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John HiemstraCreative

Consulting

... passionate about helping stakeholders achieve goals and deliver the best product within time constraints.
— Rob Eden, Engineering Leader

  1. Discovery

    Everything starts with a conversation —

    because everything we build is made to measure. On our first (free) call, we define what's costing you now, and what fixing it looks like. Once we can measure success, we have scope to guide plans, dates and fees.

  2. Initial development

    Regardless of scope, we work to deliver first 'working' version as soon as possible. The goal is to build well-aligned foundation for a fundamentally iterative process.

  3. Iteration

    Regular stakeholder review has always been essential for project success and still sets the cadence for delivery — just with some traditional dev bottlenecks removed. Human review in AI systems is even more pivotal, given that learning and self-improvement loops happen as fast as the code itself, amplifying both good, bad and no-decisions.

  4. Integration and delivery

    Everything is made to be as easy to use as possible, whether it's the backend of your new website or a batch of assets in Google Drive. Finding out what makes it easy for you is a key part of discovery.

Flat fees

Whether we measure by project or by a bucket of hours, I'm not a fan of leaving the meter running. Every piece of work sets a flat fee for a clear scope with the terms up front. We can always draft another for additional work.

Outcomes

John Hiemstra Creative work product in 2026.

  1. Ecommerce

    Our first Tailor ecommerce instance for Rockstar Blends replaced a hosted ecom & blog subscription solution costing $148/month with a Tailor site on a dedicated VPS box for $8.50.

    Ecommerce case study →

    One year of the shop's platform bill, before and nowTwo straight lines over twelve months on one scale from zero to 2,000 dollars. Before, BigCommerce and DropInBlog: 1,776 dollars a year. Now, Tailor on a dedicated VPS: 102 dollars a year. The shaded gap between them, 1,674 dollars a year, is saved.Annual spending change$1,674SAVED$1,776BigCommerce + DropInBlog$102Tailor, dedicated VPS$0$1,000$2,000StartMonth 6Month 12 One year of the shop's platform bill, before and nowTwo straight lines over twelve months on one scale from zero to 2,000 dollars. Before, BigCommerce and DropInBlog: 1,776 dollars a year. Now, Tailor on a dedicated VPS: 102 dollars a year. The shaded gap between them, 1,674 dollars a year, is saved.Annual spending change$1,674SAVED$1,776BigCommerce$102Tailor, VPS$0$1,000$2,000StartMonth 6Month 12

  2. Fast on a phone

    Google's Lighthouse assesses how fast a webpage loads on a phone. We ran it on CNN, ESPN and the BBC to compare with some of ours on the same afternoon, and on Rockstar Blends before it moved.

    What makes a Tailor site →

    Performance on a phone, against big media sites, on Google's own ratingsLighthouse mobile, three runs each, November 2, 2026 (BigCommerce: June 2026). CNN: score 43, 10.8 seconds; ESPN: score 37, 7.4 seconds; BBC: score 53, 4.3 seconds; Rockstar Blends: score 70; Rockstar Blends on Tailor: score 96, 2.6 seconds; johnhiemstra.com on Tailor: score 100, 1.4 seconds. Google rates a score of 90 to 100 good, 50 to 89 needs improvement and under 50 poor; and the largest content on screen in 2.5 seconds or less good, up to 4 seconds needs improvement, past 4 poor.Lighthouse performance score on a phonePoorNeeds workGoodCNN43ESPN37BBC53Rockstar Blends (BigCommerce, June)70Rockstar Blends on Tailor96johnhiemstra.com on Tailor1000204050608090100Largest Contentful Paint, secondsGoodNeeds workPoorCNN10.8 sESPN7.4 sBBC4.3 sRockstar Blends on Tailor2.6 sjohnhiemstra.com on Tailor1.4 s0 s2.5 s4 s6 s8 s10 s12 s Performance on a phone, against big media sites, on Google's own ratingsLighthouse mobile, three runs each, November 2, 2026 (BigCommerce: June 2026). CNN: score 43, 10.8 seconds; ESPN: score 37, 7.4 seconds; BBC: score 53, 4.3 seconds; Rockstar Blends: score 70; Rockstar Blends on Tailor: score 96, 2.6 seconds; johnhiemstra.com on Tailor: score 100, 1.4 seconds. Google rates a score of 90 to 100 good, 50 to 89 needs improvement and under 50 poor; and the largest content on screen in 2.5 seconds or less good, up to 4 seconds needs improvement, past 4 poor.Lighthouse performance score on a phonePoorNeeds workGoodCNN43ESPN37BBC53Rockstar Blends (BigCommerce, June)70Rockstar Blends on Tailor96johnhiemstra.com on Tailor10005090100Largest Contentful Paint, secondsGoodNeeds workPoorCNN10.8 sESPN7.4 sBBC4.3 sRockstar Blends on Tailor2.6 sjohnhiemstra.com on Tailor1.4 s0 s2.5 s4 s8 s12 s
    Lighthouse 12.8.2, mobile, three runs each, November 2, 2026; the BigCommerce 70 is PageSpeed Insights, June 12, 2026. Bands are Google's own ratings.

  3. Read by agents

    Measuring the first 30 days of search and answer engine optimization on new Rockstar Blends site. Tailor workbench UI exposes this data to administrative users.

