David Coleman
|
Over the past 8 years I've discovered and validated where I create the most impact: developing teams through operational transformation. To me, systems and technology aren't about replacing people. They're tools to deepen relationships and free teams to do their best work. As a fast learner, I've grown from web development to operations leadership and consulting. I thrive under pressure, lead from the ground up, and I'm excited to further develop operational excellence locally in Colorado.
|
I was brought in to lead operations during an aggressive expansion: 4 brands, 2 acquisitions, 2 brick-and-mortar locations, 40+ employees.
- Prevented 12+ months of knowledge loss: Three assistant managers came to me planning to resign. After encouraging them in their next steps and supporting them in their transition, I coached them to systematize their roles before leaving. All three stayed 4+ months beyond planned departure, documenting everything and training their replacements.
- Led team through difficult acquisition: Integrated second café location while navigating community pushback, technology transitions, and cultural misalignment. I worked hard to keep the team intact through the issues, and we worked hard as a team to stabilize the shop for sale.
- Learned valuable lessons about validation: The hard truth is that we rushed an acquisition without proper market research. While I wasn't on the final decision-making team, I take full ownership as the Operations Manager at the time. We ultimately sold the location to local investors (now Tradecraft Coffee). That mistake taught me to prove concepts (validate) before committing full resources.
- Built culture of knowledge transfer: The first thing I was told when I started was "David, we have a ton of tribal knowledge, and we need to change that". We developed processes as a team to transfer knowledge to new team members, via checklists, SOPs, and other documentation critical to training.
I've built a consulting practice helping service businesses eliminate operational chaos. I've worked with companies across concrete resurfacing, septic management, and prefab manufacturing. Dovito = Discover Opportunity, Validate Ideas, Transform Organizations.
- Systems integration: We focus on working with what's there and building efficiency into the current framework. It's critical that we don't go in swinging hammers and creating all new systems.
- We fail fast and iterate: Instead of spending months planning the perfect system, we build small, test quickly, and adjust based on what actually works in the field.
- Support operational expansion through technology planning: When companies are ready to scale, we help them understand what technology infrastructure they need before they grow, not after.
- Connected disconnected platforms (CRM, IMS, PMS, accounting) so teams could actually see their full operational picture without having to learn entirely new systems.
- Led internship program mentoring emerging professionals through real projects. Most satisfying work of my career because it's passing forward what others invested in me.
- This continues as a side consulting business that I run with referral-based clients only.
I led transportation logistics for a 5-week, $3M feature film in Estes Park. Coordinated transportation for cast, crew, and equipment from LA to Estes Park.
- A Glimpse Inside: A 36-hour workday. Equipment breakdowns. Weather delays. I thrived on the pressure and challenge of the role over the holiday season. I implemented team meetings, rotating schedules, and coordinated with Locations Management to ensure we had minimal delays.
- What I learned: Leadership is infinitely more than a title — it's daily actions and intentional communication, especially when it's hardest, that build a team who will go the distance with you.
I operated DKC Strategic as my freelancing entity, contracting with multiple clients including Ellerslie Training and Mark Sharman CPA. This served as the foundation for learning across marketing, production, A/V consulting, and web development — experience that ultimately led to operations management and founding Dovito.
I started as freelance video editor doing capture, organization, editing, color correction, and motion graphics work. The owners, Shawn and Gary, had over 50 years combined experience in graphic design.
- Fast Learning & Growth: The owners saw how fast I was picking things up and made me an offer to pay for me to learn website development. I took them up on it, learned Bootstrap and WordPress, and started building most of their client websites.
- Built technical skills: Took custom designs they'd created in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator and translated them into functional WordPress sites.
- Grew into client-facing work: As I got better at the technical work, they brought me into more client meetings, website delivery, and training clients on their new platforms.
- What I carry forward: When people invest in your development like Shawn and Gary did for me, you have a responsibility to pass that forward. That's why mentoring others has become such a core part of how I lead now.
|
|
|
- Systems run the business, people run the systems — build for people first.
- Technology should deepen relationships, not replace them.
- Lead from the ground up. Leadership is daily actions, not titles.
- Validate before committing full resources. Prove concepts, reduce rework.
- Pass forward what others invested in you. Develop the next generation.