# Mermaid Devs: delivery & operations automation for agencies & consultancies

Custom software + AI that carries your method, so client delivery stops running through you. Michelle Retzlaff, systems architect and developer, Gold Coast, Australia. First system live in 30 days, fixed scope, fixed price, then an optional ongoing retainer.

Book a free 30-minute call: https://tidycal.com/michelleretzlaff/fit-call
Email: michelle@mermaiddevs.com

## The problem

You've written the process down. You've hired a freelance developer. You've bought the tool that was going to fix it. Yet your delivery still runs through you.

I build the custom software and AI systems that take the repetitive steps off your plate, so the work comes out at your standard without you in every loop, while the expertise & judgment remain uniquely yours.

Your method is repeatable. Your delivery still isn't:

- Every project still needs your hands on it, even the parts you've done a hundred times.
- Every client conversation routes through you, so your calendar is the ceiling on the business.
- Intake, setup, QA and the same questions drain the hours that should go into judgment and growth.
- Freelancers who disappeared, or cheap developers whose work you had to redo.
- A stack of subscriptions that don't talk to each other, and you're the human integration layer.
- AI is on the radar, but nobody you trust to build something that actually carries your method.

## What I build

**Free the founder from delivery.** Your method, without your hours in it.

- You review and approve instead of drafting, chasing and re-explaining.
- Your team delivers your method without routing every step through you.
- Your expertise & judgment remain uniquely yours while the work behind them stops needing you.
- Delivery keeps moving when you take a week off.

**Eliminate the repeat work.** The steps that shouldn't need a person.

- Every project starts within your framework, so you refine instead of starting from blank.
- Repetitive steps automated & integrated.
- Your method & standards applied to the work before it reaches you, so review takes minutes.
- The context your team keeps asking you for is there when they need it, without asking.

**Systems built around how you actually work.** Owned by one senior partner, for the long haul.

- Custom software, not another blanket subscription.
- Integrations that make your tools talk to each other.
- AI where it does real work, not a chatbot bolted on.
- Ongoing ownership, maintenance and the next build.

Built with custom software, AI & LLM systems, workflow automation, integrations and cloud infrastructure.

## What it looks like when it's fixed

**Half the founder's time on tech, and cheaper than the "cheap" developers.** 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.

**4 to 7 hours a week back, every week, at the same standard.** 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.

**100+ hours saved every week, for nine years running.** 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: 1,200+ 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.

## How it works: the Delivery Engine

One step at a time, starting with the one that costs you the most.

1. **Map the method.** A free 30-minute call. You show me how delivery 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.
2. **Build the first system.** 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.
3. **Own it ongoing.** One senior technical partner keeps it running and builds the next one as your business evolves. Deliberately few clients, async-first, no unlimited task queue.

## Engagement model

One senior partner, deliberately few clients. The first system is a fixed price; the ongoing partnership is a monthly retainer.

- **First system live in 30 days:** typically $8,000 to $15,000 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.
- **Ongoing partnership:** monthly retainer from $5,000 AUD for ongoing technical ownership, support and the next builds. Optional.
- **Async-first:** minimal meetings. Slack, email or Trello, response within one business day, and a clear process for anything urgent.
- **Long-term partnership:** clients typically stay 3+ years. The longest partnership is 9+ years and still running.

**Best fit for:** founders of agencies and consultancies selling an expert service or productised service; membership, education and expertise-led businesses whose service is delivered through online tools; established businesses with no senior technical owner in-house; owners who want to hand over the thinking rather than micromanage it.

## About Michelle Retzlaff

I'm a full-stack developer and systems architect with 12+ years of experience. I automate the delivery of expert services. I can code, but I also think in systems, and that's what it takes to get a founder out of their own delivery without watering down the method.

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.

## Questions founders ask

**What is delivery automation for an agency or consultancy?**
Delivery automation means taking the repetitive steps of delivering your service (intake and project setup, first drafts, checking work against your method and standards, admin, the repeat client questions) and running them as custom software or AI systems built around how you actually work. The founder keeps the judgment calls and the review; the repetitive work stops needing a person.

**What is a First System call?**
A free 30-minute call. You show me how your delivery 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.

**What does the first system cost, and what happens if the scope turns out wrong?**
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.

**Do I have to sign up for the ongoing retainer?**
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.

**What gets automated, and what stays with me?**
Automated: the repetitive steps, such as intake and project setup, first drafts that start within your framework, checking work against your method and standards, the repeat questions, admin and reporting. Yours: the method, the judgment calls, the client relationships, and the review of everything that ships. Systems can be internal or client-facing, whichever fits. The expertise and judgment remain uniquely yours.

**How is this different from hiring a freelancer or using off-the-shelf AI tools?**
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 your actual method, builds it, and keeps owning it if you want that. The code, the data and the accounts are yours, in your name.

**Do you only work with businesses on the Gold Coast?**
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.

**What technology do you build with?**
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 call

Free 30-minute First System call: https://tidycal.com/michelleretzlaff/fit-call
You show me how delivery actually runs; you leave with the one step worth systemising first and what it would look like live in 30 days.

Mermaid Devs, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. michelle@mermaiddevs.com