About Me

This is my learning space to explore business ideas, frameworks, growth engines, business models, data integrations, and other business topics of interest to me.

A little history

I’m named after my two grandfathers (William Cunningham and Andrew Shaw). One born six years after the American Civil War. Both were farmers – probably one of the reasons I enjoy working with micro-businesses.

I have worked mainly in the television industry in various financial and accounting roles. The last six years, I volunteered hundreds of hours mentoring micro-business owners.

I love mentoring, building business tools, and solving puzzles.

I’m also a CPA licensed in the State of Rhode Island.

Micro-business owners

Micro-business owners, a subset of small businesses (as defined by the SBA), represent the majority of businesses in the United States.

They are independent, tough, hardworking, and creative. They are food makers, small manufacturers, restaurateurs, retailers, social media influencers, plumbers, electricians, accountants, and many, many more.

Every micro-business is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all mentoring strategy. I mostly provide how-to-advice and business strategy is a shared learning process.

Building Business Tools

I build small software tools to solve business problems.

I started creating macros when Lotus 1-2-3 was a thing. Later I moved on to Excel learning Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

I’ve spent thousands of hours using VBA to solve problems such as data integrations, transaction automation, reconciliations, parcing XML data (when Excel couldn’t), importing data, analysis, budgeting, forecasting, etc. I’ve made my share of mistakes. But, I’ve also saved businesses a ton of money.

Even with my volunteer work, I’ve continue to use my VBA skills to help my micro-business clients. I built an integration tool to import third party transactions into QuickBooks – Shopify, Square, Squarespace, Stripe, Amazon, Eventbrite, plus many more.

Every piece of code I’ve written over the years has been a breadcrumb telling me my purpose. Which, I’ve mostly ignored.

Not any more. I’m currently learning Ruby on Rails, a full-stack web application framework designed for the solo developer. My purpose is to develop a simple business planning tool built specifically for micro-business owners.

Puzzles

During the pandemic, jigzaw puzzles became a family hobby. I enjoy the process of doing a puzzle, problem-solving aspects of puzzles, the focus it requires, and the sense of completion when a puzzle is finished.

Once completed, you put the puzzle pieces back in its box and start a new one. You enjoy the process.

Working with micro-business owners is similiar to completing a puzzle. You start with pile of puzzles pieces. And then, over time, the idea turns into an actual business.

Just like a puzzle, most days you focus on the journey. And when you reach a milestone, you celebrate. Then your turn your attention back to running and building your business.

Bill