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How I Think

Most operations problems aren’t really about execution. They’re about seeing the system clearly enough to know what needs fixing.

Real Problem: Client's receipts were chaos

A consultant making $300k was losing hours every month hunting down purchase receipts for their bookkeeper. Emails, photos, paper receipts stuffed in drawers. They'd tried folders, apps, nothing stuck.

Click each step to see my thinking process:

1. Map the actual behavior ▼
I didn't start with "what tool should we use." I watched what they actually did. They forwarded receipts from their phone while in transit. They photographed paper receipts at restaurants. They never sat down at a computer to "do receipts."

The problem wasn't disorganization. It was that every solution required them to change their natural workflow.
2. Design around their reality ▼
Instead of making them adapt to a system, I built a system that adapted to them. One email address they could forward to. One phone number they could text photos to. That's it.

Behind the scenes: n8n automation watching that inbox and phone number, extracting data, organizing by vendor and date, flagging anything unclear.
3. Build the invisible infrastructure ▼
The automation parses email receipts, extracts amounts and vendors, categorizes by business expense type, stores everything in a structured database, and generates a weekly summary for their bookkeeper.

The client just keeps doing what they were already doing. The chaos disappears without them thinking about it.
4. Measure what actually matters ▼
Success isn't "system implemented." It's: Time saved per month (4 hours), Missing receipts at month-end (dropped from 15-20 to 0-2), Client stress level (their words: "I forgot this was even a problem").

The best system is one you stop thinking about.

What I Build

These aren’t portfolio pieces. These are systems I built to solve real operational chaos.

Client Onboarding Automation

The problem: New client intake was a 14-step process involving 6 different tools, taking 3-4 hours per client, with crucial steps getting skipped.

Before: Manual Chaos

Email exchange → Manual contract creation → Separate questionnaire → Payment follow-up →️ Manual file setup → Calendar booking → Welcome email

Result: 3-4 hours per client, 30% forgot crucial steps, clients waited days for access

After: Automated Flow

Single intake form → Auto-generates contract → Payment link sent automatically → Payment triggers folder creation → Auto-schedules kickoff → Welcome sequence deployed → Client portal access granted

Result: 20 minutes of my time, zero missed steps, clients accessing portal within 2 hours

Technical details →

Stack: n8n for workflow automation, Airtable for data storage, PandaDoc for contracts, Stripe for payment processing, Google Workspace for file management

Key learning: The automation isn't the hard part. It's mapping every edge case in the human process first. I spent more time interviewing myself about "what if scenarios" than building the workflow.

How I Got Here

The path wasn’t linear, but there’s a clear thread: I’m drawn to creating efficient systems that help people do their best work.

2024 - Present

Founder, Coldstream Business Solutions

Fractional operations partner for consultants and professional service firms

What I learned: Positioning operations work as strategic partnership (not back-office support) changes everything about how clients value it.

  • Built service offering from scratch targeting $200k-500k consultants
  • Developed n8n automation practice for client operations
  • Created tiered service model: Assessment → Partnership → Financial Ops

What surprised me: How much of this work is translation. Clients know something's broken, but they can't articulate what or why. Half my value is naming the actual problem.

Previous Role

Political Director

Managed workplace organization campaigns and member communications

What I learned: How to design systems that work under pressure when people are stressed and distracted. Political campaigns don't wait for perfect processes.

  • Coordinated events and managed databases for member organizing
  • Developed communications workflows across multiple channels
  • Learned to build resilient processes with imperfect information

What this unlocked: The ability to see organizational problems as systems problems. Most chaos comes from unclear handoffs and missing feedback loops.