Turnaround coaching, AI automation and reporting · Vero Beach & the Treasure Coast
I have run a company. I know what a stalled quarter, a missed hire and a messy month-end feel like. I pair an operator's judgment with AI that automates the busywork, puts your numbers on one page and keeps your pipeline full, so you can lead the business instead of chasing it. A tighter business wins more customers.
Watch: 4 minutes
A short paper-cut story about Maria, who runs operations, and Tom, who owns the business. It shows how reporting that is set up well turns a pile of systems into one number and one play.
If AI makes you nervous
Plenty of business owners are wary of AI, and that is reasonable. The headlines are loud and the hype is louder. Here is the plain version. In a small company, AI is a tool, like a good spreadsheet or a phone system. It does the repetitive work, a person checks it, and you stay in charge.
Quotes, scheduling, follow-ups, data entry and reports are the repetitive work that eats your day. Your people keep the customers and the judgment calls.
Nothing goes out to a customer until someone on your team has read it.
We start with one small pilot and a measurable goal, so you can see the time saved or new business before you commit to more.
What I do
Most owners I talk to are stuck in one of four places: the business has stalled, the numbers arrive too late, the team is buried in manual work, or the pipeline is thin. Each one is fixable, and AI makes the fix stick.
1 · Turn it around
Hands-on coaching from someone who has run a company. I work alongside you like an operating partner, and AI keeps the plan moving between meetings.
2 · See your business clearly
Most owners find out how the month went weeks after it ended. I set up reporting that tells you where you stand every week, in plain English.
3 · Automate the work
I map where your people lose hours to repetitive work, then build automations that handle it, with a person approving anything that matters.
4 · Grow sales
AI finds the right buyers and keeps follow-up from slipping. You do the selling.
How it fits together
When everything is on fire
Most owner-led businesses I meet are not failing. They are stretched. Every day is a run of urgent problems, the same few people absorb all of it, and no one has the time to step back and fix how the business actually runs. The instinct is to hire more people. Sometimes that is right. Often the real problem is that the operation has no structure, and another hire just joins the scramble.
I have run a company and led large rollouts, and I bring that C-suite experience to businesses that cannot justify a full-time executive. I look at how your business really works, find where it leaks time and money, and put the fixes in place.
1 · See it clearly
A business systems review of where work stalls, who owns what and what keeps breaking. You get a plain-English picture and a short list of fixes, in order.
2 · Put it in order
Clear roles, simple procedures, a weekly rhythm and the few numbers that matter, so problems get caught before they turn into fires.
3 · Lighten the load
Where it makes sense, automation, AI assistants and the right freelancers handle the repetitive work. That can often replace a full-time hire, and your people get back to customers and judgment calls.
You do not need a big project to start. Begin with one conversation, bring me in for a few hours a month, or keep me on a small monthly retainer. The goal is the same: a business that runs tighter, gives you your time back and is ready to grow sales.
Busy, selling, and still not making money
Some of the hardest-working companies I see have a sales problem nobody would guess: they sell plenty and keep almost none of it. The team is busy, the orders keep coming, and at the end of the year there is very little left. One company I work with brought in $4.5 million in revenue and kept 2.2% as net profit. That is about $99,000 to show for a year of hard work.
When that happens, something between the sale and the bank account is leaking. It is rarely one big thing. It is usually pricing that has not kept up with costs, jobs that quietly lose money, rework and waste, overtime, overhead that crept up, and no one looking at margin job by job. I find where the money goes and help you stop the leaks.
1 · Follow the money
We trace revenue down to net profit by customer, product and job, so you can see which work makes money and which work costs you money.
2 · Plug the leaks
Reprice what is underpriced, cut the costs that do not earn their keep, and fix the rework and overtime that quietly eat margin.
3 · Keep it fixed
A simple weekly report shows margin as it happens, not months later, so a losing job gets caught while you can still do something about it.
For the skeptic
Pick a chore. See who does what. The pattern is the same every time: AI does the first draft, a person checks it, you decide.
Today
You think about outreach on Sunday night, then a customer emergency eats the week. Leads come from referrals and luck.
