Higher Self

A technical partner for brands worth building.

I help founders of purpose-driven e-commerce brands find what their systems quietly get wrong, and build AI help that drafts in their voice, sticks to claims they can stand behind, and waits for their yes.

Based in Peru, working New York hours. I reply within one working day.

Draft ready for your review In your Drafts folder
ToJordan at Refill Row SubjectRe: Spring reorder

Hi Jordan,

Thank you for the reorder. Twelve cases of the lavender bar1 are packed and leave on Tuesday.

You asked about the new wrap. It’s home-compostable2, and it’s the same plastic-free packaging3 you’ve had from us before.

Warmly,
Ana

  1. Checked against the order in your store.
  2. From your approved claims, word for word.
  3. Held back “plastic-free shipping”. Only “plastic-free packaging” is on your approved list.
An illustration with a made-up brand. Drafts arrive in the email you already use, and nothing goes out until you send it.

For founders who care how things are done.

You’ve built a brand around a mission bigger than the business: fair trade, honest ingredients, rights for nature, things made to last. People buy from you because they believe you. You’re also the person every inbox, app and decision still waits on.

I work with a small number of founders like that, as the technical partner they don’t have in-house.

I only work with brands I’d buy from.

A good fit if

  • You sell online, and growth has made you the bottleneck.
  • You’d use AI if it kept your voice and your claims intact.
  • You’d rather know what’s broken than hear that everything’s fine.

Probably not a fit if

  • You want more email, sent faster, with less checking.
  • You need growth figures promised before we start.

Three kinds of help, one partner.

Find what’s quietly broken.

Your store, email platform and apps each report that they’re working. I check the joins between them, reproduce anything odd before I report it, and fix what the evidence supports.

In one engagement, the store believed 5,490 customers could be emailed. The email platform could reach about 150. Neither system flagged it.

An assistant in your inbox.

It drafts replies to customers, stockists and suppliers in your voice, using only claims you’ve approved word for word, the green and ethical ones included. Drafts wait in the email you already use, and nothing goes out until you send it.

When it isn’t sure, it leaves the decision to you. An unknown never quietly becomes a yes.

A partner for the next bottleneck.

Your store, email, automations, data and the awkward places in between. One problem at a time, each at a fixed price agreed in writing.

Each piece comes with a handover note, so anyone you trust can look after it.

You stay in the loop. It loosens only when it’s earned.

At first you approve every draft. Over time, the record shows which kinds you rarely change, and only those earn more freedom.

  1. Stage 1

    You approve everything.

    Every draft waits for you. It’s how the assistant learns your nuances, and how you learn what it gets right.

  2. Stage 2

    You approve what’s new or sensitive.

    Kinds of reply you’ve rarely changed are spot-checked instead. Anything unusual or claim-bearing still comes to you.

  3. Stage 3

    Routine runs on its own.

    Only where you’ve almost never changed a word. One switch brings everything back to you.

The record decides, not a feeling. I measure how often you edit each kind of draft, and nothing moves up a stage until those numbers say so.

Start with two numbers.

A free check for a failure that can sit unnoticed for months: your store and your email platform disagreeing about who can actually be reached.

  1. 1In your store, find how many customers have agreed to marketing email.
  2. 2In your email platform, find how many contacts it can actually reach.
  3. 3If nobody can explain the gap, email me both numbers. No logins and no customer data. I’ll reply within one working day, free.

Your two numbers

Enter both numbers to see how they compare.

Email me these two numbers

Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. The button opens your own email app.

Some of my work.

Each piece says what the evidence shows, and what it doesn’t.

Email-platform recovery for a UK wellness brand

An account-wide suppression event dated 4 April 2025 had gone unnoticed for fifteen months. I traced it in July 2026.

Evidence
2,151 profiles recovered and verified within the platform.
Not claimed
Permission to contact, delivered messages or sales. Sales impact wasn’t measured.

An assistant that drafts within approved claims

For a small brand, it drafts emails, social posts and page edits. Every product or health claim must match a word-for-word approved list.

Evidence
The owner approves each piece, with a receipt for every approval and send.
Not claimed
Time saved. It hasn’t been measured yet.

A Knowledge Hub for Sofema Aviation

Plain-English pages on aviation regulations, with source links and a record of each reviewer’s check, alongside a Course Finder and a Training ROI Calculator.

Evidence
All three are live and publicly available.
Not claimed
Adoption, bookings, time savings or return. None has been measured.
See all work

How working together starts.

  1. 1

    A short email.

    Tell me one thing you’d like to be easier, or send your two numbers. Free.

  2. 2

    A one-page outline.

    What I’d build, what I’d need from you, and a fixed price. Free, with no commitment, and a call if you’d like one.

  3. 3

    The build.

    A fixed price, agreed in writing before work starts. Anything consequential waits for your yes.

  4. 4

    Keeping it useful.

    Optional. We agree who updates it, who checks it and who hosts it.

You keep everything: the code, the data, the accounts and the records.

Notes from the work.

Your inbox is the AI interface you’re not using

Why I build assistants into the email you already have, not another app to check.

Why AI drafts sound almost right

Sounding like you is the easy part. Knowing what you’d never say is the work.

Treat your AI like a bright new intern

It has read everything and met none of your customers. The nuance is where the value is.

What would you like to be easier?

Tell me one thing that’s slower or shakier than it should be. A sentence or two is enough. I reply within one working day, on New York time, and I won’t chase you. Please leave out passwords and customer records.

david@higherself.ai WhatsApp +44 7749 776805