The person you're hiring
Growing companies accumulate friction. You didn't design it, you were too busy running the business. I find it, name it and help you remove it.
The person you're hiring
Not theory. Pattern recognition from inside real businesses.
Most consultants arrive with a methodology and fit your business around it. I arrive with a decade of looking inside SMEs at every level noticing the same friction that keeps showing up in different clothes.
I work alongside your team, not above them, to ensure processes are designed with them in mind so you don't end up with an adoption issue too.
01
Honest before helpful
I'll tell you if the problem isn't what you think it is. And if I can't fix it, I'll say so before you pay me to try.
02
Whole team adoption only
New ways of working are expensive if they're not adopted. Your team has to own the result, or it won't stick.
03
Tools are not the 'first resort'
Software is what you reach for after every process route has been exhausted. Most friction disappears with a better process, not a new subscription.
04
Only ever committed to the current stage
Every phase ends with you free to walk away, ahead of where you started. That's not a pitch — it's how the engagement is structured.
Al Topping
The people you're going to be talking with.
I started out writing software for things that weren't allowed to fail — space, military and aviation. Then ten years as an engineering officer in the British Army, and the best part of seven years running my own business in hospitality, making a good number of the mistakes I now help people out of.
A business architect is the person who connects what you want the business to be with how it actually runs day to day — the processes, the people and the tools.
The difference with me: I'm technically minded enough to build the fix as well as design it.
The diagnosis and the repair come from the same person: Me.
Strategic Content Creator for the hospitality industry
Software Engineer - Space, Military, Aviation
Engineering Officer - British Army
Why it works
Built to be useful, not just impressive.
Across strategy, operations, marketing and technology
- the four areas where SME problems concentrate
No dependency created
There's an optional maintenance service for those who want a safety net in case things do go wrong — but at no point are you obliged to take it.
You will own any tool accounts we create, you'll receive full documentation for whatever we build allowing you to manage things yourself or find a third party to help, if ever required.
Want to see how I work?
- see it for yourself by attending one of my workshops...
Benefit from multi-industry expertise
Other industries have often already solved the problem yours is still wrestling with. I bring those fixes across with me.
Plain English throughout
- if I can't explain it without jargon, I don't understand it well enough to charge you for it.
Tired of guessing at what's wrong? Too much on to fix it yourself? It starts with a conversation at your place — free, nothing to sign, and you keep the written summary either way. None of it gets cheaper by waiting — the friction bills you monthly whether you fix it or not. And if I don't think I'm the right fit, I'll tell you.
Finding the root cause, then fixing it. Lake District based, working across Cumbria and North Lancashire.
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