# Shop Wisdom | Keep What Your Best People Know — for Canadian Manufacturers
Your best people are retiring. I help Canadian manufacturers capture the know-how that lives in a few heads, build it into systems the whole shop can run on, and stay on to keep it that way. You own everything — and it stays in Canada.

Knowledge continuity · for Canadian manufacturers

# Your best people are retiring. Their know‑how doesn't have to.

I don't just install AI. Before your best people walk out the door, I turn the pricing instincts, the fixes, the hard‑won judgment in their heads into systems your whole shop can run on — and I stay on to keep it that way.

Book a fit call — free, no pitch See client results

or call 778‑985‑OPEN (6736)

The moment your shop is in

## The real work runs on what lives in two or three people's heads. And those heads are heading for the door.

The veteran who knows how a quote really comes together, which customer needs what, the pricing call nobody else can make — it's never been written down. Here's the part nobody likes to say out loud: a business that lives in a few people's heads is worth less the day you go to sell it. Buyers see the risk even when you don't. So do your best customers — the first time a job goes sideways after someone walks out the door.

This isn't a technology problem. It's a continuity problem — and it's fixable.

How I work

## I work differently — on purpose.

The default — automation to cut headcount, AI as a sales pitch, delivered through tools you'll never own — leaves owners anxious and good people sidelined. That's not this.

### People stay essential

Used well, modern tools make your people more capable, not less needed. I design systems that respect the judgment your team has earned.

### Wisdom over speed

Wisdom is a slower technology than intelligence. I work at the pace good work needs, not the pace the hype cycle demands.

### You own everything

Every system I build is yours — hosted on Canadian soil, fully documented. Your data never leaves the country, and nothing locks you in.

### One person, accountable

The person you talk to is the person doing the work. No account managers, no pipelines, no chatbots between you and the help.

The work

## Keep what they know. Then build it into the shop.

Three steps: find out where you're exposed, fix it, and keep it handled. Every engagement starts by understanding your actual problem before I suggest a thing.

Start here · Diagnose

### The Continuity Audit

I spend a few focused hours with your team — the people who run the quotes, pricing, and orders — and find exactly where you're exposed: who holds what, what it would cost you if they left tomorrow, and what it's doing to the value of your business. You get a plain‑English risk report and a roadmap. Fixed fee. Nothing to install.

You walk away knowing where your shop is exposed — and what to do about it.

How the audit works →
Fix · Capture & build

### Capture it — and make it usable

I sit down with your best people, draw out what's in their heads, and build it into systems the whole crew can actually use — documented, trained, and built to last. You don't need to clean up thirty years of spreadsheets first: that mess is the knowledge, and waiting for perfect data is how it gets lost. The modern tools do the heavy lifting so it's fast and affordable — but a screen-recorder only captures the clicks. The part that matters is human, and it's the part that walks out the door: getting your veteran to open up, and capturing the judgment behind the work, not just the steps.

The day your best person retires, the work doesn't stop.

Keep it handled · Recurring System Care

### Your tools, kept running — on Canadian soil

Everything I build lives in your own space on my Canadian sovereign server — hosting, infrastructure, and running costs handled. From there I keep it healthy with regular check‑ups — quarterly, monthly, or weekly, depending on how hard you lean on it — and flag the new tech worth folding in, so it never quietly falls behind. When a key person heads for the door, I help capture the next one too. You own everything; walk away anytime and it all comes with you.

The system stays alive, current, and improving — never frozen the day I leave.

Everything I build comes with full documentation and a handover session. You'll never be dependent on me to keep it running.

Client results

## What "build it into a system" actually looks like.

Real projects for real Canadian shops — the before and after of taking knowledge that lived in a spreadsheet (and one person's head) and turning it into a tool the whole team can use.

### Dealer pricing: from emailed workbook to live catalog

Before — dealer pricing lived in a multi‑tab Excel workbook emailed to resellers on request. Dealers calculated their own pricing by hand, and any discount change meant redistributing the file. Staff spent real time fielding calls from dealers who couldn't find what they needed.

After — a hosted dealer pricing tool with real‑time discount logic, profile‑based pricing tiers, product filtering, and a built‑in order builder with export and email summary. Dealers access it directly — no file to download, no call required.

Before — Excel workbook
After — Hosted web app

> "We've been imagining something like this for years. Our catalog used to live in a spreadsheet we'd email back and forth — now our dealers can filter products, build orders in their own pricing, and send them through electronically. Mike built exactly what we needed."

