The busywork, handled quietly.
Ara Hiko builds small, fixed-price automations for small New Zealand businesses: the missed call that texts back, the reminder that keeps the no-shows down, the quote that follows itself up. No platform, and nobody replaced, just the hours back for the work that needs a person.
Missed call
You're mid-job.
Sorry I missed you, I'm on a job. Text me what you need and I'll call you back before 5.
Kitchen tap leaking, no rush
Five leaks, five small fixes.
The same five pieces of busywork turn up in almost every small business: trades, clinics, studios, service firms. None of them needs a big system. Each one is a small, fixed piece of work that starts paying for itself the week it goes in.
The call you couldn't take
The phone rings out while you're halfway up a ladder, and that caller is already trying the next name on Google. A text goes back within seconds, in your words, so the job waits for you instead.
The appointment that just doesn't show
An empty slot costs the same as a full one. A reminder asks confirm or rebook before every appointment, so people who need to move say so by text instead of just not showing.
Confirm or rebook?
C
The 9pm enquiry that waits until Thursday
Enquiries land at night on Facebook, by email, in voicemail. Each one gets an acknowledgement straight away and lands in one sorted list instead of four inboxes.
The quote that went quiet
Most quotes are not rejected, they are forgotten. A follow-up goes out after a sensible interval, in your words, and you hear the moment someone replies.
The happy customer nobody asked
Word of mouth rarely reaches your Google profile, because happy customers rarely think to write it down. When a job wraps up, the ask goes out on your behalf, so reviews arrive steadily.
One fix, one week.
Take the first quick win, missed-call text-back, and a one-person mobile mechanic who spends the day under cars. Same week, same phone, one change.
A week of missed calls
Worked exampleBefore
- 11 calls missed, under a car
- 2 voicemails, checked at 9pm
- The rest: no idea who, or why
After
- 11 texts back within seconds
- 6 replies, sorted after knock-off
- Every enquiry logged, with a name
Illustration only. These are made-up numbers for a made-up business, shown to explain the shape of the change. Ara Hiko has no client results to publish yet, and will not invent any. As real case studies land, they will replace this panel.
That's one fix, for one business. Here's how the right ones get found for yours.
Scoped from your real day, not a brochure
$950 fixed fee, credited toward your first build
Which fix pays for itself is not guessable from a website. The Opportunity Map is a day alongside you that finds the busywork worth fixing, ranks it by payback, and prices each finding. Commission any of it and the full $950 comes off.
What the mapping day coversWhy there are no prices on this page
A fix sized for a solo mechanic is not the fix sized for a six-person clinic, and a number that fits neither would mislead both.
What is settled: every quote is fixed, agreed in writing, and never hourly. The $950 map is the only number fixed today.
The things people ask first.
What does an automation like this cost?
There is no price list yet, because the honest number depends on the size and shape of the business, and a figure that fits nobody would help nobody. What is settled: every quote is fixed, agreed in writing before anything starts, and it is never hourly. The $950 Opportunity Map is how a fix gets chosen and priced, and the full amount comes off whatever gets built.
Will my customers be talking to a robot?
No, and nothing here pretends to be you. A text-back says you will be in touch. A reminder asks confirm or rebook. A review request says thanks and asks plainly. The words are yours, approved by you before anything runs, and anything that needs a human answer still gets one, from you.
I'm not technical. Who keeps it running?
I do. It runs quietly in the background, you get a plain-English note of what it did, and if something breaks, fixing it is my job rather than yours. Everything is set up in accounts that belong to you, so you are never locked to me.
We're small. Is this overkill?
The smaller the business, the more this tends to give back. A solo operator misses the most calls precisely because there is no one at a front desk. Every fix here is sized to the business it lands in, and if something is overkill for you, that is what you will be told.
Can't I just set this up myself?
Sometimes yes, and if that is the honest answer, you will get it. Plenty of fixes are features already inside software you pay for, and where a finding on your Opportunity Map amounts to switch this on yourself, it says exactly that. Paying me makes sense when it needs wiring together properly, or when you would rather spend those hours on your actual work.
Start with the thing that annoys you most.
Tell me about the calls you miss, the no-shows, or the chasing that never ends, in twenty minutes of plain English, no obligation either way.