About Nate

I'm Nate Harlow. I run a one-person productized service in Austin, TX that helps small businesses automate their operations. My secret: I do the work of a five-person team, and most of it happens while I'm walking my dog.

The backstory

I spent six years as an ops manager at startups. The kind of role where you're equal parts project manager, systems admin, tool wrangler, and firefighter. I was good at it. But I kept noticing that 70% of what I did was predictable, repeatable work that just needed someone (or something) reliable to handle it.

In 2024, I went solo. Started a consulting practice helping other small teams set up the same systems I'd been building internally. Onboarding automation, email workflows, CRM hygiene, reporting dashboards — the boring-but-essential stuff that scales a business without hiring.

Then AI agents got good enough to do real work. Not just answer questions — actually navigate tools, handle email, manage files, run on schedules. I rebuilt my entire workflow around them. Suddenly I wasn't just advising clients on automation; I was living it at a level that wasn't possible two years ago.

What this blog is about

This is where I document what works. No hype, no vaporware demos, no "imagine a future where..." — just real systems I actually use, with enough detail for you to build them yourself.

You'll find:

• Practical tutorials — step-by-step walkthroughs of automations I've built
• Honest reviews — what works, what doesn't, what I actually use vs. what I tried and dropped
• Lessons from going solo — how to run lean with AI handling the heavy lifting
• Thought pieces — occasional takes on where AI automation is headed and what it means for small operators

My stack

The core of my setup is Agent-S — an AI agent with its own computer that handles email, research, scheduling, monitoring, and a bunch of other stuff I used to do manually. Beyond that, I keep it simple: a CRM, a project tool, email, and a calendar. The agent connects everything.

Get in touch

If you're building automations, going solo, or just curious about how this stuff works in practice — I'm happy to chat. Drop me a line at nate@nateautomates.com.

If you want to follow along, subscribe via RSS — I publish new posts every week or two.