Build Your Technology

Welcome to the first issue of my newsletter where I break down real technology problems I see business owners face every week, and show you exactly how to fix them.

I'm Corey Stone. I help small businesses and founders get their technology working for them instead of against them. Not with massive enterprise budgets. Not with a 10-person IT department. With smart decisions, the right tools, and systems that actually connect.

Every issue, you'll get an actionable playbook, a few things worth your time, and zero fluff. Let's get into it.

THIS WEEK'S PLAYBOOK

The 12-Hour Problem Nobody Talks About

How I discovered I was losing a day and a half every week to work that shouldn't exist — in my own business.

Here's what my process looked like when I signed a new client: I'd draft a Master Service Agreement in Google Docs, export it to PDF, and email it over. Then we would do the dance of trying to figure out what processes they used. Once I had the signed copy, I'd manually save it into a Google Drive folder — assuming I remembered the right one. I'd create an invoice separately, email that too, and hope it didn't get buried. After every meeting, I'd download the recording, rename the file, upload it to the client's folder, and send them the link. When questions came in, they showed up everywhere — text, email, voicemail — and I was tracking none of it.

If you'd asked me how much time I was spending on that kind of admin work, I would have said "maybe 3 or 4 hours a week."

I decided to actually track it. It was closer to 12.

That was the wake-up call. I spent the next few weeks rebuilding my own systems from the ground up — digital document signing, automated client onboarding workflows, a proper folder structure that populates itself, and a single place where clients can find everything without emailing me. The same kind of work I do for clients, finally applied to my own business.

Why this matters more than you think

Twelve hours a week is 624 hours a year. At even $100/hour, that's $62,400 in lost billable time — spent renaming files, forwarding documents, and chasing signatures. And that's just one person.

The problem isn't that business owners are disorganized. It's that their tools don't talk to each other. They're using 5, 8, sometimes 12 different apps — each one fine on its own — but with a human being doing all the connecting in between. That human is you. And it's costing you a day and a half every single week.

I know because I was that human too.

The 3 biggest time drains I fixed in my own business

These are the same three problems I now see in every small business I work with:

⏱ TIME DRAIN #1

Documents that live in email

I was emailing contracts back and forth, sending invoices as attachments, and losing proposals in my own inbox. Every document that lives in email is a document you'll spend 10 minutes hunting for later — and your client will too. I replaced all of that with digital signing that files automatically. No printing, no scanning, no "which folder was that in?"

💡 DIY fix: Start with a shared Google Drive folder structure. One folder per client, subfolders for contracts, invoices, and deliverables. It's not automation, but it's a foundation.

⏱ TIME DRAIN #2

Chasing payments manually

Send an invoice. Nothing happens. A week later, send a polite follow-up. Two weeks later, another one — slightly less polite. I was doing this dance with every single client. I set up automated reminders that trigger at 3, 7, and 14 days overdue. My average time to get paid dropped from weeks to days, and I stopped being the person who had to chase the money.

💡 DIY fix: Most invoicing tools have built-in auto-reminders. If you're using QuickBooks, Wave, or Invoice Ninja — go turn them on right now. It takes 2 minutes and you'll never send a manual reminder again.

⏱ TIME DRAIN #3

Being the middleman for your own clients

"Can you resend that invoice?" "Where's the recording from our last call?" "What's the status of my project?" I was fielding these questions constantly — and the answer already existed somewhere in my files. I built a client portal where everything lives in one place: contracts, invoices, meeting recordings, project status. My clients can access what they need without going through me, and I got hours back every week.

💡 DIY fix: Create a simple "Client Hub" page — even a Google Doc with links to their shared folder, their invoice, and your scheduling link. It's basic, but it cuts the "can you send me..." emails in half.

The bottom line

Technology isn't about having the fanciest tools. It's about connecting what you already use so that you stop being the glue that holds everything together. The businesses that grow fastest aren't working harder — they're eliminating the work that never should have existed in the first place. I learned that the hard way in my own business before I started helping others do the same.

QUICK HITS

3 things worth your time this week

⏱ Track your admin time. For one week, write down every task you do that isn't core business work — forwarding docs, updating spreadsheets, chasing replies. Be honest with yourself. Most owners I talk to guess 3–4 hours. It's usually triple that.

📋 List every tool you pay for. Subscriptions add up fast. I've seen businesses paying for 3 different tools that do the same thing. If you haven't opened an app in 30 days, cancel it. You won't miss it.

🔐 Turn on two-factor authentication. On your email. Your bank. Your Google account. Everywhere. It takes 10 minutes and it's the single most impactful security improvement you can make today. No excuses on this one.

BUILD YOUR TECHNOLOGY

Want help closing the gap?

That's exactly what the Build Your Technology package is for — three focused sessions where we tackle your software and automation, your cybersecurity gaps, and your online presence. Each session ends with concrete next steps you can implement immediately.

It's not a sales pitch disguised as consulting. It's the same process I'd walk a friend through if they asked me to look at their tech setup over coffee.

$1,500 · 3 sessions · Actionable deliverables after each one.

Build smarter,

Corey Stone

Corey Alan Consulting

P.S. Know a business owner who's drowning in admin work they shouldn't be doing? Forward this email. Sometimes just seeing the 12-hour number is the wake-up call.

Corey Alan Consulting

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