About Daniel

Hi, I'm Daniel Foote — happily married father of two, and the person you'll actually be working with if you engage Systems Automation Workshop. There's no team behind me to hand things off to; it's just me.

Neurodivergent, and done masking

I'm neurodivergent — the extent of which I'm still not entirely sure of, because I spent most of my life trying to conform to a neurotypical world and masking away my true nature. I'm done doing that. Here's what it actually means for you, as someone I'm working with:

I hold myself and my work to the highest standards.
I'm a people pleaser who genuinely hates letting anyone down, so I'm going the extra mile to make sure I don't.
Helping people solve their problems brings me real joy — not a sales pitch, an actual motivator.
I'll persist until I get something right, balancing perfection with progress to actually get things done. ("Done, not perfect" has a place — used carefully.)
If I make a mistake, I own it, fix it, and change my process so it doesn't happen again.
I'm honest to a fault: I don't sugarcoat problems or hide mistakes.
I work fast without compromising quality. Some people struggle to keep up with me — but rather than slow myself down, I lean into it to help more people and do better work.
Working quickly also means I have time left over to polish things properly, and I tend to uncover problems early, while there's still time to deal with them.
You've got a story that explains why you're doing what you're doing. I want to understand it, so I can actually help you rather than guess.
I'll ask hard questions — not to be difficult, but because I want real clarity on your problem to arrive at the correct solution for you.
I don't have a lot of formal qualifications. I'm mostly self-taught, and when I need to learn something new, I go deep until I properly understand it. Knowing what I don't know is one of the most useful skills I have.
I'm risk adverse. So I'm going to do things safely for myself and for you.
I don't do bored. If I run out of things to do, I'll ask for more, or find ways to be useful. It can come across as keen — that's just how I'm wired.
I document what I do extensively, on the principle that someone else has to be able to pick up where I left off.
Give me a genuinely hard problem and I'll turn it over for days and often land on a solution somewhere unexpected — in a dream, in the shower, on a walk.
If I can I automate the boring, repetitive task, I'm going to do my best do do exactly that.

Why I started this business

I've had a lot of different jobs and met a huge range of people, largely because of how my brain works.

I always walk away from a job with my head held high: I always leave a company in a better position than when I started with them. I always can look back and be proud of my actions and behaviour for that company.

I've always resigned from jobs — never been let go. Employers have generally tried to keep me.

Why did I leave past jobs? Three reasons, consistently:

I burned myself out giving 110%. I've learned how to balance this.
I got bored in cultures where being idle was normal (government work, for instance). I don't do bored.
or I landed somewhere that stifled my growth and creativity. I'm not always right, but sometimes I do have good ideas.

Knowing that now, I can build the environment that actually works for me — solving unique problems for other people, while staying busy and applying myself sustainably.

That's the whole idea behind Systems Automation Workshop: rather than try to force myself into a round hole, I've built my own square one. If I can work at my own pace, on my own quality standards, helping businesses fix real problems, everyone wins — you get someone who's genuinely invested, and I get to do the work I'm actually good at.

You can read more about the businesses and jobs that led here on the experience page, how I actually approach a project on the approach page, and my underlying philosophy on the philosophy page.

My goals, plainly

Build an environment where I can bring my problem-solving ability to help others, sustainably.
Help your business thrive and protect what matters most: your staff and your reputation for quality.
Make enough to feed, house, and educate my family.

That's it. That's the whole motivation.