Twenty-plus years in small business IT
I'm Paul Hazzard. For over two decades I've been helping small businesses across Brisbane and the Redlands with their IT — web, email, hosting, infrastructure, automation, and everything in between. The work has changed over the years, but the clients haven't: owner-operated businesses with real problems and not much appetite for being sold to.
Why I'm Based on Stradbroke Island
Living on Stradbroke Island isn't just a lifestyle choice - it's central to how I work. Island life has taught me the value of community, reliability, and building genuine relationships. I bring these values to every business I work with, whether it's a holiday rental manager here on the island or a manufacturer in Brisbane.
Every week, I make the journey from the island to Brisbane for on-site consultations. This isn't just convenient - it's essential. AI might seem intimidating from a distance, but when I'm sitting in your office, explaining how it can solve your specific challenges, it becomes much more approachable.
How I work
Most of my clients are businesses with 5–50 staff. They're too busy to become IT experts, and too small to have someone on staff who is one. I try to be the person they call when something's broken, when they're moving to a new platform, or when they've got a process that's eating up too much time.
I prefer to work in person when I can. It's easier to understand how a business actually runs when you're there, and things that sound complicated over email tend to make more sense at a desk.
Where most of the work is
Email and hosting take up a fair chunk — migrations, DNS issues, deliverability problems, domain transfers. It's unglamorous work but it matters, and most people don't realise how many things can go wrong until they do. Infrastructure and backup strategy is similar: the kind of thing that's invisible when it's working and very visible when it isn't.
I also build custom tools for businesses that have outgrown spreadsheets. Sometimes that's a small internal app. Sometimes it's workflow automation that saves a few hours a week. I've been doing more AI-related work lately — showing people what's actually useful rather than what's being marketed — but it's one part of a broader picture.
Get in touch
If you've got a problem that sounds IT-adjacent, I'll tell you honestly whether I can help. No sales pitch, no pressure.