For people who run a business and end up running the admin too
Your business,
running quietly.
I find the jobs in your business that a person shouldn't be doing by hand — the invoices, the reminders, the retyping, the chasing — and I make them happen on their own. You don't need to understand the technology. That's the point of hiring me.
Sound familiar?
Most small businesses run on effort, not systems.
Which works, right up until it doesn't. The good news: the fixes are usually smaller than people expect, and each one gives you back a bit of your week.
You do the invoices on Sunday night.
Or the follow-ups, or the month-end. Work that has to be done, but not by you, and not by hand.
You type the same thing in three places.
Into the diary. Then the spreadsheet. Then the accounting app. Every time you retype it is a chance to get it wrong.
One spreadsheet holds everything together.
And one person knows how it works. When they're on leave, the month-end waits for them.
People keep telling you to “use AI”.
You've tried it once or twice. Getting it to work safely with your actual letters, emails and clients is a different thing entirely.
Did you know this was possible?
Things most business owners don't know they can have.
Nobody asks for what they don't know exists. Every one of these is ordinary to build and life-changing to have. If one of them makes you think “wait, I want that” — that's where we start.
Money
The invoice sends itself the moment the job is done.
And if it isn't paid, it follows up politely on day 7, 14 and 21 — in your words — so you never have to be the one who chases.
Money
Every payment that lands in the bank finds its own invoice.
You get a short WhatsApp: “R4 250 from Mrs Naidoo — paid.” At month-end there's nothing to reconcile.
Money
Say a quote out loud; a proper one arrives in your inbox.
You describe the job into your phone on the way to the car. A formatted quote, with your prices and terms, is waiting for you to check and send.
Clients and the diary
Someone books, and everything else just happens.
Confirmation, directions, the forms to fill in on their phone, a reminder the day before, and their details already in your diary and your accounts.
Clients and the diary
A cancellation offers itself to your waiting list.
The slot goes out to the people waiting; the first to say yes gets it. You find out when it's filled.
Clients and the diary
“How did we do?” goes out after every visit.
Happy answers are invited to leave a Google review. Unhappy ones come straight to you, privately, first.
Clients and the diary
Your WhatsApp answers the same twenty questions while you sleep.
Prices, hours, how to book, where to park — answered instantly and correctly. Anything unusual is handed to you in the morning with the conversation so far.
Paperwork
Forms are filled in on a phone, not a clipboard.
One link. Signed, filed under the right name, and flagged to you only if an answer needs your attention.
Writing and email
You talk after a meeting; the notes and the follow-up email write themselves.
In your tone, with the actions listed. You read it once and press send.
Writing and email
An assistant that has read everything about your business.
Your policies, your prices, your past emails, your documents. Ask it “what's our cancellation policy?” or “what did we agree with Mr Adams in March?” and get the answer, with the source.
Knowing what's going on
One page on your phone shows today.
Bookings, money in, money owed, anything that needs you. Updated by itself. No logging into five different apps.
Property and the household
By 9am on the 2nd you know who's paid rent — without opening the bank app.
Late payers get a courteous reminder automatically. You only step in if it's still unpaid a week later.
The spreadsheet
The master spreadsheet becomes something several people can use at once without breaking it.
It backs itself up, remembers who changed what, and shows each person only what they're allowed to see.
What it looks like
Before and after, in plain English.
Three made-up but typical examples. Yours will be different; the shape is usually the same.
A physio practice
Before
Clients book online, then fill in a paper form at reception. Someone types it into the computer. Invoices go out on Friday, when there's time. A few get missed.
After
The form is on their phone before they arrive. The invoice sends itself when the appointment ends. Reminders go out the day before. Reception talks to people instead of typing.
Saved: Around six hours a week
A small law or accounting firm
Before
New clients are onboarded by email: send the form, chase the form, save the attachments, create the file, copy details into the billing app.
After
One link does all of it. Documents land in the right folder, the file opens itself, the first invoice is drafted. The partner reviews; nobody retypes.
Saved: A day a month, and fewer mistakes
A family with a few rental properties
Before
Rent is checked by looking at the bank app. Leases, insurance renewals and levy statements live in email. Everything works because one person remembers.
