Custom software, automation and AI, built around how your business actually works, so it runs at your standard without you in every loop.
You've written the process down. You've hired a freelance developer. You've bought the tool that was going to fix it. Yet running the business still comes down to a few people and what's in their heads.
I build the custom software, automation and AI that take the repetitive work off your team's plate, so the business keeps running when you're not in the room, while the expertise & judgment remain uniquely yours.
Free, 30 minutes. You leave with the one step worth systemising first, and what it looks like live in 30 days.
Runs at your standard, without you in every loop.
The steps that shouldn't need a person.
Owned by one senior partner, for the long haul.
brandcollab is a marketing agency and freelancer network with no senior developer in-house. The founder used to carry every feedback loop herself and redo work that came back broken. Now the same work takes about half her time, by her own estimate, and costs less overall than the lower-priced developers she'd tried. She approves instead of writing briefs, and the team's knowledge system answers what used to wait on a Slack thread.
Your Strata Property is a membership business built on the founder's expertise, and every member question went through her or her team. The new system answers them in her voice, from her own material. About six months in it handles roughly 75% of repeat questions and guides members through coaching exercises. That's 4 to 7 hours a week she gets back, and the one-on-one work that actually needs her is still hers.
Schloss Torgelow and Kurpfalz-Internat, two private boarding schools, run their day-to-day operations on a platform I designed and have kept building for nine years: 2,300+ students, parents, teachers and admin staff in one system. Management & information flow are transparent and efficient, saving 100+ hours per week across multiple team members and providing valuable operational & teaching quality KPIs.
One step at a time, starting with the one that costs you the most. Three steps.
A free 30-minute call. You show me how the work actually runs, I pick the one step most worth systemising first. Within two business days you have a one-page scope: what it does, what it doesn't touch, what it costs.
30 days, fixed scope, fixed price. Week one is discovery inside the build: on day 5 we confirm the scope or re-scope, and either of us can stop. What ships on day 30 is what was agreed on day 5.
One senior technical partner keeps it running and builds the next one, from a priority list we keep together. Deliberately few clients, async-first, no unlimited task queue.
One senior partner, deliberately few clients. The first system is a fixed price; the ongoing partnership is a monthly retainer.
Typically $8-15k AUD, fixed, set by the one-page scope before you pay. Scope review after 5 days (because something unexpected always reveals itself), live by day 30.
Monthly retainer from $5k AUD for ongoing technical ownership, support and the next builds. Optional.
Minimal meetings. Slack, email or Trello, response within one business day, and a clear process for anything urgent.
Clients typically stay 3+ years. The longest partnership is 9+ years and still running.
I'm Michelle Retzlaff, a full-stack developer and systems architect with 12+ years of experience. I build the systems established businesses run on. I can code, but I also think in systems, and that's what it takes to get a business off one person's shoulders without replacing the people who make it work.
I've spent years on technical problems where the solution wasn't obvious, requirements were unclear, and previous attempts had failed. That's where I do my best work.
I take an unstructured business problem, find the actual cause, design a pragmatic solution, build it reliably, and don't need to be managed along the way. Based on the Gold Coast, working with clients across Australia and in Germany.
Book a free First System call
The core tool you already have (practice management, student management, CRM, job system, membership platform) holds the records. Everything around it, the hand-offs, the re-keying, the reports, the phone calls that should be a portal, is the system the business actually runs on, and it usually lives in spreadsheets and people's heads. I build that layer as custom software, automation or AI, around what you already run, not instead of it. You keep the judgment calls and the review; the repetitive work stops needing a person.
A free 30-minute call. You show me how the work actually runs, I pick the one step most worth systemising first, and within two business days you get a one-page scope: what it does, what it doesn't touch, what it costs. There's no application process; the call is the scoping conversation. Worst case you leave with a clear answer about which part to fix first.
Typically $8,000 to $15,000 AUD, fixed, set by the one-page scope before you pay. After five days there's a scope review, because something unexpected always reveals itself: we confirm the scope or re-scope it, and either of us can stop at a fixed discovery fee. Fixed price means no hourly drift. What ships on day 30 is what was agreed at the review.
No. The first system is a fixed-price build that stands on its own, and it's yours at day 30 whether or not we continue. The retainer is optional: most clients keep me on to run the system, support the team and build the next one, from $5,000 AUD a month, but nothing about the first build depends on it.
Automated: the repetitive steps, such as data entry between systems, intake and onboarding, scheduling and reminders, reports, the repeat questions, admin. Yours: the judgment calls, the relationships, and the review of everything that ships. Systems can be internal or customer-facing, whichever fits. The expertise and judgment remain uniquely yours.
Off-the-shelf tools don't know how your business works end to end, so you end up stitching them together and hoping nothing breaks. Freelancers build a piece and leave. This is one senior technical partner who designs the system around how your business actually works, builds it, and keeps owning it if you want that. The code, the data and the accounts are yours, in your name.
A part-time partner who already knows how to build and run systems like yours costs roughly half a full-time hire, starts next month, and ships the backlog instead of spending the first quarter learning the stack. If you later want someone in-house, the systems and the documentation are there for them to inherit.
No. I'm based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, and work async-first with clients across Australia and in Germany. Minimal meetings, Slack or email or Trello, response within one business day, and a clear process for anything urgent.
Whatever fits the problem rather than a fixed stack: Python and Django, React, PostgreSQL, AWS, LLM and RAG systems, workflow automation, and the platforms most of my clients already run on, WordPress and WooCommerce and Shopify Plus. Twelve-plus years full-stack. Clients typically stay three-plus years; the longest partnership is nine-plus years.
Book a free 30-minute First System call. You show me how the work actually runs; you leave with the one step worth systemising first and what it would look like live in 30 days.
Book a free First System call