    The three readers →

    AI answer fetches a day, October 4 to November 2, 2026Line over 30 days on a scale from zero to 100. Every day AI answer engines fetched pages to answer someone: never fewer than 24, at most 82, 1,387 in all, and 65 on November 2.AI fetching a page to answer a question, a day050100Oct 4Nov 265 AI answer fetches a day, October 4 to November 2, 2026Line over 30 days on a scale from zero to 100. Every day AI answer engines fetched pages to answer someone: never fewer than 24, at most 82, 1,387 in all, and 65 on November 2.AI answer fetches a day050100Oct 4Nov 265 Days since each AI answer engine last fetched each pageFor six rockstarblends.com pages, the days since OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, other AI answer engines and Google last fetched the page to answer someone, within 30 days. Home: today, 12, today, 4, today. Shop: today, none, today, 3, today. About: 12, 1, 10, 6, today. Rockstar Woman: 25, 21, none, 14, today. Rockstar Man: today, none, none, 6, today. Roll On Entourage: 9, 21, 28, 14, today.Last AI answer fetch, days agoOpenAIAnthropicPerplexityOther AIGoogleHomeTODAY12TODAY4TODAYShopTODAYTODAY3TODAYAbout121106TODAYRockstar Woman252114TODAYRockstar ManTODAY6TODAYRoll On Entourage9212814TODAY Days since each AI answer engine last fetched each pageFor six rockstarblends.com pages, the days since OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, other AI answer engines and Google last fetched the page to answer someone, within 30 days. Home: today, 12, today, 4, today. Shop: today, none, today, 3, today. About: 12, 1, 10, 6, today. Rockstar Woman: 25, 21, none, 14, today. Rockstar Man: today, none, none, 6, today. Roll On Entourage: 9, 21, 28, 14, today.Last AI answer fetch, days agoOpenAIAnthropicPerplex.Other AIGoogleHomeTODAY12TODAY4TODAYShopTODAYTODAY3TODAYAbout121106TODAYRockstar Woman252114TODAYRockstar ManTODAY6TODAYRoll On Entourage9212814TODAY
    Excerpted with permission from Rockstar Blends actual traffic ledger, October 4 to November 2, 2026.

  4. Podcast publishing

    Transcription, search-optimized summary, highlight quotes, blog post, assets and submission to publisher were easily 4 hours or more an episode, with social edits and reels needing even more time to get right. Our LLM assisted app gets this down to about 30 minutes per episode, including automatic production of 5 social media reels with optimized captions and hashtags.

    The podcast case study →

    One person's hours per podcast episode, before and now, hour by hourOn one scale from zero to ten hours. Before: 4 to 5 hours of episode work, then five reels at about an hour each, of which two or three ship. Now: about 30 minutes for the episode and its reels.BeforeNowEpisode: 4 to 5 h5 reels, 1 h eachAbout 30 min, episode and reels0 h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6 h7 h8 h9 h10 h One person's hours per podcast episode, before and now, hour by hourOn one scale from zero to ten hours. Before: 4 to 5 hours of episode work, then five reels at about an hour each, of which two or three ship. Now: about 30 minutes for the episode and its reels.BeforeNowEpisode: 4 to 5 h5 reels, 1 h eachAbout 30 min, episode and reels0 h2 h4 h6 h8 h10 h

  5. Long & short video

    To reduce the time required for proper editing of Rockstar Blends founder event video, we adapted the podcast reels editor into its own application. We enhanced transcription assessment, added new writing templates for video pages & YouTube, improved our 'complete thought' algorithms and added configurable brand-rendering tools for final cuts made for any speaker.

    The reels case study →

    One person's hours for one 30-minute video and its reels, before and nowOn one scale from zero to 20 hours. Before: 6 hours of analysis, search optimisation, writing and YouTube publishing, then about 9 reels at 60 to 90 minutes each, 15 to 19 and a half hours in all. Now: under 3 hours of a person's review and publishing with the editor.BeforeNowAnalysis, search, writing, YouTube: 6 hAbout 9 reels, 60 to 90 min eachUnder 3 h, review and publishing0 h5 h10 h15 h20 h One person's hours for one 30-minute video and its reels, before and nowOn one scale from zero to 20 hours. Before: 6 hours of analysis, search optimisation, writing and YouTube publishing, then about 9 reels at 60 to 90 minutes each, 15 to 19 and a half hours in all. Now: under 3 hours of a person's review and publishing with the editor.BeforeNow6 h prep9 reels, 60 to 90 minUnder 3 h, review and publishing0 h5 h10 h15 h20 h
Within a short period of time, he has transformed his current team to be more productive and engaging. It is an absolute pleasure to work with such a dedicated, kind, and affable team mate.
— Cynthia Worrell, Operations Leader

FAQ

How much does it cost?

Flat, and set with the plan for a clear scope. The discovery call that gets us there is free.

How long does a project take?

The plan sets a date, agreed with the fee, before work starts.

Why hire one person instead of an agency?

You work with me directly, from the first call to handover, and I direct a team of specialized AI roles for the build.

Can you help my team work with AI agents?

Yes. I set up an agentic SDLC for your team the way I run my own: roles with shared policies and skills, gates with a person's review at each one, and every lesson fed back to the agents. Your team learns it on your own work and keeps it. See how it runs.

Can you take over a project someone else started?

Yes. The discovery call looks at what's there, and the plan says what's kept, fixed or rebuilt.

Who owns what's built?

You do: the code, the content and the data. Nothing in it depends on me.

What happens after handover?

You run it with a written guide. If you'd rather not, I run it with you.

Where are you based?

Sarasota, Florida. Most work happens by video call, so clients can be anywhere.

Want to chat?

Book a time