I’ve been on your side of the counter.

I spent five years building software for a national retailer, including internal tools, data systems, and device tracking. Real systems, used every day by people who did not care how they worked, only that they did.

Then I spent five more years managing small retail stores, running payroll, building schedules, counting inventory, and fighting with a POS system on a Saturday afternoon with a line at the register. I have closed out a pay period by hand because reconciling it was faster than fixing the thing that broke it. I know exactly how much of your week that eats.

Most people who can do the technical half have never worked a counter. Most people who have worked a counter can’t do the technical half. That gap is where I work. When you tell me the system is fighting you, I know what you mean, because I’ve been on your side of it, and I know the difference between a problem worth a project and a problem worth fifteen minutes.

I work with small businesses. Not corporations, not chains. The shops, kitchens, and crews where the owner is on site and every wasted hour comes out of somebody’s evening. Retail and food service are where my proof is, but the work travels. If you run a small business on software, the same problems show up.

Background

• Grew up around small business and have worked in it ever since. Retail management, food service, and five years of IT for a national retailer.
• Web development training through Code Louisville in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP/MySQL, and C#/.NET.
• Business management coursework at Sullivan University.
• Based in Bardstown. On site from Louisville to Lexington, remote anywhere.

Joshua Elmore, Bardstown, Kentucky