Why I Left a $432K Business to Build Automation

Three years ago, I was running Confidence Home Services—a company I'd built from nothing into a $432K annual revenue business with 25 employees. By most measures, we were successful. We had a 76% close rate on leads, a solid reputation, and steady growth.

And I was miserable.

The Problem Wasn't the Business

Don't get me wrong—I loved the work. I loved solving problems for customers. I loved building a team and watching people grow. What I hated was everything in between.

Every morning started the same way: opening a dozen browser tabs, checking three different inboxes, updating spreadsheets that should update themselves, and chasing down information that lived in someone's head instead of a system.

I was spending 60% of my time on tasks that added zero value to customers.

The Breaking Point

It was a Tuesday. I'd been at the office since 6 AM. By noon, I hadn't done a single thing that actually moved the business forward. I'd spent six hours on administrative tasks—tasks that, if I'm honest, a well-designed system could have handled in minutes.

That night, I couldn't sleep. Not because of stress, but because I finally saw the problem clearly:

I wasn't running the business. The business was running me.

The systems I'd built—the ones that got us to $432K—were the same systems now holding us back. They required constant human intervention. They couldn't scale. And they were burning out my best people, including me.

The Decision

I started researching automation tools. Not enterprise solutions with six-figure price tags—those weren't built for businesses like mine. I needed something that could work for a 25-person service company, not a Fortune 500.

What I found was a gap in the market. The tools existed, but nobody was putting them together in a way that made sense for service businesses. The automation consultants I talked to came from tech backgrounds—they understood the tools but not the reality of running crews, managing customers, and dealing with the chaos of field service.

So I started building. First for myself. Then I realized I wasn't the only one.

What I Learned

The transition wasn't instant. I spent a year learning automation platforms, building workflows, breaking things, and rebuilding them. I made every mistake possible so my clients don't have to.

Here's what actually matters:

1. Start with the pain, not the tech. Every successful automation I've built started with a clear problem: "I spend 3 hours a day on X" or "We lose 20% of leads because Y." If you can't quantify the pain, you can't measure the solution.

2. Automate the boring stuff first. The flashy AI features are cool, but the biggest ROI comes from automating the mundane: data entry, follow-up reminders, report generation. These are the tasks eating your team's time without anyone noticing.

3. Build for your people, not despite them. The best automation makes your team's jobs easier, not obsolete. If your employees are fighting the system, you've built the wrong system.

Where I Am Now

Today, I run multiple businesses—but I spend more time with my family than I did when I had just one. The automation systems we built handle the administrative overhead. My team focuses on customers and quality, not paperwork.

And now, through MW Development, I help other service business owners make the same transition. Because nobody should have to learn these lessons the hard way.

The $432K business taught me everything about what breaks when you scale. Now I build the systems that keep things from breaking in the first place.