem, or automating it isn't worth the cost, I'll say so.
- Plain EnglishNo jargon in the map and none from me. You should be able to explain it to your team.
I'd rather build one thing that saves you five hours a week than ten things you never open. — Alex, Chesapeake VA
After it goes live
The code is yours. Running it is the part you choose.
Every build comes with 30 days of fixes at no cost. After that, software still needs someone: accounts renewed, bills paid, things patched when they change underneath you. Three ways to handle it, all priced before you commit:
- Full care — flat monthlyI watch it, fix what breaks, and make the small changes your business needs as it shifts. The whole thing stays my problem, not yours.
- Admin only — smaller monthlyI keep the accounts, hosting and renewals in order and the software patched, so nothing lapses and nothing quietly stops working. Changes are quoted per job.
- Take it in-house — one-time feeI move everything into accounts in your name, document it, and hand you the keys. One transfer fee covers the work, and after that you pay me nothing at all.
You're paying for work I'm actually doing—keeping it alive, patched and paid for—never for permission to use something you already bought. The code is yours from the day it's finished, and the door out is a price agreed in advance, not a penalty.
Who I've built for
Bodytek
Jan 2024 – Apr 2025
Built their mobile app with an in-app AI chatbot, the company website, the AI-driven automations behind it, and the ongoing IT support that kept all of it running.
Who you'd be hiring
Alex Collot, Chesapeake, Virginia 757-272-3259 SAM-registered small business UEI KKSLEJFVR1Y9 CAGE 23EM2 NAICS 541511 CMMC Level 1
For government buyers and primes—registrations, codes and past performance in one page:
What it costs
Priced before I start, not after.
- The Automation MapFreeWritten around your business and yours to keep, whether or not you ever hire me.
- Most automationsHundredsConnecting the apps you already pay for so the retyping and the chasing stop.
- Custom toolsLow thousandsA calculator, portal, dashboard or internal tool built around how you actually work.
Every build gets a fixed price agreed in writing before any work starts—no hourly billing, no change orders, no invoice at the end that's bigger than the number you agreed to. Once it's live there's a running cost too—a flat monthly to keep it going, or a one-time fee to move it into your own accounts. Both are quoted with the build, never sprung on you afterwards.
Your next move / 04
Tell me what to take off your plate.
Four quick steps, about three minutes. I'll write back with what I'd automate first, what it's worth in hours, and roughly what each fix costs and how long it takes.
- Free, and yours to keep. I won't add you to a mailing list or a sales sequence, and you'll hear from me, not a chatbot.
Straight answers / 05
The practical questions,
answered plainly.
Yes. You answer a few questions, I write up what I'd automate first, and it's yours to keep. No purchase, no subscription, no contract. If you never hire me, you still have the plan—and you're welcome to hand it to someone else to build.
No. You describe the task you hate doing, in your own words. Working out which tools and which steps are involved is my job, and everything comes back to you in plain English.
Small automations usually land in the hundreds. Larger custom tools land in the low thousands. Your map includes a rough cost and a rough timeline for each fix, so you can see what's worth it before you talk to me, and anything we go ahead with gets a fixed price agreed in writing first.
Whatever you already pay for, where I can: QuickBooks, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Jobber, HubSpot, Airtable, Stripe, Shopify, Slack, most scheduling tools, and most software with an API. When nothing off the shelf fits, I build the missing piece.
Every build includes 30 days of fixes at no cost. After that it depends which track you're on: on full care I just deal with it, on admin only I quote the fix as its own small job, and if you've taken it in-house the code and the accounts are yours, so you can fix it yourself or hand it to any developer you like.
Usually yes, and I'd rather say so plainly than surprise you with it. The build itself is a one-time fixed price. After that there are two monthlies: full care, which covers watching it, fixing it and small changes; or admin only, which is smaller and just keeps the accounts, hosting and renewals in order so nothing lapses. If you'd rather pay neither, I'll move the whole system into your own accounts for a one-time transfer fee and that's the end of it—no ongoing cost at all. Every one of those numbers is agreed before I start work.
As little as possible. First I look at what you already pay for, then at free tools that fit, and only then do I build the missing piece. If a build needs something paid, I tell you what it costs before we start.
I can when it's part of a bigger fix—an intake form, a follow-up that stops things falling through, a tool that answers questions before a customer calls. But chasing leads isn't what I'm for. My focus is the operations side: the repetitive work, the retyping, the chasing, and the tools you wish existed.