The Small Business Project

First up: Madrin Merchandising.

The Small Business Project follows real businesses bringing technology into how they work — documented in the open. First up is Madrin Merchandising: my mum's business. Her team of merchandisers is spread right across the country, and until now every call report ran on Excel, email, and a lot of manual copying. We're changing that — a new website, a refreshed brand, and software that does the busywork — and I'm sharing every step.

Follow the build See the story

Why start here

The businesses that need technology most are the ones with the least time to figure it out.

Madrin is exactly that kind of business — brilliant at what they do, run on grit and spreadsheets. It's the perfect first test of a simple idea: can the right tools, brought in gently, give a small team its evenings back?

Case 01 Live pilot

Madrin Merchandising, going phone-first.

The business

Madrin Merchandising is my mum's business — a field merchandising company with a team of reps spread across the country, out in stores keeping products looking their best.

The challenge

Every rep filled in their call reports on an Excel spreadsheet and emailed them in. Each one was then copied, by hand, into a master spreadsheet to work out hours — which were then re-typed into Xero to run payroll. There was no website, and the whole thing ran on spreadsheets and email. It worked, but it ate hours every week and left plenty of room for error.

What we did

We started by mapping the whole process, end to end. Then: a refreshed logo and Madrin's first-ever website — and GobyGO, software that lets the team complete their call reports on their phones, calculates their hours automatically, and exports straight to Xero for payroll. No more spreadsheets, no more email chains, no more copying figures into a master sheet by hand.

Why it matters

This is the quiet, manual admin that drains small businesses — capable people spending evenings copying spreadsheets instead of growing. If we can automate it for Madrin, it's proof the same is possible for thousands of others. That's the whole point of After Five Founder.

The project grows

More businesses joining soon.

Madrin is Case 01. Two more real businesses are lined up — each at a completely different starting point, so whatever shape your business is in, there'll be a story that fits.

Case 02 · Start-up

A brand-new business

Starting from a blank page — setting up only the essentials, as leanly as possible, and working out what's genuinely worth paying for this early.

Coming soon

Case 03 · Services

A first website, at last

An established business that's done well on word of mouth but has never had a website. Building something simple and findable that brings in new customers.

Coming soon

I'll introduce each business properly, with their blessing, as their story goes public.

How it works

The same honest process, every time.

No two businesses are the same, but the approach is. Four steps, repeated — and written up as I go.

Look honestly

Start with where the business actually is today — not where a sales deck says it should be.

Find the leverage

Pick the one or two changes that save the most time or bring in the most customers. Park the rest.

Build it lean

Use the simplest tools that do the job. No enterprise software, no jargon, no lock-in.

Share the lesson

Write up what worked, what didn't, and what it cost — so the next small business can skip the mistakes.

Every real cost from these builds goes straight into the cost calculators — so you can plan with honest numbers.

Open the cost calculators →

Follow the build

Watch Madrin's story unfold, lesson by lesson.

I'll share the build in the open — the wins, the dead ends, the real costs, and the templates you can steal. No spam, no hype. Just the work.

Work ends. Purpose begins. · An honest attempt — unsubscribe anytime.