### Order forms: from printed sheet to guided system

Before — the customer order form was a printed Excel sheet with basic formulas. Sales reps filled it in by hand, calculated totals manually, and emailed or faxed it in. Error‑prone, slow, and entirely dependent on one person knowing where everything was.

After — a hosted web order form with multiple pricing tiers, a pattern selector with live unit pricing, cut‑length calculators, and a print‑ready summary. Orders are submitted electronically — no phone call, no fax, no manual calculation.

Before — Printed Excel sheet
After — Web order form

> "I've been in this industry long enough to be skeptical of tech promises. This wasn't that. Michael took the time to understand our process first, then built something that fits. It's a massive leap forward for us."

Have a spreadsheet or a process that should work this way? Start with a conversation.

The honest part

## The hard part isn't the paperwork. It's people.

Most attempts at this quietly stall — and rarely because of the tools. BCG's research across hundreds of AI programs puts the recipe at 10% algorithms, 20% technology, and 70% people and process. The 70% is the part almost everyone skips. Most shops have already learned it the hard way: there's a binder somewhere — half‑finished, on a shelf, out of date the week it was printed. It didn't fail because the writing was bad. It failed because getting a veteran to hand over what he knows, and getting a shop to actually change how it works, is a people problem, not a paperwork one. Your best people aren't holding back to be difficult — they're protecting the thing that's made them irreplaceable for thirty years.

That human side is exactly what my other practice, Open Communications →, is built for. Same business, same straight talk — one side works on the shop, the other works with the crew.

How it works

## Every step explained. Every decision yours.

No black boxes, no surprises — a transparent path from the first call to the final handoff.

1. ### A free fit call

   A short conversation to see if there's a match. You describe what's slowing you down; I give you an honest read on whether I can help. No pitch, no obligation. If it's not a fit, I'll tell you and point you somewhere that is.

2. ### A paid discovery session

   If there's a fit, a focused 90‑minute working meeting where we map the real problem, decide what's worth solving first, and outline what a solution looks like. You leave with a written recommendation — whether or not we work together further.

3. ### A fixed‑scope proposal

   You know exactly what gets built, what it costs, and what you own at the end — before any work begins. Written in plain language, not jargon. Scope changes are a conversation, not a surprise invoice.

4. ### A deliverable you own

   The work moves in short cycles with regular review. At the end it's hosted, documented, and yours — update it, share it, use it without ever calling me again. Unless you want to: ongoing support is available, never required.

About

## The person you'll actually be working with.

Michael Victory — ShopWisdom

I've spent 25 years inside small and mid‑sized businesses — including 13 building long‑term partnerships across a dealer network, and the last several years helping non‑technical people use modern tools well. I know what it looks like when good people are slowed down by tools that were never built for how they work — and what it costs a shop when the person who knew how everything ran finally retires.

I started this practice because I kept seeing the same gap: the distance between what a business actually needs and what technology vendors were willing to build honestly and affordably. Most consultants either over‑engineer the solution or under‑explain the cost. I've been on the receiving end of both.

I use modern tools — including AI — to build faster and cheaper than traditional development, and I'll always tell you how something was built and what it can't do. No mystification, no inflated promises. And I'll tell you if you don't need me. That conversation costs nothing and saves everyone time.

Honest about fit

## I'm not for everyone.

ShopWisdom is probably not the right fit if you're:

- Looking to cut headcount through automation. AI used to make people redundant isn't what I do.
- Shopping for a black box to rent forever. You own everything I build — hosted in your own space on Canadian soil, yours to take anytime. I'll keep it running and current if you want that (it's called System Care), but it's a choice, never a leash. I don't do lock‑in.
- Shopping for a Super Bowl AI strategy. No hype, no transformation slides, no buzzwords. Just specific work with measurable outcomes.
- Facing people problems that run deeper than systems. Tools amplify what's already there. If trust is missing, software won't fix it — though that's exactly what my other practice, Open Communications, takes on.

If any of that is you, we're probably not a fit — and being honest now saves us both time.

Start a conversation

## Your know‑how built this shop. Let's make sure it stays in it.

No pitch, no proposal until we've had a real conversation. Describe the friction — even roughly. The more context you share, the more useful our first call will be.

What's the situation in your shop?
A key person is retiring soon Know-how lives in just a few heads A process or tool needs building Just exploring for now
Anything you want me to know? (optional)
Where do I reach you?

Hmm — that didn't go through. Please email me directly and I'll get right back to you.

Got it — thanks. I read every message personally and usually reply within a business day.

Prefer to reach out directly?

Email Michael Call 778‑985‑OPEN (6736)

The first call is free and commits you to nothing.

Book a call