Smart business
The 9 p.m. voicemail gets a text back. Reminders go out on time. Forms fill themselves in.
- Missed-call text-back
- Appointment and pickup reminders
- Order and intake forms
- Tax-season document chasers
Faribault · Northfield · Dundas
Find your wayFarNorth.
Seven things I set up for homes and businesses, and one promise that guides every one of them. Useful tech, hype filtered out, data kept at home.
That's the real Big Dipper. Look north tonight.
Faribault · Northfield · Dundas
Find your wayFarNorth.
Seven things I set up for homes and businesses, and one promise that guides every one of them.
The FarNorth Promise
Polaris doesn't move.
Neither do these.
Every job follows the same five rules, whether it's a coffee shop or your living room.
- 1
Your data stays yours.
Your files, recordings, and customer lists belong to you. I set things up in your accounts, not mine.
- 2
There's always a private option.
If it can run on a box in your building instead of someone else's server, I'll show you how.
- 3
A person checks what goes to your customers.
Drafts are drafts. Nothing reaches the people who pay you until a human reads it.
- 4
I'll tell you when AI isn't the answer.
Sometimes the fix is a better form, a sticky note, or nothing at all. I'll say so.
- 5
Tools for the people you have, not replacements.
The goal is fewer interruptions for your staff, not fewer staff.
For businesses
Fewer interruptions.
Same people.
I work with Main Street shops, offices, and clinics. First I ask what software you already pay for, because turning on a feature you own beats selling you something new.
AI integration
Help with the writing nobody has time for. Cloud, private, or both, and a person reads it before it goes anywhere.
- First drafts from your own templates
- Meeting and intake notes
- Answers pulled from your own manuals
Private AI box
A small computer that sits in your office and does the work without sending files out. Built for law, accounting, and health offices.
- Search your closed files
- Summaries that stay in the building
- No ongoing data center use
Websites and custom tools
Websites and small tools built for exactly how your shop works, so a daily chore stops being a daily chore.
- Websites like this one, hosted locally
- Menu boards from a spreadsheet
- Sign-up and waitlist pages
- Little scripts for repeat tasks
Good fitShops and boutiquesCafes and bakeriesLaw officesAccounting and bookkeepingInsurance agentsSalons and barbersClinics and wellnessAuto shops
Health offices: we start with work that never touches patient records, and the private option comes first.
For homes
A smart house
that keeps to itself.
Lights, locks, cameras, and voice control that run inside your house. No ongoing data center use, and nobody else's app in the middle.
Smart homes
Home Assistant, installed and set up right. One app for the whole house, running on a box you own.
- Lights and routines
- Smart locks and cameras
- Leak and freeze alerts
Voice control
Talk to your house without a big tech speaker on the other end. It runs on your own hardware.
- "Turn off the downstairs"
- "Is the garage door shut?"
- Answers stay in the house
Care plans
Someone to call after setup, for homes and businesses. Updates, fixes, and small changes, handled.
- Monthly check-ins
- Fixes when an update breaks something
- New routines as you think of them
Plug-in and battery gear only. I don't open walls or touch wiring. If a job needs an electrician, I'll tell you up front.
Proof
Built here first.
I don't set up anything I haven't run at my own house. Two things you can look at right now.
Screenshot: FaribaultWeather.com home page
FaribaultWeather.com
A local weather site I built and host on a server in my house. The same kind of setup can run your tools.
- Self-hosted
- Built from scratch
- Live now
Screenshot: my Home Assistant dashboard
My own smart house
Nightly lights-off and lock-up, the front door lock, the doorbell camera, and the solar numbers on one screen. Plus a voice assistant that answers without the cloud.
- Home Assistant
- Local voice
- Runs every night
How a job goes
No surprises,
start to finish.
- 1
You text or call.
Tell me what's eating your week. Plain words are fine.
- 2
I come take a look.
In person, in town. I ask what you already use before I suggest anything.
- 3
You get it in writing.
What I'll do, when it'll be done, and a 30-day warranty on the work.
- 4
I build it and test it.
In your accounts, under your name. Nothing goes live until I've tested it myself.
- 5
You get a cheat sheet.
One page for your staff and a list of what's set up where. Never passwords on paper.
Photo to shoot: Travis at the workbench, coffee in hand
Who answers the phone
Hi, I'm Travis.
I spent twenty years behind a bar, which is mostly listening to people and fixing problems fast. Now I'm a stay-at-home dad in Faribault who builds things: smart home setups, a weather site, furniture, a computer that hangs on the wall. I'm also an award-winning photographer and a storm chaser, so I'm used to patience, good timing, and gear that has to work the first time.
I'm skeptical of anything that promises to change everything. So I test every setup at my house first, and I'll tell you straight when something isn't worth your money.
- Award-winning photographer
- Storm chaser
- Runs FaribaultWeather.com
- FAA drone pilot