The questions Australian small business owners actually ask before working with me. Including the hard ones.
The basics. What I build, who it's for, and when it's not.
No. Manufacturing is the most developed example so far, because that's where the live system runs, but the same approach works for hospitality, trades, retail, professional services, logistics, and most other operating businesses.
The building blocks, sensors, dashboards, integrations, automated alerts, work anywhere a business is creating information and not using it. If your business runs on the day-to-day numbers (most do), it fits.
You're probably not. Small businesses are exactly who I work with. The question isn't your size, it's whether something is slowing you down that's worth fixing. Most businesses have plenty.
Size changes the recommendation, not the answer. For a very small operation, the right fix might be a process change or an off-the-shelf tool, not a custom build. That's fine, the goal is to make the business easier to run, not to sell you software you don't need.
That's the usual situation. Almost no business starts from zero. I work with what you already have, Xero, Square, MYOB, your warehouse system, your booking platform, instead of asking you to rip it out and start over.
The point is to connect what's already there, not replace it.
A few signs: you're the only one who knows what's actually happening across the business. Your team can't do their job without asking you first. Your nights and weekends go on catching things that slipped through the cracks. People are copying the same numbers between five different systems every week.
If any of that sounds familiar, the part wearing you out isn't the business itself. It's the chasing, checking and remembering that keeps it running. That's the part I take off your plate.
No. Everything Noti builds runs on stable, predictable systems, the same kind of technology your accounting, banking, and inventory tools run on. Rules, schedules, databases, dashboards, alerts. No models that make things up or change behaviour without warning. No per-query costs that blow out as you grow. No data shipped off to outside AI providers.
Could AI sit in one specific spot if it's genuinely the right tool there? Maybe, in some build, for some task. But it's never the core. The core is always plain, reliable systems, the boring kind that keep working long after the AI hype moves on.
From first call to live system, what happens, when, and what I need from you.
Most builds run 2 to 8 weeks from sign-off to live. Smaller systems land at the short end. Larger ones, with hardware to install, several integrations, or staff to train, take longer.
Every proposal spells out the timeline. I won't promise you two weeks if it's going to take six.
Four phases:
01 / Talk (free), A 30-minute call, then a 1-2 hour working session where I come in, see the operation, talk to your team, and shape the build.
02 / Plan (free), About a week. I write a scoped proposal: what I'd build, what it costs, what the monthly is. Fixed scope, fixed price.
03 / Build (fixed-price), 2-8 weeks. I build it, install any hardware, and connect your existing tools. Regular check-ins. The last week is training and handover.
04 / Run (monthly), Hosting, support, and ongoing refinements. The system keeps up as your business changes.
For NSW clients, yes, at least once. I want to see the operation, meet the people who'll use the system, and watch the work happen. You can't build the right system without seeing the work.
For other states, I sort it out case by case. Some builds run fine remotely on good video calls. Others need a site visit. I'll tell you straight which one you need.
One point of contact on your side, usually the owner or operations manager, who can answer questions and make decisions quickly. Access to your existing systems and accounts so I can connect them. And the okay to watch your team work.
That's about it. I don't need a project manager, a steering committee, or a Slack workspace with 12 people in it.
Fixed-price builds, a monthly fee for support, and no lock-in.
Every business is different, so I quote each project after the Plan phase, but to give you a sense: builds start from $1,500 and monthly support from $150/month, both fixed and agreed up front. The exact numbers are in the proposal before you commit to anything.
What I don't do: hourly billing, per-seat licensing, lock-in contracts, or markups on hardware and third-party services.
For context: I'm cheaper than a generic consultancy (those usually start at $50k+ minimums) and dearer than off-the-shelf software. The number that matters is what the problem costs you now, the team time, the missed catches, you as the bottleneck.
Hosting (Cloudflare, Supabase, and the like), support, small refinements, security updates, dependency upgrades, and direct access to Patrick for system questions.
Bigger new features (new dashboards, new integrations, new hardware) are quoted separately. Pass-through costs (SMS, AI tokens, third-party APIs) sit on top of the monthly fee at cost, never marked up.
Yes. Month-to-month, no lock-in. I hand over the documentation and any code I own.
If I'm not earning the fee, you should be free to walk. That's how I run things on purpose, not a concession I made grudgingly.
That's what the monthly fee is for. Businesses change. The system should change with them. Small adjustments (new alert thresholds, new report columns, minor workflow tweaks) are included.
Bigger changes (new dashboards, new integrations, new hardware) I quote separately when they come up. No surprises, no creep.
Why this is a one-person operation, and why that's on purpose.
Yes. Noti is Patrick Lemon, the same person who answers the first email, runs the first call, builds the system, and supports it after launch.
That's not a stepping stone to something bigger. A few clients at a time is the model, and that's the point. Each one gets real attention.
Fair question. Everything I build runs on standard infrastructure (Cloudflare, Supabase, Twilio), not custom hardware or proprietary platforms. I document every system. If something happened to me, you'd have working code, databases you can get into, and enough for someone else to pick it up.
Not a fun thing to plan for, but a real one. The honest answer: your system doesn't live in my head.
Yes, in management. That's on purpose. Every system Noti builds draws on one Patrick still uses and runs today. It's not a line on a CV. It's a job I'm still doing.
As Noti grows, that balance may shift. For now, being on the floor is what keeps the work good.
Text Patrick on 0417 214 311 or book a 30-minute call. No sales script, no pressure, just a straight talk about whether I can help.
Talk to Patrick →What I build, how I work, real proof, pricing, and when I'm not the right fit. The whole story.