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Independent IT advice for freelancers and small businesses


Whether you are a freelancer choosing your first proper toolset, or a small company that has outgrown a pile of scattered subscriptions, I help you pick tools you can afford, run and actually own.

Either book a free 20-minute consultation or send me a message on whatsapp or through the contact form. No jargon, no lock-in, and no commission from any vendor — just an honest look at what your business actually needs.


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About Me

I'm Robin, a French IT consultant and founder. I build and operate the kind of systems small businesses depend on every day — file storage, documents, invoicing, backups, automation, AI assistants — and I founded two companies of my own, so I know what it costs to keep them running.

Most of the IT advice a small business gets comes from someone selling something. I run this infrastructure myself, which means I can tell you what breaks, what it really costs at your size, and which half of the recommendation you can safely skip.

I don't just recommend it—I run it:

  • Design and operate self-hosted business stacks on Linux: files, documents, invoicing, backups, monitoring
  • Founded two companies from scratch, so every recommendation is costed against a real budget
  • Build automations and AI assistants that run on your own hardware, not on somebody else's account
  • Repaired enough inherited setups to know which shortcuts are safe and which ones cost you a weekend

Why I Started This Service

Small businesses get sold enterprise tools they never use, priced per seat, hosted under laws they have never read. I kept meeting people paying for five overlapping subscriptions who still could not answer a simple question: where is my data, and what happens the day this vendor disappears?

So I give the advice I wish they had been given: which tools fit your size, what to self-host and what to leave with a provider, how to keep it running without a full-time admin, and how to stay on the right side of GDPR without buying a compliance product.

Practical, Independent, Yours

✓ Operator, Not Reseller: I run the same systems I recommend, so you get field experience instead of a brochure

✓ Multilingual: Consultation in German, French and English, and in Italian on request

✓ Cost-Aware: Founded two companies—I measure every option against what a small business can actually afford

✓ Time-Saving: Skip the trial-and-error phase and get it right the first time

✓ Personalized Approach: No generic advice—solutions tailored to your specific situation

✓ No Lock-In: Open formats and open source wherever possible, so you can always leave — including leaving me

For Freelancers & Solo Founders


Getting Set Up

  • Choosing a toolset you can afford and maintain on your own
  • Domain, email and calendar on a provider that will not hold your data hostage
  • Encrypted backups that you have watched restore at least once
  • Password manager and two-factor setup for you and anyone you work with
  • Quoting and invoicing tools that fit your legal obligations
  • File storage and sharing your clients can use without creating an account
  • A written summary of what you run, what it costs per year, and what to do when it breaks

Working Day to Day

  • Automating the repetitive parts of your admin instead of hiring for them
  • AI assistants that run on your own machine or server, on your own documents
  • Keeping client data separated, minimal and defensible under GDPR
  • Simple monitoring, so you find out before your client does
  • Migrating off a subscription you no longer want to pay for
  • Recovering a setup built by someone who has since disappeared
  • Deciding honestly what to self-host and what to leave with a provider
  • Writing it all down, so the business survives you being ill for a week

Choosing & Buying

  • Comparing tools without the vendor's sales deck
  • Reading a contract, licence or SLA before you sign it
  • Working out the real annual cost of a stack, including your own time
  • Planning a migration in steps that each leave you working
  • A second opinion on a quote or a project somebody else proposed
  • ReefOffice, the self-hosted workspace I build myself, when it genuinely fits — and saying so when it does not

For Small Businesses & Teams


Putting a Stack in Place

  • Choosing between cloud, self-hosted and mixed, with the trade-offs written down
  • Identity and access: one account per person, and leavers actually removed
  • Shared drives, document management and retention rules people will actually follow
  • Invoicing, CRM and accounting tools that talk to each other instead of being re-typed
  • Backups with a restore you have watched succeed, not just a green tick
  • Hardware, network and printing basics that stop costing you days
  • A migration plan from whatever you are running today
  • Hosting inside the EU when that matters to your clients or your sector

Keeping It Running

  • Patching and update routines that somebody owns
  • Monitoring and alerts that reach a human
  • Onboarding and offboarding checklists for staff
  • Incident support when something is down and you need a calm plan
  • Documentation your team can follow without calling me
  • Introductions to trusted specialists (accountants, lawyers, DPO) when it is not an IT problem

Ongoing Advisory

  • A yearly review of what you pay for and what you still use
  • Planning capacity and cost before you grow, not after
  • Automation and AI: where it saves real hours, and where it is a distraction

What I build

I also build and run ReefOffice: files, CRM, invoicing, document archive and AI on a dedicated European server you control, instead of six separate subscriptions. It is in early access.

It is my own product, which is exactly why I name it here. When it fits your situation I will say so and say that it is mine; when something you already pay for, or a plain provider, is cheaper and simpler, I will say that instead.

See ReefOffice

How It Works



1. Free Consultation

Book a 20-minute free call to describe your setup and what is bothering you. No obligations, just honest advice.

2. Tailored Plan

If it's a fit, we choose a package together and I'll write up a plan you could hand to somebody else — the tools, the order, and the cost.

You have your own software product. Doesn't that skew your advice?

It could, which is exactly why I name it. ReefOffice is my own self-hosted workspace, and I build it. When it fits, I say it fits and that it is mine. When what you already pay for is fine, or a plain provider is cheaper and simpler, I say that instead. You should be able to check the reasoning either way.

FAQ



Do I need to be technical to work with you?

Not at all. I explain the options in plain language and write the summary so a non-technical owner can act on it. Consultations in English, French or German, and in Italian on request.

Do you need support beyond the services listed?

Feel free to send me a message or book a free call to describe your situation. I also advise on moving to and operating in Germany at germany.robin4consulting.com, and coach freelancers and small business owners at coaching.robin4consulting.com.

Good tools should be boring: they work, you own them, and you know what they cost. 

 Let’s work out what you actually need — and what you can stop paying for.

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