I didn’t go to college straight out of high school. Instead, I entered the workforce with the mistaken idea I could “work my way up the ladder.” I took whatever roles were available and many I got were as such because no one wanted to do them! I worked in sanitation, manufacturing, bookkeeping, technical diagnostics, sales, management, and customer support—believing that effort and adaptability would eventually be rewarded. I learned a lot…but money and promotions didn’t follow. 

The turning point came when I was working as a clerk in a distribution center. I sat in a windowless, fluorescent-lit room, arriving before sunrise and leaving after sunset. My job consisted of mind-numbing repetition: tasks like keying in 22-digit codes for hours at a time. My computer had exactly three programs, no internet access, and completely locked-out all downloads.

Logically I understood that everything I was doing could be automated. The challenge was figuring out how with no tools, no web access, and no formal training. The only app I had to experiment with was Excel. While tinkering, I discovered Visual Basic, my humble introduction to programming.

I taught myself how to programmatically move data between reports, Telnet, and Excel, replicating the exact steps I’d previously done by hand. The automation was fast, accurate, and reliable. Soon, team leads were asking me to run it in their departments. Then I was asked to train 75 people across 50 distribution centers on a particularly high-impact automation I’d built— 20 lines of code that saved the company over half a million dollars year, plus whatever costs they may have incurred from lost productivity in medical leaves and light duty from widespread carpal tunnel injuries and surgeries.

With my job whittled down from automations, I thought surely this is how people move up the ranks: create undeniable value for your employer —> earn greater responsibility —> move into work better aligned with your strengths. Maybe even get some on-the-job training to expand the skillset. Makes perfect sense to me.

Alas, no. They offered to let me continue to sit at my desk for 8 hours a day and get paid “in case” I was needed but I learned quickly that I’m not built for that. I was bored.

Reality set in: the meritocracy-method wasn’t going to work for me. Plus, I was excited by automation and the idea of using technology as a tool to solve challenging problems. I was in the wrong place and finally saw a path for how to meaningfully move forward in my life. I immediately applied to college, got a full scholarship, and graduated from RPI with a degree in Computer Science.

Decades later, I continue to work with companies on understanding their systems and user journeys for their own automations and growth potential. Together we eliminate the usual confusion so you can trust your data, people, and processes. There’s no guesswork to it. I’ll show you how we’ll methodically simplify your flows and amplify your growth every step of the way.

Let’s separate your time from your income, and get you some freedom. You run the business, the business doesn’t run you.