What I actually do
Four things, done properly, instead of ten things done halfway.
Six client engagements to date, on top of six years running Epicor Kinetic for my own employer.
Epicor & ERP Systems
I've run Epicor Kinetic day to day for a precision scientific equipment manufacturer in the South Bay of Los Angeles for six years, cost accounting, production planning, the whole operational side, not a sandbox. I've built 120+ BAQs and BPMs that hold up under actual use, fix cost data that's been wrong for years without anyone noticing, and clean up the workarounds people build when the ERP is fighting them instead of helping. If you're on Epicor and something's stuck, tell me what it is. I've probably already run into the same failure mode.
AI Automation
Same approach I use running my own systems: I build AI automation that runs in production, wired into real data and real workflows, not a demo that impresses in a meeting and then quietly dies. Claude and Gemini doing the parts of a job that are repetitive but need judgment: qualifying leads, routing work, drafting the first pass of something a person used to write from scratch. If a process is eating someone's week for no good reason, tell me what it is. I've probably already run into the same failure mode.
Web & Software Development
Full-stack builds in Next.js, end to end, built the way I build for myself: marketing sites, internal tools, and software products with real logic behind them, including the unglamorous plumbing (auth, payments, hosting, deployment) that makes a site actually work instead of just look good in a screenshot. I've built software products of my own from scratch, so I know what shipping something actually takes.
ERP Data & Reporting
These are the same tools I use to run my own company's numbers, not something I learned to sell. I pull Kinetic data out of the ERP and into something people can actually use, Power BI dashboards and SQL Server reporting built on data that's been checked, not just piped through. I work directly against Epicor's Open REST API and OData endpoints when a linked-server or Power BI connection isn't enough, and against SQL Server itself with SSMS and DBeaver when I need to see the raw tables. Postman and CData drivers get used constantly, testing endpoints before I build against them, or wiring them into a reporting tool that expects plain SQL. When someone needs a custom report or dashboard, SSRS, Crystal, or Power BI, built off real production data instead of an export someone's been manually cleaning up in Excel every month, that's this.
General IT & Security
Outside the Epicor and AI work: WordPress and Squarespace builds, general IT support and troubleshooting, and opsec, security hardening, endpoint protection, network monitoring, the practical kind, not a compliance audit. If it's IT and it's broken, there's a decent chance I can fix it even if it's not one of the four things above.
Outcomes over deliverables
A report nobody reads is worthless. I build things that work, not things that look good in a handoff folder.
Minimum friction
Complexity is usually the problem. I subtract before I add.
I stay until it's running
I don't hand off a plan and disappear. I run my own systems day to day, so I stay on client work the same way, until it's actually working.
Data over opinion
I make decisions from evidence, production accounting and systems analysis, not gut feel.
Most engagements start with a paid audit, $250-$500 and a day or less of my time, before anything bigger gets quoted. You get a real number before you commit to one, not a vague estimate that grows once the invoices start.
No open-ended retainers, no hourly meter running in the background. If the first phase turns up more work, I scope that separately and you decide whether it's worth doing, with me or with someone else.
How broken does something have to be before it's worth reaching out?
If it's costing you real time every week, or if the numbers coming out of it can't be trusted, that's enough. You don't need a full outage or a burning platform. Most of what I fix is the slow kind of broken, workarounds nobody questions anymore, reports people quietly stopped believing.
What actually happens in the first conversation?
You describe the system and the problem. I ask enough questions to know whether I can help and roughly what it'd take. If it's a fit, next step is usually a short paid audit or discovery pass, not a sales pitch.
Do you only work with manufacturers or Epicor shops?
No. Epicor and manufacturing are where I have the deepest, most specific experience, six years running Kinetic day to day, 120+ BAQs and BPMs built. But AI automation, web/software work, and general IT support (including WordPress and Squarespace builds and opsec) aren't manufacturing-specific, I've done all of that for businesses outside that world too.
What if it turns out you're not the right fit?
I tell you directly, usually on the first call, and point you somewhere more useful if I can. I'd rather say no early than take a project I can't actually improve.
Do you work remotely, or does this need to be on-site?
Remote by default. Most of what I do, ERP data, BAQs and BPMs, dashboards, automation, doesn't require being in the building. If a project genuinely needs on-site time, we'd talk about that specifically.
How many clients have you actually done this for?
Six client engagements to date, alongside six years running Epicor Kinetic full-time for a precision scientific equipment manufacturer in the South Bay of Los Angeles. I'm not a large firm, that's the point, you work directly with the person doing the work.
Something stuck?
Tell me what it is. I'll tell you straight whether it's a fit and what it'd take.
Tell me what's broken