I like figuring things out with people.

My first encounter with automation was in RuneScape, when I was twelve, on the family computer. I downloaded a botting program, left it mining virtual rocks overnight, and woke up to a bank full of digital gold. Discovering that a computer could play the game for me while I slept made quite an impression.

Years later, I built my own RuneScape bot from scratch. It fought scorpions, caught and cooked fish, and ate them to heal after battle. I was very pleased with it. Then my bot got stuck in a corner, immobile and mute, and attracted the attention of a moderator, who immediately pegged my character as a bot and banned me. Oops!

I still think about that first overnight botting session, going to sleep and dreaming of digital rocks. Not much has changed for me since then. The stuff I automate has changed (it’s a lot more professional now, I swear!), but the satisfaction is exactly the same. Read the full RuneScape story ↗(opens in a new tab)

At sixteen, I started Neighbourhood Nerd, my first small business: fixing computers and riding my bike to house calls. That grew into YourTech, where I supported the technology small businesses depended on. Working with those businesses got me interested in the work happening around their computers: the repeated tasks, the inefficiencies, and the workarounds people had learned to live with.

I finished my Bachelor of Arts in Media, Information and Technoculture at Western University in 2017 and founded DigitalStaff in 2018. Now I run DigitalStaff and build the practical systems I wish more small businesses had access to.

I ask a lot of questions. I like seeing how people work and understanding the little decisions they make along the way. The offhand remarks and digs at the software they use tell me a lot about which problems to solve.

There’s usually some joking, some showing and telling, and a plan taking shape between us.

From there, I turn what we’ve learned into a clear plan, build a working version, and bring it back for feedback. I want people to recognize their own work and their own needs in the software, and to feel comfortable telling me what needs to change.

I use AI to explore ideas, learn, organize information, and write software. Working with AI coding agents to build really useful software for my customers has increased how much I can help. It’s never a one-off task either. I keep working on and improving the code collaboratively with the people who use the system.

I love the breadth of it: business conversations, process design, software, and the practical work of getting something useful into people’s hands.