After
A single page shows who's paid and what's due. Renewals remind you a month out. Statements file themselves. Anyone in the family can see what's going on.
Saved: The Sunday-night worry
How it works
First I look. Then I fix what's worth fixing.
I don't arrive with software to sell you. I arrive with questions, the way a good doctor does, and only then suggest what to do.
- 01
Look
About two weeks
I spend a few short sessions with you and whoever does the day-to-day, watching how a normal week actually goes. Where does the time go? What gets typed twice? What only works because someone remembers? I ask a lot of questions and change nothing.
- 02
Plan
A short written plan, yours to keep
You get a plain-English document: what I found, what's worth fixing, what to fix first, the things you can do yourselves this week, and a fixed price for anything you'd like me to do. If we stop here, you still have the plan.
- 03
Fix
Small things first
I start with the changes that take the least effort and give the most relief. Each one comes with a short video showing how it works and a one-page note, and it all sits in your own accounts, under your name.
- 04
Keep
Optional
If you'd like, I keep an eye on things each month and make small improvements as your business changes. If not, everything is built so it keeps working without me.
What I can take off your plate
Ordinary jobs, done without you.
Nothing exotic. Wherever possible I use the apps you already pay for, connected properly. The value is the hours, the mistakes that stop happening, and the evening you get back.
The retyping
When something is entered once — a booking, a new client, a payment — it goes everywhere else it needs to go on its own.
The chasing
Reminders, follow-ups, “just checking you got this”, overdue invoices. Sent at the right time, politely, without you remembering to.
The paperwork
Forms filled in on a phone instead of a clipboard. Signed, filed in the right place, and flagged if something needs your attention.
The numbers
One page that shows how the business is doing — money in, money owed, how busy you are — updated by itself. No exporting, no formulas.
The writing
AI set up properly on your own documents and emails, so first drafts of letters, summaries and replies take seconds. With clear rules about what it may and may not see.
The spreadsheet that became a system
When one spreadsheet is quietly running your whole business, I replace it with something several people can use safely, that backs itself up.
Who you'd be working with
Colin Reed
I run the technology for a UK-regulated wealth management firm of about fifty people — everything from the databases to the automations to how the team uses AI. I live in Cape Town.
My day job is making a regulated financial firm run smoothly: getting rid of the shared spreadsheets, connecting the apps that should have been talking to each other years ago, and putting AI to work on the paperwork so the people can do the people work. Paperweight is the same experience, applied to your business, at a size that fits it.
I take on a small number of clients at a time, on purpose. You get me, not a rotating team.
For the technically minded: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Xero, Zapier, n8n, Claude, ChatGPT, and custom builds when they earn their place.
Careful with your information
I handle sensitive client data for a living, under regulation. Yours is treated the same way, and I keep no copies.
Fixed prices, agreed first
You'll know what everything costs before you say yes. No hourly meter running.
You own everything
Every account and every piece of work sits in your name. Walk away any time and it keeps working.
Plain English
Written plans and handover notes that a non-technical owner can read in ten minutes.
Questions
The things people ask first.
- Yes — especially you. If you can describe how a normal week goes, that's all I need. I'll do the translating.
- The initial look is a fixed fee, quoted before we start. Everything I suggest in the plan comes with its own fixed price, so you choose what's worth it. No hourly surprises, no monthly commitment required.
- As little as possible. I'd rather connect the things you already use than make you learn something new. When a change is worth it, I'll show you why and walk you through it.
- I keep a small client list and work around my other commitments: early mornings, lunchtimes, evenings, and in person around the Southern Suburbs when it helps. Most of the work happens without you in the room. Day-to-day, WhatsApp is fastest.
- We agree up front what I may see. Everything stays in your own accounts, I keep no copies, and I treat POPIA as the minimum, not the target.
- Everything is built in your accounts with written notes and a short video. Any competent freelancer could pick it up. That's deliberate.
I'm not technical at all. Is this for me?
What does it cost?
Will I have to change how I work?
When would we actually meet?
What about my clients' information?
What if you disappear?
Get in touch
Tell me about your week.
Twenty minutes on the phone is enough for me to tell you whether I can help, and roughly how much time you'd get back. No presentation, no pressure.