With AI
AI researches 25 to 100 companies that look like your best customers, writes a short brief on each with source links, ranks them, and drafts a first email for the top ones.
You still
Approve every message before it goes out. Pick the target customer. Take the calls. Nothing is sent without a person signing off.
Today
You find out how the month went two weeks after it ended, from a report you have to decode. Cash surprises you.
With AI
AI reads your monthly statements and writes one page: what changed, what looks odd, which customers are paying slowly, how many weeks of cash you have.
You still
Decide what to do about it. Your accountant stays your accountant. I flag tax, payroll and loan questions for them.
Today
You write a job post from scratch at 9 pm, interview without a scorecard, and hire on gut feel.
With AI
AI drafts the role scorecard, the job post, structured interview questions and a 30-60-90 day plan, all in your company's words.
You still
Meet the candidates and make the offer. Firing, wage and discrimination questions go to an employment attorney, not to AI.
Today
The same ten questions land in your inbox every week, and you or your best person types the same answers.
With AI
AI drafts replies from your own past answers and policies. It flags anything it is unsure about instead of guessing.
You still
Review the drafts at first, then spot-check. Anything unusual stays with a person.
These are examples of the kind of work AI handles well. They are not client results. Your numbers, your pace and your risk level decide what makes sense for you.
Fair questions
I will not promise you a revolution. I will show you the few places where it saves real time and money, and tell you where it does not.
A chatbot answers questions. A useful setup does a job: researches a list, drafts a report, sorts replies, and hands you a finished piece of work to approve.
The goal is to take the repetitive research and paperwork off the people you already have, so they spend time on customers and judgment. Every setup has a person who approves the output.
Your files stay in your own folder, are used only for your work and are never mixed with another client's. At the end of the engagement I delete them on request. That goes in writing.
It will, sometimes. That is why a person checks the work, every claim about a company or number has a source, and we start small enough that a mistake is cheap.
I do not guarantee revenue. We agree on a measurable goal, run for four weeks to set a baseline, and then set a target together.
Tell me what happened. The usual causes are a vague goal, a big plan with no test, and no one owning the follow-up. I start with one small pilot so you can judge the work before you commit.
How we start
Step one
Thirty minutes about your business, what is eating your time and what a good result would look like in numbers. If I am not the right fit, I will tell you.
Step two
We choose one place to start: a turnaround priority, reporting, an automation or sales. We agree what success is and who approves the work.
Step three
You see the work every week. At day 30 we look at the numbers and decide together whether to stop, adjust or go further. Either side can end it with 30 days notice.
Coming soon · Ready-made tools
Most owners do not need a data team. They need to see their numbers clearly, on time, without someone building a spreadsheet by hand. I am putting together a small catalog of ready-to-use reporting tools built from what I have seen work in real businesses. The first ones are in development now.
Tool 1
A set of canned financial and operations reports that work with QuickBooks or your other business intelligence system. Set up once, then open and read.
Tool 2
Your key numbers, like cash, sales, margins, receivables and the KPIs that matter to you, gathered and delivered on a schedule with no manual work.
More to come
Tell me which report, dashboard or routine would save you the most time. It helps decide what gets built next.
Want to hear when these are ready, or have a say in what comes first? Send me a note and I will put you on the early list.
About Dean
I am Dean Mercier. I co-founded GAEMS and, as CEO, built it into a $20M portable gaming monitor company. I have spent more than 15 years working in manufacturing in Asia, and I have built outbound business development programs that replaced purchased leads.
Before that, I managed enterprise technology rollouts for hospital systems and state government, including a $13M program across 41 hospitals. I know what it takes to get people to change how they work.
I started Rebel Frog Studios in 2021 as a product design, sourcing and AI consulting studio. Today I bring the same hands-on approach to owners who want to use AI without the hype.
Where I work
Based in Vero Beach, Florida, I work in person across Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Brevard counties, and by video call anywhere.
Contact
Send a short note about your business and the one thing you would fix first. I will reply with what I would do, and whether I am the right person to help.